Crushing on my Billionaire Best Friend - Jolie Day Page 0,29

lips parted to try and offer some kind of explanation or apology, but he quickly groaned and rolled over, shutting his eyes tight as he pulled the blanket over his head.

A second later, I could hear him snoring from under the cover.

Swiftly shaking it off, I headed for the door. What was I thinking being such a creeper?

At least I didn’t go through with Lisa’s other suggestion. Oh, my gosh. I almost snorted, imagining his face waking up to that surprise.

It was strange being back in the lab, working late after everybody else had gone home. It was the same scene from the night Mr. Cruz had called to give me the bad news about my apartment. I found myself being jumpy and oddly afraid to be in there all alone, as if the next bad thing could creep up and surprise me at any moment. But I did my best to shrug off the feeling and ordered a turkey on rye with a side salad from the trendy new sandwich shop down the block (they delivered), before diving back into work.

A while later, I decided to call it a day. And what a day it had been at that. Getting back into some semblance of my normal routine did wonders for taking my mind off everything that was going on, but I was eager to get back home. Or rather…Oliver’s home.

The longer-than-usual commute (thanks, traffic!) between his place and my lab almost made up for how different it had been around the penthouse since I moved in. I mean, we’d been friends for years, but seeing him on a daily basis was strange, not in a bad way, excluding the triple T’s. As I stared out the backseat window of my cab ride home, I smiled, thinking about the other night.

The taxi rolled over a big bump, shaking away the fun memory, forcing me to clutch my phone and bag extra tight to keep them from flying into the floor. As my butt slammed back down to the seat, my phone dinged. A text from Oliver.

Oliver: Thanks for breakfast this morning. And the note, you goofball. A new bar is opening up down the street from my place. Want to grab some drinks with me tonight and check it out?

I let the phone flop to my lap in my hand, closing my eyes as I tried to recenter. Things felt better after accepting one of Oliver’s invites to hang out, but there was still a lingering reservation. So, I pretended not to see his message.

The cab came to a stand-still. Again. There was an accident up ahead, so all traffic had to be rerouted, which added forty-five minutes to my already-long ride. Well, it’d still been a good day. This just gave me more time to not think about Oliver. Or the kiss I’d planted on his cheek this morning. Or the fantasy that’d stayed with me all day. Nope. Not thinking about it.

8

Laney

Paying the cabbie, I stepped out of the taxi, and got on the elevator. The apartment seemed quiet and empty when I walked in, though there were a few lights on. It looked like Oliver had rushed out to that new bar. I sighed, thinking a night to myself with the TV was just what I needed.

I put up my purse and keys and turned for the liquor cabinet. I’d bought a bottle of red wine, which I was all too happy to pull out and uncork.

“Long day?” A man’s voice suddenly cut through the room.

I nearly jumped out of my skin just as I was filling up my glass. The stream of red wine wavered just long enough to splatter down the front of my new dress. “Dammit! Why are you sneaking up on me like that, Oliver? I thought you’d left.”

“Oh, shit.”

“I love this thing. Now look at it…”

“I’m sorry!” He walked over, tugging at the front of my dress to see the glaring deep-red stain for himself. “I thought I was being funny-dramatic…not like, scary-dramatic.”

“You scared me, all right,” I huffed, still scowling at my dress.

“Take it off,” he said.

I cut my eyes up to his, thinking he couldn’t be serious. But he seemed entirely too serious as he nodded his head, repeating himself, “Go on. Take it off. I can get that out for you.”

My heart was pounding as I thought of those words directed at me, coming from his mouth—yeah, they’d be haunting me for days. I felt red-hot heat rising