The One: The Complete One Series Collection (15 page)

I couldn’t keep the smile away any more. “Not even a little bit. But I love messing with you.”

“Christ, Olivia. That wasn’t funny.” William’s eyes flashed and I no longer found what I had done to be at all funny.

“I’m sorry, William. I was just screwing around. You were so tense after the flight.” I stepped closer to him and looked up at him innocently. “I should be punished for this.”

“Oh, no, you don’t.” William tried to step away but I already had my arms around him. “This isn’t going to work.”

“It isn’t?” I pressed my body against his and slipped one hand between us until I was grabbing his crotch. “It sure feels like it is working.”

“Fuck. Fine, but not here.” William smiled reluctantly. “Let’s go home.”

“Yes,” I agreed, loving the sound of that word from his lips. “Home.”

CHAPTER FIVE

When William dropped me off at my place the next morning, everything between us was perfect. He carried my bag to my door and we kissed goodbye for ten minutes. Even though we would see each other at work in less than an hour, neither of us wanted to let go. But we did. I didn’t know it then, but that was the end of perfect for us.

The situation with Dennis Jeffries hadn’t gone away. I spent hours digging through his financial records, searching for some way to explain his blatant embezzlement. By the end of the day, I was exactly where I had started and it was clear that Mr. Jeffries was headed to jail.

“Bad news,” I told William at the end of the day. He had called me into his office to discuss the next steps. “He’s screwed.”

“I figured as much.” William was kicked back in his chair with his feet on his desk, tossing a stress ball into the air. “What options do we have?”

“Legally or from a P.R. standpoint?”

“Both.”

“Legally, Jeffries is going to jail. As a lawyer, I suggest he accept the plea bargain. He should liquidate his assets and pay back whatever he can. But Jeffries doesn’t strike me as the kind of man who admits he was wrong. Short of an apology, the best thing he can do is keep his mouth shut. We can circulate pictures of his family, and it would probably be good if the news cameras could see him with his wife. Maybe even the grandkids.”

“His family hates him.” William’s feet landed on the ground with a thud and tossed the stress ball onto his desk. He started pacing the length of the room. I could tell that he was deep in thought and he stopped in front of me abruptly. “We need the apology. He needs to take the offer on the table.”

“I agree.” I glanced at his desk. “Speaking of ‘on the table’…”

William glared at me. “Not now, Olivia.”

My face grew hot at his rebuke. He had never spoken to me like that and I wasn’t sure how to respond. Normally, I would have given attitude right back to him but at that moment, I wasn’t sure if he was William my boyfriend or Connor my boss.

“I’m going to meet with Dennis again tomorrow. You should probably be in that meeting.”

“Fine.” I waited for him to say something else about the meeting, or perhaps apologize for snapping at me but he kept his lips pressed into a thin, harsh line. “If that’s all, I’ll be going.”

William nodded. “Tomorrow is likely to be intense. You should go home.”

“Which home?” I wasn’t trying to challenge him, but I honestly didn’t know if he was talking about his place or mine.

“Your home,” he said. “I’m going to be working late tonight.”

“Fine. Good night, William.” I was hoping he would at least give me a kiss, but I had too much pride to wait around for him to make a move.

He stopped me with my hand on the door. “Olivia.”

I knew after one look at his face that what had happened between us in Utah was over. He couldn’t look me in the eye.

“What, William?” It was hard for me to speak around the knot that was forming in my throat.

“Good night.” He turned away from me and I kept my head high as I left the office.

I was in bed by nine o’clock that night- alone. Yet I managed to not get a single minute of sleep. I couldn’t stop thinking about William and how much he had changed in just one day. The playful, considerate, damaged William from Utah had been replaced by a cold, abrasive imposter. Or maybe Utah-William was the imposter. Either way, whatever fantasy I may have had about a happily-ever-after with him had been erased.

Our morning meeting with Dennis Jeffries was brutal. He screamed at us for two hours when we suggested he take the plea deal. William tried to reason with him, but that only made it worse.

“I don’t understand why I’m paying you money to give me this ridiculous advice. It’s clear to me that you haven’t spent any time at all figuring out a solution to this problem.”

