Page 34 of The Billionaire's Commitment

Things were progressing, but very slowly. I found myself having to hold back from reaching for Zoey’s hand or pulling her into my arms at the end of the night and kissing her. She was still a bit wary of me, of a relationship, and continued to talk about leaving New York when her internship was done.

She was talking about it less, and she was starting to give me ideas on things that we could do when we hung out together. I took it as a good sign that she was starting to enjoy herself in the city and with me. I didn’t think I would change her mind in a few dates, but I would take any progress I could get.

There was an increased comfort with each other. I was used to being around Logan, who said too much and saw too much, and Eric, who didn’t say anything and could get anyone to talk. With Zoey, it wasn’t like that at all. I wanted her to know more about me, so I told her about my life since I left Aurora. As I did, she opened up to me. She told me more about her and Adam and how she knew when she came back to Aurora that they weren’t right, but she didn’t know how to get out of it. I hated that she had been hurt by anyone, but I couldn’t be too upset as it brought her to New York and me.

Every time we went out, Zoey wore my ring. I took it as a good sign that she not only liked the ring, but she liked having a somewhat constant reminder of our first date. She might not consider it our first date, but I did. When we were officially together, I would tell her as such.

I kept telling myself I had all the time in the world to spend with her. She had only been in town a few months, and it was a long way for the year to be up. The attraction we had for each other was growing, and if I was just patient, she would be mine. But it was getting difficult to be patient. I wanted to hold her, kiss her, run my hands down her hair, and smile at her right before we became one. I wanted to tell her how much I was coming to love her and the life I wanted us to have together.

“Does that work for you, Brody?” Eric asked.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“We were going to sell your shares of the bar off to Sean. You’re cool with that, right?” Logan asked.

“What? Why? Huh?” I asked.

Sean laughed. “Yeah, he so wasn’t listening. He does have it bad.”

“Can you talk to Zoey and see if Blackwell would be interested in talking to her and the DA sometime next week?” Logan asked.

“I can ask her. I don’t see why not. I get why we should do it. I just—”

“She’ll be fine. We have eyes on Denton both in and outside the rehab place. If he leaves, we will know. He shouldn’t even know about Zoey and her connection to Blackwell. He shouldn’t even know about Blackwell until the trial, if there is one,” Sean said.

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“Positive. We have eyes on Denton twenty-four seven. He won’t get anywhere without us knowing. I understand he has had a fixation with Grace and then Amber in the past, but he doesn’t know about Zoey. I get your concern, and if there’s a need for her to have protection, she will have it, no questions asked,” Sean said.

“If she needs protection, she will get it from me,” I said

“Ah, there’s the rub. I think he almost wants her to need it so he can spend more time with her,” Logan said.

“I never said that,” I said.

“You never denied it either. You need to just go and kiss the woman and be done with it. This going back and forth and being all friends is going to be the end of you, man,” Logan said.

“Leave him alone,” Eric said.

“Thank you,” I said to Eric.

“He can be a pussy all on his own,” Eric said.

Logan and Sean laughed, and I just glared at Eric.”So much for thinking you’re on my side.”

“Always. But you need to get off your own dick and do something,” Eric said.

“He’s so elegant when he wants to be,” Logan said and pressed his hands to his heart.

“I’m working on it. Trust me. Things are going according to plan.” I didn’t meet their eyes when I spoke. While I wanted to think things were going well with Zoey and me, I wasn’t sure, but when I saw her tomorrow night, I was going to find out.

Chapter 16

Zoey

“I think you’re going to see he does want to have something more than a friendship with you. The question is, do you want it too?”

The words from my sister ran through my mind as I sat next to Brody and shared a pizza. The meal had started out innocent enough when he had found out I had never had pizza from New York.

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