Page 20 of The Young & the Sinner

Mason

Olivia was notwhat I expected.

I was expecting a miniature version of Grace. Someone calculating and beautiful. Someone uninhibited and unreserved. Someone who knew what she wanted and had no qualms letting others know.

Yet, Olivia was quite… shy.

It was endearing in the worst way possible. It brought out all of my protective instincts. As if I had any right to feel protective of Grace’s daughter…

And though she was beautiful in a way that made it hard to breathe, she also looked nothing like Grace. No, she took after Michael, save for those big brown eyes. Those, she got from her mother.

But on Olivia, they expressed a fragile innocence I didn’t want to think too much about. She was nothing like her parents, and I could see why Max loved her so much. Why he was so protective of her.

After dinner, I went inside Max’s place for a quick drink and to catch up with my brother. Despite my moving home two months ago, I hadn’t spent that much time with him, and then Grace left, and it felt like we barely had any time to breathe this past month.

Olivia was somewhere upstairs, tucked safely into her bed, and probably sound asleep.

“What do you think of her?” Max asked, handing me a glass of scotch.

I swirled the golden liquid around the glass, stalling.

What did I really think of Olivia?

Young and innocent. Someone I was underserving of touching. Not that I was concerned that I might cross some line with her. I knew I wouldn’t. She was beautiful, but there was nothing about her that would hold me to her. Nothing that would make me risk my relationship with my brother.

Never again.

I would never allow it, no matter how beautiful she was. Aside from the fact that she was clearly too young for me, too inexperienced, men like me should stay away from girls like her.

No, not men like me.

Just me.

I needed to stay as far away from Olivia Williams as possible.

If those blushes of hers were any indication of her feelings, then Olivia was infatuated with me.

And I needed a way to end her crush on me without embarrassing her.

That would be a problem.

“She’s like nothing I expected,” I answered finally, taking a sip of my drink, reveling in the afterburn in my throat.

Max smiled. “She’s pretty special, isn’t she?”

I grunted. She was that. Then Max’s eyes turned serious as he turned to me. “She likes you. And that’s a problem.”

So, I wasn’t the only one who caught that. “I don’t know what you want me to say to that. That’s obviously out of my control.”

“I don’t want you to say anything. I just want to make sure you won’t hurt her.”

“Believe me, I do not make a habit of hurting innocent little girls.”

Max scoffed. “No need to get defensive. I’m… very protective of her. I just don’t want her to get hurt.”

“Protective is one way to look at it.”

He scowled. “What is that supposed to mean?”

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