The Carrero Effect - Falling for the Boss (Billionaire CEO) novel Chapter 61

“No, I don’t, and I like that you like my smile, shorty.” He stops and pushes me against the wall to steady me, pulls his cell from his pocket, swipes the screen, checks who’s calling and pushes it back from where he produced it.

“I like when you laugh like that.” He glances up at me and it’s then I realize I’ve been giggling for no reason.

Where did that come from?

“Like what?” I ask innocently, still unable to stop grinning like a freak. Maybe it has something to do with the fact he has my body pressed to the wall with his and he is every bit my idea of a good dream.

“Unguarded … I like drunk Emma.” He peels me back off the wall and leads me to my room, disappointment flitting through me that it was fleeting.

“I like drunk Emma too.” I sigh, following him as he opens the door, his hand still encompassing mine. She gets to touch Jake in ways sober Emma doesn’t.

“I thought you said you didn’t?” he squints at me with a confused smirk. Pulling me through to my bedroom.

“I was jealous … You like her way too much.” I exhale moodily and he laughs at me again, only this time it’s deep and heartfelt as though I’ve said the most hilarious thing. I pout at him, annoyed that he finds everything I say so funny.

“You’re the same Emma … No reason to be jealous, Bambino.” He calms his laughing, pulls me to the base of my bed, letting me go, sits me down, and pulls my sandals off my feet easily. I like when he takes care of me like this, as though I’m something more to him than just his PA.

“Nooo, you like one more than the other.” I exhale loudly. He smiles up at me and moves closer, so we’re nose to nose, him bent down at my knees, his hand comes to my hair and ruffles it, toying with its new shortness.

He really is infatuated with my new haircut. Best idea ever!

“I like both versions of you, in different ways, equally.” He utters, keeping close. The lights are off in the room and the only light is from the moon shining in the porthole window beside us. It’s so intimate and romantic.

“What do you mean ‘different ways’?” I’m inquisitive, being drunk seems to make me crave for knowledge and to keep him this close. He sighs, running a hand across my face lightly, moving my hair to tuck behind my ear, erupting a million tingles across my skin. He chews his lip in that childish way he has when he’s trying to think out an answer before he speaks. He has no idea how much it makes me ache to bite his lip too.

“PA Emma is cool and capable, and she’s the best assistant I’ve ever had, she’s funny and sharp and she’s good at what she does. I like PA Emma.” He nods to himself as though rattling off a tick list. Finished with my shoes, he kneels up, so even though he’s still on the floor his head is towering over me.

“You like her in an employee-employer way?” I reach up and toy with his spiky hair, seeing as he keeps messing mine up, I think it should work both ways; he raises his eyebrows in surprise, but only smiles and lets me continue.

“Yes and no … I just like her because she’s her.” His gaze comes to rest on mine, distracting me from his hair. It feels good and exactly how I thought it would feel.

“And drunk Emma?”

“I’m a little infatuated with drunk Emma, if I’m being honest.” He pulls my hand down and straightens up.

“You are? Why?” I sulk at both his answer and his removal of my fingers.

“Because she’s fun … She doesn’t guard what she says … or does.” He nods toward my fingers to prove the point. “She giggles and lets her hair down.”

“So do most of your leggy boobs!” I sulk at being compared to one of them.

Except am I not the one doing the comparing?

I’m confused.

“They’re not the same. Not even close, Bella. They don’t have the other side to her … That’s what I mean by “I like you both”. One can’t exist without the other. I wouldn’t like there to be only one and not the other.”