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“Surely she wouldn’t believe that you’d be unfaithful to her, especially at a party that you expected her to show up at.”
“I don’t know what she’d think, but I’m going to go out on a stretch and believe that she thinks I have been.” I don’t know how to feel about her jumping to conclusions without asking.
Perhaps that isn’t fair considering what she witnessed looked pretty damning, but hell, she should have stayed and talked to me.
“What are you going to do?”
“Her phone goes straight to voice mail.” I slam my cell against my leg. “I need to find her and talk to her.”
“Hey,” she wraps herself into my arms, “for what it’s worth, I’m really sorry.”
I shake my head. “It isn’t your fault Olivia. You had no clue that you were talking to her, and, as far as I know, she hasn’t seen a picture of you. Well, without a mask.”
She gasps. “Oh God, that picture from the twenties fancy dress party your parents had.” She laughs. “I’d forgotten about that. I had blonde hair then.”
“Hmm, nothing like the red you have now, huh?”
“Look, I know you, and you’re going to be annoyed that she didn’t trust you, but you have to realize it all looked far from innocent.”
“I get that, but…” I sigh. “I just wish she’d hung around…I need to find her.”
“You need to go home and see if she’s there and if she isn’t, you’re not going to find her tonight.” Olivia glances at the exit. “Come on, I have an idea.” She slips her arm through mine and leads me away from the party.
Outside she talks to the doorman, and I watch as her face drops. “He said she got in a cab and told the driver to just drive. I was hoping he might have heard where she was going.”
“Did he say how she seemed?”
“Um, upset.”
My fists tighten as anger runs through me. “She saw us and presumed the worse.”
“Stop it!” she shouts. “You love this woman, and she loves you or she wouldn’t be so upset. We’ll find her and you can explain, and hopefully, she’ll apologize to you as well.”
Sighing heavily as the valet brings my car around, I usher Olivia into the passenger seat and then speed out of there. I just want to be away from this place. I hadn’t wanted to go to in the first place.
Now you’re being childish.
“I’ll drop you at your apartment and then I’ll head home,” I suggest to Olivia who is on her phone.
“Thank you.” She smiles, hanging up. “You can drop me at home and then I’ll tell you which hotel she’s disappeared to…you can thank me later.”
Leaning against the door that Brooke is hiding behind, I try to get myself under control because I am angry and disappointed. But feeling like that isn’t going to make me rational and allow me to listen with an open mind as to why she jumped to the conclusion that I was having an affair with someone else.
I dip my head and concentrating on breathing, the door suddenly opens and Brooke stands back wrapped up tightly in a robe. She looks tired and sad with her hair messy from lying in bed. Seeing her looking like that, my anger drains away, and I realize how stupid I’ve been.
I reach her in one step and drag her into my arms, inhaling her scent as I bury my face into her shoulder. I kick the door closed and whisper into her ear, “It was Olivia. The woman you saw me with was my cousin, Olivia. I had no idea she was going to be there and I haven’t seen her in a while.”
Her quiet sniffles into my shirt tells me she’s crying, so I tilt her chin up so I can see her face. “I can’t believe that you think I could be with someone else when I have you,” I admit and watch as her face crumples even more.
I haul her back into my arms and carry her to the bed. Dropping my ass, I keep her with me and sigh when she straddles my lap. She doesn’t let go and really cries for what feels like forever as I caress back and forth along her back.
“It was Olivia who figured out why you hadn’t shown up.”
Sniffling, she meets and holds my gaze. “I just saw her all over you and I got jealous. I didn’t know what to think because I know you, and I couldn’t imagine you doing anything like that to me…but I’d just come from talking to my dad about Carrie and I was upset and trying to hide it. I saw you and I just couldn’t handle anything else…I know I should have stayed and gone to you, but I was too upset. So I took the easy way out and left.”
I tug her head back down to my shoulder and whisper, “I’m sorry.”
She shakes her head and cups my face in her hands. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for. I’m the one who is sorry. I should have trusted you but I screwed up.” She wipes at her tears. “I saw a beautiful woman all over you and assumed the worst, when I do know you, and I know you would never hurt me in that way.”
