“I’m freaking out,” I tell her.
She nods. “No offense, but I can tell.” She glances up at the roses. “I’ve never seen someone get so sweaty about a flower arrangement before.”
I smile through gritted teeth. This is so my luck.
“Well,” I say slowly. “This particular flower arrangement is not from the man who I just started seeing exclusively this morning.”
This takes her by surprise. “Okay, first of all—yay to you for your new relationship. Second of all … maybe yay to you for being so interesting that a second guy is also fawning over you?” She laughs tightly. “Or not? I mean, who is guy number two?”
“A guy I met last night.”
“So a guy before you became exclusive with the first one?”
I nod warily.
“Then what’s the problem?” She shrugs happily. “This is a win-win as far as I can tell.”
I lean against the sink and wish I had her optimism. What if Oliver gets angry? What will he do to me if he finds out? It will be like when Luca thought I was flirting with the—
Stop. Oliver is not Luca.
“I thought about last night at the gala and seeing you with Marius. I thought about having you in my house and in my bed. I thought about waking up and making breakfast … I want this to be the beginning.”
Oliver wasn’t angry with me last night because I danced with Marius. He was angry because he wants us. Our beginning.
I look at the flowers again. They are beautiful and if they’d arrived a few weeks ago, I’d be tripping over myself to touch every single petal. Despite how gorgeous they are, they don’t hold a candle to Oliver’s smile.
That’s what I want.
“Paige, consider yourself the new owner of a bunch of roses,” I say, walking to the counter and picking up Joe’s sandwich. I grab a bag of chips for good measure.
The decision feels right in my stomach. It’s logical. Why risk upsetting the apple cart—or flower cart, as it is—for one bad fruit?
“Really?” she asks.
“Really.”
“Thank you.” Paige smiles. “I’ve never had that many flowers in my life.”
“Me either.”
I laugh as I walk out of the kitchen.
I may not have had two dozen roses before, but I also won’t be swayed by an over-the-top gesture. Marius missed the memo last night. That’s on him. But I believe my heart is seeing a very clear memo right now.
The man who stole my breath this morning—multiple times—might end up stealing my heart.
Twenty-Seven
Oliver
“We got it!” Holt shoves open my door and marches in my office. “Right fucking here.”
“Um, who got it?” Boone makes a face as he follows our brother in. “I got it. Me.”
Holt fires him a look. “I’m gonna kill you.”
I throw my phone on my desk. “I’m gonna kill both of you if you don’t learn how to fucking knock.”
My gaze slips to Shaye. She glances up at me from her desk and smiles. I’m sure she’s thinking what I’m thinking—if they’d have barged in here any day over this past week, there’s a chance that they would’ve found her bent over my desk, lying half-naked on the sofa, or leaning against the wet bar with my fingers inside her sweet little pussy. Since our first night together and our agreement to be exclusive, it’s been impossible to keep my hands off her.
I adjust my cock and move my eyes back to my brothers.
“What’s so important that you forgot your manners?” I ask them.
“Fine.” Boone crosses one ankle over his knee. “Let’s not tell him until he’s nice, Holt.”
Holt tries not to smile. When he speaks, his voice is lowered. “Let’s get his EA in here. Bet he’ll be nice then.”
They both know. They have to. The look they both give me tells me that they know I’m involved with Shaye.
I should just admit it. It would make life a hell of a lot easier. I’m sure Holt would try to convince me to move her to Boone’s office or maybe even Wade’s, and I’m just as sure I’d shoot that down like a clay pigeon.
Having Shaye next door to me has changed my entire day. I used to work for hours on end, barely going home to sleep. I was anxious, unsettled—looked forward to the next deal and maybe Sunday dinner at Mom’s.
But now? It’s different. My office, my life, has changed. In some ways, it’s subtle. It’s laughing more in the office and leaving earlier to take Shaye to dinner. In other ways, it’s obvious. It’s waking up with Shaye in my arms and feeling grounded during the day.
I keep waiting for the shine to dull, for the novelty to wear off, but day after day, it’s there. It gets better.
“So, we have some news,” Holt says.
Boone beams. “I found the owner of the property behind the Jewell project.”