Page 92 of Don't Bet On It
“Why didn’t you?” She sounded more annoyed than pitiful. “Why wouldn’t you tell me about something so important?”
I hesitated, searching for words. “Because I didn’t think it was important when it started.”
Olivia snorted, then caught herself. “Wait. You’re being serious.”
“Of course I am. When this started, it was just a friends with benefits thing.”
“You don’t actually believe that, do you?” Ruby challenged.
I was thrown. “Why wouldn’t I believe that?”
“Because anybody with eyes can see that you guys have been crazy about one another since you crossed paths again,” Olivia replied.
I barked out a laugh, expecting them to join in. They didn’t. That had me sobering quickly. “That is not true. I hated him the second I saw him.”
“No, you didn’t.” Olivia shook her head blandly. “Your interest was piqued from that very first moment. I saw it.”
“Heck, I saw it, and I don’t know you nearly as well as Livvie does,” Ruby offered. “Everybody was betting on it.”
“Ooh, speaking of that, Rex lost.” Olivia looked tickled. “He said you guys wouldn’t admit it for at least another month.”
“He was actually leaning toward six weeks,” Ruby corrected. “That means Zach won. Rex isn’t going to like that.”
I was flabbergasted, absolutely thrown. “But … it was a secret.”
Olivia snorted, then sobered when I glared at her. “The only people who thought it was a secret were you and Ronan.”
“Rex saw you at that weird Paris bar two weeks ago,” Ruby volunteered.
“Zach saw you zip lining before that,” Olivia offered.
“I saw you out at Delilah when I made Rex stop for the black truffle lobster rolls about six weeks ago,” Ruby supplied. “I wasn’t a hundred percent sure that day—I thought maybe you guys were coming up with a plan to deal with the casino psychologist—but you only had eyes for each other, and I was fairly convinced it was a date.”
I had no idea how to respond. “That wasn’t a date,” I said finally. “We’re just … having sex.” I steeled myself for the judgement.
Ruby giggled. “Yeah, Rex and I decided we were just going to have sex—for one night. We ended up with a baby and an engagement out of the situation.”
I wanted to throttle her. “We seriously agreed that we were just having sex.”
“So did Zach and I.” Olivia looked wistful. “Oh, that was a fun time. My skin was humming constantly. I was convinced we were doing something illicit even though we were married.”
“That was also different,” I argued. “You guys were trying to figure things out.”
“And you don’t think that you and Ronan are trying to figure things out?”
“I think…” Words wouldn’t come to me, and I sighed.
Olivia fluttered a sympathetic look at me. “The only reason I didn’t give you a hard time about hiding this from me was because I knew you were trying to figure things out. Otherwise, I would’ve been all over you.”
She leaned to her side so she could stare directly into my eyes. “Just out of curiosity, what did you find out about the prom ghosting?”
“Yes!” Ruby clapped her hands. “The prom. Was he a jerk then and is a better man now, or are you just ignoring the jerkiness?”
I scowled. “You guys are getting way too excited about this.”
“I’m fine with that.” Olivia waved off my opinion. “Tell me. Did he have a reason for doing what he did?”
I kind of wanted to torture her and keep the information to myself, but I didn’t. “Turns out he didn’t ask me to the prom,” I explained.
