Read Online The Right Mr. Wrong by Natalie Anderson - Free Book Online

this.’ Liam appeared at her side and offered her a steaming cup.
    ‘Oh, thanks.’ She took a careful sip and smiled as the flavour hit her taste buds—peppermint tea? She couldn’t believe he’d found some. What surprised her even more was that he remembered it was the only tea she drank—that he’d noticed she’d not had any of the coffee. He’d sat up with her that night she’d been making Christmas decorations for Oliver’s mother. He’d kept her laughing. He’d teased her about the tea. He’d offered...more than he should have.
    ‘Not everything changes, right?’ He stood beside her, dangerously intimate.
    ‘No,’ she said ruefully. ‘I guess not.’
    Another hour went by. Another change of bikini for Alannah, new trunks for the men, more adjustments with the lighting and the spray-on mist-to-look-like-sweat. Vivi fetched, carried, stood—all with Liam at her side making amusing comments and general chat. Until Nico was fully engaged with another set-up.
    ‘I thought you’d gone back to Oliver,’ Liam said quietly.
    She went completely cold. ‘Oh, no.’ She shook her head. ‘No.’
    Liam turned away from the models, angling so he could see her face. ‘Do you wish you’d said yes to him that day?’
    ‘No.’ She didn’t hesitate. ‘He wasn’t right for me either.’ She braved looking at his face as she said that last.
    He looked thoughtful. ‘I saw him recently.’
    ‘ Oliver ?’
    ‘Yeah.’ Liam grinned at her squawk. ‘He bought one of my boats.’
    ‘Oh. Great.’ Vivi swallowed back her shock. ‘He’s well? And happy?’
    Liam nodded. ‘Married and climbing his way to the top of an investment bank. Exactly on the track he’d always wanted to be on.’
    Yeah, it was that same life plan. Just with a different woman.
    ‘So he’s done okay through the recession?’ Vivi shook her head at her own stupidity. ‘Of course he has—he’s bought one of your boats.’
    And he was happy. That was good. She wouldn’t have been happy with him and she knew she’d have made him unhappy too. ‘I’m glad he’s doing well,’ she said, meaning it. But she was thrown that Oliver and Liam were still... friends ? Well, she supposed it figured. Mates before dates, right? Then she remembered. ‘I’d forgotten you’d gone to work for his family friend...’ She frowned, confused. ‘But when did you move to Italy?’
    Liam had straightened up and faced back towards the models. ‘I never worked for the friend.’
    ‘Yes, you did.’ She turned towards him to read his face. ‘That’s why you were there that Christmas. How you got the visa to come to England. Oliver got you that job. You were starting in the new year—you were going to Cowes.’ Oliver’s family had pulled strings to get Liam a job with a close contact in the yachting industry there. She’d thought it would be okay—truth be told she hadn’t thought about it at all.
    ‘They rescinded the job offer. I found other work.’
    Her blood ran cold. ‘When?’ She fought the churning sensation in her gut. ‘When did they rescind the offer?’
    ‘A couple of days after we left.’
    ‘But—’ She broke off, oddly breathless. ‘You’d signed a contract.’
    ‘They found some loophole. What was I going to do—fight it?’ He laughed.
    But it wasn’t funny. She stared at him, a horrible hurt feeling inside. ‘You never told me.’
    Liam kept looking beyond her, at the scene Nico and Gia had staged. ‘I hadn’t seen him for years until he came to buy the boat. He asked after you.’ Liam sighed. ‘He wondered how you were getting on.’
    Had Oliver thought she and Liam were still together? ‘What did you say?’
    ‘I didn’t. I thought you’d gone back to him, remember? I was totally thrown when I found out the wife he’d been going on about wasn’t you. Turned out neither of us knew a thing about you. Then I did a couple of searches, but it seemed you’d vanished.’
    So Liam had then searched for her?