Chapter 12
OLIVIA
Failing at something, while not ideal, isn’t the end of the world.
It’s merely the price you pay to learn the lesson at hand.
Some lessons are more expensive than others.
Try to learn them the first time.
—Advice from Scarlet Kingston-St. James to her daughters
“Sooo . . .” Serena hands me a tea and drops into the seat across from my desk, hugging her sweater around her.
September weather in Kroydon Hills can feel a bit manic at times, and today is absolutely one of those times.
The humidity from last week is nowhere to be found, replaced by the cool rain and thunderstorms we’re getting this week. “How was dinner with the parentals?”
“Don’t forget Brynn and Deacon,” I remind her and take off the plastic lid to sniff today’s flavor. “What is this one?”
“It’s a black raspberry. Try it. And maybe eat a damn steak, Liv. You look pale as hell.” She waits and watches as I sip the newest blend from the tearoom at Cherry Creek. I swear this woman is on a tea journey. Determined to taste them all.
“Hmm . . . Not bad.” Piping hot and possibly burning my throat, but not bad. “Anyway, dinner also wasn’t bad. At least, not as bad as I was expecting.”
She relaxes onto the couch in the corner of the office I keep on Main Street and blows on her own piping-hot purple and green cup. “Does not bad mean it went well?”
“I’m not sure I would say that either. Mom and Dad were just kind of . . .” Even days later, I’m not sure how to begin to describe that night. “They were weird about it. Mom fell in love with Maggie and was civil to Logan.”
“Like civil, civil? Or like civil for Scarlet, civil?” Serena asks, thankfully knowing there’s a massive difference for my mom.
I round my desk and join her on the couch, kicking off my heels.
“Like actually civil. She didn’t attack him or me.
She might have even tempered Dad’s bad mood about the whole thing.
” I turn my body and lean my side against the back of the couch, facing her.
“By the end of the night, they were playing with Maggie and Knight in the yard, like we were one big happy family. It was . . . strange.”
Serena mirrors my position and tugs her feet up under herself. “How was Logan with everything?”
I rest my head in my hand, attempting to hold back the headache that’s been plaguing me for days. “He was good.”
“That’s it?” Her blue eyes shine with interest. Damn it. She’s like a dog with a bone when she wants to be, and apparently, I just wiggled one right in front of her face. “Good? I’m going to need more than that, bitchy Barbie.”
“More like what?” I ask, buying myself time to decide how much I want to share while she pops a piece of sweet-smelling blueberry muffin in her mouth.
“Olivia,” she gasps, choking on her muffin. “What the hell? You’re hiding something from me. We don’t hide from each other.”
We don’t. Usually. But she’s already got enough going on.
How much more am I willing to add to it?
“Did Deacon and he get into a fight?” She covers her mouth as her brows knit. “Oh no. Was it Brynn and him? Shit. Did she tell him off? Did he call her a bitch too?”
“Stop,” I say, dropping a hand to her arm, stopping her from spinning out . . . well spinning out further. “It wasn’t anything like that.” My body heats hotter than the damn tea, remembering the feel of his lips on mine. His hands on my body. His warmth seeping into my skin.
“Liv . . . What aren’t you telling me? Did they not believe you?”
If I tell her, it’s real. And I’m not sure how much real I can handle with the current situation. Not with the amount of real already weighing me down from the partners and my clients and the custody case and my body desperately wanting to take a week-long nap.
But as Serena inches closer, worry staring back at me, I give in, knowing there is no other choice.
She’ll get it out of me one way or another.
“They definitely believed us by the end of the night. At least the part about us being together.” I wrap the twine hanging from the tea bag around my finger and bob the bag up and down in the cup absentmindedly. “He kissed me.”
Her face moves the tiniest bit, angling toward mine as she flattens her lips between her teeth. “Like on the cheek?” she asks slowly, enunciating each word. “Or . . .”
She trails off as I shake my head. “Not on the cheek.”
“Oh.” Is it possible for a human to give off puppy energy? Because my cousin is vibrating like a damn dog right now. “Was it good?”
My shoulders drop, and I tilt my face to the ceiling. “So good.”
“How good?” Great. Now she’s fucking giddy. I’d tell her she needs to get laid if she’s this invested in a kiss, but I’m pretty sure that would end with her a sobbing mess in my office. “Come on, Liv. Throw a girl a line here. Like was it hands on your face good?”
