Page 40 of Seducing the Billionaire

At the very least, she hasn’t picked up on it. Not after she declared I had no interest in her. I must have done a better job at hiding things than I thought.

Just not to Gabriel.

* * *

I rub my stomach,pleasantly full from dinner, and listen to Emma chatter on as Allen drives us back to her house to drop her off.

“I was thinking of trying something with a lace overlay,” she muses, “but I’m not sure. I haven’t worked too much with it before and now’s not the time to experiment, you know? This dress has to be perfect.”

She’s so excited about this project for Serena, so passionate, it brings a smile to my lips just watching her.

She notices, head tilting slightly, then her eyes widen as she claps a hand over her mouth. “Connor, why didn’t you tell me to stop? How long have I been rambling?”

I laugh, unable to help myself, the last bit of tension melting from me after these past few unrelenting weeks. This whole night has been good, even after my slip up earlier. I forgot how much I love Gabriel’s outlandish stories, Archer’s dry wit that creeps up out of nowhere. And now with Serena and Mackenzie added to the mix, there are more people to get to know, to love.

And then there’s… Emma. Maybe it was my imagination, but she’d fit right into the group, getting along instantly with the girls, the six of us clicking in a way that felt natural. Right. Just like it does with me and her alone.

No. I can’t be thinking that way. She’s not anything to me but my assistant.

“We should be going over your schedule, shouldn’t we?” She reaches to pull her phone out of her purse, and I stop her, her wrist warm where my fingers encircle it.

I let go, not wanting to tempt myself too much, and tell her, “Let’s have one night where I don’t have to think about work. I like hearing about the dress you’ll make.”

Her lips tip up at the corners. “You’re interested in fashion design?”

Another laugh escapes me. “No, but I enjoy seeing your enthusiasm. It’s inspiring.”

She points to her chest. “Me? Inspiring?”

I nod, relaxing back into the seat. “Yeah. You still considering that business plan?” I’ve already decided to give her any money she asks for. She deserves it.

“I started working on it last night. And Mackenzie offered today to help me too. All of them were so nice. I—” She smooths her palms down her skirt, a nervous gesture of hers I’ve come to recognize. “I really liked your family.”

“They liked you too.”I like you too, I want to say, but that’s definitely not a good idea.

She smiles, looking up at me from lowered lashes, obviously pleased even in the dim lighting from the streetlamps outside. “I’ve always wanted a big family,” she confesses. “People that care about you. That help you out. That love you.”

It’s not hard to read between the lines that she doesn’t feel she has those things. “You don’t think your family loves you?”

“I…” She twists her hands together in her lap. “My dad, no, probably not. I’m not sure he’s capable of it.” Sounds a lot like mine. I don’t know what Mom ever saw in him. “And my mom, well, yes, of course she does. But she always needs more than she gives. Especially lately.”

There’s a faint ache in my chest at the matter-of-fact way she says it. Yeah, I had a crappy parent of my own, but two of them? I can’t imagine how me and my brothers would have turned out if we hadn’t had Mom. How did Emma still turn out so amazing?

She must see something on my face, because she rushes to add, “It’s fine, though. She’s… Well, she’s all I have.” She looks down at her lap, seeming to realize her hands are fidgeting, and stops herself. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make any of this about me. I just wanted to say I liked everyone tonight. That story Gabriel told about you guys at Cape Cod was really funny.”

I know what she’s trying to do, her clumsy attempt at changing the subject obvious, but I give it to her. I don’t want to bring her down about her family right before she goes home. “I still say it was a shark in the water. I can’t believe he even got Archer to go along with it.”

She gives me a grateful smile for not pushing for more about her parents. “Isn’t that what big brothers are supposed to do? Tease you?”

A chuckle escapes me. “I guess.” Things had only been like that when we were little, though. And only when Dad wasn’t around.

“It’s nice you’re all still close. So many siblings drift apart as they get older.”

“I’ve always kept in touch with them, even when I was away. They’re important to me.” The only people to know how it was to grow up as Harold Bishop’s son. To truly understand me.

Though I’m coming to see that maybe there are others who understand me too.

“Then why did Gabriel say it’s the first time he’s seen you since the reading of the will?”

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