Jamie, Jamie, Jamie, her stupid heart pattered. She hadn't called him back, and he wanted to talk. It could be him. Or it could be anyone. Victor or a neighbor or just the UPS guy. But she smoothed down her hair and licked her lips and hoped to God she didn't look cross-eyed from staring at the computer for so long.

Not that it mattered. He meant nothing to her. As little as she'd meant to him.

She looked through the peephole and her heart flipped before beating even faster. It was him. She braced herself for the sight of him and opened the door. And just like that, all her triumph was gone and all she felt was yearning.

"You're okay," he said immediately.

"Yes." Her eyes disobeyed her, dipping down to take him in. It didn't matter that he'd hurt her. He'd also inspired the greatest pleasures she'd ever felt, and her nerves seemed to ripple at the sight of him, like rings of warm water spreading through her.

"We need to talk," Jamie said. He didn't seem to have any trouble holding her gaze. Apparently he wasn't quite as afflicted as she was.

Olivia opened her door wide. "Come in."

He stopped a few feet into her living room, seeming to have no idea where he should go.

"Would you like a drink?"

"No, thanks. I'm fine. I just..." Hands in his pockets, he swept a lost look over the room. "Were you out of town?"

"Yes."

He waited for her to say more, but if he wanted to talk, he needed to get to it. She didn't want to pretend they were still friends. Friends didn't lie to each other.

Jamie cleared his throat. "I don't quite know where to start."

"I'll start," she said softly. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done what I did."

His shoulder rose on a deep breath before he turned to face her. "You probably shouldn't have, but that's okay."

"I wanted to help, and..." She held up her hands. "And I just wanted to help."

"It did help."

"Yeah?" Relief bloomed inside her.

"We talked. Me and Eric and Tessa. In fact, I'm back at the brewery. We're making it happen."

"You're doing it? Seriously? That's great." She started to move toward him, then realized that she shouldn't.

"I wanted to tell you, but you never answered, and..."

"I was out of town," she said, as if cell phones didn't function at a distance. They stood there awkwardly, just staring at each other. She didn't think she'd ever seen Jamie look awkward before. "Well, I'm truly glad it worked out. I hope you'll... I hope you'll keep in touch."

His eyes flickered to the door, but he didn't move. "I know what my brother told you," he said. "And I wanted to explain."

That snapped her from her awkward hovering. Olivia shook her head and retrieved her wineglass from the table. "There's no need. Really."

"No, I want to be-"

"I mean it," she snapped as she opened her fridge and grabbed the wine. "I don't want an explanation or...whatever you want to call it. It's done. I'm over it."

"You're over it? Just like that?"

"What do you want me to say, Jamie? We had a thing. We had fun. And if you want it to mean something to me, then that would mean your lies meant something, too. And I need them not to mean anything."

"Olivia, please listen. It's-"

"I don't want to listen! What could you possibly say? *It isn't what you think? It meant nothing? I only told you that to make you feel better about yourself?' I've heard it all before, Jamie. And believe me, none of it makes it better. Do you know what it's like to be lied to? To be made a fool of?"

"Yes. In fact, I do know what it's like to be made a fool of. That woman-" He looked up at the ceiling as if it could help guide him through this minefield of manipulation. But apparently the ceiling offered no answers, because Jamie closed his eyes, his brow furrowing.

"Even if she screwed you over, Jamie, that doesn't mean she doesn't count. How many other women have you slept with that you don't count? Jesus, were there others while you were seeing me?"

"No. And that's not why I don't count her."

"Did you have sex with her?"

"Yes," he growled.

"Then why are we having this conversation? You made a damned point of telling me you hadn't slept with anyone in over a year. You didn't even have to say it! I wasn't asking!"

"I wanted you to understand that you meant something to me."

"Jamie..." Olivia threw her hands up. "I feel like I'm in the twilight zone! It doesn't mean anything if you're lying."

