11. Alex
11
ALEX
The moment I saw Olivia, I realized my mistake. I shouldn’t have come here. The sight of her without her armor disarmed me. I stood motionless for a moment, staring at her. Without her power suit, no-nonsense bun, and cool expression, she looked like… my Olivia. The one who let me past the guarded facade she felt forced to keep up…
She looked soft and vulnerable—a stark contrast to the formidable CEO I’d been sparring with lately. It was like staring at a ghost from the past. How many times had we met at her door looking just like this? How many times had I taken one look at her and swept her into my arms to taste her full lips? I pulled in a sharp breath and forced myself to blink away the surge of memories.
She blinked too as if she also had to bring herself back from the past. “What are you doing here, Alex?” She shook her head. “I mean… you said you want to talk. About what?”
Straight to business. Of course. Olivia hated uncertainty and not being in control of a situation. I hated how well I knew her… what she pretended to be, anyway. In the end, I discovered that I didn’t know the real her. That thought helped me gather my wits, and I stepped inside.
I swept her luxurious apartment, taking in the modern but stark decor. Everything was white, black, or transparent. The Ice Princess in her bleak glass tower. I thought she would have met someone who countered her excruciatingly reserved ways by now… like I used to. I wasn’t sure why the thought of another man helping her to let her hair down irked me so much, and I wasn’t about to analyze it.
“I came to apologize,” I said.
Her eyebrows arched.
Her expression made me smile wryly. “Me. Apologize… I know, right? You once told me that I was too arrogant to be apologetic.”
Her eyelashes lowered to hide her eyes and pink blossomed in her cheeks. I had to bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself from smirking. I knew she fought hard to keep that blush away and lost.
She threw those words at me after our first major argument… I didn’t even remember what we fought about. I did remember kissing the hell out of her to shut her up when she cursed my arrogance though. The makeup sex that followed was explosive.
While I had her on the brink of an orgasm, she’d said, “Oh, my god, Alex. If you keep fucking me like that, you never have to apologize for anything ever again.”
That memory and Olivia’s deepening blush—because she was definitely reliving that night—brought out the smug smile I’d been trying to stave off. Her eyes finally met mine, and she glared .
“What exactly are you apologizing for? You’ve been a gigantic ass, so it’s hard to be sure.”
There she was… Miss Tough and Mighty was back.
Refraining from rolling my eyes, I asked. “Are you going to offer me a drink or what?”
She scoffed. “I didn’t invite you over.”
“Don’t be ungracious, Liv.”
“Don’t call me that,” she snapped.
I smiled, despite my logical self berating me for coming to her place. “Fine. This isn’t typically how I conduct business, but, hell… Olivia, you and I have history.”
Her eyes narrowed to slits. “This is about business?”
“Sort of.”
The reluctance to let me further into her personal domain practically radiated off her. However, she let out a breath and gestured toward the living room. “As long as this is about business, I don’t see why we can’t share a drink.”
I sat on a sofa and watched her as she sauntered out of the room. “What the fuck am I doing?” I grumbled. I could have called her to issue my apology… but that didn’t seem good enough. After our tiff in that parking lot, I didn’t sleep a wink that night.
Olivia’s hurt expression haunted me all night. Her icy exterior had cracked for the briefest of moments, and I saw pain in her eyes. I hurt her feelings, although I’m sure she’d never admit it. That comment I made about getting over her fast and her not being memorable was laughable. She stung me with the way she downplayed our relationship, and I wanted to hurt her back. We both issued low blows, and we had to stop.
After my conscience plagued me, I decided that I’d take Olivia down professionally. Yes, I knew I was thinking crazy and that I was a walking contradiction. I’d get my revenge and BioTech if it was the last thing I did, but I was going to do it without getting caught up in emotional bitterness.
She came back with a bottle and two glasses. I studied the bottle when she put it on the glass table, noting that it was only half full.
“Since when do you drink whiskey?”
“Since I had to blend in with the people who have dicks,” she said flippantly.
I swallowed a smile. Same sassy woman hiding under her icy surface…
“This is what plenty of men do at business meetings,” she added. “I had to fit in.” She filled the two glasses and handed me one.
I stared at the brown liquid until Olivia chuckled. “I haven't poisoned it, I swear.”
My eyes locked with hers. I didn’t hesitate because I thought she hated me enough to poison me. I simply wondered if it was a good idea to consume alcohol while I was with my ex-girlfriend in her living room. Especially with her looking so much like the girl I fell for…
I grunted my amusement and drank. To hell with it…
My feelings for her were nowhere near what I felt years ago. That ship had long sailed and it would never return. However, that didn’t stop me from feeling guilty about being immature and letting my resentment get the best of me.
