Page 78 of Rivals Next Door

See? Like I said, she was a total sweetheart and so nonjudgemental. “Thanks, Char, but it’s not a dancer. It’s Olivia.”

Everyone went back to looking at me as if I’d sprouted another head.

“You must be a masochist,” Lincoln said as he shook his head.

Yeah, maybe I was. It was just that Olivia was arriving from Massachusetts tomorrow and she’d be here for a while as we continued our quest to systematically expose and take down a shady character.

“I’d feel bad leaving her alone all night when we’re supposed to be working together.” She always seemed so sad, and I hated the thought of her all alone driving herself crazy with anxiety… I knew that was what she did when she was alone.

“You do remember that she broke your heart, right?” Michael asked.

“It’s hard to forget, Mike, but clearly my broken heart didn’t turn me into a heartless cynic,” I said dryly.

He grunted and lifted his glass. “I’m proud of your newfound maturity.”

I rolled my eyes.

Charlotte and Jamie exchanged glances and then Charlotte smiled and said, “I can’t wait to meet her.”

My fingers flew over the keyboard. The soft clicks echoed in the otherwise silent room. The symphony of the keys was comforting to me because it was so familiar. Plus, venturing deep into the digital world and navigating through layers of encryption and security was a dance I knew well. I always felt in my element on a computer… on any digital device really.

A soft sigh broke my concentration, and I glanced at Olivia sitting beside me. We were working in her apartment tonight because she offered to make me dinner. It had been a long time since I did something as intimate as having a home-cooked meal with a woman other than my mother.

Olivia stared at the screen although I was certain she had no idea what she was looking at. The way her teeth sank into her lower lip made my gaze linger on her mouth. Of course, that reminded me of the amazing sex we’d been having for weeks. I wasn’t sure what we were thinking or if we were even thinking at all. How would we navigate our rivalry after we accomplished saving the business and medical world from a vulture? The lines between us were so blurred that I couldn’t even see them anymore.

Could we just forget that we’d fallen into bed countless times and made deeper emotional connections each time? Because I couldn’t deny that spending so much time with Olivia had brought back to life that flame that once burned so intensely between us. I was right back at the place I told myself I wouldn’t go back to. I still loved Olivia Brentwood… I wasn’t about to admit it out loud though.

Swallowing a sigh of my own, I returned my attention to my task. My focus was disrupted again when I heard another clicking sound distorting the steady rhythm of my typing. I looked at Olivia from my periphery to see her chomping on her fingernails. I reached out to snag her wrist and gently took her hand away from her mouth.

“Old habits die hard, I see,” I said, still typing with one hand.

She let out a puff of air. “Yeah. My anxiety has been at a ridiculously high level since we started this whole thing.”

I grunted. “I need you to relax, Liv. Your nervous energy isn’t helping me.”

“Sorry,” she grumbled as she gave me a sheepish smile. “Have I told you thanks?”

“Too many times,” I muttered.

“Well, what you’re doing is amazing. Helping poor Raymond Walters is heroic.”

“I could help him faster if you’d stop distracting me,” I said.

“Right… okay… I’m shutting up now.”

I gave her one more warning look to keep quiet and then delved back into the underbelly of Don Weaver’s corrupt world. I almost had enough concrete proof to show that Raymond Walters was framed by Weaver.

“Alex?”

I swallowed a groan. “Yes, Liv?”

“Do you want me to rub your shoulders?”

“What?” I glanced at her with furrowed eyebrows.

She shrugged. “I feel like I should be rubbing your shoulders. You look a little tense. Besides, I’m just sitting here doing nothing while you do all the work. I’m a terrible sidekick.”

“You’re not my sidekick, Liv. We’re not Batman and Robin.”

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