Page 40 of Before the Night Falls
“As long as you’re here . . . I’m not going to let anything happen to you, Olivia. Especially not on my watch.” Conviction hardened in his stomach as he said the words.
Tyson meant them now more than ever.
CHAPTERNINETEEN
After her workoutthe next day, Olivia drove into Charlotte to pick up a few things.
While she was out, she decided to stop by Tyson’s office.
She wanted to personally thank him for being a listening ear—without worrying if Wes or Chandler were around reading too much into her words.
If she was truthful with herself, she might admit that she was stopping by because she just wanted to see him again. The man was intriguing, and she wanted to know more—despite Lyle’s advice that she should remain unattached.
She took the elevator to the sixth floor and smiled at Sheri, Tyson’s administrative assistant, as she approached. Olivia had met Sheri when Tyson brought her by for a tour last week.
“Hi, Sheri.” Olivia paused at the woman’s desk. “Is Tyson in?”
“I’m sorry, he’s not.” The perky, twentysomething blonde smiled brightly up at Olivia. “But he should be back any minute now. You can wait in his office if you’d like.”
“If you don’t think he’ll mind . . .”
“Not at all.”
Olivia nodded and opened the door. She sat in a chair across from his desk and waited. As she did, her eyes roamed the room.
Just like his home and truck, the office fit Tyson: practical and immaculate. There weren’t any papers left in stacks around his desk or on his filing cabinet, unlike Olivia’s desk at the station. Everything here was in its place.
She waited for five minutes before realizing she had too much energy to sit.
Standing, she began wandering around the office.
She smiled as she looked at a picture on his desk. It was of Tyson and an older woman Olivia assumed was his mother. They smiled at each other in the photo, and it was easy to see the affection between them.
Continuing around the space, Olivia slid her finger across the back of his leather chair. Impulsively, she pulled it out and sat down at the desk, grinning as she sat upright in imitation.
She imagined Tyson sitting here running his business. She wondered if he was as patient with his employees as he was with her. She couldn’t imagine him being any other way.
A phone rang nearby, jolting her from her thoughts.
She laughed at herself for being so jumpy.
But that antsiness was just a part of who she was now.
Pushing back the chair, she started to stand when her eye caught something tucked underneath the desk. She leaned down to take a closer look.
As her gaze hit the objects, she gasped.
Was that . . . ?
It couldn’t be.
But it was.
Reaching beneath his desk, she pulled out a bundle of red roses.
Her throat went dry as she counted . . .
Ten.
