Going for Four: Counting on Love, Book 4 (34 page)

“She’s stronger than we both gave her credit for,” Cody admitted. “She’s still sweet and forgiving and thinks I’m awesome, but…” He shrugged and gave Conner a sheepish look. “I can assure you that, over time, as she has to put up with me, she’ll likely think I’m less awesome.”

Conner shook his head. “I hope not.”

“What?”

“I know I’ve been hard on you,” Conner said. “And I’m sorry.”

Cody felt his leg throb as his body tensed in surprise again. “For what?”

“For not telling you that I’m not just happy about you and Olivia because I think you’ll take good care of her. I’m happy because she thinks you’re amazing. You deserve to be with a woman who knows that.”

Cody opened his mouth to reply, but had no idea what he was going to reply with.

He felt a little dizzy—pain and blood loss, surprise, relief—and he closed his eyes and breathed deep through his nose. He couldn’t wait to tell Olivia about all of this at dinner tonight…

Son of a bitch
.

He had a date tonight. With Olivia. She didn’t know that, but he had to be there. If he wasn’t, she’d think she’d gotten stood up again. And it would ruin the great big romantic moment he’d planned.

“This is a problem,” Conner said evenly, attempting to clean the wound further.

“Yeah, no shit.”

Conner radioed to his crew, asking for a stretcher.

“Can’t you just bandage it?”

Conner looked at him like he was nuts. “Thought your head was fine.”

“Head’s dizzy. But not crazy.”

“So, no, I can’t just bandage it. You’re going to the ER. And you’re gonna be there for a while.”

A wave of pain and nausea hit, and Cody worked to breathe through it and not puke.

When it passed, he said, “I’ve gotta be somewhere tonight.”

“Too bad.” Conner was examining the rest of his leg. It was already turning black and blue.

“No, it’s really important.”

Conner looked up at him. “Too fucking bad. You’re going to the hospital. Don’t be a dumb ass.”

“It’s Olivia.”

“What is?”

“I’m supposed to see Olivia tonight.”

Conner sighed. “So call and tell her what happened. She’ll want to be with you anyway.”

“I love her, Conner.”

“I know.”

“This is it. She’s the one I want. For good.”

“I know.”

“She’s meeting me tonight, but she doesn’t know it’s me. I convinced her to meet a fourth guy from the dating site. Tonight. But it’s me. I’m going to show her that it doesn’t matter what that site says or what y—anyone—says. We belong together. I have this whole big…thing planned.”

He’d been chatting with her as CAM609. At first he hadn’t believed that she didn’t know it was him. But as they’d chatted, she’d told him about things the man she was in love with did to make her feel special, things she loved about him, and about their love story.

She was telling him about
him
. And she really didn’t know.

The whole thing was awesome. It was like reading her mind. He was walking around cockier and more confident than ever.

But now he knew for sure that she was in love with him, that she wanted to be with him, that they were meant to be. He’d been romancing her for two weeks.

Two weeks and twenty months.

Surely that was enough.

Conner was looking at him, a myriad of emotions in his eyes. “You’re going to propose?”

He wasn’t going to be able to duck if Conner took a swing, and he wasn’t going to be able to pull himself out of this building if Conner got pissed and left him. Still, Cody nodded. “Yeah.”

Instead of swinging or stomping out, though, Conner nodded thoughtfully. “She’d love that. The surprise. A whole big production.”

“Yeah.”

Conner studied him and Cody worked on not squirming.

“Okay, here’s what’s going to happen,” Conner said as the sounds of the gurney rolling over cement came to them.

Cody was pretty sure he was ready to hear this. “Okay.”

“You’re going to St. Anthony’s. And I’m going…” He frowned. “Where am I going?”

“You mean where I’m meeting Liv?”

Conner nodded.

“Cliff’s.”

“All right, I’m going to Cliff’s at…what time?”

Cody actually felt himself smile. “Six.”

“Where’s the ring?”

“Conner,” Cody began as Gabby and Ryan showed up with the gurney. “Are you telling me that you’re going to propose to your sister for me?”

Ryan and Gabby looked at Conner with wide eyes.

“Well, you want it to be memorable and unique, right?” Conner asked.

He got to his feet as Gabby and Ryan helped Cody onto the gurney.

Cody leaned to meet his friend’s eyes. “You sure?”

Conner sighed. “Strangely, I am.”

Olivia approached the door to Cliff’s with butterflies in her stomach.

This wasn’t her date, but she was excited. She hoped that her online friend found what he was looking for. She hoped that she was about to witness the first date that this couple would be telling their grandkids about.

She stepped through the door and looked around. She didn’t want to interrupt, but if there was a guy sitting by himself, she might go and say hello. And wish him luck.

There were a few occupied tables, but only one with a guy alone.

But there was something very familiar about that guy.

She pulled her purse up higher on her shoulder and headed for the table.

“Conner?

He shoved his chair back and stood. He didn’t look surprised to see her. “Hi, Liv.”

He did, however, look really nice. He was dressed in a suit and tie. “Wow. You look great.”

“Thanks.” He fussed with the knot of the tie.

“What are you doing here?” Then it occurred to her. “Wait, you’re here on a
date
?”

“Um.” He cleared his throat and loosened the tie slightly. “Kind of.”

Her brother didn’t date. He flirted and hooked up from time to time—something she chose not to spend a lot of time thinking about—but he didn’t
date
. That would imply that he was interested in a relationship, which he was not. He was quite adamant on that point, actually. He always said that he’d had plenty of women in his life and he was looking forward to a time when he didn’t have any females to take care of.

