I knew this was the classic case of an example of when to quit while ahead, but something inside me willed me to continue this madness that had indeed made me obsessed and possessed me.
“Billy Thomas asked me to the senior prom.” I knew he didn’t know who Billy was. I just wanted a reaction for the fact that I said senior prom.
And I got it. Sam stopped in his tracks and looked at me. “You’re a junior.”
“So what?”
He walked back to me, face contorted into a scowl. “When last I checked they had a junior prom at your school.”
“Sure, I’m going to that too.”
“With Billy?”
“Yes, with Billy. Seems obvious that if I go with him to the senior prom, he should go to junior prom with me. But it’s not like I’ll be the only girl there with a guy who’s older.”
Something sparked in my soul as I looked at the tenseness in his stare. “Is this Jada’s influence?”
“Nope, I chose to say yes since the guy I wanted to go with would never ask me.” I stared at him long and hard, holding onto my breath.
He broke the stare by looking away, then back to me. “Olivia, senior guys have expectations.”
I couldn’t believe it. He just glossed over the most important part of what I said.
“You know what, Sam?”
“What?”
“Screw you.” I turned to open the basement door but he caught my arm and pulled me back.
“Why?” He actually looked annoyed.
“Nothing. It doesn’t matter.” It didn’t and this was the last night I was going to live like this. This…me… pining over him.
I pulled my arm back, attempting to leave again, but he drew me in closer.
“I can’t,” he blurted.
The cool night breeze flowed between us, lifting the ends of his hair about his face.
We stood there gazing at each other for what seemed like forever. My breath caught somewhere between my heart and my sternum.
As I looked at him, it was like all was revealed and I knew, even without any further clarification, what he meant. I just knew it.
“Can’t what?” I knew it but wanted to hear him say the words.
He let go of me and sighed. “Jesus, Olivia, you’re going to get me in trouble.”
“Why?”
“Because I …” An uneasy expression washed over his handsome face. “I know. I know some part of you thinks it’s a good idea to be with me, but it’s not. And I can’t.”
Well, I asked for that. I totally landed myself in that one, because what else did I think he was going to say?
“Why not? What’s wrong with me?” The backs of my eyes stung.
He shook his head and reached out to touch my face. “You’re perfect. I think you’re perfect, but it’s me, and you’re sixteen.” He pulled his hand away. “I can’t. You can do better, and you can do better than agreeing to go anywhere with some guy you aren’t interested in.”
I blinked several times, struggling to answer. Struggling not to cry from the rejection.
“How can you tell me that?”
“It’s the truth. It’s just the truth. I gotta go.” He turned to leave.
“Sam,” I called out just as he got to the corner of the house.
He stopped and looked back over his shoulder. “Yeah.”
“What if I wasn’t sixteen? Would you then?”
All he did was stare at me, holding my gaze, holding my heart that was so very fragile at this moment.
“Yes,” he breathed and something awakened inside of me.
The surprise that took me made my whole body tingle, moving me back to him. I stopped a breath away.
“Yes?”
“Yes.” His gaze dropped from my eyes to my lips and stayed there, lingering.
The linger in his stare made me wonder for the billionth time what it would feel like to kiss him. To feel his lips on mine.
He lowered like he was actually going to do it. Kiss me.
I wished he would.
Closer, he came closer…
This would be my first kiss. A kiss from a guy I was completely crazy about. I couldn’t think of anything better. But he froze, stopping a breath away, and pressed his forehead to mine instead.
“Dear Olivia, you’re really going to get me in trouble,” he sighed.
“Dear Sam, you know I’m not going to be sixteen forever, right?”
“I know.” He stepped back, away from me. The twinkle in his eye hooked me. It held a promise I wanted to hold onto.
Forever, if I had to.
Chapter 9
Sam
Present day…
I’d been looking at the painting on the wall for the last fifteen minutes. I was still stuck in that loop of everything reminding me of her.
Olivia…
Last night made it worse.
For some reason it made me think back to that night in the woods years ago. That night when I had to fight with everything inside me not to kiss her.
Perhaps last night reminded me of then because she felt as forbidden to me as she did when she was sixteen. The painting I looked at in Bradley’s office was of the woods. I couldn’t tell if it was Eidlewood forest, but the scenery was pretty close. The painting was the woods at night. Coop and I used to love hanging out in those woods. It was dangerous as hell, but it was like being that close to nature made us feel freer. Free to talk about anything and everything. I told him a majority of my secrets, but never the one that really mattered.
How I felt about his sister. It was ironic; I’d give anything to speak to him now. I’d never met anyone else like him that I could just be real with.
Last night just confirmed to me that I still wanted her.
I wanted her, and when her date came it was all I could do not to act out and make some attempt to put some claim to my girl.
My girl… My girl who I wanted like nothing else and couldn’t have.
