Chapter 14 Olivia #2
Harper leaned forward and placed one hand behind her ear. “What’s that?” she asked. “I can’t hear you over the sound of sweet, sweet victory.”
I turned toward Duke in horror. “Who raised these monsters?”
“Yours is the ringleader,” he said.
Charlie beamed at his distinction. Typical. Only my daughter would take something like that as a highly distinguished honor.
As I reached across the table for the check, Duke grabbed it first.
“You ran errands with me all afternoon,” I said. “The least I could do is pay. Especially since I got you stuck on dish duty.”
While I knew he wouldn’t give it back, I thought he’d put up more fight than he did. Instead, his lips quirked, and he said, “Running errands with you isn’t something I need to be paid to do. I enjoyed it.”
“You enjoyed running errands?” I asked, brows furrowed.
“With you,” he corrected, sliding out of the booth. “I said, I liked running errands with you.” Before I could utter another word, he strode to the counter to pay our bill.
I was vaguely aware of Charlie asking me something, but I wasn’t sure what I said.
I wasn’t even sure I replied at all. While she was talking, my attention was elsewhere.
I knew I shouldn’t gawk at Duke in front of our kids, but I couldn’t help it.
I loved watching him, seeing the occasional tilt of his lips, or hearing a smart-assed quip.
Surprisingly, I loved doing normal, everyday things with him. And he apparently loved them, too.
“Earth to Mooooom,” Charlie sang.
“Huh? What?” I turned toward my daughter. “Sorry. Zoned out again.”
She rolled her eyes playfully. “Yeah, you seem to be doing that a lot today.”
“Alright, you have my full attention. Hit me with it.”
“I asked what we were going to be doing after this, and if Harper could come over? I want to show her the treehouse Uncle Luke is building for me.”
“Uh,” I said, chancing a glance back at Duke. He was tucking his wallet in the back pocket of his jeans. “We’ll head back to John’s after this so Mr. Bennett can get his truck, but it’s fine with me if they come over.”
The girls whooped again as Duke turned toward the table. They flew past him to the quarter machines at the front. He stopped in front of the table with his hands stuffed in his pockets. “I swear to god if you bet them anything else…”
“Not this time. The girls were asking if you wanted to come over once we got your truck from John’s. Charlie wants to show Harper the treehouse Luke is building for her,” I said, sliding toward the end of the seat.
“And what’d you say?”
I wasn’t sure why, but I was suddenly worried he thought that I’d committed him to something he didn’t want to do, so I hurried to offer assurances. “I told them it was up to you, I swear. You’re not obligated to—”
“The answer’s yes.”
For what felt like the millionth time today, I wondered who this man was and what happened to the Duke Bennett I thought I knew. Because the one I met a few weeks ago wouldn’t be caught dead spending more time with me than was required. “You don’t have to—”
“I know I don’t. I want to.” As if remembering himself, he added, “Plus, I think it’d make Harper happy.”
“Yeah, it’d totally make Harper happy.” We were trapped in a moment, neither of us willing to break eye contact.
It’d make me happy, too, I thought. However, I kept that comment to myself.
As I tried to exit the booth, I thought Duke would move. He didn’t, of course. When I straightened, our chests were nearly touching, and his breath mingled with my own. The scent of spearmint gum filled the small space. I leaned closer, trapped by his piercing green gaze against my will.
Something clattered to the ground behind him, causing me to jump back on instinct. His arms shot out to steady me as I almost fell backward into the booth. It was only when he was sure that I wasn’t going to fall over that he relaxed his grip. “Careful. Don’t go falling for me now,” he murmured.
Oh my god. Was Duke flirting with me?
What did it say about me that I was in my late thirties and had no idea if a man was flirting or not? I couldn’t remember the last time it’d happened, which may have been even more pathetic.
“Well, you make it hard not to,” I laughed, gesturing toward his body. He smirked, and I rushed to cover my tracks. “I mean, you know, when you don’t move out of the way,” I corrected.
Smooth, Liv. Real fucking smooth.
Duke let his hands travel down my biceps and to my hands, lingering there for a moment before stepping back and clearing his throat. “We should probably get going. I’m sure the girls are wondering what’s taking us so long.”
