Page 42 of Hired For the Billionaire's Secret Son

Ollie stomped up to the low brick wall of the Italian garden, thinking that no man should look so good wearing a plain white polo-shirt, walnut-brown chinos and white trainers worn without socks. He looked as though he’d just stepped out of a cool, air-conditioned car—which he had—while she was hot and a little sticky from her mile-and-a-half stomp through Wimbledon. On leaving Cooper & Co, she’d pulled her hair up into a messy bun, but a few curls stuck to her neck and forehead.

She did not doubt that the little make-up she’d worn this morning was long gone and that she looked as frazzled and freaked out as she felt. Crossing her arms across her torso, she slowed her pace as she approached Bo, unable to believe he was in London. And, if he was here, where was Mat?

He answered her unspoken question. ‘Helen, Mat and I booked into Brown’s Hotel this morning,’ Bo told her, handing her a cold bottle of water. She looked down at it and saw that he’d cracked open the lid for her. Hot and grumpy, and feeling as if she was a taut wire about to snap, she swallowed half the water in the bottle.

‘Is he okay?’ she demanded. ‘Mat?’

‘Mat is fine,’ Bo replied, sitting on the edge of the wall and stretching out his long legs. ‘I, on the other hand, am a wreck.’

Sure he was, Ollie silently scoffed. With his smart clothing and fancy watch, and expensive sunglasses over his eyes, he looked like the rich, urbane success story he was. Then Bo lifted his glasses off his forehead and pushed them into his hair and Ollie realised he was anythingbutfine.

The circles under his eyes were even darker than hers and he looked a shade paler than when she’d left him in Copenhagen. And a few years older. Right, so maybe her leaving had affected him.

She was not going to think about his comment about her additional bonus being a wedding gift. He was being sarcastic, making a joke...he couldn’t possibly have meant it.

Ollie rested the cool bottle against her hot cheek. ‘What are you doing in London, Bo? And why did you give me such a huge bonus? It was totally over the top. You gave me a bonus when I left Copenhagen.’

‘You know why, Olivia. Although your father is squawking that he will repay the money if you decide you don’t want me, Ol.’

Want him? Of course she wanted him. The problem was that she wanted him all in, not just him dipping a toe or foot...

So he’d been talking to her dad—when? And for how long had that been going on? Bo stood up and came to stand in front of her, so close that the hand holding the water bottle pushed the fabric of his shirt into his hard chest. How was she supposed to think when he was so close and he smelled so good?

She looked up into his deep-green eyes. ‘Can you give me some breathing room, please?’ He had to move because there was no way she could make her feet step away from him.

He smiled. ‘It’s a big park, Ollie, with lots of space. All you have to do is take a step back.’

Argh!She tried, she really did, but her brain sent the wrong signal and, instead of moving away, she placed her palm on his chest, stood on her tiptoes and placed her mouth on his. He was here: how was she supposed not to kiss him? Given the chance, she always would. Kissing Bo was what she was put on this earth to do.

Bo lifted his hands to hold her face as his mouth took a lovely and leisurely exploration of hers, taking his time to reacquaint himself with her. It was a kiss that said ‘I missed you’ and ‘so glad you are here’, gentle but with a hint of heat. Ollie knew that it wouldn’t take much to make them spark and then burn. They were that combustible.

After a few minutes, Bo pulled back, wrapped his arms around her back and pulled her into his chest, wrapping her up in his embrace. He placed his mouth by her ear and his words were soft but powerful. ‘Please don’t leave me again, Ol.’

She had to be strong; she couldn’t allow the wonderfulness of being back in Bo’s arms strip her of her sensibility. She pushed herself back and his arms fell to his sides, disappointment on his face. Ollie lifted her hands to her face, mortified to feel hot tears on her skin. ‘I can’t do this, Bo.’

Bo gently peeled his hands off her face and, with the pads of his thumbs, wiped her tears away. ‘Olivia, why do you think I am here?’

She stared at a spot below his size-thirteen trainer. ‘Because you feel sorry for me? Because you want me to come back to Copenhagen to look after Mat, because you can kill two birds with one stone? So that you can have a lover and a nanny?’

He dropped a kiss on her forehead and his mouth curved into a smile. ‘Sorry, but I’m not firing Helen for you. She’s awesome.’

‘She is?’ Of course she was, she’d recommended her, and there was no one better to look after Mat. No one could do a better job...except her. Didn’t Bo think she was as good as Helen?

‘I have no idea what you are trying to say,’ Ollie complained.

‘And I’m making a hash of it because I’ve never done this before. I don’t know how to tell a woman I love her, that she’s my world, that I can’t live without her. I don’t know the words to tell her I’m a miserable, grumpy shell without her.’

With every word, Ollie felt herself lightening and brightening. ‘You tell her like that, Bo.’

He looked surprised to find that his words had made an impression. Curling a hand around her neck, he looked down at her, his eyes warm with affection, desire and, yes, love—woohoo!

‘I’m so in love with you, Olivia. Loving someone so much scares me but I’d rather live my life scared than live it without you.’

Ollie reached up to kiss him, smiling against his mouth. ‘I love you too, Bo.’

Bo released a shuddery sigh. ‘Thank goodness for that.’ He banded an arm around her waist and hauled her into him. ‘Now kiss me properly, Olivia. I’ve missed you so damn much.’

She would, she told him, but if they started to kiss they wouldn’t talk, and they needed to. ‘Let’s just get it all said and done so that we can move on, Bo.’

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