“Well, that’s…great,” she said.

Conner tugged on the cuffs of his shirt and cleared his throat again. “I, um…”

“You okay?”

He finally looked her directly in the eye. “Yeah. I’m okay. I’m good.”

“You’re nervous about your date?” That was sweet. And unexpected.

“I, um…”

Conner was cocky. Always. Especially with women.

She reached for his arm. “Conner, what’s going on?”

“My date is…with you.”

She snatched her hand back. “What? Gross!” She frowned. “
We
were set up by Perfect Pick?”

His eyes widened. Then he laughed. Glancing around, he nudged her toward the chair opposite him. “No. God. We weren’t set up.”

She took the seat. “What’s going on?”

“I’m here—”

The waiter approached with two glasses of water and the wine list. They paused for him to go through the evening’s specials.

When he’d moved off, Conner tried to explain again. “I came down here because—”

“Oh, my god! Conner Dixon?” A beautiful brunette, who had been sitting at a table with two other women, stopped beside Conner’s chair, a hand on her hip.

“Uh, hi, Lisa.”

“What are you doing here?” The woman turned to Olivia. “Is this the new girlfriend? I see you put a tie on for her.”

“This is my sister,” Conner said quickly. “And it’s her birthday. And she’s been dumped. So yes, I thought I would dress up and take her out.”

Lisa’s face softened. “Oh, I’m sorry.”

“I’ve been dumped?” Olivia asked.

Conner glanced at her, then back to Lisa with a smile. “I’m trying to cheer her up.”

“I understand. I’m sorry I interrupted.” She started to turn away, then turned back, leaned over to kiss Conner’s cheek. “You’re so sweet.” Then she moved off.

Olivia leaned in on her forearms. “You’re incorrigible.”

“I’m
talented.
I got rid of her and she still thinks I’m the sweetest guy she knows.”

“Am I being dumped?” she asked. “If you’re here to tell me to stay away from Cody again, we’re going to have—”

“That’s not why I’m here.”

“Well, if you’re here to tell me that you talked to Cody—”

“That’s not why I’m here either.”

“Then why are you here?”

He started, then stopped. He started again, then stopped again.

Olivia grew concerned. “Conner, is everything okay?”

He didn’t reply.

She reached out and grabbed his hand. What was he trying to tell her? Had he gotten one of his flings pregnant? Was he leaving Omaha? Was he dying? “Conner, are you sick?”

“Sick?” He shook his head. “No. I’m here about Cody.”

She narrowed her eyes. “You
are
here about Cody?”

“Yes.”

“I’m in love with him, Conner. There’s nothing you can—”

“I’m not trying to break you up.”

A horrible thought hit her. Oh god. What if
Cody
had gotten one of his flings pregnant? What if he was leaving Omaha? What if
he
was dying? She gripped her brother’s hand harder. “Conner,” she said, trying not to grit her teeth. “Is Cody okay?”

“Um.”

She squeezed his hand. “
Conner.
”

“He’s at St. Anthony’s, actually.”

“
What
?” She sprang from her seat.

“There was an incident on a call.” Conner got to his feet too. “But he’s okay. Well, he’ll
be
okay.”

Her heart in her throat, Olivia took a step closer to him. “What. Happened?”

“Burning building, staircase fell in, big gash on his leg. But,” Conner said quickly. “I was the one that went in after him.”

She stared at him. Then she pivoted and started for the door.

“Olivia, wait!” Conner grabbed for her and hooked her purse strap, bringing her around to face him.

“Conner, I have to go!”

“No, wait. Not until I tell you why I came down here.”

“You came down here to tell me that the man I love is in the hospital!”

The other patrons were turning to look at the drama unfolding in the middle of the restaurant, but Olivia didn’t care. She tried to jerk her purse from Conner’s grip.

“I wouldn’t have come clear down here in a
tie
to tell you that,” Conner said. “I would have called you.”

“But you… But I…” She fumbled for words. “So you
didn’t
come down here to tell me about Cody’s accident?”

“No. This is much bigger.”

Even the wait staff had gathered around at this point.

She faced him. “Bigger than Cody being in the hospital?”

“Yes.”

“Tell me. Now.”

He took both of her hands in his. Which freaked her out. “Of all the girls, I always felt like maybe you needed me the most,” he said. “And I have to say that I’m so damned proud of you, Liv. I love you so much.”

There was emotion in Conner’s voice that made her go back to the thought about him maybe dying.

“Conner…”

“And I want you to know that what I’m about to say to you is from my heart.”

This was…so weird. “Conner—”

“I’m actually a little bit glad that this is how this worked out.”

“Conner, seriously. If you’re dying and you got all dressed up to tell me I’m never going to—”

“Dying? I’m trying to propose!”

There was total silence in the restaurant for five seconds. Then a fork clattered against a plate and the place erupted into applause.

“I don’t understand,” Olivia tried to say, but their waiter swept over to them, urging them back into their seats and gushing about a special dessert for the big occasion.

The maître d’ came by with a rose. The piano player at the baby grand launched into “The Wedding Song”. And people at the tables around them leaned over to congratulate them.

Finally, Olivia and Conner looked at one another. And burst out laughing.

The waiter appeared again, popping the top on a bottle of champagne, and when their glasses were full, Conner raised his up.

“To my beautiful little sister and the most romantic moment of her life.”

“Glad you could be here,” she said as she clinked her glass against his.