Perfectly Inappropriate

by Stacey Kennedy

  “Relationships are impossible.” He folded his arms and frowned out at the cloudy day. He knew exactly what it would take to keep Olivia in his life. She needed a safe place to land. After what she’d been through, why would she jump into this insanity for a man she’d met a couple of weeks ago? She needed him to be clearer with his intentions, to claim her, to make her feel protected and wanted. And yet…and yet, he hesitated to take that step. “I won’t do to her what I did to Colette.”

  “Now that, my darling son, is bullshit.” Noah glanced over his shoulder with raised brows. Audra gave him a hard look. “What is the real reason that drives your fear about Olivia?”

  “It’s not fear stopping me.”

  “Then what is it?”

  He took the other client seat next to her, stared into his mother’s eyes, and knew only the truth would save him now. “I saw the way Dad’s absences had been hard on you. And that is the life I have to offer a woman. Why would I selfishly ask that of any woman?”

  Surprise flickered across his mother’s face before she recovered quickly. “Do you think I was unhappy?”

  “Not unhappy,” he gently corrected. “But sometimes very sad, and as a child I remember hearing you cry.”

  “Oh, Noah.” She took his hand again and squeezed tight. “I wish you never heard those tears. And that you spoke to me sooner because you are only seeing one side of it.”

  He arched an eyebrow.

  “I chose this life,” she stated. “Yes, there were times that I missed your father terribly. But not because I was lonely and hated my life, but because I missed him. I missed seeing his face every day. I missed his love. I missed waking up next to him. But I would not change anything in the past because seeing his passion and his love to serve the people of this great state is why I fell in love with him.”

  Noah inhaled deeply and blew it out slowly. “Still, work always came first. It would be no different for me.” He never wanted to blend his worlds. SiR had worked for him for years. He had been content. Now nothing felt right anymore. “But at the same time, I selfishly want things I shouldn’t because she makes me happy.”

  Audra’s eyes softened, as did her voice. “You, my boy, have always held such a gentle heart in the strong soul of yours.” She rose and patted the side of his face. “But you are creating your own problems. There is a very simple fix right in front of you.”

  “Which is?”

  “Do you want Olivia in your life?”

  “That is without question,” he replied.

  “Then use that heart and that incredible mind of yours to make it happen.” Her eyes searched his for a long moment before all the softness in her expression faded away to intensity. “Don’t let Olivia go. She’s brought you something new in a very short time. Something that’s changed you. Imagine what she’ll bring to you in a year from now.”

  It was a thought he had already considered.

  In classic Audra style, she lifted her chin and stated, “Honestly, Noah, when did you become a man who didn’t laugh in the face of a challenge?”

  Awareness drifted over him then as he watched her leave his office. His mother was right—he did love challenges. Especially when he pulverized them.

  * * *

  —

  “I quit.”

  The words left Olivia’s mouth so fast that her mind took a moment to catch up. The entire night before her head spun with her fears—and about Noah’s fears too—and she decided after another day of hell, she would no longer run. She’d tasted rocked bottom after Cameron. She’d tasted what happiness could be with Noah. She needed to find something in the middle. For herself. That’s why she walked straight into Isaac’s office before leaving for the day, and the two powerful words simply fell out of her mouth.

  Sitting behind his desk, with the pen in his hand still resting on a piece of paper, Isaac looked as bewildered by her statement as she felt. He finally broke the silence. “Pardon me?”

  “I quit,” she repeated slowly this time, ensuring he heard her. “I really appreciate all that you’ve done for me, Isaac.” Okay, not really, but she’d learned good manners from her parents. “But I’m afraid I need to move on and seek out a different opportunity.”

  Again, Isaac blinked. “You’re making a mistake, Olivia. You won’t get experience like this anywhere else.” In classic asshole Isaac style, he stated, “I’m the best. You want to work beneath the best.”

