Going for Four: Counting on Love, Book 4 (29 page)

“Worse?”

“Your brother is a paramedic, if you recall,” Mac said.

Oh…right. Dammit. Olivia’s gaze flew to the club’s front entrance as well.

“Ryan said that he’d let Conner talk to you, but that he needed to wait for you to come out.”

“He didn’t want Conner to see something bad,” she concluded.

“The shock of hearing that
you
were at Frigid was enough to keep him pretty quiet on the ride over,” Mac said. “Ryan was afraid that the shock of what he might see you doing would make him insane.”

“I wasn’t really doing anything,” she said, still a little depressed about that.

“But that’s unusual at Frigid,” Mac said with a grin.

“You couldn’t have stayed outside with Conner?” she asked. She’d been kind of hoping for some advice from Ryan. He knew Cody. He could tell her if she was stupid to still hope that Cody was the guy she was meant to be with.

“I have a tendency to antagonize your brother,” Mac said with a grin that clearly said he didn’t feel bad about it. “And he was already pretty antagonized.”

His statement was very true. Mac loved to rile Conner. Mostly because Conner loved to rile Mac. Conner had been flirting with Mac’s wife for well over a year now. For instance.

“Okay, let’s go rescue Ryan,” she said with a sigh.

“Well,” Dooley said as they started for the door, one on each side of her. “It’s
Gabby’s
hands that are full of Conner.”

Olivia tripped and looked at Dooley. “
What
?”

He grinned. “Not like that. But she was at the meeting, obviously.”

Gabby Evans was one of two female paramedics on the entire EMT staff at St. A’s. Both women were on Conner and Ryan’s crew.

“She came along to help Ryan when someone else decided to tag along.”

Olivia felt her stomach tighten. “Who?” But she knew who.

“Cody.”

Of course he’d been at Trudy’s tonight. Did any of these guys do anything without the others, she wondered crossly.

“So Ryan’s dealing with Cody and Gabby’s dealing with Conner?” she asked.

“Sam and Kevin and Sierra are all here too,” Mac confirmed. “They’re backup in case Ryan and Gabby can’t keep Cody and Conner from going at each other.”

Sam and Kevin were on Mac and Dooley’s crew. Sierra was the other female paramedic on Conner’s crew.

“Well, gee, that’s great. You all can have your meeting here,” she said, feeling irritated.

She didn’t need a damned army to show up just because she was in a place a little out of character for her. And failing to actually
do
anything out of character.

“Look at it this way,” Dooley said, pushing the door open. “There are lots of paramedics here in case anyone needs to be patched up.”

“They better have their bandages nearby,” Olivia muttered. She was mad at both Conner and Cody. Which surprised her a little bit. She didn’t get mad very often.

She was sure it was going to surprise them as well.

Her brother was here because he didn’t think she could make a good decision without his input. Cody was here because he was afraid she was going to meet a decadent cheesecake that was going to kick the crap out of the chocolate chip cookies she was used to.

She had major doubts about that happening, but he was worried.

Well, good.

She stomped through the door and out onto the sidewalk. She saw both men immediately. Conner stood near the cars parked at the curb. He was facing the building, but Gabby was right in front of him, Sierra at her side. Cody was leaning against the outside wall of Frigid
.
Ryan was in front of him. Sam and Kevin were only a few feet away.

She could practically see the waves of tension around the lot of them.

She went to her brother first, planting her hands on her hips. “I don’t need your permission, Conner. I don’t need you to approve of what I do.”

“What the hell were you
thinking
?” was his response to that. “Jesus, Olivia.”

“I was thinking,” Olivia said, “That I don’t know what’s out there, what my options are.”

“And you thought
this
might be an option?”

“Of course it’s an option. So are lesbianism and the convent, for that matter.”

She heard Cody cough behind her. She stoically kept her attention on Conner. Okay, becoming a lesbian or a nun wasn’t likely going to happen. Still they were
options
open to her. She could do whatever she wanted.

Conner sighed heavily, as if he’d never been put under such a burden in his life, then stepped forward and took her upper arm in hand, turning her toward the building.

What the hell?

He walked her to where Cody stood. She could tell by Cody’s stance that he was faking the nonchalance he was trying to pull off.

“Here.” Conner nudged her forward to Cody. “Date him. If that’s what will keep you from freaking out and running to places like Frigid—or lesbianism—” He rolled his eyes.

She assumed he was fine with her ending up at the convent.

“—then do it. At least I know him. I can find him and kick his ass if he messes up.”

“What?” She glanced up at Cody, who was watching them—and not saying a damned word.

Well, that was typical, wasn’t it? Heaven forbid he open his mouth and tell anyone anything about how he was feeling or what he was thinking.

That might be a little harsh. That was still maybe the liquor. But she would have done anything to have heard “I love you” from him months ago.

She turned back to her brother. “You think I’m here tonight because I’m trying to manipulate you into
letting
me date Cody?”

Conner was scowling at her. “Why else would you be
here
?”

Frigid was a huge stretch to her boundaries, she could admit. But this wasn’t about
him
,
and he was definitely making it sound like everything she’d done tonight had been a calculated effort to frustrate and infuriate
him.

“Because I wanted to do something new.” Olivia realized she was in the midst of a defining moment. She and Conner had always functioned a certain way according to simple rules—he gave her advice and she followed it. Because no one had her best interests at heart more than Conner did.

Except…

There was actually one person who cared even more about her happiness than Conner did.

Her.