I melt, thinking about his hands and how much I liked them on my face.
And how much more of them I wanted to feel. Everywhere.
“It was so hot, I swear to God, Serena, I wanted to climb that man like a fucking oak tree.” My face heats when I finally look at her again. “I was thinking about it, too, until Brynlee walked in on us.”
“Oh my God.” Her laughter echoes off my office walls. “That’s classic.”
“Yeah,” I groan. “It’s great.”
“So, what’s the big deal?” she presses, linking her pinky with mine.
“As far as I see it, your husband’s a great kisser with a clearly beautiful body—because hockey player, ’nuff said.
If you enjoyed it, why not lean into the whole married thing and bang his brains out while you’re at it?
You know, kind of like enemies to lovers.
” She purses her lips, fighting a smile. “Ohh. . . enemies with benefits.”
“You read too many romance books. And seriously, that never works out in the end. It always gets messy,” I remind her because I happen to read the same books she does.
“Yeah,” she sighs. “But the sex is fucking phenomenal in the meantime.”
I tap my tea to hers. “Cheers to that. I haven’t had phenomenal sex in so long.”
“Same, sister,” Serena laments, sadness lingering in her voice. “Sounds like you need to take one for the team and sex it up for the both of us.”
“Not sure that’s how it works, goofball.” Not that the idea of sexing up Logan Adler isn’t incredibly tempting. Especially if I could get him to keep his mouth shut while we were naked.
“Come on, Livvy. You’ve got a hockey hottie husband that I’ll bet you every last penny in my trust fund is great in bed.
Pretty sure you owe it to womankind to take him for a spin.
” She barely gets the last words out before her chest shakes with laughter.
“I mean, you’d be doing it for the sisterhood. ”
“Sweet baby Jesus. You have got to get out of the house more often,” I tease, laughing with her.
Serena presses her head to mine. “Miss having you at home.”
“Same. But I’ll be back when this is done.”
“Sure you will, Livvy. Sure you will.”
“Olivia.” Peter’s voice fights the torrential rain pounding against my car as my Bluetooth connects while I exit the turnpike, so unbelievably ready for this day to be over that if I could transport myself to the Triple Crown Ranch, it would still take too damn long.
“I was hoping to reach you before you left the office today.”
“Sorry, Peter. I left a bit ago. I’m not feeling the greatest. What’s going on?”
What’s going on is my standard question.
It covers everything. Is something happening with the firm?
With one of my players? With something not even on my radar yet?
Basically, tell me what the fuck you need and let me handle it the way you’ve trusted me to do since I joined this firm but with a slightly nicer spin.
“I was hoping to check in with you. What’s the status update for Ryker Beneventi?” I can tell by his clipped tone this is the first of a checklist of questions.
Bring it on, Pete. I can do this all day.
“The police haven’t officially dropped charges yet, but I have it on good authority they will be soon.
” He doesn’t need to know who the authority is.
I have my ways and my contacts. No need to share them with the partners.
“The wedding is taking place at the end of this month, and I believe the league will have completely cleared him by then as well. He hasn’t lost a single sponsor yet.
Emphasis on yet. We need to continue to play this like a fucking symphony, every string in tune, for everything to go our way.
But I’m positive we can and will, and by this time next month, Ryker’s life and profile will be back to normal and thriving.
” My chest warms with pride. This might be my favorite aspect of my job.
Fixing things for my clients. Not that I’ll ever tell them that. “Next question.”
The shark in a bespoke suit chuckles. “You do know me well, Olivia. So tell me, how are things looking for your husband’s custody case, hmm? I haven’t spoken to him recently. I assumed you’d keep me looped into all I needed to know.”
The asshole.
Logan is my husband. Not my job. Yet Peter is getting paid to do a job. His job.
So he should fucking do it.
And still, that juicy carrot dangles just out of reach while more work for the same pay, title, and recognition continues to pile up on my desk.
“We have a hearing this Friday to evaluate temporary custody.” My heart sinks at the thought.
It’s easier to be confident when something doesn’t directly involve the people in your life.
I might still detest her daddy, but people person or not, this particular tiny, little one-year-old has wrapped me around her pudgy little finger and tightens her grip a little more every day.
Her uninvolved mother shouldn’t be allowed to just decide on a whim that parenting might be fun.
She shouldn’t have the privilege of being in this little girl’s life after basically abandoning her for an entire year.