Suspicious Minds (Fate #3) (12 page)

“You don’t talk to her at all anymore?”

“No. The last time I talked to her was the day I called to ask
her about the engagement. She’s hardly made an effort to contact me since, and
I’ve made zero to contact her.”

Clearly, they’d both made their points. Lorenzo felt satisfied that
he’d honed his stand on other men in her life enough that there couldn’t
possibly be any question about how he felt about it. Not only would he stop
harping on this, he
really
hoped this was the last time they’d have to
discuss
Jay
. So when she changed the subject, he welcomed it.

“So I’ve told you about my career. Tell me about yours,” she said,
and he lay back down and got comfortable again. “Rose mentioned you own your
own business too, but she didn’t say what kind. And I already knew you were in
the military. She said you’re a pilot in the Air Force Reserves?” She made a
growling noise that had Lorenzo laughing. “Seriously how the heck did I get so
lucky? As if I didn’t already think you sexy enough.”

“First off,” he said, still chuckling about her playfully explicit
growl. “Yes, I’m in the Reserves, but I did serve a full six-year term and then
decided not to re-enlist full-time when I went into business with my brother.
He wanted to branch out his firearms training business, and it just felt like
perfect timing.”

He explained about the business and how it started out as just a
shooting range that offered a few training classes a week. Now it was a full-blown
firearms training institute with classes for people ranging from individuals
who want to better their skills to groups of professionals. They worked with law
enforcement, government employees, and security firms. Romero often sent his
employees there to get trained.

“We’re always busy and classes are scheduled seven days a week,
but we have enough employees now,” he explained. “Many of the instructors are
buddies we met in the military since Vince served in the military too. So my
schedule’s pretty flexible.” Glad that he now had the most worrisome part of
this whole deal squared away, he smiled. “We’ll work around your hours more
than likely because, make no mistake about it, Liv, I plan on seeing you as
much as possible starting tomorrow.”

Seven

Olivia

“As much as possible” turned out to mean
every
day. Ever since that day they decided to
give it a shot
, they hadn’t
gone a day without seeing each other. Not that Olivia was complaining. But even
after a couple weeks she still couldn’t wrap her mind around it. This was her
life now. She’d wake and talk to him first thing in the morning. They’d text
throughout their work days. Some days they’d talk on the phone in the middle of
the day if their lunch breaks happened to coincide. Then after work he’d pick
her up. They’d spend the better part of the evening hanging out with things getting
pretty hot and heavy at his place, unless, of course, it was Monday and they’d
head to Vince and Rose’s.

Technically, Lorenzo had met two of her brothers at Uncle Janks’ burial,
but he said he hadn’t realized they were related to her. This past Sunday she’d
formally introduced him to all her siblings when she invited him over to a
casual birthday barbeque they’d had for Emi. Since they were getting her a car
in a few weeks, Emi had insisted no parties, but they’d still wanted to do
something for their baby sister. So Isaiah broke out the barbeque, Olivia baked
a cake, and Nathan and AJ had gotten her flowers.

They all spent the day watching football. Her brothers and
Lorenzo had hit it off right away. Olivia knew they would. What wasn’t there to
love?
The more she got to know him, the more she was coming to the
conclusion that he was perfect in every way. Emi had already gushed earlier
that week when Olivia had informed her she was now officially dating the eye
candy in uniform they’d seen at the repast. He’d since explained his reason for
being in uniform that day. He’d just gotten back from his monthly weekend duty
with the reserves.

Lorenzo and Olivia held off on moving past anything heavier than
just the amazing make-out sessions they’d had so far—at
his
suggestion—which
was a pretty incredible feat because she couldn’t deny what she felt from him
when he kissed her. The torment he was feeling about not being able to go
further was a living thing, yet it was as if he poured that torment into his
kisses, making them so much more profound. It’d been just as much of a torment
for her as it had been for him. Though she was trying to be a lady about it and
not make that too obvious.

His reasoning for wanting to hold off was because he said he
wanted a do-over. He
hated
that their first time he’d been as he put it
“such a dick about it.” Olivia insisted he shouldn’t beat himself up. They were
both adults, and she’d gone into that night knowing full well what she was
getting herself into. So aside from his hasty exit, it was pretty much what she’d
been expecting.

Still, Lorenzo was adamant that he wanted their new and
official
first time to be extra special. Olivia’s insides were complete mush now. Today
was the day. As comfortable as she’d felt with Lorenzo, even from their first
day formally “together,” and despite the fact that she’d already slept with him
once, she was still a wreck. He’d told her this past week that he had something
planned for them Sunday but didn’t elaborate. Last night all he’d told her was
to bring an overnight bag and dress comfortably. “No, big heels.” He later
added with a wicked smile, “Well, maybe you could bring some along for later in
the evening when we get ready for bed.”

