So, Shall We Get Married?
Chapter 29

He wonders in astonishment as he looks at her from the bottom up. That night, Olivia was really beautiful. And with that cleavage, she’d have every executive after her.

Caleb looked at the time on his watch, and cursed inwardly, he didn’t have time to take her to the boutique to change her outfit.

-I’m sorry I’m late,” she apologises, standing in front of the Palmer family.

-What a dress! I bet you spent a fortune on it, and you didn’t want to pay what I asked you to pay the other day. Oh, but of course, you do pay for your taste, don’t you?

Olivia felt more horrible than ever, Talia hated her guts, things were going to be awful that night.

-We’ll talk about that later,” Caleb spoke up, but he was looking at Olivia and her dress.

-I’m so sorry if I went overboard with the dress, I told the dressmaker it didn’t have to be so extravagant, but she insisted, I’m so sorry Mr. Palmer. I promise to take care of it tonight, and return it tomorrow.

-Well, that’s fine with me, since you’re our babysitter until tomorrow,” the young blonde says hatefully.

The brunette blinks at the information, looks at her boss at the moment, and feels a little strange, he didn’t take his eyes off her. He really did make a pass at her in that dress.

-I’ll take care of you, Mr. Palmer. You needn’t worry.

But he was already worried, and it wasn’t about the value of the garment. Rather, it was about her wearing it. She looked far too sensual for her to be walking alone at such an event. Honestly, he didn’t like the idea.

So much so, that he hadn’t managed to say anything to her….

-I think she looks pretty,” Alma earned looks from her father, her sister, and even Olivia. It’s a pretty dress, and it suits her,” she added innocently.

-You’re a child, you know nothing about fashion.

Caleb was getting tired of his daughter’s complaints, and of standing there in the lift doing nothing but talking about the damn dress he was already starting to hate.

At that; the CEO looks up and notices that his bodyguard is watching Olivia out of the corner of his eye, and realizing that his boss noticed what he was doing, he looks back to the front.

Caleb frowns… looks back at Olivia and decides to grab her wrist and pull her into the lift.

-Down the stairs,” he orders his bodyguard, before the doors close.

That outburst really took her by surprise, that he grabbed her hand to pull her into the lift, she didn’t expect it. However, she didn’t say a word as they descended to the first floor. However, that didn’t mean she wasn’t nervous as hell.

First, because she didn’t say anything about the dress, second, it was expensive, and she wasn’t sure he would approve of something so expensive for one night. If she had said she was indisposed for last night, she would have saved herself a lot of trouble.

[…]

The ride to the event was silent, even though an eight-year-old girl was in the limo with them. And yet, they were silent. But Talia’s strong gaze was on Olivia, the brunette could sense it, that girl hated her. And she had better watch her step, surely, she would plan something against her at that party, just to make a fool of her on the last day of her job.

The brunette looked out the window opposite Caleb’s. She could see through it. And through it, she could see the reflection of his face. He was deep in his mobile phone, instinctively biting his lips, he really was very attractive. And she had made a terrible mistake with his daughter.

She closes her eyes for a moment, and when she opens them, she looks out the window again and realises he’s watching her. Olivia’s heart thumped, and because she couldn’t bear to look at him any longer, she cowardly looked away. She swallowed and tried to look normal, even though she was so close to him.

Once they arrived at the event, the family got out of the limo and made their way inside where the celebration was being held.

Olivia was far behind everyone, almost level with the bodyguard. She turned to look at him, and he wouldn’t even look at her. She wished he would, at least she would have someone to talk to on normal topics.

The room was filled to capacity with a crowd of refined, well-dressed, high-class people. Olivia, despite wearing a couture dress, felt like a gnat in milk. You could tell she was so distracted that she didn’t even notice Caleb standing in front of her.

She sees him, her eyes widening…

-I want you to keep an eye on my daughters, and don’t worry, the bodyguard will be very close to you…” Caleb, looking at his employee, is not even sure he trusts him. My daughters will behave themselves, and no scandals,” he whispers.

-Of course,” he replies coldly.

Immediately, the CEO detects the coldness with which she answers him. Well, if she was angry, he was angry too, and with good reason.

