Hitman's Hookup: A Bad Boy Romance (25 page)

I shrugged. "I guess so." I leaned closer to her. "You're adorable when you eat."

Her eyes flashed at me and she leaned back. "Are you drunk?" she asked me. I couldn’t tell if she was upset or not.

I laughed. "I was drunk maybe thirty minutes ago. Now I'm delightfully tipsy."

Olivia furrowed her eyebrows. "Your breath smells like whiskey," she said, drinking deeply from the delicious black coffee.

"Not for long," I replied, downing half of the mug of coffee in one gulp. "If I were drunk, by the way, and I think you should know this about me, I would be naked and trying to dance with you."

Olivia burst out laughing. "Seriously?" she asked. "No. No way. I don't believe you."

"Tequila makes my clothes fall off," I said with a grin. "I can't help it. It's why Josh won't let me drink alone."

"He's a good friend," Olivia said, resting her arms on the table for the first time. I hoped this was a sign that she was feeling more relaxed.

I nodded. "The fucking best," I replied, leaning my own elbows on the table. I saw her eyes dart to my arms. "I've been working out more recently. Trying to not look so much like a tennis player. I'm aiming for like, Dwayne Johnson muscles."

Olivia laughed so hard at this she covered her eyes with her hands. The table shook. I could listen to her laugh like that all day. I was filled with an intense desire to keep making her laugh like that. It was all I ever wanted to hear for the rest of my life.

"You've got another forty pounds of muscle to go," she said after she had recovered somewhat. "So good luck with that goal."

I shrugged. "I usually get what I want."

She tilted her head and bit her lip. "Is that so?"

I looked around. "You let me in here, didn't you?"

"Momentary lapse of judgment after a long day being surrounded by needy guys," she explained. "Also it might have been the dimples."

I felt a surge of adrenaline at those words. She was into me. "Most women can't say no to these," I explained jokingly.

She squinted. "You don't get told no often, do you?"

My mind flashed earlier in the day to Diane yelling at me, and then to Olivia's recent comment about my privilege. I tapped my fingers on the table in no particular pattern or rhythm. "That might be true, now that you mention it. How'd you know that?"

Olivia pursed her lips. She looked like she was contemplating whether or not to say what was on her mind. "I heard that you ran off both Juliets for the play. Now, most actors who did that? Would be recast. But not Nick Wilder." She leaned back and stared at me with a smirk. "Why is that? Why are you so special? Because sitting here, I just don't see it. Yeah, you're adorable. You have dimples. But you're also a bit of a cocksure asshole. So I just don't understand why you have that kind of power."

The alcohol was starting to wear off now, the caffeine of the hastily consumed coffee cutting through the glow. Strangely, though, it seemed like the soberer I was, the more attractive Olivia became. It usually worked the opposite way for me. "Okay, I'll concede that. I definitely have to admit that I don't get told by women how awful I am. Strangely it's making me think that I'm in love with you."

Olivia laughed again. "Fuck off, Wilder," she said in response.

"Wait, let me correct that. I don't think it. I
know
that I'm in love with you. You just sealed the deal."

"By telling you to fuck off?" Olivia bit her lip again. She was still smiling. "You just met me. How could you possibly know that?"

"I have impeccable instincts. They've literally never failed me. Like earlier when I knew that you would let me in this shop."

"Those aren't instincts. That's just a lifetime of never being told no. It's habit," she scoffed.

"I'm sticking to my story, Liv," I said, feeling the nickname slip out of my lips unbidden by my brain. I cringed, waiting for her to chastise me for being so familiar with her.

"You're drunk," she replied, still not breaking eye contact with me. "I know I'm not the first woman you have fallen in love with while your brain has been bombed by the effects of Jell-O shooters. And I'm quite certain I will not be the last." She dusted her hands off on her milk-splattered jeans.

"I said I was only a
little
drunk. I do actually think that you will be the last woman I fall in love with. I have good instincts around these things. You might be surprised by them if you got to know me."

Olivia burst into laughter again. This time it was even more uncontrolled. Her breasts shook as she took deep breaths to calm herself.

