Crushed (Partners in Crime Book 3)

Chapter 5

Jack dropped Olivia off at her house. Surprisingly enough, someone had brought her car home for her. Probably Payton, if he had to guess. Or her sister.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" She asked him abruptly.

He raised a brow, "Are you joking?"

Confusion covered her pretty features, "No..."

"Okay then. Sure. I'm starving." He was downright confused. She never asked him to stay for dinner. She barely ever let him into her house. But he wasn't about to let a good opportunity go to waste. Following her inside, he smelled food. "Was this planned?"

"No. I have no clue who is even in here." Olivia hung her purse on the coat rack.

He stood a little taller and his hand moved to his gun on his shoulder holster. Olivia did the same. He peered around, "Hello?"

Olivia slapped him, "Why would you do that?"

He shrugged and before he could answer, Grace came bounding in from the kitchen. "Hi guys!" Her eyes widened when she saw their hands on their guns. "Oh! Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I just wanted to surprise Liv. Dom told me about her promotion."

Jack's hand moved from his gun to his pocket, "Sorry. Just being cautious." And now his adrenaline was spiked and he needed to tone it down.

Olivia smiled at her sister, "Don't worry about it. And do I smell enchiladas?"

Grace hugged her, "Yes. And if you don't mind, Hunter should be here any minute."

On cue, the front door opened and Hunter stepped in. His eyes immediately went to Grace and his face brightened. Jack felt a split second of sadness. Would he ever get to feel that? His thoughts went to Olivia, but he pushed them away. She would never want that. He couldn't deny he was attracted to her. No, he'd fallen for her hard. There was something about her that he couldn't place, but wanted to discover. But she just kept pushing him away.

"Hey Jack." Hunter fist bumped him. Then his arm went around Grace and he placed a kiss on her forehead, "Is that enchiladas I smell?"

Grace looked up at her husband, "Yes. Your favorite."

Jack watched as Olivia's face fell. He knew immediately. Grace cooked the enchiladas for Hunter, even though it was a "celebratory dinner" for Olivia. Her attention was focused on her husband even though her sister had just gotten a great promotion.

He bent down and whispered into Olivia's ear, "How about after this I take you to get ice cream?" He knew ice cream was her favorite. Dominic may or may not have told him.

That did the trick. Olivia grinned and nodded, "Okay."

He was surprised she even agreed, but went with it anyways.

~~~~~

Dinner was good. Grace did a good job as usual. She also paid more attention to why Olivia got her promotion.

"So, what I don't quite get is how they just let you into the FBI. Doesn't that take a ton of paperwork, lots of questioning, and background checks?" Grace asked her.

Olivia played with her food. "Well, yes. Technically. But I'm not really FBI. I'm in the police force. They just gave me the promotion so I could devote all my time to this case. Practically the only perk is that I have power of arrest now. Captain Patterson just wanted my expertise on the case and the only way for me to actually help in the case besides with evidence was to be someone working on it."

"And Landon wanted you higher up in the force way before this case even existed." Jack added.

"Really? How did he even know me?"

Jack shrugged, "Dominic brags about you a lot. He brags about his family a lot. Especially Chloe."

"And I'm sure you may have had something to say about her too." Hunter grinned.

Olivia quickly looked down at her food to hide her blush. But out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jack's face turn an alarming shade of red.

Grace must have seen how uncomfortable she was making her sister, because she cleared her throat and stood up, "I made cookies for dessert. Anyone want one?"

The cookies sounded good, but Jack's promise of ice cream sounded better. "No thanks. I'm stuffed. And you two should be getting home. It's getting late."

"I'd hardly call seven o'clock late." Hunter chuckled. "But, yes. Grace and I will leave you to your business. Congratulations again, Liv."

Olivia gave her brother-in-law a hug and quickly helped Grace clean up. About ten minutes later, Grace and Hunter walked out the door with the promise they'd be back soon. Jack materialized behind her shoulder, "Ready for ice cream?"

She smiled, secretly wondering why she was letting this man back into her life. Composing herself, she answered him. "Yes. Oh, and sorry about the embarrassment at dinner." Why had she apologized? She didn't know.

Jack picked up his car keys and spun them on his finger, "Naw, don't worry about it. It's true. I may have had a few things to say about you."

He left her at the front door, speechless. Their kiss replayed in her mind. She shoved the thought away. No way was she getting romantically involved with Jack Murray.

"Coming?" Jack called from his Jeep.

"Yes." She grabbed her purse, double checked her gun was in its place, fixed her hair, took a glance in the mirror, and joined him in the car. She never cared about her appearance, let alone looked in the mirror as she left the house, but this situation was unexplainable.

Jack's hand brushed hers as he switched gears, causing her pulse to skyrocket. Just as it had done when he grabbed her at the bombing earlier. She shuddered at the memory. If it wasn't for him, she would have died. Again, she pushed the thoughts of him away.

When they were about a block from her home, Jack took her hand. "Liv, listen. I know things have been weird between us, but..." He trailed off. It had to have been from the look she gave him, because his hand let go of hers too.

"What did you call me?" Her voice was cold as ice.

"I called you Liv." His eyes went back on the road.

"Stop the car." She ordered. When he didn't, she practically yelled, "Stop the car!"

He jerked and pulled over. "What?"

Olivia opened her door and stepped out, "Don't ever call me that again." Slamming the door shut, she ran home.

Leaving Jack behind.