All or nothing (Love in chaos #1) - Missy Johnson Page 0,48
around,” she says nervously, glancing over her shoulder.
I nod. I’d forgotten about that.
“Can we talk?” I ask her.
She nods. “There’s something I want to speak to you about too.”
We load up our plates, then walk over to a small group of tables outside in the open air, where there are fewer people. I take a moment to admire the beautiful view of the coastline as we sit down, another reminder that our trip is coming to an end.
“Beautiful morning isn’t it,” I say, giving her one of the sly smirks I know she loves so much. Her lips twitch as she nods, but it's not her usual engaged reaction.
She delicately cuts into her omelet like she’s performing life-saving surgery—or avoiding eye contact with me. I drink my coffee, waiting for her to speak. The longer the silence goes on, the more anxious I get. Something is different this morning. I'm not sure what it is, but I can't shake the feeling that I've done something wrong.
“Can you believe we’re almost back at the port?” I marvel, doing my best to get some conversation flowing between us.
Things have never felt this forced before. I’m not sure what’s going on.
“Which means you only have a few hours left to find your wife.” Her tone is so blunt it catches me off guard. So is the intense way she’s studying me right now. “That’s what I wanted to speak to you about.”
“Okay.” I give her the floor, no idea where this is going.
“So, I’ve been thinking about this a lot,” she begins, focusing back on her breakfast. “Jake is an asshole, and I don’t think it’s fair that you stand to lose everything because of him. So, if you still want to marry me, I’ll do it.”
I gape at her, because this is the last thing that I expected her to say. I want to hug her, kiss those lips and thank her for being willing to do that for me, but we’re in public, which means I can’t. It’s so strange that the idea of marrying Liv, sharing my life, my company, my bed with her leaves me feeling so damn good that winning the bet is the last thing on my mind.
Maybe I want all of that more than I thought I did.
“I don’t know what to say. Are you sure this is what you want?”
She shrugs, still not looking at me. “I’m sick of people thinking they can get away with being total assholes.”
Her response is cryptic, which makes me wonder if there’s more to this than she’s letting on. Did Jake say something to her? It wouldn’t surprise me.
“Everything is fine.” She shifts impatiently. “Do you want to do this or not—”
She stops talking. I turn around and see why. Her mom stands directly behind me, lips fixed in a straight line. Is the woman incapable of smiling? Or maybe it’s just around me. Her cool gaze pivots between the two of us. I can’t tell what she’s thinking. Then again, I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know.
“Olivia,” she says, voice clipped. “I need your help with something. Right now.”
“Sure, Mom,” she undertones. Palms down on the table, she flashes me an apologetic glance as she pushes herself to her feet. “I’ll be back.”
From the stink eye her mom is giving me? I doubt it.
With my arms crossed I sit back, still in disbelief over the fact that Liv just agreed to marry me. Though that might change if she tells her mother. Part of me wants her to; the more people that know about it, the more solid it is, but the other side of me knows the blowout would be terrible. She'll have to tell her family eventually. She'll have to tell Jake soon, because her agreement is what’s going to win me this bet.
I drag my fork around my plate, feeling dejected. I should be feeling relieved, because I’ve achieved the impossible. Against all the odds, I did it. I beat Jake at his own game, and with his sister, no less. But I’m not. I don’t feel any of that.
There's this whole other side of me I never knew existed. The side that's spent the last week getting know an amazing girl. If I marry Liv, what happens to us? I’m not naïve enough to believe that a marriage under these circumstances would actually last, and the idea that I’m guaranteeing our relationship will fail makes