"What's so funny?"

She managed to stop laughing long enough to tell me. "This!" She motioned around the room.

"The coffee shop is funny?"

She shook her head and pointed at me. "You.
You
being here. With me. In here. After this long day, at the end of four long years, that I am sitting here with god-on-campus Nicholas Wilder. And that he is telling me that he loves me.
That
is absurd. I keep waiting for Ashton Kutcher to pop out and tell me that I'm being punked.”

I smiled. "Believe it. It's happening."

Olivia had a look of wonder on her face. "You are the happiest drunk I've ever met," she said, shaking her head. "You're not trying to fondle me and you're not screaming at me. Well done."

I laughed darkly. "That's a low bar to jump but I guess I'll take it."

"Okay," she said leaning back in her chair and smiling at me surreptitiously. "Tell me why you are the man that I should be in love with."

I raised my eyebrows. "I was hoping you would ask that," I replied eagerly. "Do you have a piece of paper and a pencil?"

Olivia looked at me with a stoic face. A moment later she spoke. "Oh, you're serious? Um, there's a pad of paper in my apron over there." She motioned behind her. "And there should be pens in the cup on the counter."

I was back shortly with the pad of paper and a pencil firmly in hand. I jabbed my tongue out between my lips slightly while I thought. I put my arm around the piece of paper and turned slightly. I smiled at Olivia who was looking at me like I had lost it. "No peeking," I replied.

She rolled her eyes and laughed again. "Seriously? Are we in second grade?"

I bent down over the paper and started scribbling hastily. After a few minutes I was done. I sat up and stared at Olivia with a smile.

"Well? Are you going to read them out to me?" she asked, fidgeting slightly. She was enjoying this. That made me happy.

I shook my head and folded the paper in half. "You can read it later," I responded, tucking the piece of paper into the back pocket of my jeans.

Olivia slammed her hands down on the table in protest. "Why not now?"

"Ah, so you're really that invested in why you should love me?"

Her eyes twinkled at me. "I don't like suspense," she replied.

"I don't want my presence to influence your decision. I want you to decide that you love me based off of your own private reasoning." I stretched my arms over my head and yawned dramatically. "Besides that, I wouldn't want my dimples distracting you.” She blushed at that comment. “Okay. Where's the mop? We had a deal." I stood up and gathered the dishes and followed the path where Olivia had pointed wordlessly.

"Just tell me the first reason," she called after me.

"Fine!" I yelled back from the kitchen. I set the dishes in the dishwasher and saw that soap was already in the compartment, ready to run. I shut the door and turned it on, wiping my hands on a towel and wandering back out into the main part of the coffee shop, grabbing one of those quick mops with the disposable covers. Olivia had pulled her leg up onto the chair and wrapped her arms around it, pulling her knee close to her chest. She looked like a kid eager to hear a story. The performer in me loved having an audience like this. I bent down and started mopping. "You might notice how I am sitting here with you instead of passed out on my dormitory mattress right now."

Olivia rested her chin on her knee. "Which is proof of what?"

"My ability to be persuasive. It comes in handy. You never know when you might need someone to do some persuading on your behalf." I scrubbed at a spot of sticky, dried coffee.

"You could also put that as a negative. First of all, I think you are taking credit for the hard work that your wingman did in bringing you in here. He made you seem less threatening, which is the only reason I'm in here alone with you right now."

I laughed and turned to face her, leaning on the mop handle. "Oh that? He learned everything from me. Every single skill, every single tactic, anything having to do with women? I taught Josh."

Olivia smiled and looked down absentmindedly at her fingernails. She flicked her hair over her shoulder. "I think number two on your list should be excessive humility."

I laughed and went back to mopping. "This exercise was supposed to be about reasons why you should fall in love with
me
, not more reasons as to why
I
should fall in love with
you
." I stole a glance back at Olivia, who I was happy to see was blushing again.

"What does that mean?" she asked, creasing her forehead.

