Chapter 19 Olivia
NINETEEN
olivia
I might have reminded Cooper that the baseball game was on purely so I could have an excuse to watch my favorite rookie.
My rookie. I swallowed hard, trying not to think about all the women in Toronto who were likely throwing themselves at him. My brother had been pretty tame when he first got called up, but tame still meant sampling what the other baseball cities offered.
Did Nate sample? There was nothing in the news, and he’d never mentioned a girlfriend in the past. I wanted to think I would notice if he were sending flirty texts to other women. So far, the only other woman he had mentioned was his mother.
Goddammit, Olivia!
“Mom! Uncle Austin just made a great play!” Did I scan the outfield looking for Nate as I watched the replay? My eyes sought that man every chance I got, and no matter how many times I reminded myself it was wrong, I couldn’t stop the attraction.
I checked the schedule for the rest of the week—one more game in Toronto, three in Chicago, and then a travel day back home.
I couldn’t even convince myself that I was only interested in the schedule because I now lived with two of the players.
It was Nate. I looked forward to running into him in the kitchen or catching him in my pool.
“I have to leave for a house showing. If you need anything while I’m gone, you can call Miss Lindy.”
Cooper’s answer was short; his attention absorbed by the game. “Yup.”
“No pool unless I’m home.”
“Yeah, Mom. I know that.”
He still hadn’t told me what had happened with Jason, and I hadn’t pried—yet. When Cooper was younger, I could cover up the fact that Jason was minimally involved, but now it was becoming more painfully obvious. And Cooper was becoming better at pretending that it didn’t bother him.
When I arrived at the open house, I pressed the code into the door and unlocked it.
The house was only a few blocks from mine, in a sought-after neighborhood, but the layout was strange.
The housing market had been so hot these last few years that homes didn’t last long on the market.
While you might think that was great for my income, the problem was that there weren’t enough homes.
My last buyers entered the home-buying process with a wide net cast over the Boston suburbs.
After searching for six months, they had decided on a home in Rhode Island and planned to commute into the city.
Once they realized that they could get a bigger house and that the train commute was the same as the drive with traffic, they said it was an easy decision.
I loved Massachusetts, and the city had my heart. But if Austin weren’t bankrolling my living expenses, I wouldn’t be able to touch the market in the area. Not even a rental. I sometimes talked budget with my clients and wondered how they could afford it.
I greeted the potential buyers and let them know that the sellers would be accepting offers through the end of the day and making their decision by tomorrow afternoon.
At least work provided me with a distraction from my new obsession—Nate.
I would be so busy with closing this sale that I wouldn’t even have time to think about anything else.
I realized I had left my phone in the car early on, but had been too busy to run out and get it until I locked the property.
Missed call from Ashley Monroe.
Nope. Not going there. Ashley wasn’t getting anything from me; she’d decided long ago that I wasn’t going to be her friend. We had no business with each other.
Me: I had a missed call from Ashley.
Austin: Are you going to call her back?
Me: Not a chance.
Austin: Let me know if she bothers you.
Ha, bro, she’s bothered me from day one. You know what won’t bother me? When she realizes that your prenup was ironclad. She might end up with the house because you’re a nice guy, but she’ll be selling it soon enough when she realizes that she won’t have enough money to keep the lights on.
God, remembering back to the time she “accidentally” forgot to pay my electricity bill because she “thought it was a fake bill.” She knew what she was doing, and that she was turning off the lights for her nephew.
That woman brought out the worst in me. I generally hated human suffering, but she hadn’t shown much humanity.
That night, Coop and I ate a light dinner, and he packed his bag for camp the next day while I went back and forth with the seller on offers for their house.
Nate: What are you doing?
I smiled at my phone. Oh, man. Not a good sign, Olivia.
Me: Boring stuff. What about you? Partying in Canada tonight?
Nate: Fuck no. That headache just went away.
Nate: Did you watch the game?
Me: Part of it. I had a showing today. Coop did, though. How’s the team chemistry, you know, with the stuff between Austin and Tucker?
Nate: We went to the owner and asked him to trade Milligan. I’m not sure what his options are, but he heard us.
Me: Who is we?
Nate: Most of the team. Except Griff.
Of course not. Griffen and Milligan were two sides of the same coin.
Me: How is the hotel room?
Nate: Lonely.
Nate: (image of a man)
Oh God. My heart leapt at the image of Nate shirtless on the hotel bed. I zoomed in and studied the planes of his chest and abs. Sigh, the photo meant nothing, Olivia.
Me: The women must love seeing this picture.
Nate: I wouldn’t know. I sent it only to one woman, and she went silent.
Me: One woman plus me?
Nate: No, Liv, just you.
I licked my lips, a reflex, but I’d be lying if I wasn’t craving the feeling of his chest and abs against my lips, tongue.
Fuck, he had the V. Men’s bodies, especially athletic men, were my Kryptonite.
All the heartache and bullshit they brought to the table, I walked into it willingly because I craved their touch, and the way they moved fascinated me.
And yes, I fucking loved when they fell apart in my hands.
A strong man reduced to a begging mess with his dick in my mouth? Even on my knees, I knew I had control in that situation. I imagined Nate, towering above me, shuddering and losing control as I took him deep in my throat. Heat pooled in my core and clenched my thighs together.
Me: Then I guess I’m a lucky girl.