She was just finishing getting ready and he’d be there to pick
her up in a few when her phone dinged. Olivia stared at her phone for a moment
when she saw who it was from before clicking on the envelope. Jay. This was the
first time in over a month she’d heard from him since she stopped responding to
him after her conversation with Margie about their engagement. Olivia hadn’t
responded to the few texts she’d received from Margie either, but both had
stopped texting her since, so she didn’t expect to hear from either again. She
figured they both finally got that she was cutting all ties for good. Her mind
was made up. Warily, she clicked on the envelope and read the single word.

Hey.

It made her frown. What the hell? Did he expect her to jump on it
and respond all curiously or something? Without another thought, or maybe one
or two annoyed ones regarding his head games, she closed out of her texts and
put her phone down. Instead of responding, she went back to finishing up her
makeup.

The familiar sound of Lorenzo’s car engine made her smile, and
she glanced out her window. Sure enough, just as punctual as always, Lorenzo
pulled into the driveway, and she hurried out of her room and down the stairs.
Her insides, as usual, were going wild with excitement, a feeling she didn’t
think would ever lessen no matter how long she was with him.

“Oh my,” he said with a huge smile as Olivia came to the door.

“What?” She returned the big smile, feeling silly.

“Do you own any clothes that don’t make you look good enough to
eat?”

She walked out and was instantly greeted by his arms around her
waist and a kiss from heaven. All his kisses were like heaven. For someone who’d
come off as so rough and unaffected that first time she met him, he was now
proving to be exactly what Rose had said he was: one of the sweetest guys she’d
ever met. She was so full of nervous excitement because, even though she’d
already slept with him once, she knew this time was going to be so different.

Last week when he’d spent the day at her place, her brothers had
come home with a bouquet of dahlias for Emi and a bouquet of lilies for Olivia.
Ever since then, Lorenzo had been bringing her a single lily every time he
picked her up. Olivia had explained that day how her middle name was Lily and
Emi’s middle name was Dahlia. Every time their Uncle Lou back home visited them,
he brought them each a single dahlia and a single lily.

“Uncle Lou always tried to be hard and cantankerous,” she’d told
him, “but when it came to Emi and me, he was a big softy. My brothers know how
much his gesture meant to us and how much we miss Uncle Lou, so they never get
one of us flowers without getting the other one some too.”

When Lorenzo had brought her the lily that first time, he made
sure to mention he knew Emi attended night school during the week and wouldn’t
be home but asked if she thought her sister would be upset that he hadn’t
brought one for her. If so, he’d bring her a dahlia next time. Olivia assured
him Emi wouldn’t be upset, and she still couldn’t get over what a different
side she was seeing of him now.

She smiled now, seeing that, like yesterday, he showed up holding
both flowers for her and a single dahlia for Emi. Each time he brought a
different color dahlia and a different type of lily. This time he had a gorgeous
bouquet for Olivia, but she knew why he’d forgone the single flower. Lilies of
the Valley were delicate clusters of tiny bell-like flowers. You couldn’t bring
just one.

“My favorite,” she said, taking the bouquet as he handed it to
her.

“Is it really?” he asked, smiling even bigger. “I told the lady I
wanted an extra special lily today, and she said this was extraordinary.”

“It is,” she said, smelling them.

For now she’d keep to herself the fact that they were often used
in bridal bouquets because she didn’t want him to think that, after just over three
weeks of seeing each other, she was dropping some kind of absurd hint. She told
him Emi was in the shower but that she’d leave her dahlia in the vase where she’d
put yesterday’s dahlia right at the bottom of the staircase. “She’ll see it
first thing when she comes down.”

No amount of coaxing could get Lorenzo to admit what he had
planned other than the obvious as they drove through Little Italy. Now she knew
why he’d told her to wear comfortable shoes. They’d be spending at least part
of their day meandering around getting a nice sugar high from all the Italian
pastries and shaved ice. Then because just last week she’d mentioned one of her
favorite restaurants was here in Little Italy, she knew she had that to anticipate
as well. But beyond that, even during dinner, he still had her guessing.

“When you asked me to pack an overnight bag, I thought maybe we
were going somewhere far.” She sipped her wine then added quickly. “Not that I’m
not enjoying this. I haven’t been to Little Italy in, gosh, over a year. I’d forgotten
how much good food there is here, and being here with you,” she said, reaching
across the table for his hand, “just made hanging out here that much better.”

