Page 107 of Beautiful Dangerous

“Did you never want to be a mother, Olivia?”

“It’s not something I ever gave a great deal of thought to.” I nudge the drawer shut with my hip and lean back against it, clutching the sweaters I’ve just taken out of there to my chest. “I was happy with us the way we were. And I was never all that keen on sharing you, although, in hindsight, the reality was I very rarely got the biggest piece of you. Did I?””

He smiles, a warm smile that reaches his eyes, but then he drops his head and I can’t see his eyes anymore. “I gave you as much as I could, Olivia. I thought it was enough.”

“It was. It was always enough.”

He slowly raises his gaze, and his expression is almost apologetic, which throws me slightly. “I’m so sorry,mi amor. That things have turned out this way.”

“Shit happens, Javier. We both know that better than anyone.”

I start to walk back to the closet, but as I pass him he grabs my upper arm, pulling me to him, the sweaters I was carrying falling to the floor. “You are not to go near him, Olivia. When he is in this house you keep your distance, I don’t want to find out you’ve been sneaking around behind my back…”

I yank free of him, taking a step back. “I’m not some errant teenager you can bark your veiled threats at.”

“Believe me, Olivia, my threats are not veiled. They’re crystal clear.”

I stare at him, and the darkness is back in his eyes. But he won’t break me. He won’t, I won’t let him do that.

“If I find out that you and he have even breathed the same air for however short a time, you will find out just how clear those threats are.”

And with that, he walks out of the room, assuming he’s rattled me. Put me in my place. Let him think that. Let him think he’s the one in control, but he isn’t. He’s wrong. He’s so fucking wrong…

Lucca

“Would you like something to eat, Lucca?” Celine’s eyes narrow as she asks me that, she seems worried about me. She needn’t be. I’m fine.

Liar!

“No, thank you, Celine. I had something at the clubhouse.”

She gives a loud snort of derision and waves a dismissive hand in the air. “Pah! The food in that place, it’s barely fit for human consumption.”

I can’t help smiling as I help myself to coffee. “Some of it isn’t so bad. They get their meat from a very reputable butcher.”

She gives me the side-eye and points a wooden spoon at me. “I know that butcher. Ignacious Hernandez…” She shakes her head and crosses her arms. “He’s not a good man.”

I raise a brow. “Doesn’t mean to say he can’t supply decent meat.” I take a sip of coffee. “And why isn’t he a good man? What do you know about him?”

“I know he broke my sister’s heart back in nineteen-eighty-eight.” She shakes her head again, tutting away to herself as she starts stirring a big pot of vegetables. Peppers and onions, I think, all I know is it smells amazing! “That makes him a bad man in my book.”

I raise both brows this time, although I’m sure, deep down, that even Celine gets the irony of her description of a bad man. What the hell does that make her employer? What does it makeme?

“Are you looking forward to moving back to Mexico?” I ask, swiftly changing the subject. “It must be a wrench, leaving the house you’ve ran for so long.”

She looks at me and gives me a full-on beaming smile. “Of course it is, but it wouldn’t be the same without Javier and Olivia here.” And then her expression turns almost apologetic as she realizes what she’s said. “Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean…”

“It’s fine, Celine. I know what you mean.”

She slams a hand against her chest, lets out a relieved sigh, and smiles at me . “I will miss you, Lucca.” And then her expression changes again, and she comes toward me, rests a hand on my arm and the look she gives me verges on pitying. “I know Olivia will miss you too. Very much.”

She holds my gaze for a few moments more, gives my arm a gentle squeeze, and when she steps back from me she shoots me another look. A knowing look? Has Celine known all along that Olivia and I…?

“Celine, do you…?”

She shakes her head, quite vigorously, actually, as she picks up the wooden spoon and continues to stir those vegetables. “We’re all making new starts now, Lucca. No more living in the past.” That’s her way of telling me that the subject is closed. Although it was barely open, in reality, but the look in her eyes… she knew. Were we really that transparent? No wonder it didn’t take Javier long to work it out. Unless he had spies…? I shake my own head, to get rid of those ridiculous theories, my paranoia’s slowly getting out of control, and I can’t let that happen. “You must be excited, to be taking over here?”

Celine’s voice drags me back into the room, and I force a small smile. “Yes. Yes, I am.”

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