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I wanted to surprise her.
And I didn’t want her to have time to load the rifle that all good southern girls kept nearby for intruders and heartbreakers. As I pulled up to Olive’s house, I wasn’t sure which category I fell into. Possibly both.
My heart raced as quickly as it did on my first SEAL mission as I climbed the steps to Olive’s house. And knocked. I didn’t know exactly what to expect when the door opened, so I held my breath and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
She wasn’t at home, which I should have realized since it was the middle of a work day, but I had a singular focus on my goal.
First: Talk to Olive.
Second: Get her to forgive me.
Third: Live happily ever after.
It was a simple but doable plan. If I could find her and get past her bodyguards.
Pit bulls was more accurate term, I realized as I stepped inside the Time for Love offices and found Eva and Sophie waiting for me. Glaring at me. Practically seething in my direction.
“Well, well, look who’s finally strolled back into town.” Eva folded her arms and arched one sculpted black eyebrow to intimidate me.
Sophie stood tall, doing that rich girl thing where instead of scowling at me, she seemed to look right through me. “What can we do for you, Liam?”
Keep your cool, I told myself because I had no choice but to go through these women first. “I’m looking for Olive.”
“For a quickie?” Eva’s arched eyebrow thing was really starting to make me squirm.
“No. We need to talk.” My hair was overgrown and I raked both hands through it, letting out a frustrated breath. “Look, ladies, I know I screwed up. Royally. But that doesn’t change the fact that Olive and I have some things to discuss.”
Both women presented a formidable obstacle, one I couldn’t just barrel through if I wanted to make things work with Olive. “Like the fact that when the going gets rough, Liam vanishes?”
I tried to stifle a groan but only managed to stifle a part of it. “I didn’t vanish. Okay, I did vanish, but I had a damn good reason, which I’m happy to talk about. To Olive.” It wasn’t my smartest move ever, but I was exhausted from nine days of hiking and nonstop thinking and this back and forth didn’t produce anything useful. “Olive, can we talk?” My feet were on the move toward her office and I could hear the click-clack of heels right behind me. “Olive… damn.”
“She’s not here,” Eva said, a satisfied smile in her voice.
“Obviously.” I took a deep breath and turned to face my temporary nemeses. “Where is she?”
Sophie threw her head back and laughed. “Isn’t that something you should know?”
“Yeah,” I nodded. “But I don’t because I fucked up so, please, for the love of fucking Texas, tell me where she is!”
Eva and Sophie looked at each other and then burst out laughing. “For the love of fucking Texas,” Eva mimicked around another laugh.
“Where is she?” Sophie took her turn and they both cackled like wild hyenas as I swept Olive’s office. It looked as if she hadn’t been in at all, or maybe she’d already left for the day. Something was wrong.
“Is Olive all right? Why isn’t she here?” I was starting to worry even though, deep down, I knew they wouldn’t give me such a hard time if something was truly wrong with Olive, but my heart hadn’t gotten the memo yet. “Is. She. All right?”
When I turned back to the women, Eva’s smile had softened. “Look, Liam, I’m glad you’ve removed your head from your ass but why should we believe you and tell you anything about Olive?”
This was it—the moment of truth. I sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly, prepared to bare at least a part of my soul to Olive’s best friends. “Things were going well. Really well, and I started to freak out. I didn’t know what it meant and I was scared it was all gonna turn to shit, so I had to get away. I had to sort myself out.” That was it, that was all the truth they would get from me.
Two sets of eyes—one big brown pair and the other an icy gray color—stared at me closely. They studied me carefully before turning to each other and having a silent conversation about whether or not I could be trusted.
Sophie nodded.
Eva nodded.
They both turned back to me and Eva spoke first. “She had a doctor’s appointment today, which I’m pretty sure you knew about.”
“Shit.” I did know, but I’d forgotten. “I can’t believe I forgot.”
Sophie’s sweet smile disappeared as she got in my face. It didn’t matter that she was at least a foot shorter than me, her brown gaze darkened and filled with venom. When she spoke, her voice was calm and lethal. “If you hurt her again, Liam, SEAL or not, they will only find tiny, unimportant pieces of you.”
