Hired a Gigolo Got a Billionaire (Zoey and Christian) novel Chapter 235

Chapter 235

The late afternoon felt heavy in the office. Not just that usual end-of-day slump. It was a specific kind of tension. The Kensington party was coming up, and everyone seemed wound a little tighter than normal. Like the pressure to impress the international partners was squeezing every employee in the building.

I was at my desk, scrolling through my phone with no real purpose. Ever since I deleted the dating app, I’d developed this annoying habit of refreshing my Instagram feed over and over, like my brain was looking for something that wasn’t there anymore.

“You still have that abandoned-puppy look,” Gwen said, saving a file before spinning her chair toward me. “I already told you I’m introducing you to the perfect guy for Friday. You’ll forget this ‘Wanderer’ in about five minutes.”

I let out a long sigh.

“I doubt it.”

“Annie, seriously?” Gwen stared at me like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You’re missing a guy you’ve never even seen?”

“It’s not that,” I said, though I wasn’t sure what it actually was. “It’s just… as irrational as it sounds, I miss talking to him.”

And that part was true. No matter how hard I tried to be reasonable. No matter how much Gwen’s warnings made sense. There was something about Wanderer I couldn’t shake. The questions he asked. The way he wrote. The feeling that someone was genuinely interested in my mind and not just my body.

The truth was messier than anything I could explain to her.

Wanderer had asked things no one else ever had. Not to impress me or to flirt, but to understand me. And his answers… there was something in the way he talked about skydiving and feeling free. About discovering music in an old bookstore. It felt too specific to be fake. Too heartfelt to be some random act.

“Annie,” Gwen sighed. “You’re idealizing a stranger from the internet.”

“Maybe,” I admitted. “But he didn’t seem like a bad person. He didn’t show up at my door after I deleted the app. He didn’t try to call. He didn’t follow me on social media. He didn’t do anything creepy… he just disappeared.”

That was the part I couldn’t make sense of. A real stalker would’ve tried harder. He would’ve pushed. He would’ve been invasive. Wanderer had done the opposite. One click and he was gone.

And as strange as it was… I missed how I felt when I talked to him. Seen. Understood. Interesting.

“Exactly,” Gwen said, as if she’d just proven her entire argument. “He was just another guy killing time online. You’re building a whole romantic fantasy around someone who probably doesn’t even remember your name.’

“Probably,” I said. Not convinced.

“Trust me.” Gwen stood, grabbing her bag. “The party will be full of interesting people, and I already have someone in mind for you. He’s the perfect antidote to this digital ghost.”

I grabbed my phone again and opened Instagram out of habit. I scrolled without really seeing anything. My mind still stuck on what Gwen had said.

Maybe she was right. Maybe I’d gotten attached to the idea of someone I never truly knew. Maybe I’d built a fantasy around a man who probably forgot about me the second our game ended.

But then why did every buzz of my phone make my heart jump? Why did I still feel that tiny sting of disappointment every time it was just Instagram or a work email?

And why did my chest tighten every time I crossed Nate in the hallway? Why did it feel like there was something

unfinished between us that neither of us dared to touch?

It was like being stuck between two versions of myself. The girl who dreamed of late-night conversations with a mysterious stranger. And the girl who still remembered exactly what it felt like to be in Nate Carter’s arms.

I sighed and dropped my phone into my bag. Maybe Friday’s party would snap me out of this mess. Maybe meeting someone new. Someone real and actually available. It would be exactly what I needed to stop living halfway between fantasies and memories.

Or maybe I was just fooling myself again.