Page 66 of The Law of Attraction
“I don’t do that, do I?”
“You’re not even looking at me right now.”
He was right. She’d gotten into the habit of only looking at him in her peripheral vision, because his face was too lovely to look directly at without being swamped by all sorts of feelings she wasn’t supposed to be having.
Like the feelings she was having now that she’d met his gaze directly.
“I like when you look at me,” he said without blinking. “I wish you did it more.”
She didn’t remember deciding to move or making a conscious choice to kiss him, but she was doing it. Her mouth pressed against his, and for one glorious second she felt his lips soften beneath hers, and it was like nothing else existed in the whole world except the two of them in this perfect moment.
Until he jerked away like he’d been shocked, and Olivia knew she’d done a Bad Thing.
She’d read the whole situation wrong. All his soulful stares and nice words hadn’t meant he was attracted to her. He was just trying to be her friend—her good buddy, her work pal—and she’d gone and ruined it by putting her stupid mouth on him.
“Shit, I’m sorry,” he said, like he was the one who’d just put his mouth on someone who didn’t want it. His eyes were big as saucers, as if he’d accidentally googled something really disgusting and now he’d never be able to bleach the search results from his brain.
“No, I’m the one who’s sorry.” Olivia’s stomach churned in horror as she pushed herself off the bed. “God, what the fuck was I thinking?”
“It’s okay.” He was trying to make her feel better because he was a nice person. But it wasn’t going to work. She was never going to get over this.
“Jesus shit fuck Christ, it’s not okay.” She scrubbed her hands over her face as she paced around the room like a caged cheetah.
“Let me explain—”
“Nope,” she said, putting up a hand to stop him. “Please do not try to explain my mistake. You don’t have to explain anything. I just need—I have to get out of here.”
There was nowhere to go but out into the rain.
So that was where she went.
Chapter Fifteen
Olivia heard Adam call out after her as the door slammed shut, but she pretended she hadn’t heard and kept going.
The rain drenched her like a bucket of cold water, which was exactly what she needed right now—a shock to the system to wipe away the memory of her epic blunder.
The shoes she’d hastily shoved her feet into kicked up gouts of water as she ran down the walkway toward the far end of the building. There was a picnic table and a sad little play area with a sandbox, a slide, and a set of old swings.
Since digging a hole and burying herself in the fucking ground wasn’t a viable option, she went straight for the swings. Maybe she’d be struck by lightning. Except the last thunder she’d heard had been a while ago and far in the distance.
She turned her face up to the sky and closed her eyes, letting the rain run down her cheeks as she clutched the chains of the swing.
What the fuck had she been thinking, trying to kiss him?
He was too handsome. She should have known better than to try something like that with someone like him. Just because he was a little bit nerdy didn’t mean a guy who looked like an underwear model was going to be attracted to someone as plain and forgettable as her.
How was she ever going to face him again?
The worst part was how disturbed he’d looked. She’d sexually harassed him. She’d fucking sexually harassed him, by trying to kiss a coworker who didn’t want to be kissed.
She was scum. She was that slimy, crusty stuff that clogged up pipes.
God, and they’d actually had a good thing going. They were getting along and enjoying each other’s company before she’d fucked everything up.
Or at least it had seemed that way. Maybe he’d just been pretending. Making the most of a bad situation by humoring her and acting like he liked her when really he’d been repulsed all along.
But even as the thought occurred to her, she knew that wasn’t right. He wouldn’t do something like that. He put too high a premium on honesty, and didn’t believe in telling white lies to make other people comfortable.
