Page 47 of The Playboy's Most Unexpected Baby

“I think you have feelings for him.”

“Well, yes, I do. That’s the whole problem,” Olivia said. “I let myself feel more than I should have for him, knowing the nature of our arrangement. We agreed from the beginning that we would keep things professional.”

“Is that what he was doing when he took you out for a candlelit dinner on a yacht? Keeping it professional?”

“I don’t know, but whatever his intention was, he regrets it,” Olivia said. “That’s what he made sure to let me know first thing in the morning. Everything that happened on that yacht, he regrets it.”

“I don’t know if I’d take him at his word about that,” Izzy said.

“Haven’t you just been telling me how boys suck?”

“No, that isn’t what I said,” Izzy told her. “What I said was that boys wereliars.”

“I don’t think they lie about this. When they tell you they’re not interested in you, that tends to be the truth. Guys lie when they say theyareinterested, because there’s something they want. They don’t lie to you to get you to go away. If a guy says he doesn’t want you around, that tends to be the truth.”

Izzy shook her head. “I just don’t buy it.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean… I saw you two together,” Izzy said. “I saw the way he was with you. You telling me that the marriage was fake was a big surprise.”

“You didn’t act surprised.”

“I mean, I knew that something weird was going on. That was obvious, because why else would you get married in such a hurry? I’m glad it didn’t turn out to be something about the law!”

“I would have told you if there was anything to worry about,” Olivia told her sister.

“You definitely wouldn’t have,” Izzy countered. “I know what you do, Liv. You keep things to yourself because you want to protect me. And I get it, because you think of me as a little kid. You think you’re the one who’s responsible for everything in this family. I know you have been, since Dad died. But I’m not a kid anymore, you know? You can tell me things. I’m old enough now. I’m a lot older than you were when we lost Dad. You don’t have to handle everything by yourself anymore — I can take some of it on.”

Olivia bit her lip. “You’re right,” she conceded. “But it’s hard for me to do that, Izzy. I’ve spent my life protecting you. It’s hard for me to just… stop doing that.”

“I’m not saying stop,” Izzy said gently. “I’m saying we can take care of each other. You can let me do that for you, right?”

Olivia smiled at her sister. “You really have grown up.”

“I’ve grown up enough to see that there was something real between you and Charlie,” Izzy said. “I knew it the first time I met him. I knew he wasn’t just a client — that there was more to that relationship. I mean, look at how eager he was to get to know me. He wouldn’t have acted like that if he didn’t care about you.”

“You don’t know him that well. He’s just like that with people. He’s exuberant. He always wants to chat everyone up.”

“He offered to take us to Boston, Olivia. He wouldn’t have done that if your relationship didn’t mean something to him.” Izzy shook her head. “I know you’re feeling bad about it right now because of what happened on the boat, but I’m telling you, I think his feelings for you are real.”

“You weren’t there. You didn’t hear the way he talked about it.” Olivia couldn’t forget what he had said. She couldn’t forget the way he had suggested that their sleeping together would push them apart — that that was the only possible outcome. “Even if he does have feelings for me, I’m just not sure he’s the right person for me to be with. I’m not sure I can look past his nature. He’s a player. He loves to sleep with women and then move on a minute later, and that isn’t me. I should never have gone to bed with him. I should have known that he would be like this. Ididknow. I just let myself forget.”

“And you don’t think there’s even a chance that he was just waiting for the right girl?”

“If that were true, he would have said it,” Olivia said. “Ididthink that. I woke up that morning on the boat feeling like something monumental had happened — like everything had changed between us. In the minutes after I woke up and before he opened his eyes, I would have sworn that he was going to look over at me and say something filled with romance and passion, because that was the way it felt that night.” She hesitated. “Am I oversharing?”

“You’re my sister.”

“I’m not used to being able to talk to you like this.”

“Well, you could have,” Izzy said quietly. “Like I said, I’m not a little kid anymore.”

“You’re right,” Olivia said. “I’m sorry. I need to adjust the way I think about you.”

“Maybe Charlie needs to adjust the way he thinks about you. Couldn’t that have been the problem? Maybe his mind is still catching up to what his heart already feels.”

“Or maybe I was right about him from the beginning,” Olivia sighed. “Maybe he can’t take a woman seriously. He respected me as long as we kept things professional, but the minute I got in bed with him, it ruined things. He can’t look at me the way he once did, and I don’t know if we’re going to be able to finish the sale of the house now that things are like this between the two of us. I don’t know if we’re ever going to be able to get back on the same page.”

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