Things began to make sense now. And he felt for her. Damn, did he feel for her. Because she didn’t deserve any of this. “You can’t go back to the house because it’s too painful?”
“They are all I see. All I hear. All I feel the second I walk through the door.” She took another sip of her water, her hand trembling slightly. “I know that makes me sound weak. I know that the last thing I should do is let him help or talk to me. But it’s an evil I endure so I don’t have to go back there.” She paused. Then her eyes welled up with tears. “That house is a reminder of how much they broke me.”
Noah’s jaw muscles clenched, his blood burning red-hot. He could count on one hand the times he had wanted to hurt someone. This was one of those times. And had Cameron been there, Noah would not have trusted himself not to make Cameron feel some of the pain Olivia endured. Squeezing her hand, he said, “Let me take over handling the sale.”
She pulled her hand away and adamantly shook her head. “God no. I mean, that’s so super nice of you, Noah, but you don’t need to do that. Hopefully the house will get an offer tomorrow, and that’ll be the beginning of the end. I can put this chapter behind me and move on.” She paused then added, “Cameron coming by today was really unusual. We’ve always talked over text.”
Noah leaned in and said, deadly serious, “If the house doesn’t sell—”
She placed her other hand over his and gave a sweet smile. “Let’s not even go there. It’s going to sell.”
The heat of her hand on his flesh burned through him. His cock hardened for more reasons than lust alone. This was the adrenaline pumping through him to protect her and to defend her. “I don’t like that he’s involved in your life,” he told her honestly. “He shouldn’t be.”
She gave him a tender smile. “You are so incredibly sweet to look out for me. Really. It feels amazing for someone to do that. But I have a good feeling about tomorrow. The house will sell and that will be that.”
Noah didn’t have a good feeling about any of this. Cameron deserved a punch in the face, not time with her. “All right,” he succumbed, only because it was what she wanted. “Do me one favor though?”
“What’s that?” she asked as the waiter returned to the table and set her meal in front of her.
Noah waited until the waiter placed his plate down and then moved out of sight before finishing, “Don’t let that bastard prey on your gentle heart.”
“Prey on me?” She froze halfway from picking up her fork. “What do you mean?”
“When I first walked up, I heard Cameron talking you.” Noah reached for his napkin, settling it over his lap. “He mentioned his mother to weaken you and to make you feel bad. See that for the manipulation it was.”
His advice obviously registered. She remained statue-still except for her furrowing brows. “How would mentioning his mom weaken me?”
“Because he’s playing with your emotions.” Noah set his wrists on the table and gave her a leveled look. “What is motivating him is up for debate, but mentioning his mother is a ploy to get you to soften toward him. Do not mistake that for anything else.”
She parted her lips then shut them. A moment later, she asked, “How do you know that?”
“I see men like Cameron every day. He has an agenda, of that I am certain. He wants what he can’t have, and he’ll use any means necessary to get it back.”
She scoffed and dismissed him, finally picking up her fork. “He does not want me back.”
“Of course he does,” Noah retorted, reaching for one piece of his sandwich. “I imagine he never thought he’d lose you in the first place. He wanted to have it all. The wife, the exciting fantasy, and now he’s lost everything. I am sure in his mind he thinks helping you with the house will get him closer to you.”
She shook her head slowly. “That makes no sense. He cheated on me.”
Noah gave a slow nod. “I never said Cameron’s logic made sense. Usually men like him don’t do things that add up.”
“Well that’s just stupid.” She stabbed some lettuce in her side salad then chewed it like they were Cameron’s testicles she wanted to squish.
He ate a few good bites of his sandwich before realizing something else was bothering him about the exchange outside. “Cameron called you Livvie.”
She swallowed and nodded. “It’s a nickname that my mom calls me.”
“Do you like it?”
“I like when my mom calls me Livvie.” She reached for her sandwich and nearly bit into the bun but hesitated again, raising her brows. “Why do you ask?”
“Just making sure I’m calling you by the right name.”
Softness reached her eyes and heat burned in her smile. “I like when you call me Olivia. It’s so…you.”
“So, me?”
She leaned forward a little, inviting him to see so much. “Powerful. Important. Sexy.” A beautiful flush brushed across her cheeks and lingered all the way down to her chest. “So don’t change that, okay? I like us just the way we are.”