Forever, Please (Please #4) Page 6

  “C’mon, Olivia. We’re leaving.” Hunter firmly directed me in front of him. With his hand on the small of my back, he guided me toward the table so I could get my handbag.

  “Is that your beer?” Hunter asked in what I could only describe as an extremely dangerous tone.

  Oops. That looked even worse.

  I had been chatting with the ex-boyfriend in a secluded spot with a beer waiting for me at the table. I was not batting a thousand on this little trip out.

  “I didn’t drink out of it,” I said in a rush.

  “Hi, Hunter,” Jen said, standing and throwing out her hand to shake.

  “Hey, man.” Rick stood, too, but his smile was hard. He kept glancing at Jen, who was doing a poor job of hiding the lust sparking in her eyes.

  “Do you need a ride, Kimberly?” Hunter’s hard gaze hit her.

  She glanced at her beer as her face turned bright red. She snatched her handbag off the chair and stood, making no move to drain the last of her beer. It looked like she thought she was in trouble for drinking because I was.

  “Okay,” she said in a demure tone.

  Without another word, Hunter directed me out of the café and to the car waiting by the curb. He had been as rude as usual, but I didn’t dare call it out. I was in so much trouble it wasn’t funny. Going along quietly until I could assess the damage was the name of the game.

  Chapter Five

  “Okay, Livy, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” Kimberly gave me a wave and a grimace as her gaze touched on Hunter. I think she knew I was in trouble even though she didn’t know why.

  When the car was on its way again, Hunter said, “What were you doing with him?”

  “He wants a job. He’s seeing Tera now.”

  “He’s fucking Tera. He won’t take her to meet his parents.”

  “That’s…some personal knowledge. How do you know that?”

  Hunter looked at me, anger and suspicion in his eyes. “He broke it off with you because you were from a lower social class. He loved you, Olivia. The slander he spread after he broke it off was hollow. Now that you’ve been elevated to a higher class, he’d be more than happy to get any part of you he could.”

  “How do you know all this? And when did you tell him to stay away from me?”

  “When I realized he’d be a possible threat, I made sure that I remained informed. I didn’t like hearing that you were with him this evening, after assuring me you were going home.”

  “I didn’t assure you. And I didn’t know he’d be there.”

  We arrived in front of the house. Hunter’s mouth was a thin line as he helped me out then guided me up the front walk. Once inside, he turned to face me. His muscles flexed and relaxed, his temper burning hot.

  “You told me you were going home,” Hunter said in a flat tone.

  “And then I decided to meet up with Kimberly. She said Jen and Rick were at a café, so we met them. I did not know he’d be there, Hunter, seriously.”

  Hunter turned toward the stairs without another word. He’d go dunk himself in work and try to put some distance between himself and this situation.

  I trudged into the kitchen with a surly attitude and found Janelle at the stove. She looked up as I entered. “Hey. I’d thought you’d be home earlier, so I’m just heating up your dinner. Was that Hunter I heard?”

  “Yes. He’s home.”

  “Oh, okay. I’ll just make a plate up for him.”

  She busied herself as I sat at the table in the corner. “I wish I could have a glass of wine right now.” I’d told the house staff about the pregnancy for meal preparation and various other things.

  “If wishes were unicorns we’d all have a ride to work.”

  I leaned against the tabletop. That wasn’t helpful.

  “What’s up?” Janelle asked as she got out the milk. “Why the long face?”

  “Hunter caught me in the vicinity of an ex-boyfriend. Now he’s mad.”

  Janelle gave me a grimace and then a puzzled expression. “Hunter doesn’t seem like the jealous type to me.”

  “He had a weird past and this baby is bringing it all out again. He’s not really rational.”

  “Oh, right—I heard something about that. This has got to be tough on both of you, then.”

  “Yes. For a lot of reasons. There are a lot of changes.”

  “There always is with a baby.”

  That also didn’t help. She was too practical by half. I wanted someone to allow me to mope and wallow.

