Read Online Home Matters (A Ripple Effect Romance Novella, Book 1) by Julie N. Ford - Free Book Online Page B

the circle. “Nah, I frisked her,” he said, indicating with a nod that Olivia should sit. “She’s unarmed.”
    The unbidden image of Pete patting her down with his strong, capable hands flooded her brain. When she found she wasn’t completely appalled by the notion, she spared him a murderous look and sat before he could decipher her scandalous thoughts.
    Pete lifted a pizza box, holding it out to Olivia. “Here, help yourself.”
    A storm surge of anticipation swamped Olivia’s mouth, but she gulped it back. “No, thank you, not just yet,” she stalled, giving her willpower time to kick in. “Maybe in a minute.”
    Pete chose a slice heaping with veggies and sausage, then dropped the box back to the makeshift table. “Wait too long, and it’ll all be gone,” he advised. Folding his pizza in half, he bit down on the tip.
    The urge to strike out, to rip the food from his fingers, rose out of the void in Olivia’s stomach. She slipped her hands between her thighs and the crate to suppress the compulsion. Was it the food she wanted, or Pete? She couldn’t be sure at the moment.
    Tom ducked his bald head behind the gossip paper. “Maybe she needs Pete to feed it to her?” he mumbled.
    Olivia turned her scathing eyes across the circle. “I’m capable of feeding myself just fine,” she said.
    “Really?” Sean piped up. “That’s not what this says.” He lifted his paper again and waved the front page in her face.
    With the image shaking around, she couldn’t be sure, but it looked as if a grainy picture of William bringing that one bite of pancake to her waiting mouth was engulfing the front page.
    The headline read: “Is America’s Heartthrob Officially Off the Market?”
    Olivia reached out to snatch the publication from his hand. “Let me see that.” But Sean was quicker, and all her fingers could manage was a torn-off corner.
    “Not so fast, princess.” Sean sent her a cautionary look. “Says here, you make more money in one episode than I do in an entire season.” He set down his pizza and pointed to the open page. “I think you can afford to buy your own.”
    “Is that a fact?” Olivia said, posing for a second attempt at claiming Sean’s paper. “Well, it just so happens that I don’t get paid in full until this particular season wraps, and my agent took thirty percent of my advance, so by my calculations that makes us even.” Springing up, she lunged over Pete’s lap, snatching Tom’s paper instead.
    He threw his shoulders back, hands raised. “Whoa! She’s a testy little thing, isn’t she?” he said to Pete, then proceeded to sweep the group a knowing look. “Guess she forgot to take her Midol today,” he added, but Olivia ignored him. Her sights had already been reset onto a more compelling matter.
    Turning to the inside fold, her eyes traveled over the pages. The byline read: “Wi-Livia Takes to the Streets of Romantic Savannah.” People were already calling them by their uni-name! How exciting. No wonder her social internet following had grown to over a few million in the last twenty-four hours alone. Then, framed by assorted shots of William and her together, a picture of Olivia leaning out of her hotel room, giving a mussed William a kiss was centered on the page. A timestamp at the bottom indicating five-forty-five a.m. provided readers with the impression he’d spent the night in her room. Shame blossomed on her cheeks and her neck. Her first thought should have been, my folks are going to see this, but it wasn’t. For some reason she was more worried about what Pete would think. Not that anything beyond kissing had happened that night, or since—she wasn’t that kind of girl, and William hadn’t pressed—but what good was the truth when fiction could be so much more interesting?
    Desperate to avoid the subject, she searched the remaining shots for a change in focus. “Is that a picture of me coming out of Walgreens?” she asked, aghast for dramatic effect.