He smiled, taking a sip of his own wine. “Well, we’re not going
out of town, but we’re not going back to my place either.”

This surprised her, and she grinned, thinking about it. So far
Lorenzo had been keeping tabs and not forgetting any of her favorite things. In
fact, one time on the phone she’d teased him and asked if he’d been taking notes
because he’d asked her specific questions back to back about her favorite this
or that. She already knew she’d be getting Lilies of the Valley more often than
any of the others.

Her phone dinged for the second time since they’d been sitting
there having dinner. Olivia felt her stomach tighten as his eyes fell on her
phone. The first time he hadn’t asked anything about the text she was obviously
ignoring, and thank God because it’d been Jay again. But this time she saw the
tiniest arch in his brow as he glanced back at his food. “Anything important?”

She picked up the phone casually, relieved that it wasn’t Jay
again. “Umm,” she said as she read the text from Elton.

I noticed you cancelled the appointment you had tomorrow
afternoon. When did you reschedule it for?

“No, not really,” she said, doing her best not to frown. “My
boss.”

Looking up, she saw Lorenzo was peering at her strangely and she
knew why. “Your boss?”

“I know it’s my business, but since I’m not done paying for the
van, technically, the business is part his. So he still checks up on me on
occasion.”

She set the phone down but noticed Lorenzo was still eyeing her
with that strange expression on his face. “Who’s
he
?”

“Elton,” she clarified as offhandedly as possible. “He’s the
owner of the school I trained at. He’s also who most of the alumni go through
to get their mobile businesses started.”

“So it’s a franchise?”

“No.” She shook her head, reaching for another piece of bread. “We’re
on our own and get to call our business what we want. Once we’ve paid him off,
he gets no royalties or anything like that. Nor does he have any say on how we
conduct our business. But
while
we’re still paying off our loans, he’s
technically like a boss to us. He collects his money by getting a fraction of
all our sales. So I guess it might be more accurate to call him a silent
partner until I’m done paying off my loan.”

Lorenzo glanced at her phone then back at her. “Yet, he’s not so
silent.”

“Well, the business
is
part his. So he does inquire from
time to time about the goings-on of it.” She shrugged. “He was just asking
about the appointment I cancelled tomorrow and if it’s been rescheduled.”

Olivia knew exactly
why
Elton was asking. He had zero
concern about her cutting down on her sales. The longer it took to pay him off,
the longer he had a hold on her. But this appointment was in La Jolla Heights, the
area he was most likely to show up at to her appointments because his store and
training academy were in that city. He’d probably planned on stopping by
tomorrow and now wanted to know when she’d be rescheduling. Thankfully, the
client didn’t have time the rest of the week. He’d told Olivia he’d call her
back and let her know. Olivia had yet to hear from him, so she could honestly
tell Elton she had no idea when she’d be at that particular client’s place
again.

Sharing the whole truth about Elton with Lorenzo however was not
happening. Olivia had learned her lesson when she slipped and Nathan overheard
her phone conversation with Margie way back. She’d been telling Margie about
how Elton had offered her a significant discount on her tuition for her
training, but the catch was she had to go out with him.

At first, she thought her brother was livid because he was under
the impression Elton was a much older guy. So Olivia had explained he wasn’t
some old pervert; he was actually in his thirties. Still, Nathan had told
Isaiah about it, and they both agreed the offer was shady and made her promise
she
would not
take him up on it.

“What do you think this
instructor
will be expecting if basically
it’s a date he’s paying for?” Nathan had asked with his ever illustrious lethal
glare.

It was why, as soon as she was done with her training, they’d
also insisted she cut all ties with the guy. She had for over a year until it
came time to get her own van. When she explained to her brothers that, after
doing much research, going through Elton was the best and cheapest way, they
insisted she wasn’t signing anything with him as she did with her training. She’d
pay him cash and be done with it. So she’d had no choice but to keep the loan
from them.

Olivia knew Lorenzo’s reaction to the whole truth about Elton
would be similar if not worse than her brothers given the explicit warnings
about what he
would not
deal with. But she reasoned Elton was not
someone Lorenzo would have to “deal” with. She didn’t even consider Elton a
friend. It was strictly business. Just because Elton was hoping for more didn’t
mean
she
was doing anything wrong continuing to do business with him. It
was necessary until she was done paying him off, and as far as she was
concerned, he was harmless. Given Lorenzo’s looks, she was certain plenty of
girls he worked with were hoping for more as well. As long as he didn’t
reciprocate, Olivia didn’t need to know about any of them.