Chapter 5
“Mindy!” he called out, walking into the flight office of Steele Industries Aviation.
He had no idea where Mindy Muldoon was. Usually, the cute, bubbly brunette was right at her desk, busy organizing all of the flight plans, the meals, the schedules and vendor payments. The dynamo was always busy and, no matter what time of the day or night he took off or landed, Mindy was here.
So where was she now?
A noise behind him had him spinning around. Mindy came into the office, her eyes darting around as she adjusted the scarf that, at one point, had probably looked professional and elegant. At the moment, it looked…like she’d just been doing something with someone…?
Looking behind her, Pete waved to Gus, the owner of the cargo shipping company that also worked out of this building. Gus was also a pilot, but he rarely flew these days since he had more than fifty planes moving cargo all over the country.
Pete looked at Gus, who was glaring at Mindy who was trying to pretend as if nothing at all was going on.
“How was Saint Martin?” she asked, forcing a smile but Pete saw the strain in her eyes.
“Mindy, is Gus bothering you?”
Mindy sighed, her head bowing slightly as a blush stole up her cheeks. “No. Gus is a gentleman. He would never bother me.” She lifted her head and looked right into his eyes. “Promise,” she assured Pete, even going so far as to lift her hand as if she were giving him an oath.
Pete nodded, accepting her word. Shaking his head, he changed the subject. “Look, I need Olivia’s home address.”
Mindy’s smile brightened and a speculative gleam entered the blue depths. She watched Pete for a long moment, then lifted her hands up in the air with a whoop of delight! “Finally!” she cheered.
Pete was startled. “Finally – what?” he asked, needing clarification.
Mindy literally danced over to her desk only a moment before Gus burst into the office. The other guy was about an inch taller than Pete, but with a scruffy face and bulging muscles, all emphasized by the flannel shirt that was hanging around his waist. The only term to describe Gus was “lumberjack”. Well, “Silent Lumberjack” Pete corrected mentally.
“You okay?” he asked, his green eyes narrowing on Mindy.
Pete’s head swiveled between Gus, a guy he played poker with every few weeks, and Mindy, the woman who ran the Steele Industries flight office like a dictator. Slowly, he put two and two together, a smile growing on his features.
“Yeah, Mindy,” he teased. “Is everything okay?”
Mindy’s blush deepened but she lifted her chin in the air. “I’m fine. I was just excited because Pete and Olivia finally got together.”
Those green eyes moved from Mindy to Pete and Gus sort of smiled. The man never truly smiled and Pete suspected that his face might crack if he ever did. He hadn’t smiled for years. In fact, Pete wasn’t sure the man even knew how to smile.
But the protective look he directed at Mindy spoke volumes. With a nod of his head, he turned and headed back out of the office.
Pete chuckled and looked over at Mindy. “Now about that home address,” he prompted.
Mindy shook her head. “No way. It’s a violation of several rules. I can’t give you her home address, Pete.”
Pete wasn’t going to mess around. He wanted to get to Olivia, needing to find out what was going on. His stomach still hurt every time he pictured her beautiful eyes so filled with sadness.
She needed him. Olivia might not admit that she needed him, but that last look had told him everything he needed to know.
“Mindy, Olivia drove away with some strange woman in tears. Both of them were crying. I need to get to her.”
Mindy’s determined look wavered. “She was crying? Is she okay?”
“I don’t know. I need to get to her.”
Her lips pressed together and she once again stood tall. “No. I’m sorry Pete. I’ll give her a call and find out if she’s okay.”
Pete leaned his arms against Mindy’s desk. “Mindy, if you don’t give me her home address in the next thirty seconds, I’m going to walk across that hallway and tell Gus all about that Christmas party when you dressed up as…”
He couldn’t finish that threat because Mindy had slapped a hand over his mouth. “Fine!” she gasped. “I’ll give it to you. But if I’m sued, I’m going to tell them that you blackmailed me!”
He chuckled, shaking his head. “I don’t know what you’re so upset about. I can guarantee that Gus will like…” he stopped when Mindy’s fingers froze on her computer keyboard as she glared up at him. “Not a word,” he stated firmly.
Mindy looked away slowly, scribbling something on a sticky note. She took it off of the pad and handed it to him. “Here! But you didn’t get it from me!”
“You’re a peach!” he told her, grabbing the note and spinning around to hurry out of the office. But as he put his hand on the door, he stopped and looked back at her. “You really should let Gus…”
“Go!” she shouted, pointing her finger to the hallway.
Pete chuckled but hurried out.
Twenty minutes later, he pulled up outside of a small cottage style house. The car he’d seen at the airport was parked in the driveway but its presence didn’t alleviate any of his concerns. He still needed to see Olivia and find out what was going on with her.
He needed to hold her.
