Finding Olivia (Trace + Olivia #1) (31 page)

“So, you have more than coffee?” I asked.

Griff nodded. “It started out with only coffee and grew from there,” he shrugged his wide shoulders. “I’ve gotta get back to work but let me know if y’all want anything.”

“Thanks, Griff,” Trace waved and we melted back into the crowd.

I had hardly taken my seat beside Avery when she tackled me into a hug. I was surprised we didn’t fall to the ground.

“Girl,” she pulled away excitedly, “you were incredible!”

“Thanks,” I played with the end of my braid.

“Livie! Seriously! You have to start singing more! Your voice is so beautiful!” She flapped her arms excitedly.

“Thank you,” I repeated, “but as sick as that made me feel, it won’t be happening again, anytime soon…it was fun though.”

“Ugh! Olivia!” Avery exclaimed. “There’s no reason for you to get sick! You’re incredible!”

I stared down at the table; uncomfortable with the attention I was receiving, not just from Avery, but also from the other people in the coffee shop. I felt their stares and my skin crawled.

I glanced up and my eyes connected with Trace’s. He saw that I was uncomfortable and I pleaded with him to come to my rescue.

He scooted his chair back and stood. “Sorry guys,” he said to Luca and Avery. “I just realized that I’ve got to get to work early in the morning.” Avery frowned at Trace’s words. “This guy needs his car by eleven. So, um, Olivia, I’ll drop you off at your dorm.”

“Okay,” I silently thanked him with my eyes. “See ya, Avery. Luca.” I smiled at each of them and took Trace’s hand.

We forced our way through the crowd and onto the cobblestone walkway.

Snow flurries were still falling from the sky
and darkness had descended. String lights were wrapped around the trunks of the trees. They twinkled merrily and I smiled at the sight.

We walked
, hand in hand, to his car. Trace opened the passenger door for me and I slid inside.

He started up the car
, and turned on the heat, but didn’t back out right away.

“Are you mad at me?” He asked.

“For what? Making me sing?” I questioned.

He nodded.

“No,” I answered. “Maybe at first. But I did enjoy it…until people started staring at me.” With a laugh, I added, “I’ve learned, though, that it’s impossible for me to stay mad at you.”

“It’s ‘cause I’m sexy,” he winked.

I laughed. “Especially in that shirt.”

“Don’t disrespect the shirt,” he chuckled with a grin. “You bought it.”

“I’m already regretting that decision,” I giggled as he backed out of the parking lot and headed towards campus.

“It’s my new favorite shirt,” he announced.

“You mean,” I paused for dramatic affect, “you like it more than plaid?” I snorted.

He tapped his chin. “Okay, maybe not.
Nothing
beats plaid. If plaid was a color, it’d be my favorite.”

“You’re so weird,” I shook my head.

“Most people find my weirdness charming,” he smirked.

“I guess I’m not most people,” I shrugged, covering my laugh with a hand.

We came to a stoplight, and he leaned over, pressing a kiss to my cheek. “And that’s what I like the most about you.”

c h a p t e r

Twenty Five

I took a deep breath as I strode across campus, my books clutched to my chest, as a heavy wind breezed by, almost knocking my hat off my head.

With my free hand, I reached up to keep my hat in place, but I was too late.

The fabric flew from my head and spun in the air.

“Dammit!” I cursed, running after it, thankful I was wearing sneakers today.

“I got it! I got it!” A male voice called and I watched a tan hand reach up in the air and grasp the dark blue fabric of my beanie.

I slowed to a walk
, and held my hand out for my hat, slowly looking up to meet the eyes of the guy.

“Luca,” I gasped.

“Hey,” he smiled, dropping the hat in my hand.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, slipping my hat back on, rather crookedly, considering I only had one hand.

“I’m waiting for Avery. We have reservations for Valentine’s Day,” he shrugged.

“Oh, of course,” I shook my head. “Why else would you be here…wait, you said it’s Valentine’s Day?”

“Well, yeah,” Luca looked at me perplexed.

“I completely forgot,” I gasped, “crap.” I smacked my forehead. You’d think the red and pink hearts decorating stores
, and even peppered around campus, would’ve tipped me off, but no, I was that dense apparently. I had been swamped lately with coursework, and life had been passing me by faster and faster. My time had been consumed with school, Trace, my mom, and hanging out with Avery when I had the time.

“I know Trace hasn’t,” Luca fell into step beside me as I headed towards the dorm. He was dressed a little warmer today, with a long sleeved navy shirt underneath a gray-buttoned vest. His fedora sat crookedly on his head and the sandy brown strands of his hair escaped from underneath.

“Shit,” I cursed, something I had been doing a lot of lately, “I am the worst girlfriend on the planet. No wonder Trace was adamant that we make plans for tonight. I kept trying to blow him off. I have a paper due on Monday and I need all the time I can get to finish it.”

