His Dangerous Love On Ice (Olivia and Zane) novel Chapter 96

Olive’s POV

The phone kept ringing.

Zane’s name flashing on the screen, demanding an answer, and aloma was sitting right across from me with that warm smile on her face like we were old friends catching up over coffe

“Pick it up,” she said again, taking another sip of her latte. “It’s your star hockey player. I haven’t heard his voice in person in such a long time.”

Something about the way she said it made my stomach twist, bu I pushed the feeling aside and answered.

“Hey,” I said, trying to sound normal even though my heart was hammering.

“Muffin,” Zane’s voice came through, low and warm and so familiar it made my chest ache. “How are you? Did you miss me last night?”

Last night. The club. The bathroom. Everything.

“I’m fine,” I managed, too aware of Paloma watching me with those grey eyes. “Just at lunch.”

“Lunch?” he asked. “I thought you’d be at the office.”

“I went out for a little break,” I said quickly. “Needed some air.”

“Everything okay?” His voice shifted slightly, concern creeping in

“Yeah, everything’s fine. Just needed to clear my head, you know

There was a pause, and I could almost feel him thinking through the phone.

“Do you want me to come over tonight?” he asked. “Your place? We could talk. Or not talk. Whatever you need.”

My stomach flipped and I glanced at Paloma who was pretending to look at her phone but was definitely listening.

“I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe. Can I let you know later?”

“Sure,” he said, but I could hear the disappointment. “You sure you’re okay? You sound weird.”

“I’m not weird, I’m just-I’m with someone right now. Can’t really talk.”

“Who are you with?” he asked, and there was that edge in his voice. That possessive thing that should annoy me but somehow didn’t.

“A friend,” I said. “A new friend I just met today, actually.”

“A new friend,” he repeated slowly. “You know you’re terrible at picking friends, right?”

I bristled at that, “Excuse me?”

“Brenda’s fine,” he clarified quickly. “But you have a habit of trusting people too fast. Letting them in before you know who they really are.”

How the fuck did he know that? How did he always know things bout me I hadn’t told him?

“I can handle myself,” I said defensively,

I know you can,” he said, his voice softening “I just worry about you. That’s all

Paloma was definitely listening now, her eyes flickering up to meet mine with curiosity.

“I have to go,” I said. “I’ll call you later, okay?”

“Okay,” he agreed reluctantly. “Be careful, Muffin. Please.”

“I will”

I ended the call and set my phone down, feeling Paloma’s eyes on me.

“He seems protective,” she observed.

“He’s possessive,” I corrected, then immediately felt guilty for saying it. “But in a good way. Mostly.”

“Mostly,” she repeated with a small smile. “That’s an interesting qualifier.”

We talked for another twenty minutes about nothing important art, coffee, the weather-before Paloma glanced at her watch.

“I should go,” she said, standing. “But this was lovely. We should do it again sometime.”

“Definitely,” I agreed, surprising myself with how much I meant.

She pulled out her phone. “Can I get your number? So we can plan another coffee date?”

I gave it to her, watching as she typed it in with perfectly manicured nails.

“Perfect,” she said, smiling. “I’ll text you. It was so nice meeting you, Olive.”

“You too, Paloma.”

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify