Page 25 of Bestie's Bossy Billionaire Brother
“Who’s watching Alice?” I ask worriedly.
“Grace from next door agreed to look after her. Her grandkids are over, and Alice loves to play with them, so it works out.”
I nod. “That’s a relief.”
“Do you know what happened to your car?” he asks.
I scoff. “Of course not. I don’t know the first thing about cars.”
He frowns. “If I had the time, I could have checked for you.”
I squirm in my seat, slightly embarrassed that Oliver had to drop everything and come save me.
He eyes me, noticing my discomfort. “Stop stressing,” he assures me. “I wouldn’t have come if I didn’t want to.”
I nod, appreciating his understanding. “Thanks for coming to get me. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
He glances at me with a small grin on his face. “You don’t have to thank me. It’s what any decent employer would do.”
I let out a laugh. “Really? You’d do this for any of your employees?”
Oliver shrugs. “Maybe not all of them.”
Despite the situation, his words send shivers down my spine. There’s something about him caring enough about me to come pick me up that further solidifies that Oliver is more caring and protective than he’s led on.
Just then, my phone vibrates in my lap. A text from Erica appears on my screen.
“One of my gorgeous—and very single—co-workers want to meet you for drinks,” she writes.“You in?”
I sweep my eyes over to Oliver, who immediately returns his attention to the road.
I let out a sigh. “Apparently Erica found me a date.”
“Typical Erica,” he says, a slight note of annoyance in his tone. “Always trying to set someone up, but can’t even get a date herself.”
“I don’t plan on going,” I reply. “So don’t worry. I promise it won’t affect work.”
He takes a deep breath. “Catherine,” he says in a gentle voice. “I’m aware you’re young and have a life. Plus, it’s like you said the other day. You’re still heartbroken over what Jason did to you.”
“How did you know I was heartbroken?” I ask, my voice laced with suspicion and a hint of vulnerability. “Did Erica tell you?”
There’s a pause, and I can sense Oliver’s hesitation. He clears his throat, an obvious stall for time as he grips the steering wheel tighter. “Ah, well…” he starts, his usually confident tone faltering. “I, uh, might have accidentally heard you say it to her.”
My heart skips a beat, and an uncomfortable heat rushes to my face. “You mean the part where I talked about… being a virgin?” I manage to get the words out.
Oliver’s hands clench around the wheel, his face a mix of emotions hard to decipher. Is that guilt mixed with a spark of… interest? “Yeah, that part,” he mumbles, and there’s an awkwardness to him that I’ve never seen before. It’s almost endearing if it weren’t for the topic of conversation.
“I didn’t mean to, honestly. It was not my place to listen in, and I’m sorry.”
I draw in a slow, deep breath, trying to steady the flurry of emotions within me. There’s embarrassment, yes, but also an unbidden, curious thrill that Oliver now knows my most intimate secret. Part of me wonders what he thinks beyond his polite words. Does it change anything for him? How he sees me?
The air in the car feels thicker, charged with unsaid words and revelations neither of us expected to share. “So, what now?” I ask, the question hanging between us, loaded with uncertainty.
He glances at me, his blue eyes intense yet soft at the same time. “Now? Nothing changes. It’s your life, Catherine. Your choices. I don’t have any say in them, nor do I judge them,” he asserts, but there’s a warmth to his words, an underlying promise that this awkward piece of information won’t affect how he sees me. It’s strangely comforting, this feeling of being seen and not judged.
Somehow, that assurance makes it a little easier to breathe.
The silence stretches between us momentarily before he breaks it. “So, have you been seeing anyone lately?” he asks, his voice light. “Someone you’d be interested in intimately?”
