Page 38 of The Bossy One

And, if Molly’s teasing was to be believed, she didn’t have a boyfriend.

I’d kind of assumed that was the case. Olivia had never mentioned one, and she wasn’t exactly the type to keep her thoughts to herself. And even if she was capable of exercising un-Olivia-like discretion, what guy would be okay with sending his woman across an ocean to spend months living in a strange man’s house?

But it was nice to have it confirmed. I didn’t let myself think too hard about why that was.

Before I knew it, two hours had passed, and Molly had to head out to her shift at the bookstore. That left Olivia and I to walk home together.

It felt nice to stroll along together, enjoying a rare, balmy day. “So what’s this idea you have for a book?”

“Oh no,” Olivia said, and then laughed. “I amnottelling you, of all people.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “What do you mean ‘of all people’?”

“Because you’re…you.” She gestured to me helplessly. “You’re freakishly successful. You built a billion-dollar company. Your dream re-shaped the tech world. Meanwhile, my dream is a few lines jotted down in a Word doc I haven’t opened in five years ago.”

I homed in on the important part of what she just said. “So it’s still a dream of yours?”

She chewed on her lip. “I don’t know. It’s been so long since I wrote fiction. What if I’m no good?”

“You probably won’t be,” I said. “Not at first. But then you learn from the failures, and you try again, as many times as you need to until you succeed.”

Olivia threw me an amused glance. “I have a hard time imagining you failing over and over again. Wasn’t Snug basically an overnight success?”

“Snug wasn’t the first start-up I worked at,” I said. “I even dropped out of uni to work at the first place because I believed it was going to change the world.”

“What happened to it?” Olivia asked.

“It went belly-up seven months in. They still owe me a month’s worth of pay. But I learned a lot. I also met Anil, who’d been smart enoughnotto drop out of uni.” I shrugged. “I’m not saying everyone has to have some big dream, or that it’s not gutting when you gamble and lose. But isn’t it better to take a chance? Especially if you’ve been thinking of it for five years?”

Olivia didn’t say anything, but her expression turned thoughtful.

“Plus, if you do publish your book, I know the best children’s book reviewer in the business,” I joked.

Olivia rolled her eyes. “Of course you have a publishing connection. Is there any industry you don’t have a foot in?”

I thought of all the companies that used Snug to promote their businesses. “Not really.”

She sighed, exasperated, but there was fondness in her eyes. Her hand accidentally brushed mine as she walked, and I had the weirdest instinct to catch hold of it and lace my fingers through hers.

No, I told myself.She works for you. And even if she didn’t, you’re not the hand-holding type. And she very much is.

So I shoved my hands in my pockets and changed the subject to something less personal, trying very hard not to feel like a schoolboy walking his crush home.

It almost worked.

12

OLIVIA

It had only been two days since my day off, and I was already desperate for my next one. Normally I loved my job, but today Catie was getting on my last nerve. It had taken a full half hour to get her dressed, since she kept getting distracted by the toys and books in her room.

Then she’d spilled orange juice on herself at breakfast, and we’d had to start all over again.

Most days I could roll with the inherent chaos of small children, but today…

Don’t think about what today is, I told myself.

“Come on,” I urged Catie. “Let’s go out back and kick the soccer ball a bit. Burn off some of that restless energy.”

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