She watched me over her glass as she sipped, a clear challenge in her eyes. “So… let’s get this over with.”
“Can’t wait to get rid of me?” I asked.
“Something like that…”
I twirled my glass in my hand as I stared at her. Finally, I said, “I’m sorry about the way I behaved the other day. What I said?— ”
Her eyebrows dipped. “I thought you were here to tell me you’re giving up your pursuit of my company and that you’d leave me alone forever.”
I set my glass down. “I’m not giving up, Olivia. You’re going to lose but that doesn’t mean I can’t go about my victory in a professional manner.”
The seething look she gave me could have melted me on the spot. “That arrogance… some things never change. Well, I’m still not handing over what’s mine, so good luck.”
“I think you’re the one who needs luck, but back to my apology…”
Her jaw tightened, and she took a gulp of whiskey.
“I shouldn’t have brought your family into our battle. I have nothing against all Brentwoods.”
Olivia’s eyes squinted into annoyed slits. “What the hell is this, Alex? You hate me, and I think you’re a royal pain in the ass. Now, we’re having a tête-à-tête in my living room. Do you really expect me to believe you dug up my address to come here and apologize for hurting my feelings?” She held up a finger. “Which were not hurt, by the way. You have no power over my emotions, Alex.”
I lifted an eyebrow and continued to watch her in silence. The more riled up she got only confirmed how much I’d hurt her feelings, and God help me, I felt bad. I’d set out with determination to take her down several notches. I wasn’t supposed to give a fuck about her feelings. Clearly, I couldn’t go about this whole misguided mission as ruthlessly as I thought I could…
“And now you want to be professional after you pulled your underhanded shit to steal my investor.” Her derisive snort hung between us. “ Fuck you , Alex.”
My lips tilted up at the corners with sheer amusement. Goddamn, she was still hot when she was pissed. That mouth of hers… the things I used to do to it when she got all sassy. The things I still wanted to do to it… to her .
Oh, no. I really shouldn’t have come here…
“Will you pipe down, woman?”
“Don’t woman me!”
“I’m trying to apologize, and you interrupt to berate me. Typical, Brent?—”
My jaw clenched and unclenched as I reminded myself that I was about to do the very thing I was remorseful about. This was about Olivia and what she did to me. Her father, who despised the idea of me dating his daughter, was long dead, so there was only one Brentwood whom I resented.
“Typical, Olivia ,” I finished.
As we glowered at each other, amusement took its time and seeped in. For the love of my sanity, if we still got to each other like this… what did it mean? As if realizing that we were on our way to a heated argument as if we still cared what the other thought, she sighed.
“If you aren’t here to announce that you’ll stop being a thorn in my side, you can save your apology.”
“You’re getting it anyway. I’m sorry for taking low blows, and I’m sorry for letting you think I have something against the Brentwoods in general. Your mother and brother are good folk. How are they, by the way?”
Her scowl gradually disappeared and her shoulders relaxed. However, she still eyed me warily. “Are you trying to get intel to launch another attack on me or something?”
“I said I’d get BioTech fair and square from now on.” I still had that chip on my shoulder, after all. I still had something to prove… to her .
“So you admit that you haven’t been fair?” She peered at me. “How did you know about Thomas Greggory?”
“I haven’t done anything unethical.” I locked eyes with her. “Sure, I’ve been aggressive, but it's all been above board.”
Olivia leaned back. The suspicion was still clear in her eyes, but the edge of hostility had softened. “So, what? We’re strictly business rivals?”
“Precisely… except we have history and you can tell me about your family…”
She rolled her eyes and huffed, but still mumbled, “Liam is… well, still Liam.”
I raised my eyebrows. If that was true… damn . “Still giving you a hard time, huh?”
“You were the only one he listened to, you know. He thought you were the coolest boyfriend I ever had.”
“I was,” I snorted. “I wasn’t a goddamn Ken doll with perfectly coiffed hair, and I didn’t wear fucking khakis and loafers .”
Olivia rolled her eyes so hard they practically circled her head. “Yeah, sure, you were very cool.”
I suppressed a smug smile.
“Mom had a health scare recently,” she shared. “We almost lost her.”
It was my turn to flop back into my seat. “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.” My concern was genuine, and I hoped Olivia saw that. Vivian Brentwood was the opposite of her husband. She had embraced me instead of berating me for not being good enough for her daughter. She never called me “trailer trash” and neither did Liam.
“She’s doing better now,” Olivia said. However, her soft sigh resonated with worry. “How’s your mom? ”
“She’s doing great. She’s still pissed at me for our failed relationship though.”
Her wide eyes flickered to mine. “What?”
