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best of times.

“It’s fine,” Kimberly said as she pulled me toward the table. “He knows you’ve moved in with

Hunter. You’re out of his reach.”

“It doesn’t prevent him from trying to be buddy-buddy with me to get closer to Hunter. He’d push

over his mother to get a job in Hunter’s company.”

“Hey! Olivia!” Rick stood up as we approached and brought me into a tight hug. “Long time no

see.”

“Hunter Carlisle works you too hard,” Jen said with a smile, standing up to hug me too. She then

organized the chairs so we could fit at the table.

Tera gave me a smug smile before firmly putting her hand high on Jonathan’s thigh. “Hi, Olivia.

Hey, Kimmie.”

Kimberly’s fingertips dug into my arm. She’d realized the same thing I just had. Tera was dating

Jonathan. He’d dumped me because I wasn’t good enough and here he was, letting Tera rub his upper

thigh while she sent me gloating glances.

If she thought that I’d be jealous, she was delusional. “Hey, everyone.”

“I heard you have a game out. How cool is that?” Jen beamed at me.

“Kimmie was really pushy about getting us to download it,” Rick said. “Now I’m addicted.” He

gave me a comic frown. “Not cool!”

“What’s this now?” Tera asked. Her hand ran over the swell of Jonathan’s bulge. Her eyes

twinkled as she looked at me.

I barely prevented myself from rolling my eyes. “I helped design a game. It’s doing pretty good so

far.”

“Pretty good? That thing is rocking.” Rick tapped his phone and then pointed the screen at

Jonathan. Tera leaned close to him so she could see better, and to smear her body against his.

I didn’t have to refrain from rolling my eyes that time—I just joined Kimmie and Jen as they did

it.

The waitress stopped beside our table. She looked at Kimberly and then me. “Can I get you guys

anything?”

“We need to celebrate,” Kimberly said as she fingered the small menu. “Beer or shot?”

I tried not to groan.
Here we go.

“I’ll just have a Sprite,” I said to the waitress. “My stomach isn’t feeling the best. I might be

getting sick.”

“A Sprite? Nah. We’re celebrating! Have a beer.” Kimberly looked at the waitress. “We’ll have

beers.”

“No, really—” I cut off as I felt a warm hand on my arm. I looked over at Jonathan, who was

making Tera sit farther back so he could lean across her to touch me.

“Hey,” he said with a warm smile. “You really designed that game?”

Confused at his touch and his tone, I stuttered out a “Yes.”

Jonathan took his hand back but continued to lean against the table, his full focus on me. “That’s

pretty remarkable. And how about Hunter Carlisle? Do you still work for him?”

“Yes. For now.”

“I can’t believe you moved in with him,” Jen said with stars in her eyes. “When Kimberly told me

I flat-out refused to believe it. Hunter
Carlisle
! I didn’t think he could be caught.”

“Are you saying you’d dump me to get a piece of him?” Rick said with an annoyed expression.

“Does everything need to be about you?” Jen shot him a glower. “I’m trying to talk to Livy.”

“What do you mean, for now?” Tera asked.

The waitress showed up with a round of beers and distributed them before asking if we wanted

any food.

I leaned back, away from it. “That game is a lot of work,” I told Tera. “I’ll need to choose which

company I work for.”

“No-brainer,” Jonathan said. “Hunter Carlisle.”

“Well…” I shrugged. “That’s just admin work. I’d really rather do coding.”

Jonathan gave me a placating kind of smile then, in a condescending voice, said, “You get to learn

business from a genius. I think that is worth the price of admission. He can open doors others can’t.

You’d be a simpleton to walk away from that.”

“She
lives
with him,” Kimberly said with spice in her voice. “She’s not walking away from him; she’s doing something she’s obviously better at. She can still learn from him.”

“Dude, you’re full of shit.” Rick waved Jonathan away as he took a swig of his beer. “You have

no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Here, Livy.” Kimberly moved my beer closer to me as she picked up hers.

“No, I’m okay.” I lightly touched the bottle, nudging it away a little.

“You’re really not drinking?” she asked, hesitating with her own bottle.

Most people hated peer pressure. Kimberly thrived on it.

