Risking Her Heart: A Contemporary Romance Novel Read online

  “Really? Huh, and what were the other guests like at this winery?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. They were nice, I guess. I mainly wrote while I was there.” Livvie looked down, which was a bad idea, as she had forgotten how revealing her pajama outfit was.

  Zach followed her gaze and practically stared at her chest, which was fully on display. It made her feel too exposed. She still felt the need to grip her cellphone as if it was her lifeline, while her other hand was still in Zach’s.

  “You wrote?”

  “Yes,” Livvie said a little too cheerfully.

  “And what was the name of the winery you stayed at?”

  “Why the fucking twenty questions, Zach?” Livvie had to get him out of her house.

  “I’m entitled to ask my girlfriend as many questions as I’d like. Who were you fucking at this winery?” Zach yelled.

  “No one. I fucked no one,” Livvie yelled back and yanked her hand from Zach’s grasp. She stood and walked to her front door once again. Panic started rising, and she swallowed hard to try to calm herself down. What would Zach do if he found out she had sex with Drake? She hadn’t cheated on Zach. They had already broken up, but she never thought Zach was the jealous type, until now.

  “Don’t. You. Lie. To. Me.” Zach stood and crept toward Livvie like an animal hunting his prey.

  “I talked to people, but I mainly wrote.”

  “Uh huh.” Zach paused, standing only a few feet away. “And what was the name of the winery? I asked you, and you decided not to answer.” Zach eyes became darker, more dangerous.

  She could lie to him, but he would probably find out some other way. Morganthal Winery was listed on the school’s website as one of the prizes. He knew where Carly worked, so it wouldn’t be that hard for Zach to put two and two together… Livvie felt trapped, but what would Zach do? He would never suspect that someone like Drake would be interested in her. That was reassuring at least.

  “Morganthal Winery,” Livvie said, trying to keep her tone as normal as possible.

  Zach smirked, a much different smirk than Drake’s. Drake’s smirk was seductive while Zach’s looked as if he was mentally preparing to kill her.

  “So you fucked Drake Morganthal,” he stated.

  “No,” Livvie blurted out and then swallowed hard. How does he know?

  Zach nodded slowly a few times and then pursed his lips before roughly pushing her aside and opening her door. “I never thought you were a liar, Livvie.”

  “Where are you going?”

  Zach turned around and looked straight into her eyes. “To get rip-roaring drunk, which is what I’ve been doing since I suspected you’d been with another man.” Zach stepped out of her house and then once again turned around. “I don’t have to hurt you, Livvie. Drake Morganthal will never commit to you. And knowing you, I’m sure you’re hoping he will. He’ll break your heart far worse than I ever could. If it was any other man, I’d rip him to shreds, but this is way more perfect.” Zach laughed in a creepy way and then stopped and looked at her as if she had grown horns. “What I don’t understand is why you’re attracted to men who have no interest in being in a committed relationship. You’ll never get married this way, and forget about ever having kids. And since you can’t find another writing gig, you’ll probably move in with Carly and spend the rest of your life dating men who have no intention of being with you long term.” Zach smiled wide. “Good luck, Liv.” He winked and then turned around and walked down her walkway.

  Livvie leaned against her front door, watching him, and began to cry. She was surprised she still had any tears left. He was right, and he knew it. He also knew how badly his words had hurt her.

  Livvie had tears running down her face as Zach pulled away. She looked up at the stars in the sky. She couldn’t see many with all the streetlights, but she could see a few. It wasn’t Drake’s rooftop, though.

  It was a peaceful night outside, except she thought she heard a bird. She looked around but didn’t see anything. Maybe it would be smart to close the door. But she heard the noise again, this time even louder.

  “Hello? Olivia?”

  Livvie jumped and almost dropped her cellphone. She held it up. The name on the screen was Drake’s. Oh, no! She’d been clutching the phone so hard—had she called Drake, of all people, accidentally? What should she do?

  “Olivia, is everything okay?”