“Listen, Dennis.” I had no patience left to put up with his bitching. William had cut off my previous attempts to interject, but I wasn’t going to let that happen again. Jeffries needed to hear the truth. “You are a wretched human being. You took money from your clients. Money that people were depending on for college funds, dream houses and retirements. You deserve to go to prison.”

“Olivia,” William barked my name, cautioning me that I had crossed the line. I didn’t care.

“In fact, that’s exactly where you are headed. You are guilty, and nothing we do is going to change that.” I shoved a stack of papers at him. “Here’s the proof. The best thing you can do right now is take the deal. Plead guilty and make a public apology. If you’re lucky, you’ll spend the next ten years in prison and get out in time to see your grandkids graduate from high school. But if you continue to be a stubborn ass, you’re going to spend the next 25 years in prison, and you’ll miss everything.”

Jeffries eyes burned in anger but I could not have cared less. I pushed back my chair and stood up. “Either way, we’ll cash your check and move on. You’re the only one that has something to lose, and right now, you have the ability to minimize the damage.”

I waited for Jeffries to scream at me, or for William to order me out of the room. Neither of those things happened.

“Connor, I don’t know where you found this woman but I’ve never been spoken to in such a direct, rude manner.” Jeffries continued to stare at me, but I no longer got the impression that he was picturing me dead.

“She’s not wrong,” William said quietly.

“I know.” Jeffries turned to him. “I’ll take the deal.”

I considered the meeting to be a success. We had convinced Jeffries to do the right thing, and his victims would get some closure. William was less impressed when he ordered me into his office.

“Don’t ever do that again.” He slammed the office door shut behind us.

“I did what you were too scared to do.” I crossed my arms over my chest and stared him straight in the eye.

William returned my stare and eventually sighed. “Maybe so, but I’m the boss.”

“I know. Trust me, I know.” I tried to step past him to leave but he grabbed my arm. He didn’t say anything, but I could tell he was trying to figure out the best way to deliver bad news. “What’s wrong, William? You are clearly mad at me for some reason, and I doubt it has anything to do with Dennis Jeffries.”

“I’m not mad at you,” he said, but he couldn’t meet my eyes.

“You’re ending this, aren’t you?” I couldn’t keep the hurt out of my voice.

William finally looked at me, and I could see that he was hurting, too. “It’s for the best, Livy.”

I jerked my arm away and laughed despite the tears that filled my eyes. “You’re a coward. Just admit that you have been playing me this whole time. Admit you are like all the others, that you’re exactly the guy I thought you were that first night we spent together. Because I know you’re not really the man you pretended to be in Utah. That man was just a big lie.”

“Livy, please, try to understand.” William reached for me again but I backed away. “I don’t want to hurt you. I’m trying to save you from what’s going to happen.”

“I don’t need you to save me, William,” I said. “In fact, I think it’s about time I saved myself.”

I tossed my hair as I marched out of his office, making it all the way to the bathroom before the tears started to fall. I hated myself for crying over William. I felt broken, and I hated that feeling, so I reached for my phone.

Thomas answered on the first ring. “Livs. I was just about to call you. Today has been total shit. Want to meet up for a drink? Or twelve?”

“Absolutely.” I loved that Thomas and I had known each other so long that we didn’t have to explain ourselves. “I still owe you for William’s crazy behavior in the bar. Want to come over to my place? I’ll make you dinner.”

“With dessert?” Thomas had a weakness for my desserts.

“Of course.” A hearty meal, sugary desert and several drinks was just what I needed to forget about William, at least for a few hours.

By eight o’clock, our plates were clean and two bottles of wine were empty. By the time we had both vented about our personal issues, we were ready to open the third bottle.

“William is a total asshole,
Liv. You are better off without him.” Thomas spilled a little wine as he refilled my glass but I was too drunk to care.

“Well Sophia is a nightmare. She treats you terrible.” I moved over on the couch so that Thomas could set next to me. “You’re a great guy, Thomas. You can do so much better.”

“So can you, Liv.” Thomas tapped his wine glass against mine. “To us doing better.”

