Page 103 of The Bossy One

What the hell, I thought. I hadn’t planned to make a big public announcement. But now that the property was officially mine, this was as good a way as any to rub Mark O’Rourke’s face in it.

“Yes, I’m the new owner of the O’Rourke mansion,” I confirmed, liking the taste of the words on my tongue.

“Well, may I be one of the first to offer congratulations, then,” Colm said. “What are your plans for it? Will you be living in the place? Using it for office space? Turning it into aDeer and the Warriormuseum?”

I savored the moment, picturing Mark O’Rourke’s face turning red with rage.

“I’m going to raze it to the fucking ground. And you can quote me on that.”

“You can’t…I mean, you can, but…why?” Colm blurted.

I let the silence build between us. “Mark knows what he did,” I said at last. “Have a nice afternoon, Colm.”

Then I hung up.

My revenge quest had finally come to a close. I’d expected it to be satisfying, and it was. But at the same time, a part of me worried how Olivia would take the news.

Would she understand why I’d needed to do this? It didn’t seem likely. My one consolation was that she didn’t read theBallybeith Press. I had time to find the right moment to break it to her.

But first I had to patch things up with her.

* * *

I found Olivia in the basement pool. She was swimming laps, her form elegant and her focus complete. Her red hair flowed behind her, making her look like something out of a myth.

I watched her swim for a while, just for the pleasure of it. Then I stripped down to my boxers and joined her.

I sliced through the water, fast and sure, until I caught up with her. She started when she noticed me and sputtered to the surface.

“Don’t scare me like that!”

“Sorry,” I said, trying to sound contrite.

“No, you’re not,” Olivia said.

My grin faded. “Well, not about startling you. But I am sorry for pushing you too hard this morning. I support whatever decision you want to make with your blog.” I didn’t admit that she was right about how badly I wanted to ask her to stay, though. I couldn’t start that conversation until I knew how it ended.

Ripples traveled back and forth between us as we both treaded water.

“I’m sorry too,” Olivia said. “I shouldn’t have flipped out on you.”

I noticed she didn’t admit I was right about her wanting more than a life as a nanny.

Fair play to her.

It felt like as much as we cared about each other, every time we patched over one crack in our relationship, another one appeared.

You’ll have more than cracks when she finds out you’re razing the mansion,a voice in my head said.

I ignored it. I didn’t want to think about the O’Rourkes, or my past, or her future. Right now I just wanted to live in the moment with Olivia.

I swam toward her, wrapping an arm around her waist to tug her toward me.

She laughed.

“Make it up to me?” I suggested. The water had darkened her eyelashes, and her eyes looked green as the sea.

Olivia looped her hands behind my neck. “I thought you were supposed to be making it up to me.”

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