Caleb turns around and heads towards a group of people who seem to be waiting for him. The brunette watches him walk away and feels a lot of sadness at how he was treating her, but also annoyance. Caleb was unfair, since he never asked for her side of the story. It hurt her that he didn’t at least give her the benefit of the doubt.

-Don’t think you’re going to control us, you’re already fired, so you’d better not bother,” Talia turns around and walks over to the buffet table.

-These parties are so boring, there are no games for kids. Dad always likes to bring us along,” Alma says, standing next to her.

-Do you want me to stay with you?

-You don’t have a choice, it’s your job, that’s why my dad hired you.

-He doesn’t need to be paying me to do it, if you really want to, we can replace something to entertain ourselves. Besides, remember that I’m already fired, your dad isn’t paying me anything tonight.

The girl looks at her for a moment and then takes her hand. She half smiles at her, which gives the brunette a little more confidence.

-Well, first let’s see what your sister’s up to, and then let’s replace something interesting in this place.

[…]

Despite having to keep an eye on the executive and investor conservations, Caleb didn’t take his eyes off the nanny. The brunette didn’t let go of his little girl’s hand, or was it the other way around? The truth was, she was with Alma the whole time.

She knew how bored her little girl got at those parties, Talia was never any help when it came to taking care of her sister. The only thing she used her for was playing practical jokes.

But Olivia was different, on more than one occasion, she made Alma laugh… how could that woman who seemed so sweet to an eight year old, slap her older daughter. Maybe Talia… he denies, he could not distrust her.

By the time the CEO was alone, he motioned for the bodyguard to come over…it’s been about an hour since he’d seen his daughters, let alone Olivia.

-Where are my daughters?

-In the pool area, sir. Do you want me to go get them?

-All right, I’ll go.

When we got to the pool, it was a bit lonely. Everyone was more curious to be inside than outside. Caleb stood under the door frame, watching Olivia play with Alma. He wondered where they had gotten that ball.

The nanny kicked off her heels, and while holding up the train of her dress, played with her daughter in the grass. What nanny would do something like that? Anybody else, she’d be inside, hitting on some businessman.

Caleb folds his arms, unnoticed…

-They’re making fools of themselves, why are they playing ball at an event like this? If my dad ever found out about this, he’d be mad as hell.

-Instead of arguing, why don’t you get up from that chair and come and play with us,” Olivia says as she takes the ball from the girl.

-Don’t think I’ll play with you, don’t make yourself look like a good babysitter when you know you’re not.

-I don’t know why you hate me so much, I’m just trying to be your friend.

-My dad pays you to be.” The blonde stands up.

-He’s not paying me anything tonight,” Olivia stops as well. Have you even thought about that?

-I’m already paying you with that expensive dress you’re wearing.

-I’ll return it tomorrow, I’m not keeping it. So, why don’t you join in and have some fun. The party’s pretty dull in there.

-No thanks, I don’t play with the enemy, especially not a girl beater.

The blonde crosses her arms and sits back down.

Caleb wanted to intervene, but looking at Olivia’s guilty expression, he chose not to. What could he say, she had hit his daughter. And not standing up for Talia would make him look like a lousy father.

He would lose what little affection his daughter had for him… the CEO retraced his steps back inside the party, but he couldn’t get Olivia out of his mind.

[…]

The ball game had been quite fun, and since the party was so boring, Olivia didn’t think twice about getting a ball to play with Alma. So tired was she, that the blonde was exhausted and they ended up putting her to bed in a room.

Fortunately, where the event was being held was a hotel. Caleb reserved rooms for everyone, in case they were too late to get back to the hotel. And since he couldn’t leave yet, it was up to them to stay at the party until the end.

Olivia was dead asleep; but since Talia insisted on not leaving to rest, the brunette had no choice but to follow her everywhere and put up with her temper, bad answers, and even humiliation.

While she waited for the blonde to come out of the bathroom, Olivia leaned against the wall to adjust the strap of her sandal. Those heels were killing her, she was dying to get rid of them and go to sleep.

While she was distracted from her task, a pair of hands reached around the strap of her sandal. She startled, withdrawing her foot when she didn’t recognise the person.

-Excuse me, miss! I didn’t mean to startle you, but I saw you in distress and took the liberty of helping you. I see you can’t bend down to fit your sandal,” the man pointed to her foot.