I moved the mop closer to her, squeaking arcs of cleaning fluid toward the foot that was still on the ground. I leaned over so my mouth was next to her ear. "Sarcasm is a huge turn on for me." I saw her breathing slow down and heard her swallow. Hard. I pulled away and saw that the blush had turned into a four-alarm fire on her pale skin.

She cleared her throat and stood up. Then she flipped the chairs over onto the table. "Okay, I'll accept that answer. Or, I'll take it under consideration. I can't know for sure until I see the rest of the list." She walked up next to me, standing on her tiptoes to whisper in my ear. The smell of her sent goosebumps down my body. "But I'd have to see the rest of the list."

I closed my eyes and inhaled her scent. Then I felt her arms slide down my back. My breathing quickened and I felt my pants get tighter again. Before I could pull away, her hand was on my ass.

"Oh, fuck no!" I yelled, jumping back from her and pulling the piece of paper out of her hand that she'd managed to grab while distracting me. I smiled and held the paper high above my head while she jumped to get it. "I said not now. Later. Later.”

Olivia sighed. "Alright, cleaning boy. Get back to work, then."

I grabbed her arm as she turned to walk away. She spun around and looked at me with something like hope in her eyes. "I will tell you this. I am absolutely an entitled, over privileged, how did you put it earlier? Oh I remember. ‘Cocksure asshole,’” I said. "But at least I can own up to it. That should get me more points shouldn't it? I have hung around enough men who are entitled and spoiled and cocky and overconfident to know that most of them cannot admit it. I feel like that could be reason number three. I am honest about who I am."

Olivia looked up at me and pulled her arm away. "You were only honest after I called you out on it. So you get zero points," she replied. There was a flash of joy over her face that made me think she was enjoying fucking with me
.

Two can play at that game
, I thought.

"Are you sure you can't think of anything else?" Olivia asked me. "Other than what's on your mysterious piece of paper, that is.”

"I can, actually," I said good-naturedly. "If I can't convince you to fall in love with me off of what I already told you," I said, moving back to mopping the floor, "Then I will come up with reasons why you should at least fuck me.”

I controlled my stare so I didn’t look at her right away; I wanted to wait for her reaction. The bright lights hanging from the ceiling blasted a reflection on the wet streaks I was leaving on the floor. I blinked my eyes and couldn't wait anymore. I looked up at Olivia.

"There's no need for you to give me a list of reasons I should fuck you," she said, shrugging.

I was taken aback by her response. "Why not?"

"I think you gave me all the reasons I needed the second you walked through that door." I dropped the broom handle onto the floor with a loud clatter. Olivia laughed at me as I hurried to pick it back up off the floor. “Smooth, Wilder,” she said.

"One night," I said after managing to collect myself. "And I swear you won't need a written list of reasons why you should fall in love with me."

She surprised me by reaching out and putting her hand on my arm. "Then I suggest you finish mopping quickly," she whispered.

Never in the history of mankind had a floor been mopped so quickly. Minutes later, the floors were shining and the lights were off. When Olivia finished locking up the dark shop, she turned to me. "Where are we going to go?"

My dick had never been so anxious to get going before. Part of me was afraid we were going to have to fuck in an alleyway. I wasn't sure I could make it back to campus. "Do you have a roommate?" I asked her, hoping the answer was no.

Olivia nodded. "And we made an agreement at the beginning of our freshman year that we would never bring boys back to the dorm when both of us were there."

I let out a low whistle. "Then you must really be anticipating sex if you haven’t had any in four years," I said.

"Now what makes you say that?" she retorted with a Cheshire cat grin on her mouth. "The guys that I have been with have all had their own apartments."

My face fell slightly as those words hit me.

"Oh I'm sorry," Olivia said sarcastically with a smile. "Does living in a dorm hurt your manhood?”

I shook my head and wrapped my arm around her shoulders. Her skin was warm beneath mine. I couldn't wait to feel more of it. "See? I told you that I was in love with you." We started walking back toward campus.

"So where are we going?" she asked me. "And it better not be a blanket on the quad.”

"I would go back to my dorm, but I'd feel like even more of an asshole if I made Josh wait out in the hallway after all he did for me tonight," I explained. "Don’t worry, Liv. I know just the place."