  After I had eaten, I headed toward my office. I needed to make Hunter talk about things, but I also knew he was shutting down like a clam. I was exhausted, stressed, and unsure. I didn’t think I could work up enough anger to barge in there and demand he get over his issues.

  Instead, I worked until my eyes drooped, which was not long at all, then slunk into my room. I was asleep soon after my head hit the pillow. We certainly wouldn’t be running bases together that night.

  The next morning I took the coffee from Brenda. The uncertainty from the night before had grown into a tsunami of doubt. Hunter had come in last night, showered as normal, and then turned his back to me when he got into bed. He’d never done that before. Never!

  He hadn’t kissed me goodbye that morning, either, or said he loved me.

  I made my way into his office silently. Filtered light from an overcast sky softly touched his shoulders and made a halo of light around his handsome face. My heart clenched as I neared, hoping I was making too big of a deal about all this. Hoping I was being a stupid girl.

  He didn’t look up. I might’ve been a ghost with an invisible coffee cup. It was like in the beginning of my employment when he had kept me at an arm’s distance.

  Choking on my fear, I stood for a moment, looking down on him. I wanted to open the lines of communication and sort this out, but I didn’t know how to start. His jaw was clenched and shoulders tensed. I could tell that he just wanted me to go away.

  I set the cup down gently, still staring at him. His fingers moved over the keyboard, typing out an email. He didn’t intend to acknowledge my presence.

  Downtrodden and miserable, I made my way back to my desk.

  “What’s your problem?” Brenda asked. “Do you feel like crap? Because that would make me feel less jealous of your easy pregnancy so far.”

  I set up my computer, and then spilled. “Hunter kinda found me at a café last night standing close to an ex-boyfriend. It was totally innocent, and not my idea, but he went a little…”

  “Crazy?” Brenda turned toward me and picked up her coffee. “Then what happened?”

  “Well…he also saw that I had a beer. I wasn’t drinking it—they ordered it for me. But it looked all kinds of wrong.”

  “I’ll say. That certainly didn’t help. Then what happened?”

  “You love this drama, don’t you.”

  “Yes. New love is like a soap opera. So?” Brenda’s brow lifted.

  “He’s super distant now. He won’t even look at me. I don’t know what to do.”

  “Uh huh. Hmm. What would not-insecure Olivia do?”

  I frowned at her. “I don’t know that version of Olivia. Does she exist?”

  Brenda smirked. “What would the Olivia that balked on signing a contract do? Surely she wouldn’t take this lying down…”

  I thought back to that time, when the stakes were nothing more than not giving myself for free. That had seemed like a serious issue at the time. Now I had a baby to think about, not to mention a place to live, a job, a future…

  “Uh oh—you’re going haywire.” Brenda got up and grabbed a bottled water from her drawer. She handed it over. “Drink that. You need to calm down. I don’t want to get in trouble for making you panic. Mr. Overprotective would probably fire me.”

  “I wasn’t too thrilled about the overprotective issue until I landed in this place, where he’s really distant. Now I want that other guy back.”

  “You’ll figure it out. It’s
up to you, though. You’ve always been the one to steer him where you needed him to be. Left to his own devices, he would still be in his ivory tower, shut away from the world.”

  Brenda went back to her computer.

  “That’s it? Just dump a ‘you’ll figure it out’ and turn around?”

  “Yes, Chicken Little. That man thinks the sun shines out of your ass. He’s going to grapple with this until you drag him out. Bet you.”

  I scowled and tapped my phone with a heavy finger. The ranking was as I had left it, Bruce’s and my game on top, garnering downloads and making a small pile of money.

  Why was it when one part of my life was going well, another part fell to pieces? It was one of life’s cruel jokes.

  I clicked into my email, saw a bunch of things I needed to work on, and zoned out for a moment. I didn’t really want to set up a meeting schedule for the rollout of some new software I didn’t know anything about. It was mind-numbing work. The alternative, though, was learning about something or other that I had no interest in. It wasn’t business in general, it was how this company operated. I really didn’t care.

