“Hi.” My response is more of a squeak than I’d like, and I groan inwardly.Smooth, Molly. Very smooth. Might as well stick your tongue out and pant while you’re at it.
Nicholas’s smile only widens. He probably doesn’t even notice my silly reactions. Not when girls far prettier than me fawn over him.
“Ready to walk ’em?” He tilts his chin at the leashes I’m holding.
“Yeah.” The dogs wag their tails faster, probably hoping he’s my “safety partner,” so we can get going. Although Furry Haven is in a nice area, we had an incident last month when some weirdo flashed one of the volunteers during a walk. Since then, nobody’s allowed to take the dogs out without a partner. I think flashers might enjoy the chance for a twofer, but I’m not the one making the rules here.
“Awesome. Let me take a few.” A couple of the younger ones bark, unable to contain their excitement.
Nicholas reaches out for the leashes. His hand brushes mine, and an electric zing shoots through my body. I bite my lip and drop my gaze to hide my reaction.
Envious gazes focus on me, but I merely smile and walk out of the shelter with Nicholas.
“I thought Matt was going to be my safety partner.” I keep my tone all casual and cool as he reins in the excited dogs. Cooper in particular is overly excitable.
We walk out of the small building that houses the shelter. The dogs pant and pull on the leashes, and Nicholas tightens his grip. The man knows how to exert control, which is hot as hell. His forearm muscles flex, and I stare in absolute fascination.
“He apparently had something come up,” Nicholas answers with a shrug.
“I see.” I think, but am unable to add anything.
I’ve harbored something between an infatuation and hopeless love for him since I met him eight years ago at high school graduation. He looked at me indulgently and treated me like a kid he liked better than most because of my friendship with his stepsister, Georgia. After all, I was just finishing high school, and he’d been out of college for several years. There was nothing in common between us, and nothing about me that would draw his eye.
Besides, nothing could’ve made our differences clearer than his giving me a gorgeous garnet anklet on my nineteenth birthday. I was shocked and uncertain as to what to say. The jewelry seemed so expensive, and not something I could casually accept. And isn’t jewelry for somebody you like romantically? Or was I reading too much into it? My head sort of went blank, and I panicked with the pressure to say something. Although I can’t remember exactly what, I’m pretty sure I blabbered a bunch of nonsense and upset him. Since then, he’s never given me anything except a short text and a hundred-dollar Amazon gift card for my birthdays.
And I give him a handmade card in return for his because he said that’s all he wanted. He was probably just trying to be nice. After all, I can’t buy him anything, not when he’s a billionaire with everything he could desire at his fingertips. I’m just an accountant who lives from paycheck to paycheck. He travels all over the world—in private jets—and I don’t even have my passport. He dates models with toned abs and endless legs, and I’m like… Well, let’s just say the modeling agencies aren’t breaking down my door. I’m just a normal girl with a soft, un-toned body and legs of average length. We couldn’t be more different. Like a fish and a bird.
I can’t imagine being with Nicholas. He’s out of this galaxy, beyond my reach. It’s like trying to do a split—except that if I overextend myself, I might just rip my heart out. Or, worse, have him pity me.
Besides, I’m loath to do anything that would make him feel awkward around me. He’s too nice to say anything, but he might avoid me or quit coming to the shelter. I’m just happy to be able to spend some time with him once a month, doing good deeds for animals who need extra care and love.
We walk along the path toward the park near the shelter. It’s a favorite spot for the dogs to explore.
“I heard you went to some gala for your brother. Grant, I think?” I say, oh-so casually.
“Yeah. Some sort of charity he wanted to support, and I wanted to help.” Nicholas’s tone is kind and patient, just like the man himself. “Speaking of which, I hear there’s a charity auction Furry Haven’s going to be part of. Three weeks from now, right? Are you going to be there? To auction off a date?”
“Who, me? Oh. Ha-ha. No.”
He frowns. “Brenda didn’t ask?”
“Well, yeah, she did.” I clear my throat, wondering if that sounded arrogant, like,of course she did—I’m hot. “I think she asked everyone. But anyway, no. Not me.”
“Why not?”
Is it me, or does he sound genuinely perplexed? Except I don’t know why he would be. “Well, you know. The shelter already has somebody who’s going to do the auction, and I wasn’t sure if I could raise any real money.”
His frown stays, and I realize he might be thinking that it was selfish of me to refuse to help raise money for the shelter. “But I, you know, offered to donate some money to the shelter if she couldn’t find anyone.”
His frown deepens.What did I say?
Finally, he lets out a small sigh. He opens his mouth like he’s about to say something, but shuts up. “So. How have you been?” he asks finally.
“Great.” I flash him a bright smile.Thank God we aren’t talking about the auction anymore. I try to come up with something interesting and exciting to say about my life. Sadly, being an accountant doesn’t lend itself to thrills, and I don’t think my boss being overly touchy-feely or that I’m looking for a new job behind his back is the kind of topic that Nicholas will find interesting. And I doubt he wants to hear about the spicy romance novel I finished last week. Actually, it’s inappropriate to talk to him about a book that’s more like a collection of sex scenes strung together with a threadbare plot. It could come across like I was trying to hit on him, which I’m totally not.
“I moved in with Owen three months ago,” I blurt out finally. Not because I think my boyfriend is a super exciting subject for Nicholas, but because it seems like an inoffensive topic that won’t bore him to tears.
“Sounds serious.” Nicholas seems…somber.