  God, she was so sick of hearing him talk. Power that seemed so natural now rose up when she knew before it wouldn’t have. “To be perfectly honest with you, I think I’m the only person who isn’t making a mistake at all, while everyone around me seems to be making huge mistakes.” She paused and nodded, firm in what she said. “Again, I’m grateful for the opportunity you gave me, but it’s time I go.” Because she wasn’t happy there. She never had been, and she never would be. Graphic design was not her passion. It paid the bills.

  To live…to truly live, she knew now she had to risk it all and stop playing it so damn safe. Somewhere in all this she could feel happiness waiting for her to take hold of it. Like she had done with Noah a few days ago by not accepting his half-in attitude and finally thinking of herself, she listened to what she wanted, not what was the right thing to do.

  Isaac frowned and dropped his pen to cross his arms. “You sure you want to do this?”

  She nodded. “I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life.”

  “I suppose that is that then.” He rose and offered his hand. “All the best to you, Olivia.”

  “Thank you.” With her chin high, and her dignity glowing instead of being scraped off the floor, she returned to her desk, grabbed her purse, then called out to her coworkers, “Goodbye all. I really enjoyed working with you.”

  Mateo was the only one who responded. “Whoa. She’s leaving. Bye, Olivia.”

  Olivia couldn’t help but laugh at their shocked faces as she left the office that had slowly sucked a piece of her soul away. By the time she made it outside, she was practically skipping. The sun greeted her as she took a big deep breath of the fresh air, feeling like a new woman. She got only two steps forward before she spotted Paige leaning against the light post.

  “Paige,” she called.

  Paige lifted her head from studying her cellphone and looked at Olivia. “Okay,” she said when Olivia reached her. “Are you on something? Because you did not look this happy when you left this morning.”

  “I’m happy because I quit.” She strode by her.

  “Wow! Hold up there, crazy girl.” Paige snatched Olivia’s arm. “You quit?”

  Oliva laughed at the surprise on Paige’s face. Maybe even at the realization that she’d walked away from the best graphic design company in New York City. She was thrilled about it. “Yeah, I did, and it felt totally awesome.”

  “Consider me shell-shocked,” said Paige slowly, then began examining Olivia closely. “Just to be sure, you’re not having some kind of mental breakdown or something, are you? Should I call your parents?”

  Olivia burst out laughing. “No, I’m good. Promise.” When Paige’s eyes only searched Olivia’s harder, she laced their arms and began walking down the street. “I think I’m better now than I’ve been in a really long time. This should have happened years ago. I need to find out what makes me happy. I can’t keep walking the safe line anymore.”

  Paige smiled. “Noah was good for you, hmm?”

  Without a doubt in her mind, Olivia nodded. “So good for me. Heck, I feel like I’m me again.” That’s when Olivia knew the advice that her father had given her was right. Moments made up a life. Some good. Some bad. But in the end, it was the combination of the two that made a person who they were.

  Somewhere she’d lost sight of the choices she had in her life. Not anymore. There was so much she wanted. A home of her ow
n again. A job she loved. A man who lifted her up like Noah had, instead of taking away her shine.

  “All right, so now that you’ve quit, you wild woman, what’s next?” Paige asked.

  Olivia shrugged. “Good question. I haven’t really thought it through. All I know is I couldn’t stand working with Isaac another second, doing a job that I kinda, sorta liked. Life should be about more than that, don’t you think?”

  Paige gave a firm nod. “Yes, I most definitely do think.”

  “Besides,” Oliva added. “I contacted the real estate agent and accepted the offer on the house today. The closing is in two weeks.”

  “Wow,” said Paige. “That’s fast.”

  Olivia nodded. “Well, it was an all-cash bid where there are no stipulations.”

  “Lucky you.”

  “I know,” Olivia said with a smile. “I’ve got enough savings to get me through for a little while. And once the sale goes through, and once I give Cameron what he’s due, I’m good. I’m sick of going with the flow. I need…more. And staying with Isaac won’t help me do that.”

