She turns her face up, and he brushes a kiss over her mouth.
I look away, feeling like a voyeur.
“Well, asking him nicely wasn’t working. Piper, this is my fiancé, Guy. Guy, this is Piper. She’s Oliver’s…?” Scarlett raises her brows at me.
“Piper is contractually obligated to me,” Oliver says.
Guy grins at him. “That’s the only reason most people hang out with you.”
“Hi.” I shake Guy’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”
Emma comes bounding over and wraps her arms around Guy’s midsection. He hugs her to him, saying something in her ear. She goes back over to Oliver and rests against him, her smile wide as he puts his arm around her.
Guy sits next to Scarlett across from me, propping his elbows on the picnic table and peering down at the cupcake package between us. “Ah, my favorite flavor.” His smile is mischievous.
I tap the name of the flavor scrawled on the side. “It is named after you, I hear.”
“Yep. It’s how Scarlett wooed me.”
She laughs and hits him gently on the arm. “It worked, didn’t it?”
“Like a charm. So, Piper, you think you can convince Oliver to be in our wedding?”
I shrug. “I can try.”
A second later, Oliver is standing next to the table. “I think that’s our cue to leave.”
Guy lifts his hands. “I just got here.”
“Exactly why it’s the perfect time to escape.”
“I’m hurt,” Guy says, but his tone is anything but.
“Are you ready? Brienne is waiting for us down the block.” Oliver picks up the cupcake and holds out his free hand in my direction.
There’s no way I can turn down the offer of handholding with Oliver. I let him draw me up to standing, but then he immediately releases me.
Drat. I give Guy and Scarlett an apologetic look, but they aren’t bothered in the slightest. Clearly, they are used to Oliver’s brash behavior.
“It was really nice to meet you,” I say.
We make our goodbyes. Emma hugs Oliver. Guy shakes his hand.
Scarlett gives me a quick squeeze. “Free cupcakes for life if you can talk him into it,” she says with a wink.
Minutes later, we’re sliding into the back seat of Oliver’s car. He directs Brienne to the West Village to drop me off first.
As soon as the car pulls from the curb, I turn to Oliver. “I saw the text on your phone from Emma last week, and I thought, I thought she was a—” I wince, not even wanting to say it. “Lover, or something. When I asked you about her, why didn’t you tell me she was a child?”
His face is inscrutable. “I didn’t know who you were referring to. It threw me off. I didn’t know where it came from. I didn’t put together that you would have seen her texts and wondered.”
I guess it makes sense. I frown, crossing my arms. “Why were you at the event in Brooklyn? Were you there to see Regina?”
And the verbal diarrhea keeps on coming. It’s so obvious I’m jealous. I might as well carry a neon sign around that says, “Desperate loser seeks reclusive billionaire—only Oliver Nichols need apply.”
“Piper, I’m not seeing anyone.” His words are impassive, his face blank.
I uncross my arms. “Really?”