I ground my teeth together as Olivia’s eyes slowly flickered over to mine.
“Is that true?” she asked.
I nodded slowly, wanting to avoid any more confrontation with a man I already wanted to toss off the roof of my building.
“Are we still on for lunch?” Daniel asked.
“Of course. Yeah. I’ve been looking forward to it all week,” Olivia said.
“Good! Good. Then, you just let me know what you want me to bring by, and it’ll be on me. Okay?” he asked.
“That’s really kind of you. Thank you, Daniel,” she said.
I watched him look back at me one last time before making his way over to Olivia. And when he bent over and kissed the side of her head, I almost threw up on my desk.
“Have a good day, sweetheart. Okay?” Daniel asked.
Olivia looked at him with a quizzical stare before nodding. “I will. I’ll see you around noon.”
“Can’t wait,” he said.
I stood silently there, watching as Daniel left my office and turned down the hallway. My ears were trained on his footsteps, on the way Katherine bid him farewell, on the way he smashed his hand into the elevator door button before stepping onto it. I drew in a deep breath when the doors closed, carrying him away from both myself and Olivia.
“You want to tell me what that was all about?” she asked.
“I’m not sure, but I need to tell you something,” I said.
“Oh? And what is it?” she asked.
“I don’t know what that man’s intentions are, but they aren’t to come back into your life.”
Her eyebrows hiked up. “And what makes you think that?”
“I don’t know. It’s in the way he talks to people. In the way he acts around you. He changes. He’s different. He’s a shark, camouflaged in infested waters. I don’t know what’s going on, but something isn’t right. I’m scared he’s going to hurt you, Olivia.”
“Well, you leave that kind of thing to me. Daniel isn’t the first man to hurt me. He won’t be the last. I can take care of it myself, whatever comes along.”
My brow ticked with confusion. Wasn’t the first man to hurt her? Was that a slap in my face?
“Why was Daniel in here? Specifically? This morning? Right now?” Olivia asked.
I drew in a deep breath. “He’s paranoid I’m going to hurt you again.”
“And are you?”
“Of course not. You know me better than that.”
“I’m getting to know you better than that. But, with our given history, it’s a worry to a lot of people.”
“Who is ‘a lot of people’?” I asked.
“No one you need to be worried about. It’s rolling off my back for now.”
“For now?”
“Was there any other reason why he was in here?” she asked.
“Should there have been?”
She shook her head. “No. But I also didn’t like the way you two were posturing over one another when I came around the corner.”
“I’m worried he’s going to hurt you, Olivia. Just be careful, okay?”
“Trust me, I’m a lot more careful nowadays than anyone gives me credit for.”
I nodded my head. “Fair enough. What brought you up here this morning?”
She reached into her purse and brandished a small package. The contents of it smelled sweet, with cinnamon and honey mixed in. She walked over to my desk and placed it on the edge, and I looked down at the symbol on the brown piece of paper.
Sweet Shoppe Bakery.
My favorite place.
“I brought you something for breakfast,” she said.
I nodded. “Thank you. Is there anything else?”
“Nothing that can’t wait.”
And with a turn on her heels, she left, leaving me absolutely dumbfounded and paranoid that her father was doing exactly what I thought he was trying to do.
Getting in the way of us.
25
Olivia
I folded up a few pairs of clothes and put them into my suitcase. I gathered all my toiletries and put them in a bag I’d picked up on the way from work. I’d never been a traveler. My brother had always had that running through his blood, whereas I’d never even been on a plane before. If I could drive there, I would. The idea of flying turned my stomach. I didn’t like not being in control of my mode of transportation. But in a few hours, Brett’s private jet would leave for Amsterdam, and I’d be on it.
My head was still spinning from the day before. Finding Daniel in Brett’s office that morning. Having lunch with him and sensing the tension in the room. I knew Brett had my best interests at heart. I knew he was worried that Daniel was here in town to hurt me.
I wasn’t so convinced of Daniel’s “nefarious ways,” but I also hadn’t anticipated he would confront Brett the way he did after me telling him a few stories about how we’d dated and how things had ended up between us.
I knew that was what had prompted Daniel to go to Brett’s office. I’d gotten into an emotional tizzy talking with him on the phone a couple of nights ago, courtesy of the hormones racing through my system. I’d ended up crying on the phone to him over a heartbreak that took place years ago. But I didn’t think it would result in him confronting Brett about it. It was years ago. I was over it. I wanted to focus on what Brett and I were becoming, the good that was spawning between the two of us.