Ringing the doorbell, he waited, listening to the sounds coming from inside.
When the doorbell opened, a teary-eyed Olivia stood in the doorway, tissues wadded up in her hands and he stepped into the foyer and took her into his arms. “What happened?” he asked.
Olivia sniffed. “Emma…my sister,” she stared to explain.
“I got dumped,” the cute brunette announced, standing in the middle of the entryway. “I got dumped by a jerk who thought I wasn’t good enough for his Ivy League family!” A snort and a scoff.
Olivia walked over to her sister, putting her arms around her shoulders. “Em, you told me just last week that you were going to break up with him.”
Emma laughed, rolling her eyes. “Well, yeah! He was a jerk!”
Olivia had to stifle a burst of laughter. “Okay, so why are you upset about this?”
Emma sighed, rolling her eyes as if the answer should be obvious. “Because he broke up with me! It should have been the other way around!”
And with that, Emma leaned into her sister, tears causing her shoulders to shake.
Pete relaxed, more relieved than he could have believed to know it was just a breakup issue. “I’ll go get supplies,” he told Olivia who had her arms around her sister, and turned around.
Thirty minutes later, he stepped back into the house, two bags filled with wine, chocolate, ice cream and all different varieties of chips. He had a younger sister. He understood the drill.
Emma’s eyes widened when Pete walked into the room, the rant stopping as she took in the proprietary way that Pete touched her sister’s shoulder. Pete simply took out a bottle of wine, immediately distracting the younger woman.
And the rant continued.
Pete opened and closed the cabinets until he found the wine glasses, filled them up more than halfway before handing one to both ladies and refusing to chuckle when Olivia gave him one of her looks that sent a silent apology his way.
After distributing the wine, he went back to the kitchen, opening and closing drawers until he found the utensils. He grabbed two spoons, handed a spoon and a pint of ice cream to each woman, then moved off again after taking the lids back to the kitchen.
He found the bowls, dumped chips into each one and carried the three bowls into the family room, setting them all down on the coffee table.
Without hesitation, he took the wine glass and ice cream out of Olivia’s hands, set them next to the chips and pulled her into his arms.
There was a long moment of silence while Pete thoroughly kissed Olivia, not letting up until she melted against him, her arms wrapped around his neck and she was sighing.
Only then did he release her, hand back the wine and ice cream and, with a wink at the cute sister, he walked out, making sure that the door was locked as he pulled it shut behind him.
Before he drove off, he texted a message to Olivia. “Call me when the storm blows over.”
A long time later, Olivia saw the message and stifled her laughter. Pete was…incredible.
“Okay, spill it. Who was he?” Emma demanded.
Olivia looked up from her cell phone. “Who?”
Emma rolled her eyes. “The stud who just provided us with supplies for the night? The hunk who just kissed you silly? The Adonis that caused that pink flush to cover you from neck to hairline!”
Olivia shook her head and took a sip of wine. “He’s just a friend.”
Emma watched her sister carefully, then shook her head. “Nope. He’s more.” Another pause as Olivia’s face filled with color and Emma grinned. “A lot more.”
Olivia stood up, clearing away the empty glasses and bottles. “You’re imagining things. He’s a co-worker.”
Emma grabbed the bowls of chips that were almost empty, following behind her older sister. “So which is it? Is Pete a friend or a co-worker?”
Olivia set the glasses on the counter. “Both. When are you leaving?”
Emma laughed, not offended at all at her big sister trying to kick her out. “I don’t have class until Monday.”
“And you flew across the country just to rant about being dumped by a guy you didn’t even like?”
Emma sighed and slumped down onto a stool. “No. Not just for that.” She picked up a sponge and started hand washing the dishes.
“What’s going on?” Olivia asked gently as she dried the dishes.
Emma shrugged. “I miss mom and dad,” she admitted. “And I needed to see you.”
Olivia put the rag down on the countertop, taking Emma into her arms. “Mom and Dad died two years ago.”
Emma sniffled. “I know. I just…” she shrugged, leaning her head against Olivia’s shoulder. “Sometimes, I just need to connect with you, ya know? Especially when springtime starts to appear and I think about the lake house. All the fun times we used to have there during the summers.”
Olivia smiled fondly at the memories. “It was fun, wasn’t it?”
Emma nodded. “Yeah. But you moved away and now the lake house isn’t the same.”
Olivia pulled away, looking down at her sister. “Hey. Why don’t we spend a week out there this summer? Just the two of us?”
Emma thought about that, then nodded. “Okay, sounds good. Will you bring Pete?” she asked, smiling slyly at the end.
Olivia’s eyes jerked over to her sisters. “No way! He wouldn’t…!”
“Yes, he would,” Emma countered. “I guarantee it.” She pushed away from the countertop. “I’m going to work on some homework. You should go over to Pete’s place.”
