The One: The Complete One Series Collection (10 page)

“I know.” William’s chest rose as he took a deep breath. “Trust me, I know.”

“Do you think your parents might have been right about us? That this is doomed to end.”

“I don’t know. I have never been a fan of listening to my parents.” I looked up at William when he asked, “What about your parents? Have you told them about us?”

“No.”

“No. Alright.” William looked miffed. “Are you planning to tell them about us?”

The conversation made me realize just how little we actually knew about each other. We didn’t exactly spend a lot of time talking. I pushed away from William and sat on the bed, pulling off my heels, thigh highs and bra so that I was completely naked, but free. I hugged my knees to my chest and took a deep breath.

“My parents are dead, William.” I felt his hand on the small of my back.

“I’m sorry, Livy.”

“How could you know? It’s not like we ever talk about anything important.” I could hear the bitterness in my voice.

“You’re right,” William agreed. “We should talk more.”

I gave him a sly smile. “It’s not really our fault. We just happen to be really good at other things.”

William returned my smile. He pushed back on the bed so that he was sitting up as well. “Ask me something, Olivia. Anything.”

I tapped my chin thoughtfully. Finally, we were getting to the good stuff. I had a chance to learn about the real William Connor. “You’ve never taken anyone home to meet your parents until me. Why?”

William leaned his head back and half-closed his eyes. “I don’t know.”

“Terrible answer.” I slapped his leg. “You can do better than that.”

“Olivia, I honestly don’t know. I have no idea why I decided it would be a good idea to introduce you to those people.” A smile threatened to appear. “You’re just so different from the other women I’ve dated.”

“Tell me about them.” I didn’t really want to hear about these other women, but I wanted to know more about William.

“There’s not much to tell.”

“What was your longest relationship?”

William looked away. “I don’t know. Six months?”

“So, Holly?” I felt a twisting in my chest.

He shrugged. “I guess. But I wouldn’t exactly say we had a serious relationship. It just took me awhile to get around to breaking up with her.”

“You realize that makes you sound like a total jerk?”

William sat up abruptly. “Fine. Here goes. I’ve dated a lot of women, especially when I was younger. I have a lot of money, and it’s hard to find quality women. So eventually I stopped looking and settled for easy women. I had a lot of meaningless sex. Occasionally, I kept one of those women around for a little while. By the time I met Holly, I thought I was ready to have a real relationship, so I tried to make it work. But it didn’t take long to realize she was only after my money, so I ended it.” He reached over and rested his palm on my cheek. “Then I met you, and everything changed.”

“How do I know you aren’t just saying what I want to hear to keep the sex coming?” Even as I asked the question, I knew he wasn’t just bullshitting me.

William actually laughed. “Have you been paying attention? You made me beg and plead on multiple occasions for you to even give me a chance. If I was just looking for sex, I would’ve moved on a long time ago. And I certainly wouldn’t have introduced you to my mother. She’s a giant cock-block.”

I laughed loudly at that. He was right.

“My turn?” William asked. I could tell he had a list of questions he was dying to ask me. I cringed a little, but said yes.

“When we were at the shelter, you seemed to know everything about that place. Down to the minutest of details, like where they keep the matches.” William’s hand had slid to my back and his fingertips grazed a light path down my spine. “You didn’t just volunteer there, did you?

William Connor was too perceptive for his own good. “That’s true,” I said. “I may have changed some of the details about my past. After everything that happened with Paul, I didn’t have anywhere to go. I was in a pretty bad state physically, and I spent two weeks in the hospital recovering. On top of that, I had nowhere to live. Paul and I had been living together, and I was too scared to face him. I didn’t have any family I could rely on. The counselor at the hospital gave me information about the shelter. I lived there for two months until I was able to stand on my own two feet again.”

I could see the anger in William’s eyes, but he fought hard to keep it in check. “What happened to Paul? Did he go to jail?”

“I pressed charges.” I shifted my eyes away from William. “It was a first-time offense, and he was a sympathetic defendant. He promised the judge he would go to counseling and do community service. In the end, he got six months on probation and he was ordered to stay away from me.”

