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“Yeah, that’s calledstubborn, darling, no matter how you sugarcoat it. Revenge isn’t so sweet after all, is it?”
“You could at least pretend you’re on my side,” I say.
“I’m always on your side. You know that. If you kill this man, I’m your gal. I’ll help you hide the body and give you an alibi.”
I finally smile for the first time in hours, ever since that long and awkward dinner with Tyler. “I’d do the same for you,” I say.
“Good, that’s the Livie I want to hear from, not the crazy girl,” Piper tells me. “What are we going to do about this situation?”
“I’m going to quit my job.”
“We both know that’s not going to happen, so what are youreallygoing to do?”
“I don’t know. Avoid the hell out of him. Maybe if I’m careful to stay at least three feet away from him at all times, my boneheaded hormones won’t take over.”
“Boneheaded? How Freudian of you. I see where your thoughts really are. You know, you could simply get it over with and stay in bed for forty-eight hours straight. Maybe that will get him out of your system. In and out of your system, so to speak.”
“Don’t put thoughts like that in my head,” I say. “I hate the man.”
“Are you sure about that? I’m not. I think you want his body so badly that you’re melting down. I’ve wanted a few guys that much. It’s too damn bad I did nothing about it. Now it’s Friday night and I’m stuck at home with you instead of getting down and dirty with some hot stud.”
“Piper, you talk a hell of a game, but you’re about as experienced in the bedroom as I am.”
“Well, I have a much more vivid imagination than you do,” Piper says. “We both know that.”
“Of course you do. You’re alibrarian,” I tell her with an epic eye roll.
“Which is why I can never meet any hot studs. You know what they say about sex in the stacks? Stirring up the dust and all that? Well, it never happens. I make a point of going there at least once every shift and I’ve yet to get ravished.” Piper lets out an elaborate sigh.
“One of these days I’m going to hire some serious hottie. He’ll be waiting back there with a video camera set up, and I’ll use the expression on your face to blackmail you for the rest of your life.”
“Oh, puh-lease, Livie. If I find a hot stud back there, I won’t give you a second thought. I’d simply rip off my clothes and pounce on him. Jump his proverbial bones. Or bone, but definitely more than once.”
“You’ve been reading far too many romance novels,” I say. “Maybe you should stick with the classics.” Piper smiles. She effectively pulled me from my grumpy mood, just as I knew she would. That’s what friends are for, even if it sometimes takes a while.
“And you need to answer your phone the next time that man calls,” Piper says. She shoots a pointed look at my cell, which has buzzed several times in the last hour.
“Nope. I’m off duty on the weekends — at least when it comes to Tyler.”
“Comes? Interesting word choice, as usual. But I thought he’s a primo client that you have to make happy.”
“I’ll say my phone died if I’m asked about it. He never told me I had to be available for anything this weekend. Where’s our bottle of wine?”
“I’m so on that,” Piper says. She leaps up and runs to the kitchen, immediately pulling out a bottle from the refrigerator and filling two glasses.
“Thanks! Let’s get plastered,” I tell her, “maybe eat some popcorn with a lot of butter, and forget all about men, for at least two days.”
“If you can go fifteen minutes without saying a word about Tyler, I’ll believe you hate the guy,” Piper says as she starts the movie.
After another hour and two bottles of wine, I’ve interrupted the film roughly a dozen times to grumble about Tyler. The knowing looks Piper sends my way aren’t reassuring, and maybe it’s time to call it a night. Piper will never believe I don’t want Tyler. Hell, I might never believe it myself.
ChapterNineteen
Olivia
Juggling the drinks and a sack with our sandwiches, I push my way into the library and go to the back, where Piper’s waiting for me. When I hear quiet laughter, I stop. That voice sounds familiar, but what in the world is he doing at Piper’s workplace? And why is Piper laughing? I stop and gulp in some much-needed air. It’s most likely someone who sounds like Tyler. Since the man’s constantly on my mind, it has to be my imagination.
Unfreezing, I move forward and turn the corner to find Tyler and Piper sitting at a table in the library break room. Both of them wear silly grins.