“Cheers.” I took a big gulp of wine. “You know, I used to have a crush on you back in high school.”

“No way.” Thomas shook his head. “I was a huge dork and you wanted nothing to do with me. I’m the one that had a giant crush on you.”

“
Pssh.” I was at that point of drunkenness where full words became a challenge. “You should’ve asked me out. I totally would’ve said yes.”

Thomas squinted at me. “What if I asked you out right now?”

“Now? Me?” My voice was squeaky. I honestly hadn’t thought of Thomas that way for years. “I think I’d probably say yes.”

It was true that Thomas was a great guy. One of the best guys, actually. He was also cute, smart and funny. Any girl would be lucky to have him. And that’s what I told myself as he leaned over to kiss me.

It was strange at first. Thomas was my best friend, and we were about to completely alter the course of our relationship. But I was too drunk and too hurt to care. All I wanted right then was to feel close to someone. Thomas would do just fine for that purpose.

His lips were rough on mine and unfamiliar. It took awhile for us to learn each other’s topography. When he put his hands under my shirt, I actually winced. I wasn’t ready to let another man tread on William’s territory. I wasn’t ready to accept that he was gone. But fortunately, Thomas didn’t notice my wince and I was able to push away those feelings.

“Let’s go to the bedroom,” I suggested, afraid that if we didn’t move things along I might lose my nerve.

Thomas seemed just as determined to make it happen. He pulled me to my feet and hurried us into the next room. I stripped my clothes off in a drunken stupor and Thomas did the same. Neither of us was under the illusion that this was anything other than a forget-about-your-ex fuck.

“Wow,” Thomas said when he finally noticed my naked body. “Liv, I had no idea your body was so rockin’.”

“Gee, thanks.” It was such a Thomas thing to say that it made me smile. I tried to return the compliment, “You’ve got some good things going on as well.”

“Okay, that was awkward.” Thomas scratched nervously at the back of his neck. “Do you still want to do this?”

“I think we owe it to ourselves,” I said. I wanted this to work. Being with Thomas made sense. We were best friends. I spent my holidays with his family. He knew all my darkest secrets. Being with Thomas would be simple. I could get used to simple.

My words weren’t quite enough to convince him, so I brushed my body against him, letting him become accustomed to the idea of us together. I moved my hands lightly over his chest and kissed him slowly. His body moved against me and his hands slid up my sides and hesitated just before reaching my breasts. I rubbed my leg against his and kissed him harder. Thomas decided to go for it and as he caressed my breasts, I felt his erection grow against stomach.

I pushed him back on the bed and climbed on top, letting my hair fall over us as I kissed him again and again. I was trying so desperately to feel for him the way I had felt for William. To want him- all of him. To want to feel him in every nerve in my body. But it wasn’t going to happen and we both knew it.

“Liv. This isn’t working.” Thomas turned his head away from me and I reluctantly sat up, still straddling him.

“I know.” I put a tender hand on his chest. “I really wanted this to work.”

He smiled. “Me, too.”

“We should probably put some clothes on,” I said, gesturing to our naked bodies.

“Just because I’m not buying the goods doesn’t mean I shouldn’t get to look,” he joked as I slid off him.

I was about to make an equally lame joke about wanting my money back, but my door buzzer interrupted us. “Who the hell is that?”

“Did we order a pizza? Because I wouldn’t say no to a pizza right now.” Thomas made no effort to get dressed as he tucked his hands behind his head.

I pulled on my underwear and Thomas’ faded Chicago Cubs t-shirt. I assumed whoever was ringing my buzzer had the wrong apartment, but I had to go downstairs to find out.

Thomas stopped me. “What if it’s a crazy stalker? Let me take care of it.” He pulled on his boxers and jeans and flexed his biceps. “Never send a woman to do a man’s work.”

I laughed as he skipped from the room. When he came back, his mood had changed completely. “You should go down there,
Liv.”

“Who is it?” I asked, but I already knew the answer. I pulled on my jeans and a pair of shoes, feeling like shit.

William stood with his back to me, hands pushed deep into his pockets. I could tell from the straightness of his posture that he was angry.