“Yes. Fresh breath is very important,” she mumbles behind her hand.
She’s adorable. I want to explore every part of her again, but we need to talk. I put it off last night, letting myself be selfish, letting myself live in the moment for this one time, but I can’t anymore. I need to tell Olivia about Remington. She may never want to see me again, but Daisy is right. I can’t keep lying to her.
“Be right back,” she says and drags the white sheet around her, wrapping up like a mummy.
While she’s in the bathroom, I go in search of a coffee machine. If I’m going to have this conversation with her, she needs caffeine.
“Bless Ronan,” I say when I spot an espresso machine and a basket filled with pods. There’s even creamer in the fridge. It’s some kind of vegan faux-creamer, but it will do.
The coffees are ready when Olivia emerges from the bathroom. She’s dressed, wearing last night’s dress, but she’s still wearing the bedsheet like a wrap.
“Here,” I say.
She takes her coffee and makes that sweet sigh she always does at the first sip. I love that sound.
We wander out to the porch, with its incredible view of the water. It’s where we started before our night, and now here we are again.
At least I didn’t take her virginity. I wavered more than a few times last night, but I couldn’t be with her in that way and have lies between us. Even if she said she only wanted one night, she deserves my honesty.
I’m ready to give it to her. I can only pray she doesn’t hate me.
I open my mouth, trying to find the words.
“I lied to you,” Olivia says in a rush.
“W-what?” I say, for a moment, wondering if those words came out of my mouth and not Olivia’s.
“I can’t take the guilt. I have you here under false pretenses. I lied to you.” Her eyes are somber.
“Okay,” I drawl out.
She taps her nails against the coffee cup. “I’m just going to get it all out at once. Rip it off, like a bandage. There’s no stalker.”
“What?” I ask, looking at her like she’s lost her goddamn mind.
“I mean, I guess there kind of is. Yes, one of your obsessed fans wrote mean letters to me. But she didn’t start the fire. The arson investigator concluded that the fire started from faulty wiring. So, all this really wasn’t necessary.” She waves her hand. “The guards, staying here overnight, staying with you in Malibu, even.”
“When did you find out?” I ask. Nothing is making sense.
“Yesterday, before we came on our date. But I was afraid if you knew, then we wouldn’t have a date, that you’d leave or send me back to San Francisco right away, and I just really, really wanted to have one last night with you. I’m so sorry I lied and didn’t respect your choices enough to tell the truth.” She watches me with sad eyes. “I can’t regret what happened last night, but I wish I’d told you before. It wasn’t right of me to keep things from you.”
She is sorry she didn’t respect my choices enough to tell the truth. How ironic.
Those words rip into me like a serrated blade.
“You could still be in danger,” I insist.
She shrugs. “Maybe. But doubtful. There’s a big leap between sending nasty notes and trying to murder someone.”
“You could have told me, Olivia. Worrying about you, thinking someone was trying to kill you, it was like my worst fear coming to life.”
Guilt chases me. I have no room to chide her for hiding something from me. She’s feeling guilty about a small lie that she quickly came clean about. While I’ve been lying to her ever since I walked into her café, longer even.
“Ijustwantedtospendmoretimewithyou.”
“What?”
“I just wanted to spend more time with you,” she repeats, slowly this time. “To give us a chance to be more.”
“Olivia.”
“I know, I know. You don’t have to say anything. It’s embarrassing enough to have to admit that I have this one-sided crush.”
“It’s not one-sided. If you recall last night.”
“I know I should have told you as soon as I got the call. It was really stupid. I’ll make arrangements to leave first thing tomorrow.”
“Hey.” I take her hand. “I don’t want you to leave, at least not like this. You didn’t need to hide something from me to stay. I love having you around. Too much. I love seeing you at the kitchen table every morning around coffee. I love running with you and watching that sweet ass of yours when you stretch. I love skinny-dipping with you, and I more than loved last night.”