I chuckled. “She thought you were the only woman of substance I ever dated.”
Mom was on to something. The very few women I introduced to her were a little vapid… okay, more than a little. Plus, the women she saw on my arm in the media rags were nothing like the poised, reserved scientist I once introduced to her as the love of my life…
“To this day, my mother thinks I fucked up and lost you. I never told her what really happened,” I added.
Olivia’s throat bobbed as she swallowed. I thought I saw regret flash in her eyes, but I could have been imagining it. She’d seemed pretty certain about what she wanted and didn’t want when she kicked me to the curb years ago.
“Why didn’t you?” she asked.
As we gazed at each other, something stirred in the atmosphere… something that I should stay the hell away from. This was the most civil moment we’d had since we reunited, and things were starting to feel too intimate. Why was I still on her couch exchanging information about our families?
“It doesn’t matter.” I stood up. “I suppose I’ll see you at our next business meeting. Although, you’ll probably be trying to murder me since BioTech will be mine.”
A flash of temper lit her eyes as she got on her feet to face me. “You just had to go and ruin the moment.”
“ Moment ? We weren’t having a moment,” I denied. I didn’t want her to get any wrong ideas about how I felt about her.
“The gentleman doth protest too much,” she taunted.
I sighed. The woman had an argument for everything. “You just always have to have the last word, don’t you? ”
“You’re just annoyed because I’m the only woman who doesn’t swoon at your feet and give in to your every demand.”
“Can you blame those women, Liv? You know better than anyone that I make it worth their while.”
My voice had dropped to a husky tone like the one I once used during our intimate moments. The words hung heavily between us, charged with a familiar electricity that neither of us could deny.
Olivia glared, yet her cheeks glowed pink and something like longing clouded her eyes. “You’re still insufferable.” She let out a little laugh.
“You used to like that about me…”
Were we standing closer? What the hell was I doing? I should be running for the door. My actions didn’t reflect my thoughts, however. Rather than walk away, I leaned closer to her.
It was as if that electric current swirling around us turned magnetic because I couldn’t pull away. Our breath mingled and her eyes fluttered closed as she angled her chin up in invitation. Our lips met in a soft, hesitant kiss as if we were testing the waters, but it quickly deepened.
With a resigned groan, I gave up restraint and wrapped an arm around her to pull her against me. My exploration of her mouth became urgent, fueled by suppressed emotions and unresolved tension. When our tongues clashed, she whimpered and curled her fingers into my chest.
The soft sound she made penetrated my haze and horror slithered in to cool the growing heat. The realization of what we were doing struck me back to reality. This was Olivia . The woman who wounded me so deeply that I thought I’d never recover. I did, and I wasn't about to foolishly go down that road with her again .
I tore my lips away from her and almost wiped my hand over my mouth to see if I could somehow erase our kiss. “What the fuck are…? We can’t… that was a mistake,” I sputtered, glowering at her as if I wasn’t the one who initiated the kiss.
Olivia’s chest heaved, and her eyes were glazed over with desire. “Alex… I… I’m…”
“No. It was a mistake ,” I hissed. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I wasn’t thinking. I can never go there with you again.”
Her eyes seemed to clear up and her expression twisted into lines of agony. My entire body tensed when she placed a hand on my arm as she looked at me beseechingly. “I’m not the heartless person you think I am.”
I couldn’t help but snort my disbelief.
“When I broke things off, I had my reason…” She frowned. “It was a good one.”
My jaw slackened. Unbelievable . “Yeah, you got bored slumming it with trailer trash to rebel against Daddy Brentwood. I guess that was a good enough reason for you.”
“Look, I know what I said, but it wasn’t like that, Alex. I swear.”
“Then what was it?” I hissed.
She took a step back, her eyes lowering to the floor. “I… none of it matters now…”
Irritation sizzled through my veins. “Damn right, it doesn’t. That kiss never should have happened, and it won’t again. I really shouldn’t be locking lips with the person whose company I’m taking,” I sneered.
Just like that, the Ice Princess returned. Her expression hardened and her eyes narrowed. “Screw you, Alex. I won’t let you win.”
“You’re the one who’s about to get screwed, sweetheart, and not even in an enjoyable way. ”
She scoffed, and I almost winced. So much for keeping things professional… it was hard to do after that kiss anyway. Before I spouted any more foolishness, I spun on my heels and marched out.
In the elevator, I let out a long breath as I looked skyward. “Alex, you idiot. You fucking idiot. Why would you kiss her?”
I realized that no matter how much I tried to convince everyone—sometimes myself—that going after Olivia wasn’t personal, I’d never pull off being professional. There was too much history between us for me to pretend that she didn’t ruffle my goddamn feathers.