“Without a doubt,” Olivia said, glancing up at the sun glistening on the skyscrapers. Her late-night thoughts filled her mind. She sighed when those thoughts kept bringing her back to the same place and gave Paige a knowing look. “But he’s a career go-getter, and you know how that is. Never home. Always on the road. It’s a situation that I can never see myself in. I want a boyfriend who’s in my life, not barely there.”
Olivia cringed.
Paige stopped dead and pointed at Olivia’s face. “Oh my God, you do want that. You like him.”
“What?” Olivia waved her off, attempting to move forward and get far away from this conversation.
“You do.” Paige wasn’t even blinking. “Olivia Watts, I have known you forever. You like him.”
Olivia sighed and rolled her eyes, finally admitting that particular truth aloud. “Okay, I like him. How could I not? You should have seen him at the town hall with the public. He’s so kind to others, Paige. He’s so sweet to me. I feel like he’s helping me through all my shit and that he doesn’t mind one bit. I’ve never met anyone like him. He’s so good, so strong…so everything!”
Paige cupped her hands to her chest and sighed. “My romantic heart is so damn happy he’s as wonderful as I thought.”
“He’s doing really great things for me,” Olivia said softly.
Paige smiled. “Well, that you deserve, so I’m glad.” She strode forward, slower this time, and Olivia stepped into stride with her, when Paige asked, “So catch me up on all this. If that is all true, then why do you seem so conflicted about him?”
Olivia mulled that over then stopped a few feet down from her office, intending to keep the conversation far away from her coworkers’ ears. “Because no matter how incredible he is, in bed and out of it, isn’t all this too soon? Am I really even ready for anything more than a fantasy?”
Paige nibbled her lip then offered, “What if it’s not about being ready or not? Maybe all this is about living an experience
until the experience runs its course.”
Olivia nodded in total agreement. “That’s what I keep telling myself. Don’t look too much into all this. Enjoy him for as long as you can. And yet…I feel like I’m standing here vulnerable in ways I don’t ever remember signing up for.” She paused, not even sure if she was getting any of this right. “I just wasn’t expecting this, you know. I thought we’d have this week of hot sex and that would be it. A fantasy and then that fantasy would end.”
“And it’s not like that?”
“It is, and it isn’t,” Olivia said with a shrug. “It’s like he has this magical way of bringing me back to me. Somehow in all this I feel like the person I was before everything happened…hell, maybe even the person I was when I met Cameron.” She took in Paige’s serious expression and laughed. “I don’t know…this is all suddenly confusing.”
Paige smiled softly and took Olivia’s hand. “Everything you said is amazing. Awesome, really. So I’m not getting why you’re not all over this and spending your nights at his house, not mine.”
Olivia gave a knowing look. “Because again, is it real? Or is this all happening because we’ve created this fantasyland where everything is perfect?”
Paige lifted a brow. “Or maybe it is perfect and you’re overthinking all of this.”
“Maybe,” Olivia admitted with a heavy sigh, leaning against the brick building behind her. “Then again, some things can’t change. A week ago, the last thing I wanted was a relationship. And a week ago, neither did Noah. Can that even change in only four days? Can he even be the type of guy that wants to go home to a girlfriend and not work all the time? Would I ever fit into his life? Am I even ready for a relationship?” She paused and drew in a long breath. “But then, he’s so incredible that I can’t imagine why I wouldn’t want to be with him. It’s all so perfect. But is it really that perfect?”
Paige suddenly threw her arms around Olivia, squeezing her tight. “Okay, girl, slow the motor. That’s a hella lot of questions.” When she leaned away, she gave a soft smile. “All I know is if something is making you feel happy and feel good, that can’t be wrong.”
“Olivia.”
At the sharp, low voice, she whirled around and spotted Isaac. “Good morning.”
He frowned and tapped his finger on his watch. “You’re five minutes late. Is girl talk really that important right now?”
Yes, it is. Instead of letting the words she wanted to say free, she turned to Paige and smiled. “I’ll see ya after work.”
“Mm hmm.” Paige glared at Isaac before striding past him and heading toward her bakery a couple of blocks away.
Olivia went to move past him too, when Isaac said, “Don’t make this a habit, Olivia. And perhaps tell your friend it is rude to glare at your boss.”
“Ye…” The sir nearly came out of her mouth. She had said the title hundreds of times before today. Now she realized he didn’t deserve that respect. She glanced over her shoulder. This time, this one time, she said, “I’m afraid my friend would never listen to me. She’s got real issues with bossy men.”
He blinked.
At that, she walked inside with a smile.
* * *