  Livvie quickly pressed end. Maybe he would think she’d drunk dialed him or something. God, this was so humiliating. She’d promised herself she would never call him, no matter what. And now she had gone and called him by mistake. Had he heard Zach? Had he heard anything? How long ago had she called him? She walked back into her bedroom, pressed his name on her recent call list, and saw that the call had lasted eleven minutes. Livvie threw herself down on her bed. This was one of the worst days and nights she had ever had.

  Again the phone rang. It was Drake.

  Fuck. What should she do? She let the call go to voicemail. Seconds ticked by as Livvie stared at her phone, waiting to see if he had left a message. She waited. And waited. And waited. Then her phone buzzed, indicating she had a voicemail. With trembling hands, Livvie pressed the button to listen.

  “Livvie, I’m calling back in two minutes. If you don’t answer your fucking phone, I’m going to call the police, my lawyers, and anyone else I need to fucking call to make sure Zach stays away from you.”

  And then he’d hung up. Livvie’s heart was beating like crazy. What would she say to him? Something like, “Don’t worry, Zach is on his way to a bar, and there’s no way he’ll show up again?” That was a lie, as she had no idea if Zach would show up again. And that terrified her. She didn’t think he would harm her, physically, but she had also never seen him this mad or this evil.

  Livvie jumped when the phone rang again, and this time she knew what she had to do.

  “Hey, Drake.”

  She heard Drake breathing loudly on the other end.

  “Hey, Drake? You called me by mistake at two o’clock in the morning because some asshole was in your house, and then I call back, and you ignore my call, and all you can say is, ‘Hey, Drake’?”

  Livvie sighed. “I’m okay. Everything’s okay. I’m sorry to have woken you.”

  Silence filled the line for a few moments, and she wasn’t sure if that was good or bad, but she was ready to hang up the phone.

  “Do you have any idea how much you scared me? Do you have any idea how worried I was when I saw your name on my phone at two o’clock in the fucking morning?”

  Livvie swallowed. She was missing him like crazy. He had no idea how much she was missing him. “No.”

  “And do you have any idea how it felt when I answered your call, and there was a fucking man at your house screaming at you? I thought he would hit you at any minute. And do you know how it felt for me to realize I could do nothing to help you?”

  Livvie’s heart felt as if there were a ton of bricks on it. She didn’t want Drake involved in her drama. In the big picture, he had no intention of being part of her life. He had made that clear. She didn’t want to make the same mistake with Drake as she had with Zach. Both men had spoken their truth. It was up to her to listen.

  “I’m sorry,” Livvie whispered. “He wasn’t going to harm me. Please, don’t worry. I can take care of myself.”

  She heard a bang on the other end of the line. It sounded as if Drake had punched the wall.

  “And how do you know he won’t harm you? You’re five foot nothing, Olivia. If he tries to hurt you, how are you going to take care of yourself?”

  Livvie sighed. “He has never hurt anyone, and I know a lot of people in his circle. If he physically harmed me, I’d make sure they found out. And he knows this.”

  “But I didn’t know that, Olivia. All I heard was your ex screaming at you. If he really is your ex, that is. He doesn’t seem to think so. And worse than that, I heard the fear in your voice. Do you know what I wanted t
o do to him? Do you?”

  “No,” Livvie whispered.

  “I wanted to break every bone in his body.”

  Livvie swallowed. “Why, Drake?”

  Livvie heard Drake inhale loudly.

  “Because we’re friends.”

  Livvie’s heart sank. “And yet yesterday morning, we were more than friends.” She had no interest in having more male friends. She wondered if Drake had heard Zach’s rant about never wanting to commit.

  “You’re wrong. We were friends then, too,” Drake replied.

  So was that all he thought they were? Friends with benefits? She had absolutely no interest in that. She didn’t need that bullshit in her life.

  “We’re not friends, Drake,” Livvie said a little too loudly.

  “I disagree. And that’s why I came up with a brilliant idea.”

  “And what’s your brilliant idea?” she asked, her tone sarcastic.

  “Stay here with me until Zach calms down or is in jail.”

  “He’s not going to jail.” Livvie rolled her eyes.

  “I disagree.”

  Livvie laughed. “You’ve been doing a lot of that in this conversation.”

  “Olivia, I can’t stand the thought of you living alone with this stalker pounding on your door at all hours of the night.” Drake raised his voice.

  Livvie was surprised he was so angry, especially since he only considered her a friend.

  “Thank you for the kind offer, Drake, but I’m okay here.”

  Drake was breathing so loudly; it almost felt as if he was in her bedroom.

  “Fine, you win. But if Zach bothers you once more, I want you on the first flight to Napa. Do you understand, Olivia?”

  “I think the flights only go to San Francisco,” Livvie said, biting her bottom lip.

  “Fine, then I’ll send my private plane. No arguments, Olivia. You may have won this time, but when it comes to your safety, I win.”

  Drake hung up without saying goodbye. She knew he was frustrated over not getting his way. And he did sort of ask her to come back to Napa. But he was wrong about one thing. She hadn’t won. She collapsed onto her bed and prayed Zach would stay away.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Livvie sat at her kitchen table, feeling awful and exhausted, which wasn’t a good combination. The only thing she felt relieved about was that Zach hadn’t shown up again. She doubted he would, but she was a little frightened that he might come there again after he got drunk at the bar. Drake was right; she wouldn’t be able to defend herself if Zach tried to hurt her. When she had first moved to Los Angeles, Carly had begged Livvie to learn self-defense, but she hadn’t felt like it. She had just left Liam, and she needed to find peace.

  But it was time she started to take better care of herself. And if that meant a self-defense class, then she was game.

  Today was day two of being away from Drake, but it was day one all over again because she’d spoken to him early in the morning, which had halted her healing process. So she would make today her fresh start. That meant doing something she loved, something that made her feel whole again.

  Livvie reached for the journal Drake had bought her but then stopped. If she was trying to get over Drake and start fresh, she should continue writing her novel, but she should use a different journal. The idea devastated her, and for ten solid minutes she was completely immobilized, but she’d made the right decision. So she opened her kitchen cabinet where she kept her office supplies and found an old journal she had bought when she had first moved to Los Angeles. She had gone to a therapist, who had told her she needed to journal every day about what was happening in her life in order to release emotions. But every time she’d sat down to write she hadn’t been able to do it. Some days, it was easier to not feel and to pretend she was okay. Now she was ready to write in this journal. Instead of writing about her life, she would write about Haley’s and Blake’s.

  Livvie sighed. She also had another epiphany. If her agent called, she would tell her she no longer wanted to write for a television show. It was gutsy, considering how her savings account was dwindling, but also necessary. Finally, she had control over her life again. And nothing or no one, including Drake Morganthal, would take that away from her.

  Remembering where the story left off, Livvie took a sip of her iced coffee and opened her new journal. Already, she felt calmer. She picked up the Tiffany pen Drake had bought her. It dawned on her that maybe it would be a good idea if she also used another pen, but she loved this pen. And she didn’t have the heart to part with it. So she began to write…

  Blake picked up Haley and threw her onto the bed. She had anticipated this moment from the second she’d laid eyes on him. He was so beautiful. With his rugged looks he fit into her log cabin fantasy perfectly. When his lips locked with hers and he roughly ripped her shirt, Haley groaned. His calloused hands immediately found her hard nipples, and he rubbed them between his fingers. Wetness slid down her thigh. Haley pushed her pelvis into him, hoping he’d get the hint and rip off her jeans the same way as he had her shirt. Instead, he stopped what he was doing and laughed.

  “Patience, beautiful.”

  And then he smiled, and Haley forgot how much her clit was pulsing. She could only pay attention to his perfect white teeth that she had to lick at this very moment. So that’s what she did. He responded by biting her lip, causing pain to shoot through her mouth, and then he passionately kissed her. His lips were intoxicating, just like the man himself.

