Page 33 of My Forever Soldier

“I’ll bet he has,” Ricardo replied.

“And thanks for the gift. It was far too extravagant, but Charlie clearly loved it,” Olivia said. “Thanks so much for coming over.”

“Yes, well, I’d better be off, Nice to meet you, Luke. See you next week, Olivia.”

“You’re going already? Stay for a coffee, some cake…” she suggested.

Olivia fought to get away from Luke’s grasp so he let her go. His fingers bit into her skin as she pulled away and he wished he’d just released her, before she’d had to wriggle. He knew he was being childish, but he couldn’t help it. This was his wife, his son’s party, and he wasn’t ready to have to fight someone else for what was his, not when he was struggling to keep hold of them as it was.

“I don’t want to be in the way. I just wanted Charlie to have his present on his actual birthday.”

“Well, it was very kind of you, wasn’t it, Luke?”

She glared at him, as if she expected him to gush about the gift, too. “Yeah, thanks. Much appreciated,” he managed to say.

Ricardo waved, glanced back one last time, then walked out the door. Luke had never been so pleased to see someone go.

Olivia waved goodbye then shut the door. She stood looking at the solid timber for a moment before turning slowly to face him. Luke went from slightly smug to feeling like an absolute idiot in two seconds flat.

“What the hell was that about?” Her voice was a low hiss, as if she didn’t want anyone else to hear their exchange.

“What?” He didn’t want to argue.

“You know what I’m talking about, Luke,” she insisted, hands on her hips as she stared at him.

Jealousy and anger welled up in him, but he fought to keep his emotions locked away. All Ollie needed to know was that he cared, that he loved her.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, crossing the distance between them and reaching for her hand, trying to coax at least one of them from being planted on her hip.

“Luke, don’t pretend nothing happened just then.” Her voice was low and angry again, as if she was really starting to get mad.

“You mean the fact that your boss is in love with you?” He couldn’t help it; she’d pushed him too far.

“What?”

She looked dumbfounded for a moment, before taking hold of his arm and marching him down the hall. He didn’t want to cause a scene any more than she did, and he especially didn’t want Charlie to see them argue.

“You’re being ridiculous, Luke. Absolutely ridiculous.”

Was he? “Just tell me the truth, Ollie. It’d be better than what’s going through my head right now, what I’m imagining.” Arguing like this was starting to remind him of the past, of before he’d left, and that wasn’t a place he wanted to go back to.

“How dare you, Luke,” she said, her eyes wide as she glared at him. “There is nothing,nothing, going on between us, and there never will be.”

“I’m sorry. I had to ask.” He was relieved, beyond relieved, to hear her say that. “But I don’t think it’s for his lack of wanting you.”

From the look on her face, Luke was thinking he shouldn’t have taken it any further. Should have just stopped talking.

“That’s why you held on to me before, wasn’t it? Some kind of stupid macho thing to try and tell him to back off.”

Olivia marched within a inch of him when he said nothing to deny her statement.

“So that’s what all this is about, huh? You trying to show what’s yours.”

Luke wanted to grab her. To kiss her, shake her, make things right. But he’d gone too far this time. Way too far. He should have just sucked up his pride and been confident in the knowledge that she washiswife. Instead, he’d managed to wreck things yet again.

“If you don’t trust me, then this is over right now.” Her voice was low, as if it was hard for her to say, but she was determined to get it out. “You can forget all about having a second chance here.”

Damn. Didn’t she know how hard this was for him? Wondering if he’d come back too late. Wondering if another man had already distracted her, when Luke had finally realized what an idiot he’d been to walk away from the one woman in the world who’d loved him.

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