"I'm not lying!" he shouted. "I don't count her, because I didn't want it."

"Oh, for God's sake. I give up."

Jamie paced to the dining room table and put both his hands flat on the wood. His head dropped, the muscles in his neck standing sharp against the skin. "My brother had been working this deal for months. He didn't want to involve me, but I insisted on coming to dinner with Roland Kendall."

"Roland Kendall?" She tried to figure out how she knew the name.

"He's a real bigwig. The owner of High West Air."

Oh, right. He was a huge name in Colorado business. She waved an impatient hand.

"We struck a deal to become the sole provider of beer for High West. It was a big deal. Our biggest ever. It would get our beer into the hands of a national audience. And I wanted to be involved. Wanted to prove myself. So I went to dinner with Eric and Roland Kendall and the VP of High West...who just happened to be Kendall's daughter."

When her eyes widened, he laughed bitterly. "Yeah. Exactly. But I'm not an idiot. I'm honestly not. A few weeks later, she came into the brewery. Wanted to try some of the beer. I gave her the VIP treatment, of course."

He laughed again, and goose bumps spread over Olivia's skin at the sound. Bitterness sounded completely wrong coming from Jamie.

"By closing time, she said she was too drunk to drive. I was playing the part, you know? Friendly, helpful. I offered to give her a ride. That's all I offered. In fact, I very pointedly said that I'd drive her car and take a taxi back to the brewery. She was all over me in the fucking car. What was I supposed to do? I pulled up to her place, and she asked me to walk her in...."

"And you had sex?"

"Yeah, we had sex. After I told her I wasn't interested. Said I didn't want to complicate things since we were going to have a working relationship. She didn't like that at all. Monica is pretty. She's rich. Used to getting what she wants. She said if I was going to be rude about it, maybe we shouldn't have a working relationship at all."

Olivia had told herself she was only listening so he'd get it over with and leave. There was nothing he could possibly say that would make a difference. But her frown edged from scorn to concern. "She said that?"

"Yeah. *What will my father say when he finds out I asked you to drive me home and you wouldn't keep your hands off me?'"

When Olivia gasped, Jamie laughed that awful laugh again. "I realized I was going to ruin the deal. The damn irony almost killed me. It was all my brother had talked about for months. He insisted it was the future of the brewery. And this bitch was going to kick it aside like garbage if I didn't stay. So I stayed."

"Oh, Jamie..."

"I spent the night, and then I went home in the morning, and I'd ruined everything anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"Her father saw me leaving. But in the end, it didn't matter. Because while Monica Kendall was, literally, fucking me over, her brother used my absence to break into the brewery in an attempt to steal credit card information."

When Olivia's forehead wrinkled in confusion, Jamie waved a hand. "It's a long, screwed-up story. The deal fell through, and my brother had yet more proof that I was the ultimate fuckup."

"He didn't understand why you did it?"

"I didn't tell him."

"Why?" she cried.

"First of all, I didn't particularly want to talk about it. Second, what could it possibly matter? Was Eric going to explain to her father that his little girl had forced me into her bed? No, it wouldn't have changed anything."

"It would've changed how your brother felt."

"No, it's going to take a lot more than that to change how he feels about me, but I'm doing it."

"Jamie..." She didn't know what to say. "I'm so sorry."

He shrugged. "I wouldn't have told you, either, but... That's why I don't count her, Olivia."

She had no fight against this. She couldn't stop herself from walking to him, putting her arms around him. "I'm sorry," she whispered. Tears choked her voice at the thought of what that woman had done to him. "I'm so sorry."

His arms were so warm when they curved around her back. He tucked his face against her hair and breathed in. "Don't say it like she...like I... It would've been over and done if nobody had found out. I'm fine."

But she wasn't sure he was fine. He sounded more than angry. He sounded hurt.

"So, there hasn't been anyone, Olivia. Not until you. And it did mean something to me. It does."