  Livvie put down her pen and stared out her kitchen window. Maybe it wasn’t such a smart idea, starting with a sex scene. Running her hands through her un-brushed hair, she was admiring the prettiness of her neighbors’ front yard flowers when something strange caught her eye. She went to get up to take a closer look, and in doing so, she moved too quickly. Her chair slid back across the hardwood floor, and fell with a thump, loud enough to make her jump. There was a man pacing in front of her house, but when he saw her looking at him, he ran behind the nearest tree. Who the hell was he? Completely freaked out, Livvie ran into her bedroom and threw on a pair of jeans, a sports bra, and her pink tank top. When she ran back to the window, the man was no longer there, but her intuition told her something was wrong. And with her new fresh start in life, she was going to start listening to her intuition more. Livvie opened the door and stepped outside.

  “Livvie Collins?”

  The man stepped out from the side of her house, and Livvie screamed.

  “Who are you?” she asked.

  “Hey, hey, hey, calm down. It’s okay.”

  The man looked to be well over six feet tall. He was wearing jeans and a white t-shirt, and to say he had big arm muscles was an understatement. Livvie thought he was a nice-looking man, more the rugged type. Not rugged like her novel character, Blake. Blake oozed confidence and sexuality. This man wasn’t oozing anything.

  “I’ll ask you once more before I call the police. Who are you, and why are you stalking my house?” If men were going to make a habit of stalking her, she would need to take that self-defense class, after all. Walking around clutching her cellphone all the time would not solve her problems.

  The stranger with extremely dark eyes walked toward her.

  “If you come any closer, I’m calling the police; I mean it.” Livvie’s heart was thudding.

  Luckily, the man stopped walking and ran his hands through his dark-brown hair.

  “I’m supposed to watch you,” the stranger said while looking at her house and then her neighbor’s house…anywhere but straight in her eyes.

  One thing she had learned as a child was that anyone who can’t look you in the eye, should either not be trusted or they were hiding something. Livvie thought that in his case it was both.

  “Says who?” Livvie said with more confidence than she was feeling.

  “Says your guardian angel,” the man said, a little too smugly.

  Okay, Livvie didn’t like this. If he didn’t start talking i
n one more minute, she would call the police, and that would only make it more awkward between her and the neighbors.

  Livvie placed her hands on her hips. “Start talking, mister.”

  “I wasn’t paid to talk to you.” He mimicked her by placing his hands on his hips.

  “So this is how you’re going to play it.” She lifted her cellphone and started dialing Carly’s number but pretended she was calling the police. If she called the cops, she would add even more drama to her life, and right now, that’s not what she wanted.

  “Okay, stop,” the man shouted.

  “There’s no need to yell at me.” Livvie stopped dialing. Thank goodness she had only pressed two numbers. The last thing she wanted was to get her best friend involved in whatever this was.

  “Look, I’m supposed to watch you to make sure you’re safe.”

  “Okay, but who’s paying you?” Livvie had a feeling she knew, but she needed to hear it directly from this stranger.

  “The man who’s paying me wanted to remain anonymous.” This time, the man did look her straight in the eyes, and his gaze was filled with what looked like panic.

  “And is the man who’s paying you a nice man?”

  “Put it this way, I’ve worked for him on and off for years. He’s an honest guy who always seems to get what he wants.”

  “And how do you know he always gets what he wants?” she asked.

  “Because he said that if you found out he hired me, you’d get all mad. He then said that no matter how mad you got, there was no way you’d win this one.”

  “Win what?”

  “I’m your new bodyguard. My name is Mitch. Nice to meet you.” Mitch held out his hand, as if she would actually take it.

  “And why do I need a bodyguard?”

  Looking offended, Mitch rubbed his hand down his jeans. “Because some guy named Zachary Kagin tried to assault you at two o’clock in the morning.”

  “And so Drake decided he needed to be my knight in shining armor?”