Olivia was lying across my lap, pouting that her friend left. It looked like the two kids had gotten into a lot of the toys.
It was nice to see Olivia playing with someone, she didn’t really get to hang out with any other children after Kylie died. Noah hated having people over, but I was able to take her out from time to time. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he hadn’t kept up the practice.
“I’m sorry, baby girl. I’m sure you’ll get to play with Bryant again. Maybe next time, you can go over there?”
“Really?” Olivia popped up, looking at me with high expectations. I glanced over at Noah, and he seemed frustrated, but he wasn’t saying no.
“Of course!”
I gave her a quick kiss on top of her head before giving her the tightest hug. A year was way too long to go without seeing my niece. She wasn’t the only one I missed, though.
Earlier, when her father came out of the house, my heart almost popped out of my body. Noah looked just as good, maybe better than he had the year before. I wasn’t sure. Was it even possible for him to get better looking?
My sister had married well. Not only was Noah incredibly rich, but he was also hot as hell. With a diamond-shaped face and shiny black hair that he kept slightly too long, my former brother-in-law could have been a model. The man was even tall like a model. He towered over my sister and me.
I was jealous for a long time. I tried to stay away from him to hide my attraction until Kylie lost her footing while mountain climbing. Then I regretted my actions. So much time with my sister was lost because I couldn’t deal with my attraction to her husband.
“Olivia?” The two of us look over at her father. “Why don’t you clean up this mess, and then we can have dinner?”
“Okay.”
Her little frame removed itself from my arms, and Olivia started putting her toys away. I would have liked to cuddle a little bit longer, but my plan was to live at the mansion for a while, so there would be plenty of time for that.
Once Olivia got to cleaning, Noah walked out of the playroom, heading towards the kitchen. I got up to quickly follow him, letting Olivia know where we’d be.
“Noah!” I called out, catching up to him.
He abruptly stopped, causing me to run straight into his muscular back. I almost wrapped my arms around him, but I was smart enough to know he would get upset.
“What is it, Scarlett?” Noah turned around; his eyes practically boring into my soul.
“I just wanted to say…” There were a lot of things I wanted to say. I couldn’t say them all now, so I went with the most comfortable option. “I’ve really missed Olivia, and I wanted to see how she was doing, and…”
“Is that all?” His raised eyebrow told me he wasn’t buying the act. I’d already confessed that I came back because things weren’t going well with my dad, but I still came here because the house and these people held some really good memories. I wanted to feel safe here.
“No. I was also thinking maybe I could help by taking care of Olivia if you want to get back to work or some other thing. You always had hobbies and stuff, so…”
“Is that all?”
Noah had a unique ability to make me uncomfortable. It partially had to do with my feelings for him, but he never just let something go. He liked to poke until you revealed all your secrets.
“I could make you guys dinner. I’m guessing you never learned how to make my famous four-cheese pizza?”
Scratching the back of his head, Noah finally smiled at me. “No, I never was able to get the dough quite right.”
“Then let me make it.”
My former brother-in-law was quiet for longer than necessary. It was easy to see he wanted to say a few things, but he wasn’t letting them out.
“Okay. Pizza it is.”
At that exact moment, Olivia’s little head poked out of her playroom. “Pizza?”
I nodded, confirming our dinner. The little girl came bounding out of her room, saying pizza over and over again, jumping up and down.
“Okay, little miss.”
Noah picked her up, and the three of us headed over to the kitchen. I got all the ingredients out of the cabinets. Olivia pulled her step stool over to help me prep everything while Noah stood not too far away, watching the two of us cooking. It was almost like old times.
I just wanted to get into that head of his to find out what he was thinking. Was he one hundred percent upset that I was here? Was there a part of Noah that was happy to see me?