"God, I'm so sorry." She hugged him, wanting to hold on forever. But there was more. "But...your brother said you also got into a fight with a jealous husband."

He eased away, holding her in front of him so he could meet her eyes. "Olivia, that was your jealous husband."

"What?" Her hands curled, grabbing on to his T-shirt. "Please tell me you're kidding."

"I'm not. He came into the brewery last Friday night, looking for a fight. Unfortunately, I gave it to him."

"Oh, no." She let go of him and covered her mouth in horror. "I'm sorry. That was when you left. He's the one who-"

"It's no big deal. I shouldn't have punched him."

"Are you okay?" Reaching for his face, she stroked his jaw. "Did he hit you?"

"Hell, no, he didn't hit me. Hard to reach my face from the floor."

"Oh, my God." She tried to look serious, but her lips kept curving up. "I'm so sorry."

"Are you? You look a little bit thrilled."

"Shut up!" she said, laughing despite her best attempts to stop it.

Jamie's face softened. "Does that mean you forgive me?"

"For hitting Victor? No forgiveness necessary."

"No, I mean for lying. About Monica."

Olivia forgot her amusement and slipped back into his arms. "Of course, I do. Of course. And I'm so sorry if I caused you any trouble."

"Never. You made everything better."

Olivia closed her eyes, but she felt a tear escape and slip a jagged path down her face until it disappeared into the warm cotton beneath her cheek. He felt so good. He smelled so familiar. And she had no idea what this meant. He wasn't her boyfriend. He wasn't her lover. Yet she wanted him so much. So much that it hurt like a coal inside her chest, burning through everything.

"Christ, I've missed you," he whispered.

She couldn't respond or she'd cry all over him and beg him to stay. Just stay. Olivia tightened her hold on his shirt and pulled him even closer. His heart thundered at first. She held him until it started to slow. Then she held him some more. All of his tension was gone. She should really let him go.

After a few minutes, she was strong enough to ease her hold and draw back. "Will you tell me what you've been-?"

Her words were cut off by his mouth on hers, his tongue sliding in to taste her. Lust slammed through her so hard that she whimpered and sank her fingernails into his back. The same urgency seemed to take him over. His hands were everywhere, shaping her body as if he needed to remember everything about it.

She was panting, whimpering, immediately desperate. She wanted closer. Impossibly close. When he lifted her, she wrapped her legs around him just to feel more of him. Jamie swung her around and set her on the dining room table.

"Yes," she urged, drawing back to shove his shirt over his head. She kissed his chest, licked his nipple, while Jamie struggled to lift her shirt, as well.

"Your arms," he ordered, and she raised them to help. She took her glasses off and heard them fall to the floor, but Jamie was unhooking her bra so she didn't give a damn. Instead of scrambling for her glasses, she reached to unbutton his jeans. Jamie pressed his palms to her breasts with a sigh of pleasure.

But she didn't have time for this. The last button of his jeans had given way and she stroked her hand down the ridge of his shaft. "I want you inside me," she rasped. "Now."

He groaned and kissed her again. She felt the sharp catch in his breath when she slipped her hand inside his underwear and touched the bare heat of him.

Turning her face away, she begged, "Please. I need you." And she did. Desperation clawed through her, hurting her heart with its brutality. "Please."

His hands reached for her jeans. One heartbeat later and he was tugging them down, taking her underwear with them, and she was totally naked, her knees spread around his hips. Jamie's eyes glittered as he pulled his wallet free and slipped a condom out before tossing the wallet to the floor.

She licked her lips as she watched him roll the condom down his thick shaft, and then he took himself in hand and rubbed the head against her. He slid and slipped until she moaned. Finally, he pressed forward and Olivia sobbed in relief as his shaft stretched her pussy. "Yes," she said, watching him disappear into her body. "God, yes." When he'd finally sunk as deep as he could go, she sighed.

"Shh," Jamie whispered, his thumb wiping a tear from her face.