Oliver smiled and tucked a piece of my hair back behind my ear. “Of course. Anything for you.”
I couldn’t stop the grin that stretched my lips, and I pounded one hand into the other, my battle plan forming. “We need to tell Pierce.” He needed to learn the truth before anything else happened.
As expected, Oliver cringed. “Can we just stay here forever instead?”
I laughed as he placed a quick kiss against my mouth, the faint taste of me still lingering on his lips. “After we tell Pierce.”
Once I completed what I needed to do in Pelican Bay, we could sail away together and spend as much time as he wanted in his cubby bedroom.
He sighed deeply. “Fine, we will tell him tonight.”
But I couldn’t wait until evening to get the things I needed off my chest.
“No.”
“What?”
It had to be fixed now, and I needed to be the one to do it. I’d gotten myself into the mess with Pierce and I’d be the one to see myself out of it.
“I should tell him. Alone.” If Pierce didn’t handle the news well, I wanted him to be mad at me and not his cousin. They had a long-standing friendship, and I refused to get in the way. This ordeal was my mess, and I had to clean it up.
“No way, Pierce is my cousin. I know how to handle him.”
“Please,” I practically begged. “I need to do this alone.” It wasn’t just because I wanted to tell Pierce but I also needed to prove to myself that I solved this problem without losing my cool and ruining my reputation.
More was at stake than my agreement with Pierce and my future with Oliver. I needed to find my true self again.
25
Mari
Oliver’s car idled in Pierce’s driveway. I turned back as he leaned through the driver side window before I stepped into the walkway.
“Are you sure, Mari?” he asked.
The only thing I’d been surer of was my desire to spend my forever with Oliver. “Yes.”
I was an adult and besides I had things I needed to say to Pierce. I wasn’t the only one of us who let life things get in the way of business. Something told me what I planned to tell Pierce was something he needed to hear.
Oliver waited until I let myself in the quiet home and I shut the door behind me before he pulled away. “Pierce?” I called out, but the mansion was still.
He still hadn’t replaced Melissa even though I admitted to him her story didn’t hold water. He didn’t hold it over my head or do the classic “I told you so,” but he also didn’t rush out to hire someone in her place. It seemed as if he was content wandering the home by himself with only Oliver and me to keep him company.
I quietly jogged up the stairs to the second floor and stood outside his office door, giving a light knock on the wood.
“Come in.”
I slipped inside the door, not opening it completely, and Pierce didn’t even look up from the papers he read. “Oh, Mari,” he said as if he expected somebody else, but it was only me and him in the house. “Can whatever you need wait? I’m looking over the final contract for tomorrow.”
Tomorrow he would complete the purchase of the Pelican Bay bed-and-breakfast and I would have to begin my true work as his fiancée. Wonderful because here I stood a day earlier looking to break the contract. Pierce had more problems than he realized.
For a moment I considered giving him the privacy he desired, but this revelation was too important and could not wait another second. And honestly, I should’ve told him days ago. At the first sign of my affections toward his cousin, we should have discussed the deal. Definitely after our first kiss and for sure after the second.
“No, sorry,” I said taking a seat across the desk from him. There was no more time to wait. I had to get the burden off my chest.
Pierce peered up at me over the top of his paper with a weird expression but finally set it down and laid his hands on top of the stack. “What’s on your mind?”
“Oliver.”
