One Mistake (The One Series: Novella #2) (4 page)

“And crocodiles,” she said with a big smile. “Uncle Will buys me one whenever he goes on trips. I have hundreds of them.”

“That’s pretty cool.” I breathed a sigh of relief when Callie finally let go. I didn’t have a lot of experience getting kids to pee and the alligator thing was really all I knew about her.

When she was done, she took my hand and led us back to where the guys were still talking. I could hear them speaking in hushed voices.

“I’m telling you man, you need to tell her now. Waiting is only going to make it worse.”

“I’m not saying anything until I know for sure.” William’s voice was strained. “What if it’s a lie?
You don’t know how she is.”

“What if it’s not a lie? This isn’t something that’s just going to go away.”

“I need more time to think it over.”

“In about eight months, you’ll be out of time. Don’t wait until the baby is here to tell her.” Bob glanced up from their conversation and saw me standing there with my mouth agape. “Shit.”

“Daddy cursed!” Callie sang out with a giggle.

I couldn’t feel my legs. The world started to spin around me as William turned around. One look in his eyes said I hadn’t misheard
- William was going to be a father.

“Olivia.” My name was nothing but a rush of air as it slipped through William’s lips.

I marched past him, grabbing my coat on my way to the door. “Take me home.”

“Wait. Olivia.” William grabbed for my arm but I jerked it away. He reached for me again and this time I actually shoved him away.

“Home.” I nearly yelled the word and Callie’s eyes widened.

William looked to Bob for support but he shook his head. “Take her home, Will. I’ll cover for you here.”

“Liv, you have to talk to me at some point,” William said, as he started the car. “Just let me explain.”

“There’s nothing to explain.” It was cold in the car but I was burning up. “You don’t owe me an explanation. You don’t owe me anything.”

“Don’t talk like that.” William pulled onto the highway.

“Why not?
It’s true. It’s not like we are in a relationship or anything. We’re just fucking.” I squeezed my hands into tight fists.

“Jesus, Olivia. You don’t really believe that, do you?” William slammed on the breaks when the car in front of us stopped abruptly. It gave him the opportunity to look at me. “I just introduced you to my parents.”

“You sure did.” I flashed my eyes in his direction. “You introduced me to them, but didn’t bother to tell me you knocked up some other woman. So clearly this is a very serious relationship. Fuck off, William.”

“I know. I should’ve told you. I know I should have. But I didn’t even know if it was true.” William
tapped his hands on the steering wheel.

“You sound like a total pig right now. You know that, right?” I tugged angrily at the ends of my hair. “Who is she?”

William looked away. “Holly. My ex-girlfriend.”

“How long were you together?”

“Six months.” William was fidgeting in his seat. The car in front of us started moving and William pressed on the gas.

“When did you break up?” This was the answer I was dreading.

William cleared his throat and said, “Three weeks ago.”

A laugh escaped me. “Three weeks ago? So right before we met?”

“Yes. But we were fighting a lot for a month prior.” William rushed forward. “She called me last week and said that’s she thought she was pregnant. But Holly is a drama queen, and she lies to get what she wants.”

“And she wants you?”

William didn’t answer. We were quickly closing in on the city and nothing had been resolved. “It doesn’t matter what Holly wants, Livy. I want you. Nothing has changed.”

“You’re going to be a father, William. She’s going to be the mother of your child. That changes everything.”

William moved into the right lane and started to take the exit. “No, William. I asked you to take me home.”

“That’s where I’m going,” he said.

“No, not to your home. I want to go to my home.”

This time when William looked at me, his eyes were full of unguarded hurt. I was certain that mine were as well. Neith
er of us said another word except when I had to give him directions to my place. When he pulled up out front, I hurried to open the door.

“Can I call you?” he said quickly.

“Please don’t.” I slammed the door shut. As I was unlocking the door to my condo building, I glanced over my shoulder. William was still there. He hadn’t left me. With a very great effort, I turned my back on him and went inside.

There are a lot of reasons you shouldn’t date your boss, but most of those reasons only matter once the fling is over. The number one reason being, you can’t escape them. I should’ve known that Tara’s New Year’s Eve party wouldn’t be a good idea, but I went anyway. At first, everything was fine. I was still reeling from the news about William being a baby daddy, but I was determined not to sit around feeling sorry for myself. We had only been together a few days and I wasn’t going to waste any time pretending
it had been anything more than that.

“That guy over there hasn’t stopped staring at you,” Tara
friend, Lori, yelled in my ear.

“Who is he?” I could barely make out the top of his head over the crowd.

“No idea. I can’t really see him, but he’s been looking over here all night.” Lori refilled my champagne glass. “It’s almost midnight and I think he wants to be your New Year’s kiss.”

I had
drunk just enough champagne to think that would be a good idea, so I began pushing my way through the crowd. Just as I made it to the other side of the room, everyone began the countdown at 30 seconds. At 25 seconds, my eyes found the guy Lori had pointed out.

“Shit,” I said, looking directly into William Connor’s stunning eyes.

The crowd was still chanting, and William’s eyes drew me forward. I was still mad and I wanted to yell at him, but something stronger was guiding me. I missed him.

“William,” I said.

He grabbed me by the arm and yanked me through the crowd. We were down to ten seconds. He opened the first door we came across and pulled me inside. Tara’s bedroom was empty and with the door closed behind us, we could still hear the countdown. William leaned over me and I pushed up on my tiptoes. Our lips met just as the crowd reached the number one and I rang in the New Year with William’s tongue in my mouth. This was not how things were supposed to go.

