Connections (13 page)

“Twenty bucks, Livy, it’s in the fridge next time you’re over.
 
He’s so
whipped
,” Luke whispered loudly, then he took another swig from his mug.
 
She bit her lip to keep from smiling and Alex glared at him over his shoulder.
 
Luke looked down at the watch on his wrist.
 
“I need to get going.
 
Gotta go get coffee.”

Olivia raised her brow.
 
This man was serious about his coffee apparently.
 
Alex saw the look on her face and smirked at his friend, “Still being a pussy, Luke?
 
I’d like to meet this girl when you eventually grow some balls.
 
She must be something to make the mighty Lucas Branford clam up.”

“Today’s the day, my friend.
 
Laugh it up while you can.”

“You’ve been saying that for two weeks now,” Alex informed him, taking a sip of his black coffee.
 
Luke looked at him like it was a crime to drink coffee with no add ins.

“I’m confused,” Olivia said, looking between the two men.
 
“What girl?”

“Luke’s in love with this woman he saw at a coffee house.
 
But he hasn’t talked to her yet,” Alex told her, rounding the counter so he could tuck her into his side.

“That’s sweet,” Olivia said, smiling at Luke.

Luke scowled, “Not sweet.
 
And I’m not in love with her.
 
I’m in lust with her.
 
And when I see my opportunity, I’ll take it and then be done with her.”

“Uh huh,” Alex said.
 
“So why’s it taking you so long?
 
I went back to Liv’s shop after only a few
days,
so you have no excuse.”

Luke drained the rest of his coffee and then rinsed his mug out in the sink, ignoring Alex.
 
When he turned back around to face him, he pointed at Alex.
 
“Remember.
 
Coffee-mate Pumpkin.”
 
And then he walked around the counter and made it all the way to the front door before he cursed loudly and reappeared.
 
“
Ah shit, I ruined my dramatic exit.
 
I need my tools.”

Alex was on the verge of laughing, but for his friend’s sake, he held it in.
 
The two men disappeared into the backyard for a brief moment before coming back inside.
 
Luke held numerous wrenches and other tools that Olivia had no clue how to identify.
 
Definitely men toys.

“Why don’t you just get Caleb to do it?” Alex was asking.

“Because he’s a dick and he’d still charge me because it’s still his uncle’s business.
 
Besides, I know my way around a car.
 
Knowing my mom, she probably just needs her oil changed.”

Alex shrugged and then said, “Well, say hi to her for me.”

“Will do.
 
Bye Livy.
 
Remember those free cupcakes, okay?” Luke said.
 
She laughed, shaking her head, and then he left.

Alex swiveled her around in the bar stool and she parted her thighs for him so he could step closer.
 
His robe slipped around her legs and he eyed her bared skin before smiling.

“Now for a proper good morning kiss, because I believe you said you’re all mine until I go to work.”

“I am,” she whispered, smiling, feeling so damn happy she thought she might burst.
 
“All yours.”

A couple days later, Olivia was about to close up her shop for the night.
 
It had been a relatively slow day, but she’d been anxious for closing time since she and Alex had dinner reservations at one of her favorite restaurants in town.
 
He was coming to swing by after work to help her clean up so they could make it to dinner by 8:30.

In the back kitchen, Olivia hummed a song playing on her phone.
 
True to his word, Alex had brought her a new phone from work.
 
“Welcome to the 21
^st
Century,” he’d said when he presented her with the smartphone.
 
He’d been way too pleased when she’d turned off her trusty flip phone for the last time.
 
It had been like a little personal victory for him.

She was still getting used to her phone but Alex had showed her how to download the Pandora app and now she listened to it whenever she got a chance.
 
She loved it.
 
And now Alex teased her because she’d discovered game apps and she had played them all through her lunch break today.
 
Maybe there was something to this smartphone thing…

The little bell above her front shop door rang and Olivia wondered if Alex had come early.
 
Just as she put down the bowl she was cleaning in the sink, her kitchen door opened with a loud whoosh.
 
Smiling, she looked over her shoulder, about to tease Alex for his eagerness to clean.

Except it wasn’t Alex.

“Mr. Miller,” she greeted softly, wiping her wet hands on her floury apron.
 
Shock wiped the smile off her face.
 
Her mind started racing a thousand miles a minute as she stared at the man across the room.
 
“Can I help you with something?”

She remembered Alex’s worries about Mr. Miller.
 
Olivia had brushed them off because he’d never done anything to make her suspect he could be dangerous.
 
Sure, he was a little intense whenever he came in, but she had pegged him as just being a little socially awkward.
 
And there was nothing wrong with that.

Nevertheless, she checked his hands quickly for any weapons.
 
Nothing.
 
She relaxed a little bit, but didn’t lower her guard.
 
She needed to be calm if he
was
the one who’d been sending her those awful text messages.

Mr. Miller stared at her from the doorway of the kitchen.
 
He looked pale and the fluorescent lighting of her kitchen highlighted the sweat gleaming off his upper lip and forehead.
 
He wasn’t an old man—Olivia had always thought he was in his early thirties, not that much older than her—but he looked it now.

Her large counter was between the both of them and Olivia’s heart beat faster in her throat when he started to slowly round it.
 
The kitchen door slid closed, sealing them off inside the room.
 
She pressed herself against the kitchen sink, her hands gripping the edge until her knuckles turned white.

“If you just step into the front shop, I can help you with your order, Mr. Miller,” she said more firmly, praying that her voice didn’t relay her nervousness.