  “I think all of that is perfection.” Paige smiled. “You seem good.”

  Olivia returned the smile. “I feel good.”

  Paige went quiet for a moment then laughed softly. “Isn’t it amazing that all this started with a totally insane idea of signing up for SiR?”

  “Yes.” Olivia nodded. “Totally insane. And yet amazing too. Because now I see that maybe life shouldn’t be so planned. And even that doing perfectly inappropriate things is where life begins.”

  Paige chuckled. “No truer statement has ever been uttered.”

  They turned down another road and entered Times Square on their way to their favorite sushi restaurant. “Okay,” Paige said. “And where in all this do things sit with Noah?”

  Her heart leapt up into her throat, but she covered it up with an easy shrug. “I’m grateful for his patience, his hot as hell touch, and his strength, and that’s about it, I think.”

  Paige gave a pouty lip. “So it’s over?”

  “I need to think of me for a little while,” Olivia explained, knowing full well all she did was think of Noah.

  “Well, that might be a little hard,” Paige said, gesturing forward.

  Olivia followed her gaze, and her breath caught at Noah’s gorgeous face displayed on a huge television screen hanging over the sidewalk. After a quick look, she could tell he wasn’t standing at a podium giving a statement to reporters. He appeared to be in an interview in his penthouse.

  “Do you have remorse over your involvement in the altercation?” the reporter asked him.

  Noah paused. He averted his gaze for a quick moment. When he looked at the camera again, it was like he looked right at her. No one else but her. “No remorse at all. I heard Mr. Kline say something demeaning and cruel to a woman I care for deeply.” His eyes turned hard and flinty. “I stand behind my reaction. And I would do it again if put in the same situation.”

  “Holy shit,” Paige breathed. “That statement is certainly going to cause some ripples.”

  Olivia nodded agreement, unable to look away from the television screen. A woman I care for deeply began to repeat in her mind. “I can’t imagine his team coming up with that answer.”

  “Ya think?” Paige barked a loud laugh.

  The reporter glanced down at the papers in her hand, obviously also taken by surprise. Once composed, she lifted her head. “What do you make of Mr. Kline not pressing changes against you?”

  “I make nothing of it,” Noah answered firmly.

  “All right…all right.” The reporter shifted in her seat a little. “So then, Mr. Grant, you have no regrets then?”

  Again, Noah glanced at the camera, as if he knew Olivia was watching. “I wouldn’t say that. I do have one regret.”

  “And what’s that?” the reporter asked.

  Noah gave a slow-building smile. “That I didn’t defend her sooner.”

  “Dear God,” Paige breathed, waving her hand at her face. “I know it’s weird for me to say this since you were with him and all…but that man is hella sexy.”

  Olivia agreed, still unable to take her eyes off Noah as the reporter said, “Thank you for the interview, Mr. Grant.”

  When the screen faded back to the news anchor, Paige said, “I’m with your dad on this one. That guy is crushin’ hard on you.” She pointed at the television screen. “You may think he’s out of your life, but I say good luck with that.”

  A rush of emotion swept over Olivia right there on the sidewalk, allowing her to feel all the things she had been fighting. That was the side of Noah she missed. The one that seemed so invested in her. “Come on, let’s go eat,” she finally said, avoiding all the things her heart was screaming at her.

  Paige laughed softly and nudged her shoulder into Olivia. “You’ve become very good at avoiding conversations you don’t want to have.”

  To remind her heart why it needed to slow the jets, and to answer to Paige’s statement, Olivia nodded. “Of course I have. I learned from the very best.”

  Chapter 15

  A week had passed since Noah’s face flashed across every television set in the country. Long days passed where Olivia wondered if he’d come to her. Agonizing days where she questioned if she should go to him once all the dust settled and the media focused their attention elsewhere. But in the end, the answer was always the same.

