When Livvie heard the key jiggling in the lock on her front door this time, not only was she prepared, but she also knew who it was. She quickly got out of bed, opened her dresser drawer, and changed into her favorite navy-blue silk tank top, and grabbed her favorite skinny jeans. Then she heard Drake scream her name.

“Olivia, I know you’re here. If you don’t come down in one second, I’m coming up.” Drake continued to yell.

“Coming,” she shouted back. Livvie inhaled and closed her eyes. Whatever he was about to say, she needed to be prepared. She only hoped that once he left, her heart wouldn’t have another scar on it, even deeper and darker than the others.

“Olivia!”

Livvie’s eyes shot open, and she cleared her throat. She started walking toward the steps when she noticed she was barefoot. Oh well, she liked being barefoot. It made her feel more grounded.

“I’m coming, asshole,” Livvie said somewhat under her breath.

But when she reached the bottom step, she stood staring at the most beautiful man she’d ever seen. He was wearing jeans and a dark-green polo shirt, which made his olive complexion stand out more. His stomach was flat, but his muscles seemed to have gotten bigger. And his eyes were intoxicating as he stared at her as if she was the sexiest woman in the world.

If he was going to throw her out, she hoped she could tell him how she felt first. As she walked down the last step and moved toward him she felt as if she was facing a demon and an angel wrapped into one. Both of them combined were going to make her confess her deepest and darkest sins.

“I’m here,” she said softly.

Without missing a beat, he spoke in that dark tone she had become addicted to.

“Did you just call me an asshole?”

“Yes.” Livvie had to bite her bottom lip to stop from laughing.

“Why?” Drake honestly looked surprised.

“Why what?”

“Why did you call me an asshole?”

“Because you are.” The tension in the room rose. Livvie regretted saying that. He was arrogant, but he was never an asshole to her.

Drake ran his hands through his hair and walked away from her. He paced around her living room and stopped when he reached the empty fireplace. Then he leaned against the stone wall, crossed his arms, and looked at her.

“Do you really believe that?” His tone and demeanor had changed. His body was tense, even though he tried to appear casual, and his tone was warm, even though he looked as if she had hurt him.

She took a deep breath. “No. Sometimes your words hurt me though.”

He nodded as if he understood. “Or maybe my words, which I speak from a place of truth, aren’t the words you want to hear.”

Livvie swallowed hard. “You’re right.”

Drake nodded. “And maybe the words I’ve spoken don’t fulfill your needs.”

“They don’t,” Livvie instantly said.

“Then maybe I’m not the right man for you.”

Livvie chest tightened. “There are so many reasons you’re not and so many reasons you are.”

Drake continued to stare at her with no expression. Livvie wished she could read his mind.

“Obviously,” Drake said while continuing to stare at her.

“What does that mean?” Livvie asked. She hated standing there with nothing to do with her hands and her feet, but she didn’t feel comfortable enough to sit.

“You want it all, and I’ve never given my all.”

Livvie blinked, unsure of where he was heading. “But it seemed from what you said earlier that there’s a chance for us.”

“Have you thought about what I told you?”

“I’m still processing.” Livvie’s heart beat wildly.

Drake nodded. “So do you trust me, Olivia?”

“I want to try,” she whispered. It was funny that earlier Blake had asked Haley the same thing.

Drake smirked. “There’s no trying. You either trust me or you don’t.”

Livvie wanted to cry, but she couldn’t. At this point in her Blake and Haley story, he had proposed marriage to her. Drake wasn’t even close. Still, she had a battle to fight. “But you need to earn it, Drake. You can’t expect me to trust you if I’m constantly thinking you’re going to leave me.”

“I’m not Liam or Zach.” Drake’s eyes remained fixed on hers.

Tears welled up in her eyes, but she blinked them away. She had to stay strong.

“And I’m not one of your famous actresses or models.”

Drake’s eyebrow rose.

Livvie swallowed. “Why are you here, Drake?”

Without blinking an eye, he responded. “Because of the texts you sent me earlier. You were in your head. And knowing you the way that I do, I know that’s a dangerous place for you to be.”

She looked down her hands. “I only asked you about the woman I saw on the magazine cover.”