“Stop.”
I pushed him away. “What am I doing?”

“Olivia, please. Don’t go.” William tried to hold on to me but I squirmed away. I stepped back into the crowded hallway and shoved my way to the front door. I dug through a stack of coats until I found mine and then I ran outside. The ground was covered in a mix of snow and ice so I had to slow down or risk falling.

“Olivia!” William had better balance than me and it didn’t take him long to catch up. “Just give me two minutes, please.”

“What? What are you going to say that will make this
okay?” I turned to him and crossed my arms over my chest.

“Holly isn’t pregnant,” he blurted it out through chattering teeth. Unlike me, he hadn’t bothered to grab his coat. “A friend of mine saw her out at a bar a couple of days ago, drinking everything in sight. I confronted her about it and she admitted that she made the whole thing up. She was trying to get me to take her back.”

“William-”

He stopped me. “Livy, I was never going to take her back.
Even if it had been true. I would’ve done anything and everything for the baby, but I was never getting back together with Holly. She’s a miserable human being, and even if she wasn’t, it was never going to happen.”

“Why not?”
I bit at my lip to keep it from trembling.

“Because she’s not you.”
William held his hands helplessly away from his sides. “I don’t want to be with anyone but you. Not now, not ever.”

I was shaking now, and not from the cold. “I have to go,” I whispered. “I can’t do this.”

“Why not?” William followed me down the sidewalk and I furiously tried to hail a cab. It was a nearly impossible feat on New Year’s Eve.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen,” I yelled at him. “It was supposed to be one night. And then it was just supposed to be some random fun. You weren’t supposed to develop feelings for me and I certainly wasn’t supposed to fall for you.”

I saw a thrill of delight in his eyes. “I knew it.”

“Stop.
Just stop.” A miracle happened when a cab saw my hand waving in distress. I tore open the door and dove inside.

“Don’t do this, Olivia.” William leaned in the open cab window.

“I’m sorry, William. I have to go.” I pushed the button to roll up the window. William backed away slowly, his halting breaths sending bursts of clouded air into the night sky.

CHAPTER FOUR

The next morning I had a giant hangover, and an even worse realization. In exactly one day, I would be boarding a plane to fly to D.C. for a business trip with William, Tara and another coworker, Dan. If I hadn’t already felt sick, that would’ve been enough to make me throw up.

By strategically planning my arrival at the airport, I was able to avoid running into William until I boarded the plane. He was seated in business class when stepped aboard. He caught my eye as I walked past but neither of us said anything.

My stomach churned during the flight. Tara was seated on my left and she kept shooting worried glances in my direction. I took my time departing the plane, hurrying only when Tara started to shove me forward. Just as I suspected, William was waiting.

“Did you have a nice flight?” he asked all of us, but his eyes
lingered on me.

“Not as nice as yours, I’m sure.” I smiled as I said it but I was certain everyone detected the bitterness in my voice.

William went out of his way to make the rest of the day as uncomfortable as possible for me. He made sure to sit next to me on our cab ride, stood too close to me on the elevator, bumped against me as we walked to our client’s office and sat across from me at lunch, tapping his foot against mine repeatedly.

“You have to stop it,” I said as we walked back to the hotel. Tara and Dan were walking several yards ahead of us discussing
the next action to keep bad press away from our client, Palmroil, the world’s leading oil supplier that had just suffered a disastrous oil spill. William and I should’ve been right there with them, developing a strategy, but instead William kept brushing his hand against mine and I kept moving further away from him.

“I’m not doing anything, Livy.” William brushed against me again. “You can’t stay away from me forever. You tried it before and you failed miserably.”

Tara and Dan made it across the street before the light changed but William and I were forced to stop. Now we no longer had to be careful about what we did and said. This time when his hand touched mine, I slapped it away.

“Olivia, seriously,
stop it.” He grabbed my hand. “I made a mistake not telling you about Holly. I know it must have been awful finding out that way. But I didn’t want to upset you unnecessarily.”

“This isn’t about Holly,” I said, jerking my hand back. “My anger isn’t about your mistake. It’s about mine.”

“What do you mean?” The light had changed again and everyone around us began to cross the street but neither of us moved.

“What
happened at your parents’ house… everything that was said…,” I shook my head as I remembered it all. “It was just proof that this thing between you and me was never going to last.”

“Says who?
My parents? They have the most wretched marriage on the planet. I wouldn’t trust them to give relationship advice.” William grabbed both of my hands this time. “I’m not going to beg, Livy. I want you. I want to be with you. I know you want the same thing, but I can’t wait around forever. So the ball is in your court. You know where to find me.”

He dropped my hands and stepped into the crosswalk. His strides were long and purposeful and I wasn’t the only one watching him. William was a man that drew attention wherever he went.
Especially among the ladies. If I refused him, another woman would gladly take my place. That bothered me more than I cared to admit.

The CEO of
Palmroil, Mark Deston, insisted on taking us to dinner. Over steak and scotch, we laid out a detailed plan for minimizing the fallout on his company. An oil spill was never going to be acceptable, but if they followed our advice, they could reduce the public outcry and potential loss in revenue.

Mark was seated to my right and I carefully explained his legal obligations as well as additional steps he should take to protect the company. William was seated across from us, swirling a glass of scotch. Dan jumped in with his public relations strategy and I took the opportunity to sip my own scotch. It was rich and smooth, not unlike the man seated across from me.