“Why aren’t you drinking?” Tera squinted at me.

The table fell into silence, all eyes on me.

“I have to work after this,” I hastened to say. “Beer makes me drowsy.”

“You still have to work?” Rick said. Tera was still staring at me, suspicion in her eyes. Her gaze

dipped to my stomach.

Suddenly, I knew exactly what she was thinking. I’d trapped Hunter with a baby. He was the

unattainable bachelor. No one had ever been able to land him. Except for me, a girl without money

and without awe-inspiring beauty. And suddenly I was pregnant.

It did look bad.

“Excuse me,” I said as I stood. Tera squinted again as she looked at my belly.

In a strange sort of panic, I made my way to the bathroom. This was silly. Who cared what people

thought? I knew that Hunter loved me. I’d known it before the baby. In fact, he’d been the cause of

this. He was the one who’d tried to get me without protection as often as possible. I certainly hadn’t trapped him.

But man, it sure did look like I had.

I washed up and analyzed myself in the mirror. I had a tiny paunch. Not at all noticeable. Most

people would assume it was chub. I took a deep breath and made my way back out. I was all sorts of

off balance with life. I needed to get a grip!

“Livy.”

I started and then stumbled into Jonathan. He caught me by the shoulders and directed me toward

the wall so people could get by. “Careful,” he said with a smile.

“What’s up?” I asked, taking a step away. He was standing much too close.

“Hey, you know, we don’t talk anymore. I miss that.”

“Yeah, well, you broke up with me. It kind of put a damper on our nonexistent friendship.”

He chuckled and placed his hand on my shoulder. “We were friends. I had a great time with you.

We should hang out sometime.”

“Um…” I was sure my smile screamed out my discomfort. I dipped and shifted like some weird

dance, hoping to dislodge that hand. “Maybe.”

“Yeah. You know, I have some great ideas that Hunter Carlisle might be keen to hear. I mean, I

have a job, but I’d entertain making a change if the money was right.”

“A job, right.” I dipped again before stepping away. His hand slid off. “You’d probably be better

off seeing what openings there are in the company. I don’t think there is much right now.”

“Well, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. Or him, if you thought to bring him around. I

could—”

“Olivia.” The power and command in that tone had a delicious shiver dripping down my back. I

looked up as Hunter came to stand beside me. His arm worked around my waist before pulling me in

possessively against his side. His sexy, smoldering eyes trained on me for a moment before swinging

to Jonathan. He didn’t utter a word, but the question was obvious. What was my ex-boyfriend talking

to me about in the back of the restaurant, away from everyone else?

This also looked bad.

“Hello, sir.” Jonathan smiled, oblivious to the aggression radiating from the man beside me. “I

was just mentioning to Livy that we should get together for a chat.”

“I told you to stay away from her,” Hunter said in a low tone.

I looked up at him in surprise.
When?

“Yes, sir, I realize that. I wasn’t thinking to meet her alone. I’d hoped you—”

“C’mon, Olivia. We’re leaving.” Hunter firmly directed me in front of him. With his hand on the

small of my back, he guided me toward the table so I could get my handbag.

“Is that your beer?” Hunter asked in what I could only describe as an extremely dangerous tone.

Oops. That looked even worse.

I had been chatting with the ex-boyfriend in a secluded spot with a beer waiting for me at the

table. I was not batting a thousand on this little trip out.

“I didn’t drink out of it,” I said in a rush.

“Hi, Hunter,” Jen said, standing and throwing out her hand to shake.

“Hey, man.” Rick stood, too, but his smile was hard. He kept glancing at Jen, who was doing a

poor job of hiding the lust sparking in her eyes.

“Do you need a ride, Kimberly?” Hunter’s hard gaze hit her.

She glanced at her beer as her face turned bright red. She snatched her handbag off the chair and

stood, making no move to drain the last of her beer. It looked like she thought she was in trouble for drinking because I was.

“Okay,” she said in a demure tone.

Without another word, Hunter directed me out of the café and to the car waiting by the curb. He

had been as rude as usual, but I didn’t dare call it out. I was in so much trouble it wasn’t funny. Going along quietly until I could assess the damage was the name of the game.