I couldn’t deny it. And I could pretend until it fucking killed me, but there was no denying it.
I was supposed to be meeting with Bradley, but all I could think of was seeing Olivia later.
I hoped she came.
The door opened and Bradley came inside with that smug expression on his face that made me cringe.
This meeting in his home placed us on his turf, on his terms, and it was obvious that he was in his element here. He wore a golf top with black slacks and his hair was slicked back with gel. His appearance screamed wealth. Home and image.
“Sorry to keep you waiting.” He tipped his head into a curt nod. “Woman trouble. Can’t live with them, and can’t live without them.” He grinned and moved around to sit behind the large mahogany desk in front of me.
I leaned back in my chair and looked him over, expressionless. I was anxious to get out of here. I wasn’t here for small talk and shit about women.
“Have you looked over the paperwork?” I cut to the chase.
“I have. And I would like to accept the offer.”
Good, now it was time to spring into action.
After brainstorming with the crew, we came up with one little idea that changed things up. One little clause. The amended offer was to still allow Stephens Inc. access to his current and future works, but they’d have to put in a request first to what they wanted access to. Bradley could then choose what he wanted to share. It would be like allowing certain employees to access information or data to carry out their work.
The man wanted control, and it was obviously to hide the chip. This strategy gave him that. For me, it placed me exactly where I needed to be. I knew from the tone in his voice yesterday that he was going to accept. Prick.
“Good stuff. Can we sign the documents today, so we can start processing everything else?”
“No, I want my lawyer to look over the contract first. I’ve read it, but I want her to look over things from a legal standpoint.”
I guess it was reasonable to al
low him to do that. “No problem.”
“I’ll set something up for Monday.”
“Monday is good.” Until then I’d have to figure out the logistics.
“I guess, though, that doesn’t stop us from airing out any concerns or questions. Do you have any further questions?”
Interesting, he seemed a lot different today. I’d work with it. The more info I got the better, especially if it gave some insight on what he was up to.
“I guess the most pressing thing on my mind is your current research. You can’t blame me for being curious. Two million is a lot of money for research.”
He narrowed his eyes at me and must have decided he could share something because his expression softened. “Mr. Hawthorne, I’m sure you’re aware of what happened to my company a few months ago. Put simply, I was robbed. Robbed in the worst way.”
“Yes, I agree.”
“I’ve had a piece of research in the making for many years. I didn’t see the potential in it until it was too late. Until it was too late for me.”
“What is it?”
“A state-of-the-art anti-virus software. I call it the Portal.”
I froze. He was telling me about the chip. Talking about it like it was his and he created it. I didn’t expect that at all. I thought he’d make up some shit to satisfy my question, but this…
I didn’t know what to think.
“I didn’t know it cost that much to carry out research on something like that.”
“This device will be the best anti-virus software known to man. I designed it to work by, not only copying the signature footprint left by the standard virus, but it can also copy the signature of any program.”
“Is that right?” I widened my eyes, continuing my pretense.
“It can copy anything and write a code to implement into the system’s algorithm to override and neutralize it.”
“So it could hack into any system?”
“Yes, and that’s why I couldn’t just give you people access to my research. Some of it could be dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands.”
Jesus Christ…
I didn’t know what to think. Something felt off here. Why would he tell me all this when he was the threat?
“So it could be a threat to something like national security?” I decided to throw that in to get a reaction.
“Potentially. It was funny I realized that part after the whole design came into fruition. As an inventor, you push the limits of what your creation can do. Sometimes there are gray areas you necessarily wouldn’t think about until it’s too late. That was mine. By creating this super chip, I only thought of the true potential and all the good it could do for companies like mine. I just never thought about the bad.”
“Are you concerned about that?”
He nodded. “Most definitely. I designed it for high-level protection and that’s what I want to market it as. The chip is basically ready, but the money is to do some last minute tests and put it into production. I’m hoping for a launch sometime toward the spring next year. The tests should take another six months.”
“What kind of tests?”
“Resilience, it was something my dad pointed out.” He chuckled.
“Your dad?” This was sounding more off balance to me the more he spoke.
“The whole idea started way back when, when I was a kid in Philly. You ever play Ms. Pac-Man?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“So you’re familiar with the dynamics. You get the energizer pellets and the monsters turn blue and slow down. You then eat them for extra points. I borrowed from the concept when I wrote the code for the algorithm. That is actually the part that’s dangerous. The constant replication of the code in copying gives off residual energy. My dad talked about resilience and endurance. How long can the program keep doing what it’s supposed to do before it crashes.”
“That’s real interesting.” It was all I could say because he was starting to sound believable.
“So you developed the chip in Philly?”
He smirked. “Nope. The idea was born in Philly, but the chip was developed right here in L.A., here in this house.”
There was no way he was telling me the chip was in the house. As in here. Now.