  I glanced longingly back at my phone. I could be writing code for the new levels. I had a dynamite idea that would bend people’s brain in the right ways. I just knew it. I wanted to get to it.

  Hunter’s words came floating back to me. Choosing.

  If I chose what I loved to do, I wouldn’t have access to Hunter all day. He’d said I could work from his office, but if he didn’t want to see me, that offer could easily be revoked. If we had a fight, like now, I’d sit at home thinking about him, hoping he didn’t lose his head and screw the secretary.

  “I’m in a fix, Brenda. I really am.” I leaned my face against my fist in a pout.

  “Fix a sandwich. Hey—” She turned to me in a sudden gush of impatience. “Get that schedule done. I need to fit Hunter into it somewhere.”

  “Pushy,” I muttered, reaching for my mouse.

  The day passed with me acting like the coward I was. I’d been into Hunter’s office a few times, delivering coffee or papers. Instead of talking to him, as Brenda kept urging me to do, or wrecking his head, like I was accustomed to doing, I just stared like a window shopper. It must’ve been really weird from his end of things, but he never turned toward me. Never said a word. He was really putting his all into ignoring me.

  At six o’clock I tapped my phone, checked my ranking, and then the reviews. I skimmed passed the first horrible one, then the next. I’d seen those already. My eyes glazed with all the five-stars. Some people really did like the game.

  My gaze snagged on a new one-star review.

  “Stop hating the game!” I seethed at the phone. Then I groaned. I had been waiting for a review like this. It was a long, drawn-out affair from an educated person who could string a couple words together. Proper grammar and no typos made this person’s critique so much more valid.

  I read the person’s opinion in trepidation. Apparently, my game was trite and unoriginal. The graphics were pleasing but play was clunky. It wasn’t hard in the least and it price-gouged. This person thought that the designers were beginners, and it showed.

  My heart sank. This person had exposed the weaknesses perfectly. We were beginners, for the most part. And there were some clunky places. Trite, unoriginal? Yeah, I could see that.

  I hunched in my chair. Something snapped. I could only be the victim for so long.

  “I can’t have this many critics in life!” I stood in determination.

  “There you go! Give him hell!” Brenda put her fist into the air as she put her glasses into her handbag.

  I marched into Hunter’s office, pushing aside my fear of what would happen if this conversation went badly. If he lost his marbles and pushed me away, I’d lose the love of my life, sure, but I wouldn’t be destitute. Bruce was still paying me, the game was increasing in momentum instead of decreasing, and I could stay with Kimberly until I found another place to live. I could even move somewhere cheaper. Working for Bruce meant my laptop was my office. He lived in Middle America where rent was a quarter the price of San Francisco. I could easily move near him.

  Strapping on my big-girl panties, I came to a stop right in front of Hunter’s desk. Face schooled into a bulldog-looking expression, I stared down at him with my hands on my hips.

  He ignored me.

  I’d heard of people staring harder. I had to admit, however, that I didn’t know what that meant. Should I lean forward with the bulldog expression? Was that what would do the trick?

  Couldn’t hurt.

  I added a lean to the situation.

  Now I was just staring closer with what was probably a constipated expression, I had no doubt. If he didn’t look up at this, he was being obtuse on purpose.

  “I’m not posing for a wax sculpture, Hunter. Look at me.”

  His hands stilled over the computer. His arms flexed. Slowly, he turned his head in my direction. His power and command blasted through me, turning my spine to Jell-O and setting nervous tingles through my body. His hard eyes and clenched jaw made me want to back up and apologize for bothering him. He was firmly in his business pants, cast away from the world on his secluded island. This was the Hunter Carlisle the world saw. The one that hadn’t opened up to me. That hadn’t kissed me.

  “What do you think is going to happen, Hunter?” I said, standing tall despite my desire to roll over and play dead. “Do you think I’m going to leave you for Jonathan, or something?”

  He didn’t speak. Just stared at me. If this was a video game, my skin would probably melt off from his laser vision.

