Falling for Him by Alexandra O'Hurley Page B

harsh.”
    Jenny looked straight ahead, no emotion on her face. She didn’t respond, and for a moment, Liam wondered if she’d even heard him. “Jenny?”
    “I heard what you said, but I only spoke the truth, harsh or not. You’ve fallen into this whole crazy pity thing with this girl and somehow it’s morphing into something much more emotional than it needs to be.”
    Whole crazy pity thing? “What’re you talking about?”
    “I saw the way you looked at her at dinner. I noticed the sly glances coming from both sides of the table. The girl obviously has a crush on you, and if I were to guess, I’d say it’s been active a long time. Now you’re feeding it and you’re giving her the wrong impression.”
    Liam hadn’t realized he’d been so obvious in his interest in Olivia. But Jenny was wrong. Yes, he felt guilty as hell for what had happened years ago, but that wasn’t what drew him to her. Outside of her discomfort and limp, he felt no compulsion to interfere in her life. Seeing her for the woman she had become was a shock to his system, a shock he couldn’t turn off. Thoughts of Olivia had filled his mind since dinner. He couldn’t wait to see her again.
    “You have nothing to say?”
    Liam looked over at Jenny. She was beautiful, funny, smart, and the exact kind of woman his parents and everyone else in his life thought he should pick for a wife. His mother had even labeled her as perfect for him, her eyes twinkling with excitement. Yet she wasn’t perfect. Something inside her was missing, and he couldn’t put a finger on it.
    Jenny simply wasn’t the one . And after hearing what she’d said to Olivia, it was glaringly obvious that he’d made the wrong choice.
    “I don’t know how to respond. Regardless of what you seem to think, Olivia didn’t deserve to be ripped apart. I’ve never seen your vicious side, and I can’t say I like it.”
    Jenny was quiet as they rode for another mile, but he could sense her mind churning from the passenger side.
    “Perhaps I was a little harsher than I planned. But you need to stop feeding her infatuation.”
    Was Olivia infatuated with him? He’d offered her his kiss, and she’d pushed him away, rushing past him to dinner. Yet there had been a few moments when she’d seem intrigued, even enthralled by the thought. When she’d stepped nearer, he’d wanted to grab her and pull her close.
    His mind reeled. As he sat beside the woman he’d spent the good part of a year seeing, he was thinking of Olivia. That in itself spoke volumes.
    Didn’t it?
    He stood at a fork in the road. There were so many expectations on all sides. He needed time to think, time to decide what the best course of action was. Either he continued down this path with Jenny, knowing what she wanted from him, or he let her go, freeing them both to find whatever fate had in store.
    “I think I need some time.”
    “Time for what?”
    He glanced over at her and noted her large eyes and incredulous look. “Just a few days. After that eruption, I think we need to cool it for a bit.”
    “Cool it for a bit.”
    He saw her cross her arms over her chest from the corner of his eye. “I’ll be busy this week with my schedule anyway,” she said as she settled back into her seat.
    Liam turned toward her street.
    “Where are we going? I thought we were going to the food bank?”
    “I don’t need your help with the boxes. I can manage.” He stopped his car before her townhouse and smiled at her.
    She watched him for a moment before she spoke. “We’re okay, right?”
    “Yeah. We’re okay.” He smiled for her, trying to calm her fears. They weren’t okay, but he wasn’t ready to get into an argument right now. He needed time to think before he reacted.
    “Okay.” Jenny smiled tremulously and leaned in to kiss him. He turned and gave her his cheek. As she leaned back, he saw a glimmering of tears in her eyes. Liam waited for her to be inside the house before he pulled away.
    As he