Page 50 of Wife By Accident

And worst of all, what if Leo still thought of her as just a temporary wife, someone to brighten his life and then leave again? What if she told him that she loved him and he was shocked, horrified — even pitying? She wouldn’t be able to stand that.

No, it was better to say nothing. At least until Leo gave her a clear sign that he felt the same way… at least until the divorce was finalized and they were both free to share their true feelings.

CHAPTER 21

LEO

“Well, here we are.”

Leo stepped into the Palasa office, sweeping his arm to present the bright hallways and glass-windowed rooms of his kingdom.

“It looks exactly like I thought it would,” Olivia said, stepping off the elevator behind him.

“Is that a good thing?” He looked down at her.

She grinned. “Sure. It looks like a flourishing tech company.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I see some people playing ping-pong.” Olivia slowly walked down the hallway. “I see people in suits and people in band T-shirts. I see someone napping in a pod. I see… is that an ice cream machine?”

Leo chuckled. “Would you like some?”

“Maybe in a bit. Show me your office, first.”

“Follow me.”

Leo was uncharacteristically nervous as he led Olivia to his private office. Last night, over cookies they’d baked together, Olivia had mentioned that she wanted to see Palasa. After all, she’d said, he had talked about it so much that she felt like she knew it, and she wanted to see it for herself. Leo had been flattered, and he still was, but part of him worried that Olivia wouldn’t like it. She was a creative person, a talented photographer, and Leo’s work was very different from hers. Sure, his work relied on creativity, too, but in a very different way.

“This is it.” Leo opened the door to his office for Olivia to enter. She crossed his office, ran a hand along the top of his mahogany desk, spun his desk chair, and gazed out at the view. Then she turned back to Leo.

“You really are a CEO.”

He laughed. “Did you doubt that?”

“No, but actually seeing this place with my own eyes is different from hearing you talk about it. At home, or when we’re out together, you’re just Leo. But here, you’re Leo Barclay, billionaire, co-founder and CEO of Palasa.” She said the last bit in a joking hoity-toity voice.

Leo shrugged. “I suppose.” Something felt just a little bit off, though he couldn’t put his finger on what.

“So.” Olivia turned back to him. “Is this where the magic happens?”

“The magic?”

She blushed. “Okay. Maybe I don’t completely understand what you do. Do you write code? Or… supervise people? I didn’t want to look silly, so I said magic.”

Leo chuckled. “Well, you succeeded in not looking silly. The truth is, some of both. Most CEOs aren’t directly involved in coding, but I love that part, so I still do it. And there are lots of parts of my job that involve managing people, organizing things, making decisions…”

“Can you show me?”

“How I make decisions?”

“No.” Olivia rolled her eyes as she grinned. “How you code.”

Leo glanced at her. “Really? It’s boring.”

“I’m sure it isn’t. And you looked at my pictures the other night.”

“This is definitely more boring than that. But ask, and you shall receive.” He went to his desk, sat, and pulled up a few lines of code he’d been tinkering with. Olivia leaned over his shoulder, close enough that he could feel the warmth of her body.