Crushing on my Billionaire Best Friend - Jolie Day Page 0,43

was giving me? What business did he have staring at my mouth like that…like he wanted to sink right into it?

I wondered if Oliver pulled away so quickly to avoid whatever he was feeling toward me, but I had to stop thinking things like that if I was going to survive the rest of the day.

A while later, Oliver slid his club back into the bag propped up behind us. “You ready to get out of here? We could grab something to eat.”

My heart leapt with hopeful possibilities. But it was quickly squashed by my memory of the woman he’d run into earlier today. It hurt, but I needed to remind myself that he hadn’t looked at her the same way he’d looked at me.

Then I was hit with the vivid flash of the brief moments we had shared that afternoon. But he had looked at me that way for a few seconds, hadn’t he?

“Don’t you have plans with that Triple T chick?” I blurted. Shit. Why did I say that out loud?

His brows wrinkled. “Triple…what?”

“Nothing!” I said quickly. “Nothing. But didn’t you tell that woman earlier today that you’d call her?”

“What woman?”

“Sandra?”

“Are you kidding me?” He wrapped his arm around my shoulders, this time in his usual “big brother” kind of way. “After you avoided my invites to go out for so long, I’ve finally got you for the whole day. I’m not going to miss a moment of this. I just said that so she wouldn’t give me a hard time.”

“You lied.” I grinned and raised a brow at him, but truthfully, I wasn’t complaining.

“No, I didn’t lie. I said maybe. Now, come on. Let’s get out of here. I’m starving.”

He led me along the path next to the parking lot with his arm still wrapped around me, and I could hardly breathe. I couldn’t help but stare at him as we went, until finally, he had the good sense to pull his arm away. Good, I thought. That was better. That was safe. At least two to three feet between us at all times.

We hopped into his car and drove off to one of his favorite restaurants. He already had reservations. I stopped myself from asking if he typically made advance reservations on a Saturday night—we’d usually have somebody tagging along. But this time, it was just the two of us. I could hardly contain my excitement.

For the rest of the evening, it almost felt like old times. Up until I started staying with him, I managed to “survive” years of hangout sessions where everything just came naturally. I wasn’t obsessing over my feelings for him or trying to hide them. We just laughed and talked and had a good time. It must have been what he said he’d been missing between us, and I had to admit, I’d missed it, too.

Dinner turned into drinks, and before I knew it, we were calling a car to come pick us up and take us home. “Should we watch a movie when we get back?” I asked from the opposite end of the dark backseat. The edges of his face were lit up by the passing streetlights, and I couldn’t get over how handsome he was—even after all those years of seeing his face, he was still disarmingly good looking to me.

“Yeah, but I get to pick,” he teased. “I took it easy on you today by taking you to the driving range. So now we’re going to watch something good and scary. I want your adrenaline pumping, you screaming and covering your face—the whole works, or it doesn’t count.”

“Only if you promise to protect me,” I blurted without thinking. The alcohol was causing words to fall out before I could catch them, which was dangerous territory.

But Oliver turned toward me, looking suave as ever. Without missing a beat, he took my hand and replied, “You know I always do. And I always will.”

“I might even jump into your arms if I get too scared.” I could not believe those words just left my mouth. Shit. Oh, well.

He winked. “Not to worry. I’ll catch you.”

And yeah, I might have melted a little right there on the seat, while trying to push away fantasies of what being in his arms or on his lap could entail.

I didn’t dare test the boundaries of what had happened earlier long enough to see if our eyes might lock us into another long, intense moment. He chuckled and squeezed my hand before letting it