“Fuck.” William’s anger was surfacing quickly.

“Let’s talk about something else,” I suggested. “I can tell you about the time I got arrested for swimming in the
Trevi Fountain in Rome.”

My distraction was ineffective. William was still fuming. “What did he do to you? How bad was it?”

“William, really. I don’t want to talk about it.” I turned away but William pulled me back. The intensity in his eyes scared me. “Why do you care so much?”

“Because I care about you.” He took my hand. “Tell me. Please.”

I could feel the emotion building inside me and I did my best to push it back down. I hated losing control. “Concussion. Three broken ribs. Punctured lung. Numerous contusions. Thirteen stitches.”

I lifted my hair away from my face, showing him the scar at the hairline that was normally hidden. William’s soft fingers follow its path to where it ended just above my ear. I felt myself leaning into his touch.

“I will never let anyone hurt you again, Livy. I promise.” He leaned over and kissed the scar, his lips sealing his promise.

I closed my eyes and swallowed hard. “I promised myself I would never let anyone in again. I can’t get hurt like that again. Not physically, and not emotionally.”

“You can let me in. I would never hurt you.” His lips moved from the scar to my cheek where a single tear had escaped. He kissed it away. “You’re mine now. I’ll do anything to protect you.”

His words scared me. After Paul, I had never wanted to belong to anyone ever again. There was too much risk. Too big of a chance that I would get hurt. But with William, it was
different. I wanted to belong to him, and I wanted him to belong to me. I needed him in my life and now he knew it. I had let William in, let him see my dark past and how damaged I was, and he hadn’t even flinched. William had stayed, and that was what scared me most.

CHAPTER FIVE

The bed next to me was empty when I woke up. I found a note on William’s pillow explaining that an emergency had come up at work and he had caught an earlier flight. Last night, I had been scared that William had stayed after hearing the details about my past. Now I was scared that he had left. What if he had changed his mind about being with me?

When my flight landed in Chicago, I had a message from him saying he was sorry about taking off so early and that he would see me in the office. By the time I got downtown, several emails had come through and I knew that whatever had brought William back early was about to effect all of us. He called an urgent meeting and I made it to the conference room just in time.

“Mark from Palmroil called me early this morning.” William sat at the head of the conference room table. The CFO sat to his right, and Dan sat to his left. I wondered why Tara hadn’t been invited to the meeting but William hadn’t exactly opened the floor for questions. “He expressed some concerns about our failure to alert him to possible EPA requirements to implement the SPCC plans.”

Now I understood why Tara wasn’t present. She had been responsible for researching the SPCC plan requirements. William’s dark eyes settled on my face. “Olivia, I was under the impression that you and Tara were taking care of the EPA regulations.”

“That’s true. I researched the reporting requirements, and Tara was looking into the countermeasure plans.” I returned his stare. “What is Mark’s concern?”

“Mark spoke with Tara last night after dinner,” William said. What he meant was, Mark spoke with Tara after we had left dinner early to screw in my hotel room. “She told him there was nothing to worry about. That the SPCC countermeasures wouldn’t apply in this case.”

“But that’s ridiculous. This case is exactly what the countermeasures were designed for.” I could feel myself become indignant. “Mark must be lying.”

William’s jaw clenched. “I already spoke to Tara about it. She confirmed his allegations, saying it was what you had told her.”

“You have got to be kidding. I wasn’t even responsible for those plans.” I glared at William, resenting him for treating me like this in front of my peers.

“I didn’t say that I believed her,” William clarified, but he was equally hostile. “We had specific discussions yesterday about who would be responsible for the various aspects of the EPA, and Dan confirms that Tara was in charge of researching this area.”

“Then what is the purpose of this meeting?” I was still angry, but the rush of heat was fading.

“I wanted to let you all know that as of this morning, Tara has been let go. She was asked to empty her office. I refuse to employ someone that lies to me and refuses to take accountability for their mistakes.” William turned to Dan. “You will be taking over her responsibilities on the
Palmoil case.”