Olivia watched her sister as she headed into the guestroom. “I can’t go over there. We don’t have that kind of a relationship.”
Emma looked over her shoulder at her sister. “You mean you’re too afraid to go over, right?”
Olivia jerked at that, frustrated because Emma’s words were too close to the truth. “I’m not afraid.”
“Good,” she said and picked up a piece of paper on the table by the front door. “Because he left his address and phone number. I dare you to go over and talk to him. Explain why you ran away from him at the airport.” She paused, lifting her book bag off of the floor where she’d dropped it earlier in the evening. “He looked pretty stunned and confused, so whatever happened down in Saint Martin between the two of you, I’m guessing he thought it was worth more than being abandoned at the first opportunity.”
And with that, her sister disappeared into the guest room, leaving Olivia reeling. Had she really hurt Pete’s feelings? The idea made her stomach ache.
She debated for another few minutes, but in the end, she grabbed the paper and her purse, rushing out of the house before she could question her actions further. She didn’t want to dwell on the possibility that she was too scared to go to Pete’s place, so she just did it, daring herself the whole way.
But once she was there, standing in front of the doorway to a modern looking house perched up on a hill that looked out over Puget Sound, she couldn’t seem to lift her hand to ring the doorbell. What if Emma was wrong? What if Pete was just being a nice guy?
But what if she was right?
Again, before she could contemplate the consequences, she lifted her hand and rang the doorbell. Almost immediately, the door opened and Pete was there, looking incredible in soft jeans and a tee-shirt. The Mariner’s baseball game was on in the background.
There was barely a moment’s pause before he reached out and pulled her into his house, slamming the door closed behind her.
When she looked up at him, she wasn’t exactly sure what to say. So she started with the question foremost on her mind. “Did I hurt your feelings at the airport when I left so abruptly after landing?”
He chuckled. “I’m a guy. I don’t have feelings.” He looked down into her pretty blue eyes. “But no, I didn’t like it.”
She bit her lip, trying to figure out what to say next. “I’m sorry,” she told him, feeling horrible.
Pete’s arms snaked out, boxing her in as he leaned against the wall behind her. “Tell me why you did it.”
Olivia sighed, looking at the middle of his chest. “Because I wasn’t sure what you might want once we were back in the real world.”
On hand lifted, playing with a lock of hair. “What do you want?”
She shrugged, trying to think of a flip answer. Unfortunately, nothing came to mind other than “everything”. Instead of admitting that embarrassing truth, she shrugged slightly. “I don’t want us to go back to hating each other.”
He sighed and pushed away from the wall, grabbing her hand and tugging her into his house. “I never hated you. I’ve been attracted to you since the first moment you stepped out of the building and walked towards my plane.” He chuckled as his thumb rubbed gently against her cheek. “I loved tormenting you though. But I’ll admit, I fell in love with you over the past week, Livie. I promise I won’t annoy you, no matter what you decide.”
She stopped and stared up at him, forcing him to turn. “You love me?” she asked, the words squeaking out.
He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah. You’re pretty hard to resist.” He laughed, but it came across as a bit self-deprecating. “Always were.”
She took a step closer. “You really love me?” she asked, her eyes pleading with him to tell her the truth. “As in love and forever and babies and future and all of that?”
He put his beer bottle down on the countertop and pulled her closer. “Yeah. All that kinda stuff.”
Olivia smiled, relief hitting her hard and fast. “So…?”
He laughed, hugging her. “So, you’re going to marry me.”
Olivia hugged him back, but when he started to pull away, he tightened his arms around her. “Only under one condition.”
He looked down at her, one eyebrow going up. “What’s your condition?” he asked, thinking she’d say something like wanting six or seven kids or extra dogs. All of which he could live with.
“We have to be a Nationals home. I grew up in Virginia. Baseball is all about the Nats.”
He stared at her, trying to decide if she was serious or not. When she didn’t blink, he knew that she wasn’t kidding. Instantly, he jerked backwards, shaking his head. “No. No way!” he told her, dragging her over to the sofa to pull her down next to him. “You live in Seattle. You have to be a Mariners and Seahawks fan!”
She laughed even as she pretended to stand up but he wasn’t letting her, his hand shooting out to pull her right back down onto his lap. “Not gonna happen! Natonals and Redskins! Seahawks aren’t…”
“The Redskins?! They haven’t even been to the Superbowl in twenty years! How can you be a fan of the Redskins?”
He was holding her down now, tickling her but she screamed, wiggling and trying to get away. “I’m no fair weather fan! You have to be loyal!”
He stopped when she was gasping for breath, both from the tickling and the laughter. “I’ll convert you then,” he promised.
She looked up at him, her hands looping around his neck. “You already did,” she vowed.