Page 30 of The Housekeeper's Billionaire Boss
Since the call, Molly’s emotions had been all over the place. One second she was deliriously optimistic, and the next, she was in a ball, crying. She was on rinse and repeat. Get up, worry, and then go to bed and worry even more.
Pushing the covers off, Molly stood and walked to her bedroom door. She needed coffee, and she’d get ready for the day after that. Just as she opened it, Josiah came into view. She startled and jumped, not expecting anyone to be there.
He took her by the arms. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
She let out a long breath. “It’s okay.”
Josiah had been nothing but extraordinary. He’d listened to her talk about the same worries over and over without showing even a sign that he was upset or bored. He’d held her more than once while she cried. He was her idea of Superman, offering comfort and care.
Molly stepped into him, and his arms wrapped around her as she laid her head on his chest. “I want to stop being worried. I don’t know how you do it,” she said, leaning back and locking eyes with him. He seemed so confident all the time.
“I’m worried, but you’re her mother. I figure when we win, I’ll show a crack in my armor.” He smiled. “My job right now is to take care of my two favorite girls in the whole wide world.”
“Where is Ellie?”
“My mom has her. That’s why I was coming up here. It’s the farmer’s market this weekend at Wyatt and Gabby’s. It’s the weekend before Christmas, and this one is bigger than their normal ones. I was going to see if you wanted to go. There will be pie.” He winked.
With a chuckle, she nodded. “That sounds amazing.”
“Okay.”
He touched his lips to hers, coaxing them to part, and tightened his hold on her as the kiss deepened.
Being with him felt right. All the indecision she had about men would disappear when she thought about life with him.
She circled her arms around his neck, clinging to him as if he were a life preserver. Not because of anything he did, but because of his heart. She’d never met a man more gentle and kind. He’d rescued her when she’d lost her job, and now he was rescuing her by holding her when the earth under her feet felt like quicksand.
Her rule about dating had become a whispered nuisance in the back of her mind. It had been made with the intention of keeping Ellie from being hurt, but what she’d begun to realize was that it was her own heart she was worried about. How did she trust someone to hold it and not crush it?
She broke the kiss and set her forehead against his chest, trying to fill her air-deprived lungs. “These quality control checks are getting more serious.”
“Yeah, they kinda are.”
Something in his voice made her look at him. “What?”
Josiah chewed his bottom lip. “Nothing.”
Molly narrowed her eyes. “That didn’t sound like a nothing.”
“How is anothingsupposed to sound?”
Shrugging, she said, “I don’t know. But that was a Sarah Walker nothing, and we both know when she said nothing, it meant something.”
“The fact that I can follow along with what you just said tells me I need to get out more.” He laughed. “So? Farmer’s market and pie?” A smile quirked on his lips, and she melted all over again. That smile. Anytime he looked at her like that, she expected to come away sunburned.
“You had me at pie.” She snickered.
He kissed the tip of her nose. “That’s a movie I haven’t seen.”
Her mouth dropped open. “We need to remedy that. It’s a great movie.”
“Jerry Maguirewas about sports. I think we both know my talent lies with channel surfing on the couch.”
She scoffed. “You should thank your lucky genetic stars for a metabolism that allows you to do that.”
“Every cookie I eat, I do so in honor of my parents.” Laughing, he stepped back. “Okay, getting ready.” He gave her a quick peck on the lips and disappeared into his room.
Then it hit her. She liked him more than pie. Turning, she stepped inside her room and shut the door, wondering when that had happened. She would have rather stood in her bedroom doorway talking to Josiah than eating pie.
