Page 59 of Squatch Out!
After weeks of not hearing her voice, that soft breathy sound is enough to send me rocking back on my heels. I have to catch myself on the side of the truck before I fall to my knees.
Maybe that’s where I belong—kneeling before her in worship.
Somehow, I stay upright. “What are you doing here?” My voice comes out rough, like I’ve been gargling gravel for the last two months.
“I, uh, told you.” Her lips tip up at the corners, and she tucks a chunk of her golden hair behind her ear. It’s longer than when I last saw her. “I can’t do this long-distance thing.”
I’m expecting her to dress me down for the way I’ve acted. I deserve it and more, but instead she…Wait. Does she mean it? Has she really come back to me? I can’t even dare to hope.
“Miss? I’m all finished,” the technician interrupts as he climbs down the ladder. “I just need to get inside to install the modem, and I’ll be out of your hair.”
Olivia gives me a saucy smile over her shoulder as she shuts her car door. “Do you still leave your door unlocked, or do I need to borrow your keys?”
“It’s unlocked.” I mutter, falling in line behind her as she leads the technician onto my porch. “What are you doing here, Olivia?”
“I told you,” she tosses over her shoulder as she reaches for the doorknob to let the technician intomyhouse. Before she’s able to, I reach past her and brush her hand away, opening the door for her.Like a fucking gentleman.I push it wide enough for her to go through then step behind her, forcing the technician behind me and farther away from my woman.
When we’re all gathered in the middle of my living room, Olivia steps around me and holds her hand out to the man. “Thanks so much for doing this for me. What’s your name?”
“Troy.” He reaches for her hand, but just before he touches her, I let out a deep growl. His head snaps to me, and he drops his hand and steps back.Smart guy.Olivia rolls her eyes.
“Where do you need to install that?” she asks him.
I hang back, grinding my teeth to nubs as he walks her through all the features of her new satellite internet.That she had installed without my permission.When he finishes, he gives her his card and instructions on how to contact him if she has any questions. Olivia follows him out onto the porch and waves after him as he heads back down the mountain. When he’s out of sight, she slowly turns to face me.
“So…” she begins, leaning her hip up against the porch railing. “How have you been? You look… tired.”
I’m certain there is a vein throbbing in my temple. “That’s it? That’s all you have to say to me? You tell me goodbye, and then three weeks later just show up like it’s nothing?”
“Ididn’t tell you good-bye,” she snaps back. “I told you I couldn’t do the long-distance thing. Then I was busy packing up my life and driving across the country.” She takes a deep breath and points one of her fingers at me. “And how does that feel, huh? It sucks to be ghosted, doesn’t it?!”
Yeah. It really fucking does.
“You can’t just install internet at someone’s house without permission,” I slap back.
“And how was I supposed to get that permission when youwouldn’t fucking talk to me?!”
Jesus fucking Christ, her cheeks are rosy and her brown eyes bright as she argues with me. She’s hot when she’s riled up like this, and it takes all I have not to adjust my cock that’s twitching in my pants. Or reach out and grab her, so I can pull her against my chest and bury my nose in her hair.
This is the part where you should apologize.
Except, I haven’t been listening to that little voice of reason so far, so why start now? Instead, I storm back into the house in a huff, with Olivia right on my heels.
“You don’t get to walk away from me this time,” she shouts at my back. “I want to know what happened at the airport. One minute, you were kissing me like you didn’t want to let me go, and then I don’t hear a word from you formonths.And tell me the truth—you owe me that, at the very least.”
I stop and spin around without warning her, so she almost walks right into me. My hands come up, but I clench them into fists so I don’t grab her. Because, if I touch her, I’m never going to let her go.
Olivia crosses her arms in front of her. “Why, Sean? What did I do to make you act like this?”
“Nothing!” I ground out. “It’s me, okay? Not you.”
She rolls her eyes and huffs like a fucking pre-teen. “Don’t. You don’t get to use that excuse.”
I open my mouth when suddenly my sat phone, which I left beside my chair, starts to ring. We both lunge for it, but Olivia is faster.
“Hey, Owen!” she answers in a voice that sounds much more cheerful than she looks.
There is a long silence on the other end before I hear, “Olivia?”