“You don’t keep it at Concubus?”
He shook his head. “I’ll move the work over there once this deal’s wrapped up. It’s my personal research, so I kind of just did what I could here. Want to see it?”
My nerves spiked and my breathing stilled, but I tried to keep the cool, nonchalant edge I had going on.
“Sure.”
The smugness returned to his face.
He stood up and walked up to the bookcase on our left and pressed his hand to the wall. In an instant the wall moved to either side of itself, revealing a glass wall, which also opened.
I joined him, gazing with deep curiosity.
I didn’t think I could be more shocked than I already was. He proved me wrong.
The whole set up before me looked like a high tech lab surrounded by computers everywhere. It must have been a basement in its previous life. I followed Bradley down a set of metal stairs that took us to the floor. The minute we stepped down, there came a computerized voice that greeted us.
“Good day, Mr. Henderson,” it said.
“Jesus,” I muttered under my breath.
Bradley laughed. “I’m a geek, I can’t be blamed.”
“I guess not.”
“Archimedes, please show us the Portal.” The minute he spoke the words, the space before us shimmered and suddenly a glass case became visible. A glass case containing the chip.
I could see it now, looking like a piece of jewelry in a box.
The chip. The actual chip.
“Aren’t you worried someone will just waltz in here and steal it?” I had to ask.
“Well, the only person I’ve shown this to is you. So…you can do the math if it gets stolen.”
This mission was laid out on a platter. It was too easy. Nothing ever was this easy.
Something didn’t add up, and something didn’t feel right.
He’d shown me the chip and told me his plans. The plans we all feared because they were so elusive, based on what we were told. National security was a big thing to be concerned about, but he was talking about production to protect companies.
It was the complete opposite to what I’d been told, and his actions just…didn’t add up. Something was going on here. Something I couldn’t quite put my finger on, but it was definitely something odd.
“Well, that’s all folks.” Bradley’s voice cut into my thoughts.
I blinked to regain my focus. “Impressive.”
“I know. I want this all wrapped up by next week so I can continue with my plans.”
I nodded. “Sure. Pleasure doing business with you. I’ll get back to my people and we’ll sign contracts Monday.”
“Perfect.”
I needed to look into this some more. Just me.
I planned to go see the guys in an hour. With the chip being in Bradley’s house, I’d let them know the mission wasn’t going to be as hard as we first thought, but I’d keep my concerns to myself. For now. Just until I checked out a few things.
I was sure that if I said anything that would throw plans out of sync, Xavier would think I was just making excuses. I wasn’t. I wished I was, but now my curiosity had gotten the better of me. Curiosity and suspicion.
I turned down the road and straightened up as I drew closer to my house. Like the other day, there was a car parked outside. A blood-red Porsche this time, so not Joe, unless he’d developed a taste for the more flashier cars.
I parked next to it and jumped out of my car to look for the owner.
It was strange, though… I could sense her presence.
I could sense her.
Olivia.
It was just like that time in the woods. I sensed her presence. For the little wisdom I’d gathered over the years, I
’d read that sometimes when you were close to a person or felt strongly about them, you could feel them even before you saw them.
But she wouldn’t have come here at this time. I was seeing her much later.
I walked up to my door and then I saw her.
Out by the beach. She stood by the shore, her long black hair flowing in the wind, the sun glistening off her golden-brown skin, making the lustrous undertones sparkle against the light.
She wore a pair of denim shorts that showed off her long tapered legs and a tank top that reintroduced me to her fully rounded breasts and the perfect curve of her waist. She was perfection and she wiped my mind clean of everything, robbing me of thinking of anything that wasn’t her.
I stood there on the porch, gawking like an idiot. It must have been the intensity of my stare that made her turn and see me.
She brought her hands together in that nervous way she used to when she’d done something she wasn’t sure of. Like coming here to my house a few hours earlier than when we were supposed to meet at the yacht.
That was not a problem in the least.
The actual problem was me—nothing new there. The problem was, as I looked at her, all the reasons I previously had for leaving and not being in her life just dissolved.
They just left my mind.
Chapter 10
Olivia
Thanks, Jada, once again for your advice.
Not.
This was a bad idea. It had to be. Because as I watched Sam walking over to me, I was certain he looked like he was completely thrown off kilter from my presence. I would be, too, if it were me. In fact, seeing him at my house would probably infuriate me.
Me, though…
Me being here all of four hours earlier than planned was Jada’s idea. The love doctor told me to strike while the iron was hot and not wait all day to stew in my nerves.
“Go see him now,” she’d said.
So here I was. I called in some leave for half the day, leave I was desperately owed from all the hours I’d clocked in, and here I was.
Here and completely taken with the gorgeous man who approached me. I used to spend so many hours watching him and dreaming about him.
Dear Olivia Page 8