“Yup. Good call.” I moved in front of him, and his hand found the small of my back.
The hem of my t-shirt had ridden up just enough while sitting that his fingertips brushed against my bare back.
The simple touch had my skin prickling and my senses on alert.
I was so keenly tuned into his body placement, relishing the stupidly giddy feeling in my stomach at his nearness, that I didn’t even notice we made it to my car.
Duke guided me to the passenger side door of my SUV, gesturing for me to step inside. For once, I did as he asked without question. “Such a gentleman.”
“Sometimes,” he said, giving me a fucking wink before checking the girls’ seatbelts.
He got in the car, placed his hand on the back of my seat, and turned over his shoulder to back out. Why was that so hot? I caught a whiff of his cologne as he leaned close, the masculine scent drawing me in. Being near him was clearly making my brain go fuzzy. I needed to get it together.
But how could I when he looked so effortlessly hot and was a gentleman to boot? The more I got to know him, the more I wanted to be around him. Sure, he could be a grumpy ass sometimes, but I’d seen a different side of him today. One I wasn’t sure existed.
One I found way too intriguing.
By the time we made it past Main Street, Charlie and Harper had both taken over the role of DJ, blasting pop music that made Duke cringe. “Who listens to this shit?” he asked, glancing my way.
I rolled my head along the headrest. “You do realize I’m the CEO of a music label, right?”
He shrugged sheepishly. “I’m guessing that’s one of your artists?”
“Sure is,” I laughed. “We found her singing at karaoke bars around Nashville. The moment I heard her voice, I knew she was going to be a chart topper.”
Duke was quiet for a second. “Do you love it? Your job, I mean.”
I wanted to tell him how badly I wanted to love it. That I’d worked my ass off and even married a man I knew I’d never love as more than a friend to ensure the position would be mine.
But I didn’t. I hated it.
I hated the fact that it took me away from my daughter, my family, and my friends.
That I couldn’t promise anything other than a handful of stolen moments with them a month.
I hated that it didn’t allow me any room for error.
That the fate of the entire company, and the livelihood of every employee and artist under the umbrella, was sitting on my shoulders.
Most of all, I hated the way it made me resent my father the longer I stayed on, a man whom I’d idolized and built my life around since I was a young girl. A life I no longer wanted. Not the way it looked currently, at least.
Instead, I wanted soccer games on Saturday mornings and lazy pancake breakfasts on Sunday.
I wanted to get pissed off at the dumb shit parents did in the pick-up line at Charlie’s school.
To have the luxury of getting kicked out of my daughter’s end-of-year play because her family loved her too loudly.
And I wanted a man I could rely on. Who would add to my life instead of taking from it. The kind of man who was kind-hearted and loved deeply.
I wanted a man like Duke Bennett.
“Olivia?”
“No, I don’t love it,” I responded honestly, unable to stop the laugh from bubbling out of me.
Duke likely thought I was losing my mind, but admitting something like that felt like lifting the weight of the world from my shoulders.
I hadn’t admitted it to anyone. Not even Grady.
The last person I tried talking to about it shamed me and called me a disgrace to my father’s memory, so I learned quickly to keep it to myself.
“Then why are you doing it?” he asked.
I searched for any hint of judgment, but found none.
Just careful curiosity. “It’s all I know.
It’s what I’ve worked for my entire life.
Seems kind of pointless if I don’t follow through.
” My gaze fell to my lap, to the chipped manicure the girls gave me during our sleepover.
“Besides, there’s no one else in the family to take over.
If I don’t stay on, it’d be the first time a Hart wasn’t CEO. ”
“You can’t live your life for someone else.” Duke’s voice was soft. Reassuring. It nearly had me on the verge of tears.
Before one could fall, I pushed forward.
“Tell that to my family. My dad was adamant about me following in his footsteps. And John’s dedicated just as much of his life to ensuring the transfer of power from him to me was as smooth as possible.
I can’t let all of that go to waste just because I don’t love it anymore. ”
Duke’s fingers tapped against the wheel, but he didn’t say anything right away.
It wasn’t until we were pulling onto the last stretch of country road that he spoke again.
“You should talk to John about how you’re feeling.
I bet the thing that he wants more than anything in this world is for you to be happy. ”