“I had a great time tonight,” Olivia said, smiling over at me as we walked down the hall toward her apartment.
“Same,” I growled, barely able to talk from how badly I wanted her.
When we got to her door, she took her keys out of her purse and turned toward me, so her back was resting against the door. “Thanks for the incredible dinner. Text me later, okay?”
I was confused for a second, but then I saw the telltale blink.
The biting on the corner of her lip.
She was nervous.
But the hell of it was, I didn’t know what she was nervous about. Was she nervous I’d be mad she wasn’t inviting me in? I wasn’t mad, but disappointed didn’t even come close to describing how I felt.
Or was she still nervous about our relationship? Was her skittishness the driving factor here? I swallowed and looked at the freckles on her nose, wanting to figure out exactly how she ticked.
“Yeah, I’ll text you.” I moved a little closer to her then, but only kissed the top of her head. “Thanks for dinner, Marshall.”
* * *
? ? ?
WHEN I GOT to my condo, I threw my keys down on the counter and pulled my phone out of my pocket. What a night. Who would’ve thought Olivia Marshall would be capable of turning me inside out? As soon as I thought that, a message lit up my phone.
Olivia: Stellar date, Beck. Really choice.
I laughed and didn’t even know how to respond. Agreed. The choicest.
“Dude, did you see the end of that game?” Jack, who I hadn’t even seen all sprawled out on the couch, got up and grabbed his beer. “Crazy.”
I couldn’t even remember what game had been on that night. Once I’d picked up Liv, nothing else but her was on my radar. “I missed it. What happened?”
“Won with a walk off in the twelfth.” He dumped his can into the recycling bin and went over to the fridge. “What’d you do tonight?”
I immediately felt like trash as I pictured Olivia in the elevator. “Not much. Just grabbed a bite.”
“For fuck’s sake, Beck.” Jack rolled his eyes at me over the refrigerator door and said, “You can tell me if you were with her.”
“Yeah.” I sighed and dropped down onto one of the stools. “I was with her.”
“No shit,” he muttered. “You’re dressed like a douchebag on the prowl. If you weren’t with her, I would have questions.”
“It’s called style. You should try it.”
“I do just fine without your bullshit tailoring.”
“Listen.” I dragged a hand through my hair and hated feeling like such a lowlife. “You do know that in my whole life, until she came back and moved into the building, I never, ever thought about making a move on your sister, right?”
He closed the door and brought two beers over, hopping up on the counter and handing one to me. “I know.”
“I still don’t know how this happened.” I took the bottle and couldn’t even remember bratty Olivia anymore. The only Olivia I could picture now was the one who’d rolled around in the parking lot with a dog the size of a wolf, with a laugh that ran down my spine like a fingernail. “Swear to God. But I am so fucking sorry.”
“Col.” Jack popped the bottle top on the wall and said, “Livvie is a huge pain in the ass, but she’s an adult. She can do whatever she wants.”
I was still shocked that he was being understanding about the whole thing. We sat there for a few minutes, just drinking our beer, and then I thought, What the hell. I tried to sound casual. “So, what was that Eli guy like?”
Jack started laughing. “Oh, my God, you are so adorable I want to pinch your fucking cheeks. Look at you, all insecure about the ex.”
“I’m not insecure about the ex, you shit. I’m just curious.”
“Sure. Okay.” He did his stupid little half smile, clearly not believing me. “No one really knows what happened with that dude. She met him right after she moved to Chicago and fell madly in love, full-bore Olivia-style. Moved in with him like three months after they started dating.”
I hated Eli.
“He was nice enough, I guess. They seemed good together the few times I visited, but then again I pretty much just talked to the guy about beer.”
“Of course you did.”
He gave a little laugh and took a drink. Then he said, “Livvie thought they were going to get married. I talked to her a few months before she moved back, and she was all excited because he was working on some secret project with one of her colleagues. She thought it was a whole big proposal deal, that maybe they were planning for some epic romantic thing to happen at her office.”