Drake smiled softly. “But you wanted to ask me so much more, and you didn’t.”

Livvie nodded, but she felt as if he wasn’t telling her the whole truth.

“Why else are you here?”

“To negotiate with you.”

“Why? I thought you didn’t negotiate. I thought you always got what you wanted.”

Drake nodded and then smirked. “I want you, but you have trust issues.”

“And I want you, but you’re not willing to have a real relationship with me.”

“Which is why we’re negotiating.”

She bit her bottom lip. “How?”

Drake paused, and his eyes darkened “Come here.” With the crook of his finger he motioned for her to come.

Livvie anxiously walked toward him. She was clenching and unclenching her hands unconsciously, and only noticed when her nails dug into her palm too deeply.

When she stood a foot away from him, she stopped. Drake had other plans because he grabbed her, picked her up, and pushed her against the stone wall. It hurt her bare arms, but she didn’t care. Her body was pulsing so strongly that she could barely feel the pain. She wrapped her legs around him, and he pushed into her even closer.

“I want you, Olivia. I want you so fucking much. You’re the hottest fucking woman I’ve ever seen.” He pressed his lips against hers and seductively moved them. But the moment the kiss intensified, he pulled back and looked her straight in the eye.

“So you see, we have a problem. And I’ve figured out a solution.”

Livvie smiled. She couldn’t help herself. “What happened to us negotiating?”

Drake’s answer was to move his hand under her tank top until he found her hard nipple. He moved her bra up, so he could get better access, and then he pulled her nipple and circled it in between his fingers. It felt so good that Livvie moaned.

“So this is what I’m thinking.” He continued the torture on her nipple and then moved to her other one. “You stay here, in my cottage, for the remainder of the time it takes to finish writing my mother’s book, which I assume will be at least a month. And we will fuck. In your bedroom. In mine. In the vineyard. Wherever I fucking want. And if you don’t want to stay in my guest cottage, you can have the room next to mine, the room you stayed in when you came for the week.” He moved away from her nipples and began to unzip her jeans.

Livvie’s vagina clenched. She had to think clearly, but she didn’t want Drake to stop.

“Drake, that’s not really negotiating. You’re giving us an expiration date.”

Drake moved his hand inside her jeans and pressed firmly against her wet crotch, leaving her panties as the only barrier of protection.

“You’re wrong.” He pressed his hand even firmer.

She grabbed his shoulders and pulled her chest back, trying to create a little distance between them.

“I’m right. After I’m done writing the book, we’ll be finished, too.”

“We can see what happens after that. See what the universe has in store for us.”

Livvie dropped her legs and pushed him away, forcing his hand to leave her pussy. And then she stepped away from him. Not far but enough so she could think.

“How can you expect me to trust you if we’re going to wait and ‘see what happens’?”

She tried to say the last part in his dominating tone.

Drake ran his hands through his hair. “I can’t promise you anything.”

“But you’ll try,” she said in a lot stronger voice than she felt.

He nodded. “Yes, I’ll try. But you’re trying to lock me into a future.”

“I see.” Livvie paused. “Then how is that any different from me trying to trust you?”

“Because we’ll be making each other feel good. I’ll make you come more than you could ever have imagined.”

Livvie rolled her eyes. “That’s exactly what a normal man would say. And yet I thought you were extraordinary. I thought you were the one man I could learn to trust, and that the love I feel for you was returned.” She blurted the words without really thinking, but she did love him. He was offering her nothing but fucking without a real relationship, and she wanted everything. They both couldn’t try. They had to be all in for this to work.

Drake stormed to her door. Livvie stood there dumbfounded. She had just told him she loved him, and he wanted to leave her like this.

“What happened to our negotiations?” she said with a desperate tone as his hand was on the doorknob. Please don’t leave. Please don’t leave, she repeated over and over in her head.

He opened the door but he stopped before he walked out without even turning around to look at her.

“They stopped the minute you said you loved me.”

And then he walked out and slammed the door behind him. Livvie stood there stunned. What was she supposed to do now? She ran to her door and opened it, but he was long gone. He wanted her, but he wasn’t willing to love her. And that was the answer she had been looking for when she came here. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the one she wanted, nor was it her idea of the perfect ending.