We sat in stunned silence. None of us had seen this coming. William cleared his throat. “That’s all. You are dismissed.”

It was the most he had ever sounded like an ordinary boss, barking orders. I didn’t like this side of him. We avoided eye contact as I left the room, and I hurried to my office. As I rounded the corner, I ran directly into Tara. If looks could kill, I would have died instantly.

“Thanks a lot,” she growled, her arms carrying a box filled with her possessions.

“Tara, I didn’t have anything to do with this.”

She didn’t listen to my protest. “I saw you.”

“Saw me? Saw me where?” Tara wasn’t making any sense.

“I saw you after the holiday party, getting into the cab with Connor. And I saw the two of you duck into my bedroom on New Year’s Eve.” She continued to glare at me and if her arms hadn’t been full, I’m certain she would’ve slapped me.

“Tara, it’s not what you think.” But in a way, it was exactly what she thought. I was sleeping with the boss.

“You told him to fire me, didn’t you? And of course, he listened.” She smirked. “I guess you don’t have to worry about job security as long as you continue to spread your legs.”

“Tara, I didn’t. I would never do that to you.”

She shook her head furiously. “Just stop. Stop pretending you aren’t a back-stabbing slut. Don’t worry, when Connor is tired of screwing you, you’ll get what’s coming to you.”

I watched her storm away and my chest tightened painfully. The thing that I had feared most since becoming involved with William was now a reality. Someone we worked with had found out.

I needed to talk to someone about it, and I couldn’t go to William. In this case, he was my boss first and my lover second. I needed an impartial party, so I called Thomas. We had been friends for half our lives, and in addition to being a good listener, he had no problem letting me know when I was being an idiot. We met after work at the bar downstairs and it didn’t take long for him to scold me.

“You didn’t really think you could sleep with your boss and not have it come back and slap you in the face, did you?” Thomas flashed his teeth. He was always smiling, even when he was calling me stupid. It was part of his charm.

“No, I didn’t think that. I knew something like this would happen.”

“You just didn’t care?” He ran a hand through his blond hair.

I sighed and took a long drink from my beer. “I cared, I just didn’t care enough.”

My phone vibrated on the table and I glanced at it. I saw William’s name on the screen and despite still being angry with him, I felt myself smile.

“Uh oh. You like this guy,” Thomas observed. “You are totally smitten.”

I rolled my eyes at Thomas and checked the message. William wanted to talk. I let him know that I was downstairs having a drink with a friend.

“I’m not smitten,” I said without conviction.

“Lie to yourself all you want, Harris.” Thomas took my phone away. “I listened to your problems, now you get to listen to mine.”

“Trouble in paradise?” I asked. Thomas was always fighting with his fiancé, Sophia. I had only met her a handful of times because she didn’t approve of my friendship with Thomas.

“Always,” Thomas said. He launched into their latest drama, something about how Thomas spends too much time with his friends. I wanted to be as good of a listener for him as he was for me, but it was at least the fiftieth time I had heard a nearly identical story from him.

At one point, I found myself scanning the room and I saw William enter, with Lana’s husband Trevor as his side. They stopped at the bar, and then William saw me. At first, he smiled. Then he noticed my company and his smile wavered. Trevor also noticed, and he said something to William that made him flinch.

“Thomas, I’m sorry to interrupt.” I jumped off my chair but William was already headed for us. I stopped him a few feet from our table. “William.”

“What the fuck, Olivia?” he said, staring daggers at Thomas.

“Calm down, William. We’re just friends.” I had never seen William behave this way. He wasn’t the jealous type.

Thomas noticed the commotion and came over. “Is everything okay here, Livy?”

William lunged for him, catching Thomas off-guard. They tumbled into the nearest table, sending drinks flying.

“William, stop it. What the hell are you doing?” I grabbed for him but I couldn’t get a grip. He pulled his arm back to punch Thomas, but Trevor managed to pull him away.

“Come on, man. Not here.” Trevor got a tight grip on him and pulled him toward the front door.