It was time for her to take some control. She’d never done it before because they’d never disagreed about anything that mattered this much. But while she believed her brother loved her and meant well, he needed to know that she could and would say no to him.

She
needed to know that she could, and would, say no to him.

“Conner, you’re overreacting,” she said calmly. “What I do, where I do it and who I do it with aren’t your business unless
I
choose to tell you.”

He gave her a you’ve-got-to-be-fucking-kidding-me look, then looked at Cody.

“You want her?” he asked, throwing up his hands. “She’s all yours. Better you than anyone else, I guess.”

“Easy, Dixon,” Gabby said quietly. “You’re not as good-looking when you’re being an ass to your little sister.”

Olivia knew that “little sister” were the only words that really sunk in, but they did make him take a deep breath.

She wasn’t sure what shocked her more—that he was saying Cody was the best guy for her after all, even if it was by default, or that Conner thought he could
give
her to Cody.

“Dix—” Cody started.

“Are you seriously saying that given all of
your
options,
you
think Cody is the best choice for me?” Olivia asked.

Conner nodded. “Cody’s definitely on top of the list of guys inside Frigid, the lesbians and the nuns.”

Oh, he was hilarious.

No one who knew him would ever have accused Conner Dixon of being humble. But this was arrogant even for him.

“I’m not
yours
to
give
to Cody,” she said, stepping close so he wouldn’t miss how offended she was.

“So you don’t want to be with him?” Conner asked, unaffected by her ire.

She looked over at Cody. He lifted an eyebrow.

Cody was as arrogant as Conner a lot of the time. Especially when it came to her.

“Whether or not I’m with him isn’t about
you
, Conner,” she told her brother. “Cody and I will figure this out.”

“Do something,” Conner said to Cody. “Maybe her ‘soul mate’ can handle her.”

She felt her mouth drop open. The idea that anyone needed to
handle
her was incredibly offensive, as was the sarcasm with which he’d said “soul mate”. Not to mention the air quotes. Offensive enough that she pulled her arm back, made a fist and then threw it forward—exactly the way Conner had taught her.

She caught Conner on the chin only, and his head barely even moved, but he stared at her in shock, his hand against his face.

She heard Gabby snort. Sierra gasped. Then she felt Cody’s arms wrap around her from behind, pinning her arms to her sides.

He picked her up like that, turned and deposited her on the sidewalk with the building to her back, then caged her in with a hand on the wall on either side of her.

“Okay, my turn,” he said.

She pushed him back. Or tried to. He wasn’t moving.

“You’re not going to
handle
me,” she told him, meeting his gaze directly.

“Damned right I am.”

“No. Stop it.” She tried to push him again.

“You’re at Frigid. You punched your brother. Someone needs to handle you and, honey—no one’s gonna handle you better than I will.”

He knew he could make her melt with words like that. Jerk.

“How would I know that?” she asked, with more bravado than she felt. “You were the first. I don’t have anything to compare it to.”

Cody’s gaze darkened and he leaned in. “You’re not auditioning all these Mr. Rights in your bedroom, Liv. No fucking way.”

“It’s none of your business one way or another.” She ducked under his arm and started to step past him.

“Like hell,” he growled and grabbed her upper arm.

She tried to pull away. She wanted him. She did. And yes, fighting him now seemed like the opposite of what she should be doing if she was in love with him. But dammit, she was hurt. He’d managed to resist her for almost two years. He’d spent nearly every day with her during that time and
resisted
her.

That wasn’t the I-can’t-live-without-you love she’d always imagined.

She wanted to make him want it. She wanted to know that it was hard to stay away from her now. She wanted him to want her so much that he’d do anything—not
say
that he’d do anything, but actually do it.

She didn’t need Shane Kelley’s level of wooing, but a little more effort than walking through her front door, plopping down on the couch with her and just being there would be nice.

Of course, just
being
with him made up some of the best times they’d had. She loved how comfortable they were, how he fit into her life so seamlessly, how it seemed so natural for them to be together, sharing meals, watching TV, discussing something from the newspaper, laughing over something stupid on Facebook. They fit. It was nice.

But an over-the-top romantic gesture here and there wouldn’t be out of line, would it?

That wasn’t the accommodating oh-whatever-you-want-is-fine-with-me Olivia everyone was used to, she knew. She wasn’t necessarily proud of it, but there it was.

“Stop this, Olivia,” he said firmly.

“I’m getting very tired of guys telling me what I can and can’t do.”

“I’m taking you home.”

“You know what, Cody? Fuck you. You didn’t want me before, you don’t get to get all possessive now.”

His jaw dropped. Olivia never said “fuck” and never like that and certainly never to Cody.

She knew it was the schnapps talking for the most part, but it felt strangely liberating to shock him, to strike him speechless when he thought all he needed to get her to do what he wanted her to do was talk sexy and go all alpha on her.

She pushed against his chest again.

“Liv—”

“Okay, let her go, man.” Ryan was next to Cody, his hand on his friend’s shoulder.

“No, stay out of it.” Cody tried to shrug Ryan’s hold off.

“Cody,” Ryan said, warning in his voice, his hand moving to grip Cody’s upper arm.

Cody pivoted toward Ryan, then pulled hard on his arm, causing Ryan to lose his grip and Cody’s hand to swing back and hit the brick wall.

“Fuck!”

“Madsen, let’s go.” Ryan’s tone was harder now, leaving no room for doubt that he was serious.

Mac, Dooley and Sam Bradford moved in behind Ryan.

Olivia’s eyes widened. Cody didn’t stand a chance if those guys all got involved.