  The reasons she walked away were still there. She could not ask him to change as much as he could not ask her to. Obstacles that in the beginning of a relationship were impossible to overlook. Not now. Not when she had hit rock bottom and finally climbed out of it. Because sometimes having feelings for someone was not enough. And all she saw with Noah in the future was a life of loneliness while he traveled, and she stayed behind in New York City. Her heart would not let her go into that, no matter how much that sucked.

  Nothing seemed the same anymore. She had changed for the better, of that she was certain, and yet a part of her was missing. Absent.

  Those thoughts, and so many more stayed heavily on her mind while she hurried down the sidewalk, her umbrella over her head as the rain poured down from the skies, sending water splashing up around her ankles on a dreary night. This art show that Paige had invited her to better be worth it.

  When she reached L’amour’s front door, the very place that had started her adventure with SiR, she hurried inside. As always, whenever the cocktail bar put on an art show, the place was packed. She closed her umbrella and took one step inside before she froze, sure as shit that her eyes had betrayed her.

  There, straight ahead of her, was the photograph she’d taken of Noah in bed. His face was hidden but his body was even more impressive in the blown-up and framed photograph. Confused, she took two more steps inside and saw the photograph of the couple that Noah had admired in Paige’s apartment. She twirled in a circle, seeing all her photographs from the apartment, and even some she had taken in Bedford displayed on stands.

  Before she could even reconcile that Paige had brought all her photographs here for display, a deep voice broke through the noise. “Quiet, please,” Noah said into a microphone. “The woman of the hour has arrived.”

  A few people moved aside and that’s when Olivia caught sight of him standing near the photograph of his face. The memory of them making love after she took that filled her with heat and so much more.

  Noah lifted his glass of scotch. “Ladies and gentlemen, it’s my great privilege and honor to introduce to you, Olivia Watts.”

  Applause filled the bar. All eyes on her. But she couldn’t look away from Noah and the smile he was giving her. Because that thing that had been absent was not missing anymore.

  Tears welled in her eyes in the same instant steely arms wrapped around her. When the warm body leaned away, Ol
ivia discovered Paige. “I’m so confused,” she admitted.

  Paige smiled. “Noah did this. He called me and asked me to bring all the photographs here. He did this all for you.”

  Olivia had one second to take that in before stronger arms were around her.

  Her dad said in her ear, “I told you that man was more than a blip in time.”

  Before Olivia could respond to that as well, her mom wrapped her arms tightly around Olivia. “I am so proud of you.” She leaned away. Her eyes twinkled. “Noah’s mother was speaking so highly of you. Can you believe that? Mrs. Grant, wife of a past governor, talking about my daughter. All these people love your photographs, speaking about how talented you are.” Her mom grinned proudly. “My daughter.”

  Olivia looked from her mom to her dad to Paige. “I’m so confused.”

  Paige burst out laughing. Her mom and dad joined her.

  Oliva felt like she had walked into a dream. She kept expecting to wake up and realize she was enduring another day of missing Noah. But her toes in her high heels were damp. That wouldn’t happen in a dream.

  “Olivia,” said Audra, sidling up to her parents to kiss Olivia’s cheek. “I had no idea you were so talented with photography. Your work is stunning. I have purchased one of the photographs for our house in the Hamptons.”

  “I’m so confused,” Olivia said. Again.

  Audra joined in with the laughter, but when she stepped away, Olivia saw only one person.

  Noah.

  Dressed in black slacks and a black shirt unbuttoned at the top, he took her chin, placing a soft and sweet kiss on her lips. She melted under the strength, under the sweetness, and under the perfection of his mouth. And under the fact that he was there kissing her.

  “Am I dreaming?” she asked when he leaned away.

  He chuckled. “No, you’re not dreaming.”

  “You did this for me?” she barely managed through her teary eyes.

  “I did nothing,” he said. “You did this.” He took a step back and then his smile warmed further. “Olivia, may I introduce Harry Stem.”