“Have a good day, Liv. I’m toasting in your honor and will flirt with one of the waiters for you too.”
Olivia quietly laughed, which she assumed was Mansi’s intention.
•••
Olivia repaired to the bedroom,where she stared at the ceiling for an hour, thinking, before she fell into an uneasy sleep fraught with strange dreams about movie stars, fake marriages, and shadowy men with briefcases full of money. She woke at nearly four p.m., groggy, and noticed someone had pulled a blanket up over her. It cut the chill of the air conditioning and made her consider snuggling deeper and forsaking the whole day in bed.
It also made her smile that Chuck had obviously come looking for her and covered her up when he found her asleep. She wondered what he’d spent the day doing and wandered out to find him and say thanks for the blanket. When she found the gym and office empty, she padded into the kitchen and found him rummaging in the fridge.
“Oh! There you are,” he said when he closed the door and turned to see her having sat on a stool at the island. He wore a pair of the loose athletic shorts he’d taken to wearing in the house and a black tee. He was her favorite combination of cuddly, soft clothing and all the planes and muscles she knew were underneath, like a mountain range in the clouds begging her to come explore.
“Hey,” she said with a yawn. “Thanks for the blanket. I didn’t mean to sleep for so long.”
“You must have been tired.”
She wasn’t sure if she’d truly been tired or maybe just overwhelmed. But she was sure that Chuck was bending over to find something in a low cabinet, and the sight had her fully awake. The thought of what she’d been overwhelmed about vanished from her mind like mist. The shorts strained over his sculpted ass and clung to his strong thighs, which could have crushed her like a grape. Why were the backs of his knees suddenly so hot? She wasn’t usually a leg girl but,holy shit, every inch of his lower half had her blood spinning cartwheels in her veins.
Perhaps it was because she hadn’t touched him in ages, and he was specifically off-limits now.
“What are you doing?” she asked for distraction.
He pulled a baking sheet from the cabinet and set it on the island like he wasn’t exactly sure what it was. “Making, um…cookies.”
“Cookies? You don’t eat cookies.”
He shot her a smirk. “Maybe I’m making them for you.”
“Oh,” she said, surprised. “Well, that’s sweet of you. Do you even know how to make cookies?”
“Of course I do.” He spun around to another cabinet and pulled out a mixing bowl. Then he paused and looked at her with a tilt of his head. “Actually, I was looking for the sugar in the pantry and couldn’t find it. Could you help me?”
She arched a brow at him. “I’m sure it’s in there.”
“It probably is, but I could use your help.” He nodded at the pantry door, which stood open next to the fridge. “Come here.”
Olivia sighed, not wanting to get up. “Chuck, I trust in your ability to find sugar on your own. You can do it.”
He disappeared inside the door, and his voice echoed backinto the room. “Sure, but it will be easier if you help me. I can’t find it.”
“It’s probably right in front of you.”
“Well…I don’t…see…it…”
With a roll of her eyes, she slid off her stool and marched over to the door.
Inside, he was bent over again, looking on a low shelf. In half a second, her eyes went straight to the sack of sugar smack in the middle of the shelf directly inside the door.
“It’s right here,” she said as she stepped in and reached for it.
He immediately stood up and closed the door behind her. The small space instantly squeezed in around them. The air thickened. They were chest to chest with hardly six inches between them.
“What are you doing?” she said on a hot breath even though she knew. Her body was already deliciously tingling at such close proximity to his.
A wicked grin curved his mouth. “Not baking cookies.”
“Clearly. Why did you just shut us in the pantry?”
“Because I want to talk to you. Privately.”