I stood there a moment longer, memorizing the anger in her gaze. She had no right to be pissed at me, to hate me the way it appeared that she did. What the fuck had I done to her? It was my life that was ruined. She hadn't said a word to me after that night together... no matter what I tried to do to get her attention. I was pathetic, to say the least. She spreads vicious lies about me and then gets pissed when some of my friends obviously turned the table on her?

The image of her crying in the hallway several times over the last few months of our senior year tore through me. Reaching up, I rubbed my chest and walked back down the hall to my office. I needed to move past it, but I couldn't. I hadn't been able to with her being nothing more than a memory, and I certainly couldn't now with her right down the fucking hallway.

"Hey, boss." Annie moved up beside me. "I got your tickets and hotel rooms. Lunch is at eleven thirty at Darek's Steak House. That good? I know you love that place."

I nodded. Olivia loved a good steak. It was perfect.

"Yeah, and hey... be good to our new advisor. She's got a lot of catching up to do, and I know how you can be a catty bitch when you want to." I smirked as she pushed at me and laughed.

"I am not." She followed me into my office. "All right, well, sometimes I am."

"Hey." I stopped by the windows on the far side of my office and turned to face her. "Can I ask you something? You don't have to disclose anything you don't want to."

"Ask away. I'm an open book." She moved to stand in front of me.

"Did you and Luke sleep together in the last three years?" I slipped my hands into my pockets. "No judgment here, just trying to figure out if my brother is being his normal self, or if I'm over-thinking things."

She lifted an eyebrow at me. "Are you getting soft in your old age? You used to be a little wild yourself if I heard the stories right."

"I grew out of it fast. College is over, and my mistakes are sealed behind the ribbon tied around my degree." I laughed. "Tell me. Please."

She nodded and lifted her hand to wipe something off my chest. A flash of color near the opening of my door had me glancing over to see Olivia.

"Oh. Sorry. I'll come back." Her expression tightened a little, leaving her impossibly beautiful. Her black pencil skirt hugged her hips, her button-down blouse fit her perfectly, accenting how full her breasts had gotten. Every part of me screamed mine.

"No. We were just talking. Come on in." I moved away from Annie as Olivia hovered in the doorway.

"No, it's fine. I was just coming to verbally beat you up a little. I can do that later." She gave me a hard stare and turned to Annie with a sheepish smile on her face. "I'm thinking Caden and I might be butting heads quite often."

"Join the crew, love." Annie moved past Olivia and paused. "Though it's usually Luke we all butt heads with."

"Close the door. Let's keep our problems just between us, hm?" I moved toward her and stopped right in front of her as she turned back from closing the door and yelped.

"Move back. Shit." She put her hand in the center of my chest and I reached up to trap it there before walking toward her. "Caden. Stop."

"Not happening." I left a small gap between us and reached up, grabbing a soft strand of her hair and carefully running my fingers down it. "I hate you for being here. I was over you."

"Good. Stay over me. We were kids."

"You're not over me though." I ran my hand over her shoulder, letting my eyes move down the line of her body as my pulse spiked.

"Yes, I am." Her words were sensual due to the soft pants they rode on. "Back up. Now. I'm serious."

I took a step forward and reached up to grip her chin as I pressed myself to the front of her. "If you're over me, then why are you so fucking pissy about going to Texas with me? It doesn't bother me a bit to go with you."

"I'm your brother's girlfriend. We'll be married in a few years." She pushed at my chest, forcing me to take a step back. The loss of contact with her left me cold immediately. "And this is why I don't want to go. You cocky asshole. You act like you have something to prove."

"I do have something to prove!" I turned and walked from her as my heart hammered in my chest. She was so far beyond everything I imagined her to be. I'd have given anything to have her, but the past wrapped me in denial and the present tied my hands completely. She was Luke's. My older brother, who I loved even with all of his shitty faults.

"And what is that exactly?" She walked toward the desk and pressed her closed fists to it.

"That I'm over you. That I was over you the day you fucked up our lives and stole every dream I'd had as a boy." I sat down and turned toward my computer as she sucked in a quick breath. I couldn't look at her. I knew what I would see, and I didn't want the reminder that she'd won all those years ago. Whatever I'd done wrong to have her turn against me was a question for the past. I was done talking about it. It was better if we were at each other's throats anyway. That would keep me from dropping to my knees before her and begging for another chance, though it should have been her groveling, not me.

