Chapter 2

Ethan took a step back and opened his mouth to say something.

A man's voice came from behind him.

"Olivia, who's this?"

Ryan Harper walked up beside Ethan and gave him a puzzled once-over.

"Who the hell are you?" Ethan snapped.

Ethan's face fell even further than before.

Ryan ignored the hostility completely and looked right past him at me.

"Didn't you say you had something to show me? I was grabbing dinner nearby, so I came over after."

Ryan was my cousin.

We'd always been more like buddies than family, and we never bothered with the cousin stuff.

"Uh, tonight's not great. Maybe another day."

I glanced at Ethan, thought about it, and said it to Ryan.

"Another day? Because there's company?"

Ryan looked a little let down, and his eyes flicked over to Ethan.

Ryan and I had cats of the same breed. Mine could do backflips, and his couldn't.

I'd wanted to show off, but Mittens wasn't feeling well today and had no interest in flipping.

Besides, who comes over in the middle of the night to look at a cat?

I'd told him to come on Saturday morning.

"Olivia, am I a dog you walk around for fun?!"

Ethan exploded with no warning at all.

I was totally stunned.

The next second, Ethan swung the bag he'd been hiding behind his back into my hands, his jaw clenched.

"Olivia, if I ever give you the time of day again, I'm the dog!"

He turned and marched off like he'd made some enormous decision.

I stood there dazed and opened the bag.

Inside lay a black lace camisole that I recognized.

Wasn't this the birthday present my best friend, Chloe, had picked out for me a few days ago?

How had it ended up in Ethan's hands?!

I was completely lost, Ryan looked equally lost, and then Ethan, who had just left, came storming back for no reason I could see.

He snatched the bag out of my hands, his eyes fierce enough to scare me.

"You want me to play bodyguard for your love life? Dream on!"

He dropped that line.

Then he cut Ryan a glare a hundred times scarier than the last one.

Ryan visibly flinched.

Ethan finally left for good.

After all that, my mood was ruined.

The man was unhinged.

Ryan read the room, said a quick goodbye, and slipped away.

I shut the door and went back inside.

I'd just picked up my phone to scroll through some shirtless guys and calm down when I saw the twenty-plus unread texts waiting for me.

It took me about ten minutes to read the whole thread from top to bottom.

So that was it.

That was why Ethan had come charging over.

While I was still processing, Chloe called.

She asked, "Liv, did that sexy little number I picked out for you show up?"

I said, "Did you send it to the wrong address?"

"Huh?"

"You sent it to my ex's place?"

When Ethan and I were dating, I'd practically lived at his apartment.

So whenever Chloe sent me anything, she filled in his address out of habit.

She said, "Oh, crap. I totally forgot to change it!"

I told her it was fine and hung up.

Then I started thinking.

It was one piece of lingerie delivered to the wrong address. That was all.

And the man I'd spent a year dating without ever warming him up had somehow talked himself into it and shown up at my door in the middle of the night?

I thought about the look on his face earlier, like he wanted to say something and couldn't, all flustered and quietly worked up, and I couldn't stop replaying it.

Back then, I'd been the lovesick one, orbiting him like a moon.

A light bulb went off.

I dug through my closet until I found the sexiest thing I owned, put it on, and took a few dozen moody, gorgeous selfies in the bathroom mirror.

I opened my chat with Ethan.

I hit send.

Then I added a message.

Olivia: [Ethan, give me a man's opinion. Which one hits hardest?]

Ethan: [What?]

Then came a wall of text I could practically smell the smoke coming off of.

Ethan: [Olivia, have you lost your mind?! You're wearing this for some other guy, and you want me to judge?]

Ethan: [I get it now. You sent that camisole to my place on purpose to mess with me, didn't you?!]

Ethan: [A year after we broke up, and you're still pulling this on me! How vindictive are you?]

I bit back a laugh.

The idiot had jumped to exactly the wrong conclusion.

I thought for a second and typed: [Who said I was wearing it for someone else?]

Ethan went quiet for a long moment.

Then he shot back: [Who was that guy?]

Olivia: [Nobody important.]

Ethan: [Nobody important shows up at your door in the middle of the night?]

Olivia: [Believe what you want.]

He didn't answer.

Olivia: [By the way, when do I get my stuff back?]

Ethan: [Going to bed. Don't have time.]

Olivia: [Did you like it? Bring it over yourself, and I'll model it for you in person.]

Ethan: [Olivia, and you still claim this wasn't on purpose?!]

Olivia: [It was on purpose. So do you have the guts to come over or not?]

Ethan: [You think I'd fall for it twice?]

Olivia: [So that's a no?]

He went silent.

Olivia: [Shame. I could've sworn I saw a little square box in someone's bag earlier. Looked awfully familiar.]

He didn't reply.

I didn't send anything else.

Another ten minutes or so went by.

Somebody was going eight hundred rounds with himself.

Ethan: [Wait for me.]