Chapter Five

“Okay, Livy, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” Kimberly gave me a wave and a grimace as her gaze

touched on Hunter. I think she knew I was in trouble even though she didn’t know why.

When the car was on its way again, Hunter said, “What were you doing with him?”

“He wants a job. He’s seeing Tera now.”

“He’s fucking Tera. He won’t take her to meet his parents.”

“That’s…some personal knowledge. How do you know that?”

Hunter looked at me, anger and suspicion in his eyes. “He broke it off with you because you were

from a lower social class. He loved you, Olivia. The slander he spread after he broke it off was

hollow. Now that you’ve been elevated to a higher class, he’d be more than happy to get any part of

you he could.”

“How do you know all this? And when did you tell him to stay away from me?”

“When I realized he’d be a possible threat, I made sure that I remained informed. I didn’t like

hearing that you were with him this evening, after assuring me you were going home.”

“I didn’t
assure
you. And I didn’t know he’d be there.”

We arrived in front of the house. Hunter’s mouth was a thin line as he helped me out then guided

me up the front walk. Once inside, he turned to face me. His muscles flexed and relaxed, his temper

burning hot.

“You told me you were going home,” Hunter said in a flat tone.

“And then I decided to meet up with Kimberly. She said Jen and Rick were at a café, so we met

them. I did not know he’d be there, Hunter, seriously.”

Hunter turned toward the stairs without another word. He’d go dunk himself in work and try to put

some distance between himself and this situation.

I trudged into the kitchen with a surly attitude and found Janelle at the stove. She looked up as I

entered. “Hey. I’d thought you’d be home earlier, so I’m just heating up your dinner. Was that Hunter I heard?”

“Yes. He’s home.”

“Oh, okay. I’ll just make a plate up for him.”

She busied herself as I sat at the table in the corner. “I wish I could have a glass of wine right

now.” I’d told the house staff about the pregnancy for meal preparation and various other things.

“If wishes were unicorns we’d all have a ride to work.”

I leaned against the tabletop. That wasn’t helpful.

“What’s up?” Janelle asked as she got out the milk. “Why the long face?”

“Hunter caught me in the vicinity of an ex-boyfriend. Now he’s mad.”

Janelle gave me a grimace and then a puzzled expression. “Hunter doesn’t seem like the jealous

type to me.”

“He had a weird past and this baby is bringing it all out again. He’s not really rational.”

“Oh, right—I heard something about that. This has got to be tough on both of you, then.”

“Yes. For a lot of reasons. There are a lot of changes.”

“There always is with a baby.”

That also didn’t help. She was too practical by half. I wanted someone to allow me to mope and

wallow.

After I had eaten, I headed toward my office. I needed to make Hunter talk about things, but I also

knew he was shutting down like a clam. I was exhausted, stressed, and unsure. I didn’t think I could work up enough anger to barge in there and demand he get over his issues.

Instead, I worked until my eyes drooped, which was not long at all, then slunk into my room. I

was asleep soon after my head hit the pillow. We certainly wouldn’t be running bases together that

night.

THE NEXT MORNING I TOOK THE COFFEE FROM BRENDA. THE UNCERTAINTY FROM THE NIGHT BEFORE HAD GROWN

into a tsunami of doubt. Hunter had come in last night, showered as normal, and then turned his back to me when he got into bed. He’d never done that before. Never!

He hadn’t kissed me goodbye that morning, either, or said he loved me.

I made my way into his office silently. Filtered light from an overcast sky softly touched his

shoulders and made a halo of light around his handsome face. My heart clenched as I neared, hoping I was making too big of a deal about all this. Hoping I was being a stupid girl.

He didn’t look up. I might’ve been a ghost with an invisible coffee cup. It was like in the

beginning of my employment when he had kept me at an arm’s distance.

Choking on my fear, I stood for a moment, looking down on him. I wanted to open the lines of

communication and sort this out, but I didn’t know how to start. His jaw was clenched and shoulders

tensed. I could tell that he just wanted me to go away.

I set the cup down gently, still staring at him. His fingers moved over the keyboard, typing out an