She nodded. “Oh, I do.” Then she pushed him back.
His hand slipped from under her robe and he sighed. “I don’t get it.”
“I know.”
“Do I want you to explain it?”
“Probably not.”
“Why I can’t strip this little robe off of you and go for this thing that we both clearly want? I think I do.”
She actually laughed at that.
“What?” he asked. She was laughing?
“You didn’t even know you wanted this until I kissed you. You never would have kissed me first.”
He tucked his hands into his pockets. No. He wouldn’t have. Probably.
“And now you suddenly want this?” she asked.
“It was a really good kiss,” he said with a shrug.
“It was.”
“And you’re sexy and sweet and smart and funny.”
“Yes, I am,” she said with a nod.
He had to admit, one thing he really liked about her was her confidence. He felt one corner of his mouth tip.
“You really should have wanted to do this before now,” she said.
She pushed away from the door and he took an obligatory step back.
Watching her tighten the belt around her waist, he remembered the feel of her ass in his hand and her tongue against his. Yeah, he really should have wanted this before. Why hadn’t he?
“I want it now. And you’re in love with me. Seems like it’s all going your way,” he said.
She laughed and pushed him back far enough that she could open the door. “Um, no.”
He looked at the open door, then back to her. “No?”
“I mean, sure, we could have some really hot sex,” she said. “But if that’s all I wanted, I could have seduced you a couple of years ago.”
He opened his mouth to respond and then shut it, frowning hard.
She tipped her head, waiting for him to say something.
Finally, he brilliantly replied, “What?”
“Oliver, sex is easy. I could have kissed you some night when we were the only ones at the office after hours or one of the nights I dropped something off at your apartment that you’d forgotten. What just happened here could have happened a dozen times over the years.”
“But?” he asked, feeling a rising sense of panic that he didn’t understand.
“But I wanted more than that.”
“You wanted me to be your boyfriend,” he said flatly.
“Yes.” She was clearly unmoved by his attitude.
“You couldn’t have just said that?”
“Well, I’ve been trying to decide if you’d be good at it,” she said.
“For how long?”
“About two years.”
He blinked at her. “It’s taken you two years?”
“Yes.”
He stared at her. Piper was a very unique person in his life. She liked him. She admired him. She encouraged him and helped him do all of the amazing things he and the guys did with Fluke. But she was also… unimpressed. She didn’t act like a single other woman he knew. At least not the ones who wanted to sleep with him. He knew women who wanted to date him because he was a good-looking—so he’d been told—millionaire. He knew women who wanted to date him because they were huge fans of Warriors. All of those women flattered him and fawned all over him and genuinely thought he was awesome.
Piper thought he was a pain in the ass.
She wanted him, evidently, and claimed to be in love with him. But it had taken her two years to decide if he’d be a good boyfriend.
And she was right to wonder about that.
Still, that rankled.
“So that’s it?” he asked. “You’re in love with me, but you’re quitting your job, and you don’t want to sleep with me?”
She nodded. “Yep. That’s it.”
“You’re just going to… what? Work on getting over me, then?”
She shrugged. “Yep.”
He scowled. “And you think you’re going to be able to do that?”
“I really hope so.”
Good. That was good. She needed to get over him.
He had no idea why that thought made his chest hurt.
“Will you come back to work for us if you can get over me?”
She looked at him, seemingly thinking. “Yeah. If I can get over you, I’ll come back to work.”
The pain in his chest intensified. He rubbed a hand over the spot. That was stupid. He wanted her to get over him. And to come back to work. For sure. The sooner the better.
He studied her, taking in the face, devoid of make-up, that was achingly familiar, yet seemed brand new tonight.
“Are you going back to Chicago?” he asked, his voice gruff.
She shook her head and he felt some of the tightness around his lungs ease.
“I have something I’m working on here.”
“Like what?”
“Just something with Drew.”
“Drew?” Ollie felt his eyebrows slam together. “Drew Ryan?”
Ryan owned a farm outside of Appleby with his brother, Dallas, and friend, Justin. They had alpacas, among other animals, that Piper seemed especially enamored with.
At least, Ollie had been telling himself it was the alpacas. Truth was, it was obvious Drew liked Piper.
Of course, everyone liked Piper.
Drew Ryan had probably thought about kissing her. Already. After only knowing her for a few months. Whereas Oliver had known her for five years and hadn’t thought about it at all until tonight.
His gaze dropped to her mouth, and he rubbed the sore spot in his chest again.
Now he wasn’t so sure he’d be able to stop thinking about it.
“Yes, Drew Ryan,” Piper said.
“You think Drew Ryan will be a good boyfriend?”
She seemed to think about that for a moment. “Yes, he probably would be.” She narrowed her eyes. “But not for me. See, I’m in love with someone else. He would be, at best, a rebound. At worst, a consolation boyfriend. That’s not fair to him.”
That actually made Ollie feel better which, he knew, made him kind of an ass. He’d rather she be alone? Really? A woman as amazing and passionate as Piper?
No. Probably not. Dammit. He didn’t know. He’d never thought about any of this before an hour ago.
“Don’t date Drew Ryan. Like anyone else but him.”
“You need to go,” she said, gesturing toward the still-open doorway.
“You’re kicking me out?”
“Yep.”
“But you’re in love with me.”
She let her head fall back and she groaned. “Yes. And I’m tired of talking to you right now.”
“You’re tired of talking to the man you’re in love with?”
She gave him a look that said she was out of patience. He’d seen that look a number of times over the years. “Get out.”
He stepped into the doorway, but paused. “You should have a boyfriend, Piper. If you want one.”
“Yes, I know.”
“You shouldn’t write men off because of me.”
Her brows went up. “I’m not.”
He frowned. “But you said you didn’t want Drew Ryan to be a rebound.”