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“Awesome.”
Vaughn walks into my office, surprising me, but I’m excited to see him.
“Hi there,” I say to him with a big smile. “Do you have table reads today, too?”
“Uh, yeah. I do.” He glances to Adam, who smiles and then turns to me. “I’ll get out of your hair. I wanted to go say hi to your dad before I leave.”
Adam kisses my cheek, and then he walks past Vaughn and out the door.
“This is a nice surprise,” I say as I hurry over and hug Vaughn. “How’s your day going?”
“It’s…interesting.”
“I bet table reads are interesting.” I turn back to my desk and try to remember what I was doing when Adam arrived. “I’ve never sat in on one, but I’ve thought about it. It just sounds fun.”
“Uh, Liv?”
“Yeah.” I smile over at Vaughn, but it leaves my lips as I see the angry look on his face. “What’s wrong?”
“What was that?” He points to the doorway.
“What was what? Adam?”
“Yeah. What did I walk in on?”
“We just got back from lunch. He popped by and asked me out to lunch, and I went with him.”
“And he knows who your dad is?”
“Well, yeah.” I blink and frown. “I told him.”
“When? When did you tell him?”
I think back and remember, and then my stomach starts to feel funny. “It doesn’t really matter.”
“I think it does.”
I shake my head, but Vaughn walks to me and takes my hand in his. His voice isn’t angry when he says, “It matters, Liv.”
“Okay.” I take a deep breath. “The night you made me mad, and I didn’t come to your house like we’d planned. I went out to dinner with Adam, and I let it slip that night.”
Vaughn rears back as if I’d slapped him.
“I’m sorry, I completely misjudged this situation,” he says as he drops my hand and backs away. “I thought we were exclusive.”
“We are. Vaughn, I told Adam we’re just friends, and he knows that you and I are a…thing.”
“When was the last time you fucked him?”
Okay, that pisses me off.
“Jesus, Vaughn. I’ve never fucked him. I haven’t been with anyone but you since the minute you first walked into my office, and I don’t want anyone else. Adam is a friend. He invited me to lunch, that’s it. He’s nice.”
“He put his mouth on you,” Vaughn says, his voice hard, and his green eyes full of hurt.
“He kissed my cheek.”
“He put his mouth on you,” he repeats. “And that doesn’t fly with me, Olivia.”
“Okay.” I nod slowly. “I get it. If the roles were reversed, I’d be pissed off. But I’m not lying when I say that nothing happened. He’s just a nice man who bought me lunch today. He’s nice to me. But I do not have feelings for him beyond that. There’s no chemistry. There’s no fire. For God’s sake, I’ve only seen him in person twice. You are the one I care about.”
Vaughn rubs his hand over his lips and nods. “Okay.”
“You believe me?”
“I do. I believe you. But I still don’t like it, and I don’t want to ever have a repeat of the way I felt when I walked in here just now.”
“I’m sorry,” I reply. “It was so innocent, it didn’t even occur to me. And I can honestly say that I’ll be more considerate in the future. If you would be uncomfortable if you’re here, I won’t put myself in a position you’d not like when you’re not here.”
“I’d appreciate that,” he says, and his voice is softer now. I think the storm has passed. But he still doesn’t come back to me or pull me against him, and I hate that. “Are we on for dinner tonight?”
“Absolutely.”
“Good. Jamal also invited us to go to a party the team is hosting downtown. There will be a band. It sounds fun, if you’re up for it.”
“Sounds great. I’ll swing by my house and grab some clothes for it on my way to your place.”
“That’s out of the way,” he replies with a frown. “Why don’t I just meet you there, we’ll eat at your place, and then head to the party from there?”
“That works, too.”
“Okay, I’ll see you later.”
“Vaughn.” I hurry over to him before he can leave my office. I wrap my arms around his shoulders and kiss him, long and deep. When I pull back, I frame his face in my hands. “I’m really sorry that I hurt you.”
“I’m okay,” he says and tips his forehead against mine. “Just gave me a bad few minutes, that’s all. Adam’s a nice guy, but I don’t want him dating you.”
I smile and squeeze Vaughn close. “He’s just a friend. A casual one, at that. I’m all yours.”
He kisses my forehead and then pulls away. “I’ll see you in a little while.”
And then he’s gone, and I feel awful.
