Page 75 of The Bossy One

A smile lit her whole face. “That sounds wonderful. I’ve never been to Prague.”

“You’ll like it,” I assured her. “You both will.”

I’d make sure of it.

Olivia smiled up at me, her eyes bright with happiness. I had a powerful urge to kiss her, but I knew if I did, I wouldn’t stop. She’d made it clear she’d prefer a good night’s sleep over a late-night tryst this evening, and I needed to respect that.Especiallybecause of the inherent power imbalance in our relationship.

It didn’t feel like a power imbalance, though. The longer things went on between us, the more I realized that while I had the money, she had everything that actually mattered. Hell, I’d gone to a fucking O’Rourke party, just to make her smile.

My palm rested on her stomach, as low as I’d let myself go tonight. She looked up at me from under her eyelashes, and my cock swelled.

“Right,” I said roughly. “That’s settled. Good night.” I dropped a kiss on her forehead and stood to go.

Olivia’s mouth fell open in surprise. “I thought…you really only wanted to go swimming?” She looked pointedly where my tracksuit bottoms did nothing to disguise my hard-on.

“You said you needed sleep,” I said, trying to sound patient and unbothered when really what I felt was grumpy. Christ, she was making this hard.

“And…you’re giving it to me?” she asked, understanding dawning.

I nodded, the movement jerky. I was torn between wishing she’d put a shirt on and praying she wouldn’t. “I’ll give you anything you want, Olivia.”

“Well,” Olivia said, her voice husky. “Suddenly I’m not feeling so tired.” She crawled to the edge of the bed, hooked her fingers in my waistband, and tugged me close enough so she could free my aching cock. She leaned in and placed a kiss on the tip.

“God, Oliva,” I said, my hands in her hair. She smiled up at me with wicked promise. Then she took me in her mouth, and neither of us slept for a long time.

I lost all track of time for hours. I only looked up and realized it was midnight when Olivia nudged me out of a pleasant doze as she lay, cozy and sated, nestled in my arms. “Your phone’s buzzing,” she said sleepily.

I reached for my discarded tracksuit bottoms and tugged them over so I could silence my phone. That’s when I saw the text message from Thomas.

O’Rourke gave up on selling the second property. Too much red tape.He’s moving on to another option. Not the mansion yet, but if we can find a way to delay this sale too, we’ll have him.

I sat bolt upright in bed, a thrill of adrenaline shooting through me. This was it. We almost had him.Go at him with everything you’ve got,I responded.Spare no expense.

“Who’s that?” Olivia asked. “Don’t they know how late it is?”

It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her, when I remembered how our last conversation about the O’Rourkes had ended. “No one. Work stuff.”

“Being a billionaire cannot possibly be worth it,” Olivia joked, but the joke didn’t quite reach her eyes. She could tell I was keeping her distanced from this on purpose.

I tossed the phone aside and reached for her. “It wasn’t until I started sleeping with the staff.”

Olivia laughed as I covered her body with mine and proceeded to distract us both.

* * *

I woke up with a pounding in my head, then I realized the pounding was on the door.

“Miss Olivia?” Catie called through the door. “I can’t find Uncle Declan.”

Olivia glanced at the clock and swore. “We overslept,” she hissed. “Quick, get behind the bed.”

“I’m not going to hide like a teenager—”

“Yes you are, Declan Byrne. I swear to God…” Olivia shoved me off the side of the bed, and I hit the ground with a thump.

“Your door is locked,” Catie informed Olivia, like it might have been an oversight.

“One second, sweetheart,” Olivia said, hastily pulling clothes on and motioning me to scoot out of sight.

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