"How dare you."

"Get out. I'll see you at lunch." I glanced up, hating myself for the pain on her face. What the fuck did she want from me that she didn't still have? "If you don't want to go on the trip, go tell your lover to get you off the account. Seems like that's an ace in the hole, literally."

"Un-fucking-believable." She turned and walked to the door, opening it and glancing back at me. "I hate you."

"Good. That makes two of us."

The door slammed as tears blurred my vision. I hadn't cried more than three times in my life, and all three were because of her." I stood up and pushed the papers from my desk as a growl left me. Fucking bitch. I was going to have to tell Luke to find some other place for her to work. I couldn't work with her. There was too much between us, and my focus would be solely on her, as it had been in my younger years. How many times had coach chewed my ass for staying up all night with her and playing like shit during practice?

"Boy, you need to dump that girl. She's nothing but trouble. All of them are trouble. They steal dreams and ruin lives. Get out of there before she takes you down."

"No shit," I mumbled and grabbed my keys. I'd meet them for lunch in an hour, but I wasn't sticking around the office for another minute. With my luck, she'd come back in to blast me for being such a dick. No thanks.

"Where are you going?" Luke stopped outside my office as I pulled the door open a little harder than I should have. "Hey. You all right?"

"No. I'm not." I turned and walked toward the receptionist’s desk.

"You wanna talk about it?" he called after me.

"No. I'll see you at lunch. It's at eleven thirty at Darek's Steak House." I didn't hear his reply. He had nothing to say that I cared to hear. No one did. Well, almost no one.

* * *

"You two are fucking bumming me out today. What's the deal?" Luke chuckled, but the sound fell flat.

"I'm sorry. Just trying to think through a few things that aren't working right. The S&P moved-"

"I know, right?" Luke butted in. "We'll figure it out. Stop being so depressing. Both of you." He reached out and ran his hand down Olivia's leg under the table.

My stomach clenched at the thought of him touching her. Kissing her. Fucking her.

"I'm running to the restroom." She got up and walked away without another word.

"What the fuck?" Luke looked over at me. "Is something going on? Did you upset her?"

"Yeah, maybe. I'll fix it. Sorry. I'm harsh at work. You know that." I got up and laid my napkin down on my plate.

"Yeah, but she's my woman. You need to watch yourself. She'll be in the family soon, Caden, and if nothing else, respect her resume. She's done some great shit." His eyes narrowed a little. He was right.

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm just leery of her taking my place," I lied and walked toward the restroom, waiting for her to come out. What the fuck was I going to say? I meant everything I'd said in my office. The tension between us was thick enough to choke on, and I couldn't live like that, nor could she or Luke. Fuck, none of us deserved to, and this was her first day in the office.

She walked out and stopped short. "No. Don't talk to me."

"Yes, I am going to talk to you." I reached out and gripped her wrist to pull her a little closer to me. "I'm angry. I'm hurt. Give me time to get used to whatever the fuck just happened to my world. You were a ghost-"

"So were you, you bastard." She slapped me. Hard. "You fucked up my life and you expect me to bow down and play second-string fiddle to you just because we got tossed into this dicked-up situation together? Well, you can fuck off."

I shouldn't have, but I couldn't help myself. I gripped the back of her neck with my free hand and pulled her in tightly before leaning down and pressing my lips tightly to hers. I had to know if she still tasted faintly of cinnamon and sex.

A groan left me as I tilted my head a little and pressed my tongue deep into her mouth. Everything inside of me melted and I felt like home was accessible though I'd not moved an inch. She was my serenity, my peace, my heart.

Though she returned the kiss, she jerked back and slapped me again as tears filled her eyes.

"I'm going to Texas to take over this account, but hear me clearly." She took a step back and wobbled. I reached out and grabbed her arm to have her pull it from me angrily. "I'm with Luke. He's going to be my husband one day and be the father to our kids. Not you. That ship sailed before I knew what a good man looked like."

"Do you love him? Like you loved me? Like you still do?" I released her and forced myself to stay in place, though my entire body ached to be closer to her.

"I don't love you. It was a silly fling and we were kids. Grow up."

"I don't think so. I find it almost ironic that my brother happens to be dating the only girl I've ever loved."

"That girl's dead, Caden. You made sure of that." She moved past me, brushing my shoulder and leaving me to drink in her words. She didn't mean a damn one of them. Of that, I had no doubt.