A Ticking Time Boss (New York Billionaires Book 4) by Olivia Hayle

Author:Olivia Hayle [Hayle, Olivia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-02-10T18:30:00+00:00

FOURTEEN

Carter’s legs are almost too long for the cramped space outside my window. He extends them, the tips of his lacquered suit shoes emerging through a slab of bars.

“Isn’t this a great balcony?” I say. I climb out after him with a bottle of wine and a blanket tucked under my arm. Despite the unusual warmth, it’s still night in New York, and we’ll need to keep our jackets on.

“Yes,” he says. “Fantastic. It’s definitely a reason to overlook the fourteen other health hazards.”

“No ragging on my place while you’re a guest,” I inform him sternly.

He holds up his hands, a half-smile on his face. “Sorry, kid. I’ll keep my thoughts to myself.”

“Don’t even think them.” I hand him the bottle and sit down opposite him, struggling to fit my legs into the space. He reaches down and, as if it’s nothing, as if we’ve been intimate before, lifts them across his lap.

“Better?”

“Yes, thanks.” The railing is lit with tiny fairy lights, the one decoration I’d added to the fire escape. It’s most definitely not up to code and I don’t care.

Carter unscrews the wine and doesn’t comment on the poor quality. I’m treating the owner of one of America’s oldest newspapers to a bottle of six-dollar wine. I lean back against the bars and watch him fill up two wineglasses.

The impossibility of him, here, makes me smile.

He notices. “Why are you looking so happy?” he asks, handing me one of the glasses. But his eyes dance in the dim light.

“I don’t know. You being here, drinking this awful wine with me.”

“It’s awful?”

“My best friend bought it for me when I moved in and we never ended up drinking it. It’s cheap.”

He takes a deep swig, and then raises an eyebrow. “It’s drinkable.”

“Wow. I was aiming for oaky undertones or full-bodied, but I’ll take it.”

“Smart-ass,” he says, He rests his right hand on my calf, still draped across his lap. Connecting us even further. “Was it okay that I took us to the same bar where we met tonight?”

I nod. “We kinda came full circle, didn’t we? Returning to the place where it all started.”

“That was the idea,” he admits. “I also thought that…”

“That what?” I nudge him with my leg, and his hand shifts. Moves to my knee. “Tell me.”

“It wouldn’t be intimidating. You know, I didn’t want you hyperventilating at a bar and needing some handsome stranger to save you.”

I grin. “That happens, does it?”

“It happened to a friend of mine quite recently, actually,” he says. “Tonight was just you and me and alcohol, and I figured there was no way either of us wouldn’t enjoy it.”

“It was a good date. Great, even.” I feel brave, filled with liquid courage. “I invited you up for a nightcap, didn’t I?”

His eyes flash with heat. “You did. I’m grateful.”

“Grateful?”

“Maybe the wrong choice of words. Intrigued, perhaps. Definitely encouraged.” He looks down at my legs over his, thumb moving slowly over the edge of my knee. I feel it, even through my stockings.

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