“You still have Saturday and Sunday,” Luca shrugged.

“Yeah,” I agreed, “hopefully, that’ll be enough time,” I bit my lip. “Besides, I already gave in and told him I could go out tonight.”

“It’ll all work out,” he clapped a hand on my shoulder.

I was surprised by how talkative he was being. I had grown used to his caveman grunts and little to no words. Maybe, like me, Luca was shy and I needed to get to know him better, for him to open up.

We reached the dorm and Avery was walking out of the double doors. She squealed when she saw Luca and ran into his arms, wrapping her legs around his lean waist, and kissing him deeply.

I turned away, feeling like I was seeing something I wasn’t meant to see.

I heard him lower Avery to the ground and figured it was safe to look back.

Avery was smiling brightly at me, her cheeks flushed, and her red lipstick slightly smeared.

I pointed to a spot on my lips, indicating that she needed to wipe.

“Oh,” she mumbled, and slid her thumb under her lip, to remove the smear. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” I smiled.

“We’re going out so I won’t be back, tonight,” she looked at Luca significantly.

“I kinda figured that,” I chuckled, shrugging my shoulder
s to relieve some of the pressure from the backpack straps.

I said goodbye to Avery and Luca and
slowly trudged up to my dorm. I dropped my stuff on the bed, placing the various items where they needed to go, and showered.

I dried my hair and let it hang down in its natural wave
s.

I checked the time and knew Trace would be arriving in less than ten minutes. If I wasn’t outside waiting, he’d finagle his way into the dorms. I’m sure all he had to do
, was bat his eyes at some unsuspecting female, and they’d do whatever he said.

I dressed in clean clothes, but since I wasn’t sure what I should wear, I tried to dress up a little bit. I wore a pair of dark wash jeans, and a white button down shirt with a camel colored sweater over top. I ditched my sneakers for the heels Avery had given me
, and my gold star necklace, which I never took off, completed the look.

I looked at the time again
, and grabbed my purse, dashing out of the dorm.

Trace was pulling up in his ’69 black Camaro when I pushed the doors open. I hopped inside the car before he had the chance to get out.

“Happy to see me?” He grinned.

“I’m always happy to see you,” I leaned over and placed a tender kiss on his cheek. “I’m sorry I wasn’t enthusiastic about plans for tonight. I completely forgot today was Valentine’s Day,” I
admitted reluctantly.

“I figured,” he smiled, his eyes a light and playful green. “You’ve been so busy with school.”

“Hopefully, it’ll slow down soon,” I took a deep breath, still ashamed that I had forgotten my first Valentine’s with my boyfriend. “I don’t know if my brain can absorb any more information.”

Trace frowned and lightly squeezed my thigh. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” I shrugged. “It’s school, it’s supposed to challenge you.”

“I don’t like seeing you so stressed,” Trace
replied, looking left and right, as he backed out of the parking space.

“Everything will slow down soon,” I said, more for my benefit than his. “So,” I rubbed my palms on my jeans, “where are we headed?”

“Well,” Trace winced, eyes on the road, “I know you like simple, and aren’t into the whole, extravagant lifestyle, so…” He paused. “I opted to make you dinner at my place. I thought you’d enjoy that more than going out.”

I smiled, my first genuine smile in days. “You are amazing. That’s perfect.”

He let out a sigh of relief. “Good, I was kind of worried you’d be offended.”

“Not at all,” my smile widened. “This is more special than getting dressed up and going to some uppity restaurant.”

He reached for my hand and entwined our fingers together. “How did I get so lucky with you?”

I snorted. “You didn’t.”

“I beg to differ,” he grinned.

★★★

“Mmm,” I moaned, as Trace opened the door to his apartment, and the smell of a home cooked meal hit my nose. Garlic and rosemary were the most prominent scents and I inhaled them greedily, my stomach rumbling. “It smells delicious, Trace.”

He closed and locked the door behind us. “I hope it tastes as good,” he led me into the small kitchen. “I made homemade garlic mashed potatoes, rolls, and asparagus. All I have left to do is grill the steak,” he pulled out marinating steaks from the refrigerator as he spoke.

Tears pricked my eyes. This was the sweetest, most romantic thing, ever. I was sure of it.

“This is great,” I murmured, at a loss for anything else to say.

“Are you sure?” He seemed hesitant. “We can still go out…if you want.” He nervously scratched the back of his head.

“No,” I shook my head. “This,
you
, it’s perfect.” I bit down on my lip to hold back the floodgate of emotions that was about to spill forth.

“Are you going to cry?” He raised a brow.

“No,” I squeaked.

“You totally are,” he wrapped his arms around me and cradled me against his chest. “I didn’t want to make you cry, baby.”

