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To make up for the still-circulating rumors about him and Claudette, Logan had taken steps to at least make her position in his life clear with those working for him. And his first move: hiring another au pair for the day shift, and since there was no such thing as a nanny working for another nanny, none of his house staff even pretended they still thought of Tilly as one of them.
His housekeeper even went as far as consulting Tilly about the weekly menu, his executive staff at the office knew better than to ever put Tilly’s calls on hold, and even his friends’ wives had started inviting her to public gatherings that a mere “nanny” wouldn’t normally be expected to participate.
If Logan had his way, he would’ve given the timeline the middle finger and publicly declared their relationship a long time ago.
But for some reason, it was Tilly who now wished to take things slowly.
Tilly noticed the way the billionaire was staring at her, and instead of the usual glitter of lust, his dark gaze was veiled, and she couldn’t help feeling self-conscious. “What?”
Billie nearly snorted, thinking that her big sister was only playing hard to get. “Logan’s obviously smitten with you, Tilly.”
“Yes, Tilly.” The billionaire’s deadpanned tone once again had Tilly in stitches. “Logan’s obviously smitten with you, so why not give the poor man a break and say you’d go out with him on a date?”
“I’m just worried I’m not his type,” Tilly demurred. “Have you seen the women he used to date? They’re all blondes.”
The billionaire didn’t miss a beat, asking, “Surely the guy’s entitled to change his mind?”
“And then there’s the alphabet thing those girls were also famous for.”
Two pairs of eyes swung to her in open puzzlement at her words, but it was Billie who asked blankly, “The alphabet?”
“Oh, you know.” Tilly’s voice took on a breezy tone. “MD, PhD, JD, MB, and I think there might even have been a TSgt once?”
Billie still didn’t get it, but the billionaire did, and amusement gleamed in his gaze as he drawled, “There is nothing for you to feel bad about. None of their, err, letters can compare to yours.”
“But I don’t have any—”
Leaning towards her, the billionaire whispered into her ear, “It’s called MRS,” and Tilly ended up choking and blushing all at the same time.
Even young as she was, Billie was far from oblivious to the undercurrent of tension charging the air between the older couple, and she shook her head at the pair’s stubborness. It was so obvious they liked each other. So why did they insist on playing this weird and stupid game of just being friends?
Tilly couldn’t help making a face when her sister suddenly asked permission to play in the garden with Liam and Jeannie, the newly hired nanny. Turning to the billionaire, she said wryly, “She totally did that just to get us alone.”
“She probably found it awkward,” Logan speculated idly, “seeing that you’re the one completely smitten with me instead.”
“I wasn’t acting anything like that,” Tilly protested, but the billionaire simply smirked, and she was torn between exasperation and a tender, helpless form of amusement at the amount of blatant satisfaction carved over the billionaire’s chiseled features. Why would he even want her smitten was beyond her, considering how much of their mail-order marriage contract had revolved around his insistence to keep their relationship strictly business-like.
And that was just one of the continuously increasing number of contradictions the billionaire presented, Tilly couldn’t help thinking.
Not once had he ever spoken about love, but then she’d catch him looking at her at times, and the look in his eyes almost made her believe in the impossible. One moment, he would seem hell-bent on keeping his distance from her, but in the days the billionaire would suddenly come home and find her gone, he’d use any method short of siccing the police on her to locate her, almost as if he was afraid of her leaving him.
Can I believe you love me?
She terribly wished she could just ask him that once and for all, but even the mere thought of doing so made her feel guilty and greedy, with Tilly unable to forget the countless ways he had changed her life and Billie’s for the better.
This has to be enough, she told herself. Love him without holding him back. That had been her promise to herself, and she could never stay true to that if she spoke to him of her feelings.
“Tilly…”
Logan’s darkly musical voice had her biting back a sigh as she turned to him, and her heart skipped a beat at the look in his eyes.
“Just say yes, baby.”
“I want to,” Tilly said solemnly, “but you might think I’m too easy.”
“But you are easy—”
She half-sputtered, half-laughed. Jerk!
“And you’ll never be able to help it,” the billionaire purred, “since your body was made for me to please.”
