Page 92 of Chasing Olivia (Trace + Olivia 2)

“I don’t deserve you.” It was the truth. I didn’t deserve Trace. No one did. He was far too good, even though he didn’t see himself that way.

His eyes closed. “Olivia, it’s me that doesn’t deserve you.”

“How about we agree to disagree?” I forced a laugh, trying to lighten the mood.

“Sounds good to me,” he laid his head in my lap.

“Um, Trace,” I cleared my throat.

“Yeah?”

“People are staring at us,” I mumbled, glancing around in discomfort. Couldn’t people mind their own business?

“Let them. What they think of us doesn’t matter, Olivia. This is only a blip in time, something they’ll all forget about in a few hours. You need to stop worrying so much about what people think of you,” he raised his head, looking into my eyes as he let his words soak in.

“You’re right,” I whispered, my fingers tangling in his hair.

“I’m always right,” his lips twitched as he fought a smile.

“Now, can you please get up off the floor,” I begged.

“I can do that,” he chuckled, rising slowly. Before returning to his seat, he kissed my forehead. He glanced around at the people in the restaurant who were still watching us with curious eyes. “Go on,” he waved his hand in dismissal, “continue on with your regular scheduled activities. Nothing more to see here.”

I snickered, pretending to cough into my hand to hide it.

The waitress breezed by our table, setting down a tray of food. “Seafood Alfredo,” she announced. “The plates are hot so be careful,” she warned, setting them on the table. “And here’s your breadsticks,” she sat them in the middle. “I—um—brought them by earlier but I thought I’d be interrupting something.”

“It’s okay,” Trace assured her.

With a small smile she picked up the tray and left quickly.

“I think we’ve frightened our waitress,” I informed him, swirling my pasta around.

“Don’t worry,” he ripped a breadstick in half and took a huge bite of one end, “I’ll give her a big tip.”

“I think she deserves one,” I laughed. “Mmm,” I hummed. “This is really good,” I pointed at my bowl of pasta. “You know,” I started, mulling over what he’d said about this being a blip in time, something everyone would forget in a matter of hours, “I think I’m going to sing…by myself,” I clarified unnecessarily.

A huge smile spread slowly across his face. “Are you serious?”

I nodded. “Just one though,” I held up a finger. “I might sing more than that, but don’t push your luck.”

“God, I want to kiss you so bad right now,” he gritted his teeth, “but I think these people have had enough of a show for one night.”

I nodded in agreement.

Since we were so hungry, it didn’t take us long to finish our meal and get out of there.

My knee bobbed up and down nervously on the drive to the coffee shop. Trace didn’t say anything, probably scared to push his luck. But I wasn’t going to back out now. This road trip was about recapturing our spark, and I couldn’t do that if I didn’t branch out.

I hadn’t realized we’d made it to the coffee shop, but suddenly Trace was saying, “Ready?”

I swallowed thickly as my heart picked up speed in my chest. I could do this. This wasn’t a big deal. All I had to do was sing.

I took a shaky breath and nodded as I opened the car door. I forced my stiff body out of the car.

“You’ll do great,” Trace assured me, kissing my cheek. “You have absolutely nothing to be worried about, okay?”

I nodded again since my voice had temporarily fled me.

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