Perfectly Inappropriate

Right as that thought crossed her mind, her cellphone rang. She sighed when she saw it was Cameron. “Hi,” she answered the call.

“Hey,” Cameron replied, voice chipper. “I’ve got good news. An offer came in on the house. I wondered if we could meet up to chat about it.”

“Oh…” In all that had gone on in the last twenty-four hours, the showing of the house had been the last thing on her mind. “That is good news. Just tell it to me now?”

“There are some things that I think will be better explained in person.”

Fax it? Email it? A bunch of ideas crossed her mind until she reminded herself she was an adult and needed to put this matter to rest. She considered meeting him somewhere. That wouldn’t do. There was no way she would leave Noah’s house to see Cameron, knowing the impression that would give to both of them. She figured on the only other alternative. “I’m at Noah’s now. Want to meet me here, outside?”

He hesitated. “Yeah, okay.”

She rambled off the address and before ending the call, she said, “I’ll see you soon.” She slid out of bed and dressed quickly back in her red blouse and dark skinny jeans then moved to the bathroom’s door. “Cameron’s coming to show me an offer on the house,” she called to Noah. “I’m just running outside to meet with him. I’ll be back in a few.”

A pause. Then, “All right.”

With that settled, she slipped into her heels and made it outside the building in a jiffy. She sat on the steps for a good ten minutes before Cameron’s black Mazda rolled to a stop near the mature maple tree. Determined to get this part of her life behind her, she pushed off the step and met him halfway, noting the file folder in his hand. “Is the offer good?”

He nodded and handed her the file. “Before we get into that, can we talk?”

She didn’t even bother trying to read him. She thought once she’d known him, and she had been epically wrong. Instead, she opened the file, spotting the Agreement to Purchase, and asked, “Yeah, what’s up?”

“This guy is all wrong for you,” Cameron said.

She slowly looked up from the file and stared at him for a good few seconds, bewildered. “I’m not exactly sure why you think you should have an opinion on who I date.” Looking back at the file, she noted the offer was only three thousand off from asking price. “The offer is solid.” She flipped a page and glanced at the conditions. “Wow. No conditions. I don’t think this offer could get any better.” She flipped another paper. “Why did we need to talk about this?”

“We don’t have to do this. We don’t have to sell.”

With those sad puppy dog eyes staring at her, Noah’s earlier conversation about Cameron having other motivations to help her sell came rushing into her mind. “Actually, yes, we do have to sell.”

Cameron scraped the toe of his shoe against the sidewalk, shifting from side to side. “What if I said I made a huge mistake and I’ll do whatever I can to make it up to you?”

“I would say that ship has already sailed,” she said without hesitation.

His jaw muscles tightened. That’s when Olivia saw the truth. Noah had been right—Cameron had wanted it all. He’d wanted the fantasy in Lacie. He’d wanted the wife in Olivia. And now she spotted the desperation in his eyes that showed he was losing it all. The way he was scrambling to get back whatever he could.

“We had ten years together,” he said softly before she could choose between decking him or kicking him in the balls. “Ten good years. Yes, I fucked up, but people make mistakes. And I admit that I made a big one. We can fix this. We can go to therapy if that’s what it takes.”

She blinked. “You. Fucked. My. Best. Friend. In. My. Bed.”

“It was a mistake,” he implored.

“Olivia.”

The slow, steady, low voice behind her sent goosebumps racing across her flesh. She glanced over her shoulder, finding Noah standing on the landing dressed in workout pants and a T-shirt. Dear God, he was gorgeous. His hair was messy and damp from his shower, but those eyes…oh, those eyes were coolly calm and locked onto the man who had broken her heart.

She gazed between the two men staring each other down and realized she didn’t really know either of them.

Cameron had blindsided her. He was one man one day. Another man the next. Noah had a little of that himself. He portrayed one man in public. Another man in private, always keeping her at a safe distance, never crossing emotional lines.

“It’s okay,” she said to Noah, not wanting this to become something more than it was. Besides, she could handle Cameron. She offered him the file folder. “This looks good to me. Take the offer.”

Cameron ignored her and growled at Noah, “You are not part of this. Fuck off.”

At that, Noah grinned.

Olivia felt the tension coming off him in waves. She shoved the file at Cameron. “It’s time for you to go.”

But Cameron wasn’t looking at her. He was seething at Noah.