He’s making my heart pound in ways that it hasn’t pounded for anyone in years, and it’s both terrifying and thrilling.
He and I—we see eye to eye on things I never expected. He’s doing what Iwantedto do.
What I screwed up for myself but he was smart enough to pull off.
Becausehe was boring for so long.
But he’s not boring anymore.
Not even close.
I rub my temples. My neck is aching again, and now my whole chest is too.
Can’t fix that, but I can work on something else.
There have to be millions in Oliver’s suitcases, and there’s no chance he’s giving away this much cash before he’s supposedly due back from his vacation. That’s a lot to give away in under two weeks.
“Did youactuallyhave a plan for giving this all away?” I gesture to the bags.
“Do you even know what plans are?” he teases back.
I ignore the barb because he’s not far off base with the question, plus, there’s no heat in his voice. Only playfulness. “You could use this to pay cash for your groceries for the rest of your life and still die with your mattress stuffed full.”
He shoves off the edge of the tub, closes the small distance between the bathroom and the bed and sits beside me on the edge. “I had exactly enough time to plan an escape route. Not enough time to plan day-to-day logistics. I just—I assumed I’d find the way to give it all away in the moment. Once I had moments. And now—we haven’t even gone through twenty thousand, have we?”
I run a hand through his hair.
It’s natural and easy to want to comfort him in his feeling of failure, and I don’t even think about it. I just scratch his scalp through his thick hair.
“Don’t worry about a thing, Ollie. I’m on the job now. I’ll have you down a million by this time tomorrow.”
He turns his head so he’s staring at me.
Eyes dark.
Unreadable.
Breath shallow.
My hand stills in his hair as I realize I shouldn’t be touching him.
Not at all.
Not for any reason.
“You will, won’t you?” he says softly.
Reverently.
I don’t snatch my hand back. I don’twantto.
His hair is thick with more silver strands than there should be, and I want to keep touching it.
I want to keep touching him while he’s so blatantly admiring me for wanting to do the same kind of good in the world that he wants to do.
“I’m very determined when I set my mind to something.”
“I never thought to like that about you until right now.”