  “Even if I did, Hunter, it would still be your baby. This isn’t like with your dad. That baby wasn’t yours. It was a lie. This isn’t. I’m pregnant with your kid, and if you pull out, and leave me, I’ll be trying to raise this little beast on my own. And I don’t know that I can do that. I’m scared, too, Hunter. I’m scared of how this will change my life. I’m scared of giving birth. And I’m scared that something will go wrong and I’ll lose something that I’ve grown to love so, so much.”

  I wiped at my face. I hadn’t expected to break down. I’d planned to yell, if need be. Not whimper. I couldn’t help it, though. What I had said was true. I was scared. I needed him. I wouldn’t lose anything by letting him know it.

  “I need you to be a man, Hunter. I need you to be my man, and not go running at the first small issue we come across. Because there will be many more things that remind you of your past. I’m sure of it. Are you going to fly off the handle for all of those?”

  I tried to regain my hard stare. Instead, I had soggy eyes and a trembling lip. So much for the tough-girl approach.

  Hunter sagged a fraction. He lowered his eyes to his desk. With a small shake of his head, he stood slowly and came around the desk. When he reached me, without a word, he pulled me into his hard chest. “This isn’t easy for me to let go of,” he said in clipped tones. “I am swinging between wanting to walk away from you to save myself eventual pain, and locking you up so I don’t have to worry about someone else getting you. I realize both of those things are ridiculous, but do you see how an innocent encounter morphs into a disaster? All I hear is that I’m not the father. That it was all a lie.”

  “It’s yours, Hunter. I’ll repeat it as often as I have to. Seriously, Jonathan was just trying to get a job. He wanted to meet us both to chat. It’s you he’s after. I need to be jealous of him running off with you, not the other way around.”

  I felt a tiny squeeze. “I wanted to kill him. Still do. Stay away from him, Olivia. I can’t be rational where this is concerned. There’s too much at stake.”

  “I was already trying to stay away from him. Kimberly didn’t know he’d be there. She didn’t know he was with Tera, either. The whole thing was weird, actually. But you have nothing to worry about.”

  “And the beer?”

  “I tried to order a Sprite. I was distracted by Jonathan wanting to tell
you some ideas he thought you’d be into. Before you jump at it, he has a job. He’d be willing to hear your offer, though. Just so you know.”

  I felt another squeeze. “I’ll have to go with you to these meetups. Make sure they know not to pressure you.”

  I thrilled at the idea. “You don’t need to be overprotective, but hanging out with my friends might be nice. Having a life isn’t just a young man’s game, Hunter.”

  “I need to try harder, is that what you’re saying?”

  No, it wasn’t. But if that was what he took from it, I wasn’t going to say boo!

  “I’ll arrange it,” Hunter said softly.

  “You don’t have to arrange a meetup. You need to loosen up. I’ll just call Kimberly and see what she’s up to next time you take an hour away from work. No biggie.”

  “I saw that your game is still on top. Congratulations.”

  Ah. The ol’ diversion technique. He was going to arrange it anyway.

  I decided not to push. One thing at a time. “Yes. I saw the latest terrible review before I came in here. It’s a doozy.”

  “You shouldn’t look at reviews. It won’t help you.”

  “Some might. The critical ones.”

  “You’ll dwell. It won’t do you any good. There isn’t a single game in the charts with that high of a rating. What you designed is working. When did you plan to develop new levels?”

  I leaned my forehead against Hunter’s chest. “I’ll start working on it tonight.”

  I expected Hunter to remind me about my forthcoming decision, but he just stood and held me silently. It was louder than if he’d uttered the words.

  I ran my hand up his chest and angled my face to him. His came down immediately, connecting his lips with mine. I fell into the kiss, into the solid warmth around me, his firm touch. My body heated up.

  Before I knew what I was doing, I had his jacket halfway off.

  “Are you sure?” he asked with a heady voice.

  I hadn’t seen any more evidence of danger, and the doctor had given me the go-ahead shortly after I was discharged. It was a green light.