“I’m sorry, I’m being such a girl,” I inhaled his masculine scent. “They’re happy tears, I promise. This is the sweetest thing ever,” my words were muffled by my face buried in his shirt.

“Happy tears or sad tears, I didn’t mean for you to cry,” he combed his fingers through my hair.

I pulled away from his embrace and wiped the dampness off my cheeks.

“I’m sorry,” I repeated. “I’m not normally so emotional but with all the stress I’ve had this is…this is wonderful,” I pointed to the various items he had cooked.

He kissed the top of my head, his fingers grazing my hip. “Why don’t you go sit down and relax while I grill these steaks?”

“Are you sure? I can help-”

He silenced me with a kiss. “No, Olivia. Relax. Let me take care of you,” he rubbed his fingers lightly up my side and I shivered. The tone of his voice held the promise of being taken care of in
many
ways.

“Okay,” I agreed.

Reluctantly, I sat on the couch, feeling like a useless blob.

A minute later, Trace brought me a glass of ice water. He observed my stiff posture and chuckled. “It doesn’t look like you’re relaxing.”

“I feel like I should be doing something,” I mumbled. I
hated
being unproductive.

“Nuh huh,” he shook his head and sat the
glass of water on the makeshift crate coffee table. “No helping, only relaxing. Unless you want to get naked?” He suggested. “I wouldn’t mind that.”

“I’m not getting naked,” I rolled my eyes.

“Too bad,” he shrugged with a grin. His eyes were a light playful green.

I squealed when he picked up my legs and lifted them onto the couch. He yanked my heels off and dropped them on the floor. He grabbed a flannel blanket off the back of the couch
, and draped it over my body. A pillow was already cushioned under my head.

He gazed down at me, appraising his handy work. “
This
is relaxing,” he smiled. “Now stay, Fido,” he chortled as he turned to head back into the kitchen.

“Ha, ha, ha,” I faked. “You’re so funny.”

“I am funny,” he turned back around and grinned cockily, “and smart, and handy, and insanely good looking,” he winked.

“Conceited much?” I joked with a raised brow.

“No, baby, just confident,” he chuckled and stepped into the kitchen. “I’ll be right back,” he called, opening the door. “The grill’s downstairs by the garage. Sometimes, the guys grill hotdogs for lunch.”

“Alright,” I sighed. “I’ll be here,” I pointed to the couch, “relaxing.”

“That’s my girl,” his laugh carried inside the apartment as the door closed behind him.

A few minutes later, he returned,
a gust of cold air blowing into the apartment behind him.

He rubbed his hands together. “It’s fucking cold out there,” he shivered. “I swear, the temperature is d
ropping by the second.”

I appraised his lightweight shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms. “Maybe, like a normal person, you should wear a coat,” I suggested with a smirk.

“It wasn’t that cold earlier!” He defended.

“It’s February, Trace,” I rolled my eyes, “it’s cold.”

“I can’t wait for spring,” he grumbled, making his way to the couch. He lifted my legs and sat down, placing them in his lap. “It’ll be at least thirty minutes on the steaks.”

“Ah, yes, spring. Rainstorms and allergies galore, that’s
so
much better than the cold,” I laughed.

He picked up my right foot and began to massage the inner
sole. My eyes fluttered closed, and a long, drawn out moan, escaped my lips.

“That feels so good,” I murmured, “but it’s going to make me sleepy.”

“Then go to sleep,” he replied softly. “I’ll let you nap. Those dark circles under your eyes tell me you haven’t been sleeping.”

“Too much homework,” I grumbled, “and not enough hours in the day.”

“You shouldn’t stay up all night to get your work done,” his thumb pressed into a tender spot on my foot.

“I don’t stay up
all
night,” I mumbled.
Only until one or two…okay, sometimes, three, in the morning.

Trace snorted, not buying it, but didn’t say anything.

He continued to massage my feet, and somewhere along the way, I fell asleep.

★★★

I woke up, blinking rapidly, to clear my vision.

Where was—

Oh, crap!

I sat straight up, looking wildly around me.

Holy crap, I fell asleep on Valentines Day while my sweet, thoughtful, boyfriend made me a romantic dinner.

Award for worst girlfriend
ever
goes to—insert drumroll—Olivia Owens.

I pushed the blanket off of my body
, and stood, looking around for Trace.

At that moment, the door to the apartment opened
, and Trace strode inside, with two steaming steaks on a plate.

Oh, thank goodness. I didn’t sleep
that
long.

“Hey,” he smiled, “you’re up.”

“Yeah,” I smoothed my fingers through my hair. “I can’t believe I fell asleep.”

He shrugged, and put the plate down on the counter.

“You needed your sleep. I’m glad you were able to get a nap,” he started fixing the food onto plates.