He continued towards her.

Taking a deep breath through her nose, Olivia quickly assessed the situation.
 
Her phone was on the end of the counter nearest the kitchen door.
 
If she could just get to it, she could call for help if the situation got worse.
 
Option two was drawing Mr. Miller out into the front shop where people often passed by and could see in.

And Alex
, she thought.
 
Alex would be here soon.

She decided she’d do both.
 
Reach her phone and go to the front.
 
But she just had to get around to the other side of the counter.

He was approaching her quickly and if she didn’t move now she’d miss her chance.

“Did you get my messages?” he asked her slowly.

Shock and cold fear flooded her system.

It had been him.
 
This whole time, it had been Mr. Miller.

She inhaled a breath sharply and jolted into motion at the same time.
 
But he was quicker.
 
He caught her around the waist before she made it a few steps and then he tugged her to him roughly, pining her arms to her sides.
 
She let out a small scream, but he clamped a hand over her mouth almost immediately.
 
No one would have heard.

Afraid, she looked up at him.
 
He wasn’t that much taller than she was—and definitely not as tall as Alex—but he was still stronger.
 
She struggled in his grip to try and break free but he was as immovable as a statue.

“Why is your phone disconnected, my sweet Livy?” he asked, leaning in close to her ear.
 
She shuddered when the tip of his nose caressed her cheek almost lovingly.
 
He sighed into her skin.
 
“I tried calling you earlier to tell you how right we are for each other.”

He smelled wrong to her.
 
Lately, she’d only been this close to Alex.
 
Being close to Alex felt wonderful, but now she just felt dirty.
 
Unclean.

“I told you we’d be together.
 
I can be everything you want.
 
I promise.
 
Just give us a chance and forget about
him
.”

She tried to break away again, shrieking behind the weight of his sweaty palm.
 
But her legs were shaking with fear and she felt too weak next to him.
 
Her eyes darted to her phone.
 
It was still too far away to reach.

“Now, I’m going to move my hand, but you have to promise not to scream.
 
I just want to kiss you.
 
That’s all.
 
I’ve been dreaming about it for so long and now I finally have my chance,” he whispered, his brown eyes gazing down at her.
 
It hit her then that Mr. Miller really did think he was in love with her.
 
Or at least obsessed with her.
 
It was there in his eyes.

She felt sick.
 
How had she not seen it before?

“You were nice to me, Livy, when no one else was.
 
Always so nice,” he whispered before his lips crashed down on hers.
 
She froze, but tried to stay focused.
 
She could use this to her advantage.
 
If she maneuvered him a little to the right…

Even though everything in her protested, she kissed him back.

It was sloppy and his breath was sour and it made her want to gag.
 
But she fought through it and eventually got him placed right where she wanted him.

In this position, her legs weren’t as restrained.

Quickly, she bit down on his lips hard and drove her knee up into his groin with as much force as she could manage.

He groaned in pain immediately, crumpling down to the floor, and she took her opportunity.
 
She scrambled to the left just as he dove for her.
 
But just when she was in arms reach of her phone, she felt his cold hand grip her ankle and she tumbled down onto the tile of her kitchen.
 
She cried out in pain when her knee connected with the hard floor, but luckily it faded to a dull throb a moment later.

Mr. Miller rose to his full height, sneering.
 
He grabbed Olivia by the arm and hauled her to a standing position while she struggled.
 
He threw her against the counter and bent her over so that her back was exposed to him.
 
She screamed again before he pressed himself against the back of her thighs.
 
His hips held her in place and Olivia felt bile rise in the back of her throat.

She tried to escape, tried to scratch or bite him or hurt him.
 
But it was no use.
 
He was too strong.

“Stop fighting me, Livy.
 
You’ll only make me angry.”

Alex drummed his fingers impatiently on his thigh while he waited at a stoplight, anxious to see Olivia.
 
He’d finished up a conference call a little later than he expected to, but it had been with the VP of his company so he couldn’t have cut it short, no matter how much he wanted to.

Glancing at the clock, it read 7:13.
 
They had dinner reservations in a little over an hour, so he needed to make speedy work of Olivia’s kitchen if they were going to make it on time.

He pulled up to Olivia’s shop a few minutes later.
 
Killing the engine, he got out of his car and pulled out his phone, about to call her so she could come unlock the front door for him.
 
But then he noticed the open sign hadn’t been flipped to closed.
 
And she hadn’t started taking the leftover cupcakes to the back kitchen, which was usually the first thing she did.

Frowning, he tugged open the front door of her shop, listening for her in the back.

And then he heard it.
 
A male voice.
 
And then he heard struggling.

He rushed to the kitchen door and threw it open with a loud bang.

His heart stopped in cold, icy fear and he struggled to breathe.

Olivia was pressed faced down into the counter, frantically fighting against a man, who Alex recognized as Mr. Miller.
 
Her arms dangled at her sides as she struggled to get leverage.
 
A cry escaped her lips and Alex saw red.

Springing into action, he rushed the man, furious that he even dared to touch Olivia.
 
Mr. Miller grunted at the impact of Alex’s body against his and Alex drove him all the way up to the refrigerator, throwing him against it roughly, enough to send jars of milk rattling inside.
 
He heard Olivia scrambling behind him and a moment later he heard dialing.
 
But he blocked it all out.

He was focused on one thing and one thing only.
 
He wanted to break every fucking bone in this man’s body.