Page 56 of The Bossy One

When the boys left, Molly and I found ourselves alone outside the restaurant.

Molly slid me a look. “I’m guessing the ‘work thing’ was an excuse to get out of more time with Brendan?”

I winced. “He’s nice, but…”

“Dull as a rock,” Molly finished. She looped her arm through mine. “Want to go to the pub and talk about books?”

“God, yes,” I said. “Also, Oisin’s a sweetheart who’s absolutely smitten with you. If you like him, ignore what everyone else says.”

“I knew I liked you,” Molly said.

I laughed, and let her lead me to the pub.

17

DECLAN

Three hours after I’d put Catie to bed, I was still hammering out work things on my laptop.

It didn’t mean anything that I was working in the living room, where I’d be sure to spot Olivia as soon as she came home. It didn’t mean anything at all.

So far I’d checked off three projects on my to-do list, and called Thomas for an update on our real estate fight against O’Rourke. Apparently, when the town council refused to lift the old law, O’Rourke had given up on selling his first-choice property. He was now in the process of trying to sell his third oldest property, which, unfortunately, wasn’t the mansion. But Thomas had assured me he’d found a way to drag out that sale, too. There was an error in the will that passed the property to the person who sold it to O’Rourke. If the will was deemed legally invalid, then the property might belong to a local music teacher, instead of O’Rourke. And if O’Rourke didn’t own it, he couldn’t sell it.

According to Thomas, no judge would actually take the property away from O’Rourke. But the local music teacher was one of the many people in town Mark O’Rourke had pissed off, and she was willing to help Thomas make O’Rourke’s life a nuisance for a month or two.

I thought of O’Rourke’s angry face the other day on the sidewalk and felt a wave of satisfaction. Despite his attempts at haughtiness, I’d been able to see that he was a man desperate for money. That meant he wasn’t going to be able to wait two months for a legal decision. That left him with two older properties that could be sold—one of which was the O’Rourke mansion.

I smiled wolfishly, practically tasting victory.

Then I glanced at the clock.

Victory would taste better if I knew Olivia wasn’t out laughing up at another guy. Wearing a dress that poured over her curves in a way that should be illegal, and heels that made her legs and ass impossible to look away from.

Don’t think about that,I ordered myself.

I typed out another email to my assistant. Then another to our head programmer. Then another to Anil.

If I just kept working, I wouldn’t think about Olivia.

Hell, I’d even asked out @1000words, although I didn’t think meeting an anonymous pen pal for a friendly coffee was what Olivia had meant when she suggested I go on a date.

I checked my phone, but @1000words hadn’t responded yet. It had been hours, and I could tell she’d read the message.

So now I had two women to avoid thinking about.

I sent Anil another email. I was surprised when I got a notification that I had an incoming video call from him less than a minute later.

I answered, and his friendly face filled my laptop screen.

“Hey,” I said. “Did you see my email about the possible fixes for that bug? I like option A, but—”

“This is an intervention,” Anil interrupted me. “Step away from the computer. Have a life. Ask a girl out.”

I scowled. “I did.”

“Oooooh,” Anil said, with instant sympathy. “She turned you down?”

“She hasn’t answered. I’m trying not to think about it. Or the fact that my nanny is out doing God knows what with Brendan fucking Carr.” I ran a hand through my hair.

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