Page 18 of The Love Penalty

The driver doesn’t try to make small talk, which I always appreciate. So instead, I focus on Olivia. As soon as we get in the car, she puts her head on my shoulder and I swear I feel actual butterflies in my stomach.

Since when do I get butterflies? I am a grown ass man.

I like that she feels comfortable enough around me to let down her barrier like that.She trusts me.It makes me feel like the most special guy in the world.

“Olivia,” I say, gently moving the hair out of her face, “can you stay awake? The hotel is very close, we’ll be there shortly.”

“I’m awake,” she mumbles and I chuckle at her. “Don’t laugh at me, I had a long day.”

“I know you did. Are you sure you don’t want to cancel tomorrow?” I ask, deep down hoping she says no, because I want nothing more than to spend time with her. But not if she’s this tired.

My question makes her more alert, so she sits up fully. I instantly feel the loss of her on my shoulder and mentally kick myself for opening my mouth. She looks at me and narrows her eyes, “Areyoutrying to cancel tomorrow?”

“No, of course not,” I say immediately.

“Okay, then we’re good. So tell me, what did you plan?” she says mid yawn.

“Well, I figured we can head out around 7 and grab some breakfast.”

“SEVEN?? Like, AM??” she says.

I laugh at her dumbstruck expression and say, “I take it you’re not a morning person?”

“Nooo,” she groans and her lips get all pouty and adorable.Kissable.Aw hell, not this again. I shake my head and stoplooking at her lips so I don’t do something stupid like grab her by the waist, pull her in my lap, and kiss the hell out of her. I want so badly to mess up her hair and run my hands over her thighs. I need to stop having these thoughts. She’s just afriend. A brand new friend at that.

The car comes to a stop in front of our hotel so we get out and I grab her equipment bag from the trunk. She tries to take it from me now that she’s more alert, but I playfully slap her hand away. She scoffs and says, “I can carry that myself, you know.”

“I know,” I say with a smile and start walking away from her. She shakes her head but follows me inside the lobby. We head to the elevator and she punches in her floor number.

“Okay, I’ll be ready at 7 AM, but I will need coffee before I can even attempt to make conversation with you. And I will be very grumpy until I have breakfast.” My eyebrows go up and I smile at her. She shrugs and says “Just a fair warning, I’m quite grumpy when hangry.”

“Don’t worry, I planned for everything.”

“What else is included in that everything?”

“Hope you’re not afraid of heights, because after breakfast, I’m taking us to the John Hancock tower and the ferris wheel. Then we have lunch at a ramen place, some shopping on Magnificent Mile, maybe an architecture boat tour. Then we can end the night with dinner and a drink at a really nice speakeasy.”

“Wow, that’s a lot,” she frowns and then goes quiet for a moment. We get to her floor and she leads me down the hall to her room.

“Is everything okay?” I ask, confused. I thought she was fine with me planning everything, but maybe I’ve taken it too far.

“I don’t know,” she says, peeking at me and then looking away before she pulls out her room key and fidgeting with it.

“You can tell me. If there’s something you don’t want to do, I can cancel it.”

“It’s not that—I just—“ she fumbles with her words and there’s some pink in her cheeks now. She sighs and says quietly, “I don’t know if I can afford all of that.”

Oh.

Right.

I didn’t even think about what her financial situation could be like. Shit, the last thing I want is to make her feel uncomfortable.

I clear my throat and drop the bag at our feet as I face her, “I’m sorry, I should have asked before making all of these plans. I assume you would kick me in the balls if I suggested I pay for everything?”

“Don’t you dare,” she says, giving me a death stare.

I put my hands up and say, “Fair enough, I would probably feel the same if someone did that to me.” Her expression softens but she looks a bit sad now. I am absolutely not letting her cancel this whole trip on me. “How about a compromise?” I hear myself say. My head is spinning with ways I can make this simpler and still take her to all these cool spots.

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