assistant, greeted her eagerly. With his curly red hair ruffled, Ronald always looked like he was in a big hurry even when he was doing nothing. “We had two massive surprise deliveries this morning, Mrs. Stone. Was that all your power of persuasion, where Mr. Stone is concerned?”
Olivia smiled because, of course, it was. She had already gotten Liam to fill their warehouse with enough blankets and winter clothes to keep almost every destitute person warm in the coming winter season. She wanted to be proactive and had started her winter campaign with summer still having about two months of grace.
He handed her a cup of coffee, as he customarily did, sipping from his own as well. It was nothing like the coffee Liam had introduced her to, but she drank it all the same.
“Oh, what happened to your lip?”
“It's nothing.” She waved it aside.
“Okay. Here you go.” He handed her a stack of papers that she would need to go over and sign off on, basically the buying of supplies, a medical bill here and there, the usual. He then rattled off everything that had happened during the day since she had been there, from a bale of toilet paper being stolen to their cook quitting.
“When did Cook quit?”
“This morning, after breakfast.”
“Okay.” She handed him her credit card. “Pizza for lunch, and I'm meeting with the committee, so I'll see if anyone knows someone who can replace Cook.”
They had walked into her office, and it was almost comical the way Ronald still spoke nonstop but now he took a pause every few seconds to give Kade the once-over. He was dying to ask who the man was.
She did the same with Kade, sneaking glances at him with a frown on her face. What was he still doing here? She hated that he had followed her into her office, hovering too close, that she wanted to scream at him to leave her alone.
She needed everyone to leave her alone, so she could wrap her head around what she was going to do today and try not to start a local incident.
“Thank you, Ronald. I'll catch up with you on the rest later.” She offered him her best smile, and he inched out of her office, slowly and suspiciously. He knew better than to ask about anyone she came in with. He was petrified of Liam to the point it made her laugh.
“Olivia? Is… everything all right?” Ronald then asked, the same fear he showed for Liam, he now showed for Kade, if his tone was anything to go by. Did they have to go around putting fear in men without even saying a word?
“Mrs. Stone is perfectly fine.” Kade answered for her and using his brute size against Ronald, backed him out of her office.
“What is wrong with you?” she asked, at the end of her rope. “You can't come in here and harass my people.”
“Why is he still around?”
“What?”
“It's clear he's disastrously crazy about you. I'm surprised Liam hasn't put a bullet right between the freckles on his forehead.”
She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it. He wasn't going to bait her. She just had to get rid of him, quickly. She opened the door to the bathroom in her office, then stowed away her tote, her hands trembling as it reminded her of what she had to do.
“Why are you still here? Your job was to drive me to the shelter, leave, and then pick me up again. That's your job. And where's Mac and William?” Olivia asked as she returned. Her bodyguards usually arrived shortly after she did.
“I work alone.”
“You're the damn driver. Mac and William are my bodyguards. Does Liam know?”
“He does.”
Of course, Liam did.
“I want you out of my office. I can't work with you… here.” She walked to the door, opened it, and gestured for him to go through it like a good boy.
He stood his ground in the middle of her office, hands in his pockets like he owned this damn place too. If she gave herself a penny for every time she asked why Liam was deliberately and crazily putting her through this, she'd be richer than he was.
“Get out,” she demanded. “Now.”
She swallowed when he walked toward her, swaggered, really. Her heart pounded in somewhat relief that she was going to get rid of him yet. In a way, his presence protected her from doing what she had to: not saving Bethy, that she’d do in a heartbeat, but the