Page 84 of The Billionaire Mismatch

After we get back to my apartment, he helps me bring my things inside before turning to me. “So now what?” he asks. “Do you have plans tonight?”

“Actually, I do,” I answer. “I’m hanging out with…a friend.”

“Sadie?” he asks. I’m not sure what to say. It’s awkward. So awkward. But if he feels any certain way about that, he doesn’t show it.

“That should be fun,” he adds.

“Yeah,” I smile. “We haven’t hung out in a while.”

And for a moment, neither of us says anything else. Until he clicks his tongue.

“You know…I find it interesting that you and Sadie are friends,”

“Oh, really?” I ask as nonchalantly as possible. “Why is that?”

“You’re so different,” he says, and the elephant in the room repositions itself, squishing both of us. He knows I know that they went out. That he fired her. I know he does. Which makes me wonder if he knows about the podcast. Surely not. If he did, I’m pretty sure he would have said something. Not taken me out on dates and made comments that made me wonder just how deep the water we are treading actually is.

It’s both relieving and sickening that he probably doesn’t know.

“Yeah, well, she’s my best friend either way,” I say, hoping that solidifies my loyalty. Even though my actions as of late have challenged that a little.

Luca steps forward with an easy smile and dark, warm eyes. Then he plants a kiss on my lips, soft and sensual.

“Have fun with your girl’s night,” he says. “I’ll call you soon.”

The door closes behind him, and I sit down on the couch in a heap. My heart is racing for more than one reason, and my head is spinning out of control.

This whole thing has gotten so out of control, and I have no idea how I’m going to stop it.

Or if I want to…

Chapter 28

Olivia

“God, I needed this,”Sadie says with a cringe because she just downed a shot of tequila. She bites into the lime and cringes harder. Honestly, I don’t know why we consider this a way of unwinding.

I do one shot with her only because it’s less work than dealing with the backlash I’d get bitch slapped with if I said no. Knowing my loving yet over the top best friend, she would most likely ask if I was pregnant or something ridiculous. Obviously, I am not. I’m on my period, which is half the reason I only wanted to make out with Luca last night. The other half was the aforementioned chess game I have been playing in my brain.

“Do you like my dress?” she asks. It’s glittery and tight and red. It thrusts her perky boobs into the air enough that every man in the bar is eyeing her. Sadie pretends not to notice, though she takes every opportunity to display them.

“It’s cute,” I say.

“It better be cute. It was expensive as fuck. You know, sometimes I wish I could be more like you,” she says, stirring her martini.

“How so?” I ask, sipping my wine and praying it doesn’t get in a fight with the tequila. I like most drinks, but wine is my poison of choice. It’s notorious for not playing well with others, which is exactly why I plan on sticking to it for the remainder of the night, which I’m hoping ends by eleven.

“Just the way you are,” she says with a wave of her hand. “You can take anything and make it look chic, even if you did find it at the bottom of a bin at a thrift store.”

I look down at the dress I am wearing. It’s the one I bought today. And while it’s not exactly nightclub attire, it’s pretty, and it’s what I wanted to wear. So I did.

“I didn’t find it at the bottom of a bin,” I tell her, flattening it down. “It was on a rack.”

“At a thrift store,” she laughs a little too loudly, and I know it’s to get the attention of a table of blond-haired, square-jawed college guys sitting about ten feet from us.

I say nothing to that. I simply smile and sip my wine. Normally, that comment might bother me. Sadie has always had a way of outshining me. She’s loud, flirty, and knows how to reel men in only to tease them before releasing them again. It’s a game I’ve never cared to play, even if it drives most men wild.

But right now, I can genuinely say I don’t care.