“Are you okay?” I gave Thomas a quick look, and he seemed relatively unscathed. I

smoothed down his shirt and checked to make sure he wasn’t bleeding.

“What the hell was that about?” he asked, still in shock.

“I have no idea, but I’m going to find out. I’ll be back.”

I found William outside the bar, pacing up and down the sidewalk. Normally the sight of him made my stomach flutter, but this time it churned instead.

“Do you care to explain yourself?” I demanded.

“I can’t believe you,” he said. “How could you meet with him?”

“He’s my friend, William. He has been a part of my life for a long time. Did you think I would cut everyone out of my life for you?” I felt like throwing something at him.

Trevor pulled up in his car and William reached for the door handle. “I can’t deal with you right now. I’m too angry.”

“
You’re
too angry? That’s classic.” I scoffed at him. “Call me when you are ready to discuss this in a civilized manner.”

“I’m leaving town tomorrow. I’m going skiing in Utah.” William gave me a long look. “We can talk when I get back.”

“Fine.” I turned my back on him and stormed inside. This was a side of William I had never seen, and after seeing it, I wasn’t sure I wanted to talk to him ever again.

Thomas was more forgiving than me and managed to shake it off after another drink. I, meanwhile, was still burning with rage the next day when Lana called.

“I heard what happened last night,” she exclaimed. I held the phone a few inches from my ear. “I can’t believe it.”

“I know. William was acting crazy.”

“Not William. You!” Lana screeched.

“Me? What about me?”

“You met up with Paul? That’s just about the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.” She was actually yelling now.

I stuttered. “What? What are you talking about, Lana? I wasn’t with Paul. I was with Thomas.”

“Thomas? No, that’s not what Trevor said.” Lana stopped abruptly. “Oh shit.”

“Oh shit, what?” I had a bad feeling I knew what Lana was going to say.

“I think Trevor made a mistake. He saw you with Thomas, and got confused. He knows about Paul, and he met him that one time at that party. But Thomas kind of looks like Paul, especially from a distance…” Lana trailed off.

“So Trevor told William that I was with Paul? Are you kidding me?” Now I was the one that was screaming.

“This is bad, Liv.”

“
Ya think? No wonder William freaked out.” I felt like throwing up. “And he left town this morning, so I can’t even explain to him what happened.”

“Oh,
Liv. I’m so sorry. Trevor didn’t mean anything. He was just trying to help in his own ridiculous way.” Lana said something to someone in the background. “Trevor knows where William is skiing. He can give you the information.”

“What am I going to do with that? He’ll never answer the phone.” William had made it clear he didn’t want to talk to me until he returned to Chicago.

“You should go there!” I could hear the excitement in Lana’s voice. “It will be so romantic. You can just show up and explain everything.”

“Lana, my life isn’t a movie. I can’t just drop everything and run off to some mountain in Utah because of some guy.” It went against every feminist bone in my body.

Lana felt differently. “Why not? You care about him. You want to be with him. So go. Go be with him.”

“I can’t,” I said again, this time weakly.

“Stop being a little bitch and man up,” she said. I had never heard Lana speak that way and it made me laugh. “I’m having Trevor email you the details. If you don’t book the flight, I’m doing it for you.”

I thought over my options. I could wait until William got back from his trip. We would talk, and I would explain what really happened. He would apologize for jumping to conclusions and I would apologize for not doing a better job explaining who Thomas was. We would make up. That was the best-case-scenario.

But it was just as likely that William would spend his vacation stewing in his anger, and he might not give me a chance to explain when he returned. That would make my own anger build, and we might never sort out the truth.

Lana had presented me with a third option. I could take charge, and make things right between us. I could admit that William was important enough to me that I would be willing to put the rest of my life on hold for him. I could go to him and make him listen.

If I listened to Lana, I risked regretting my actions. But if I didn’t listen to Lana, I could risk regretting everything. That wasn’t a risk I was willing to take. The decision was made.

“Okay. I’m going to Utah.”

TO BE CONTINUED…

By: Emma J. King