Free Along Came Mr. Right by Gerri Russell Page A

was Saturday, she was certain she could find something to do that would take her mind off Max—perhaps arranging the files or clearing off her desk. Tears blurred her vision and turned into a thick, twisted lump in her throat as she remembered the passionate kisses she and Max had shared last night on their date and at her charity auction.
    None of it had been real. She stopped in front of the dilapidated doorway of the Tomorrow Foundation’s office. She’d had more fun in the past few days than she could remember.
    Max had called it chemistry. She called it a lie.
    Olivia huddled deeper into her raincoat as if doing so would take away the chill seeping through her. It was time to return to reality, to get back to what she did best, helping people with real problems, not indulging in fantasies.
    She’d go back to her safe, predictable life. Max would go back to his. They would see each other only to make certain Paige got the help she needed. That was where things would begin and end with them from this moment forward. It was as simple as that. Only it wasn’t simple at all.

CHAPTER NINE
    Saturday afternoon came and went without Olivia meeting Max at the Waterfront Sculpture Park as she’d mentioned in her note. She knew he would be there by the stairs, waiting and wondering what had happened. Even though Olivia had no purpose in going to meet him, that didn’t stop a twinge of regret from settling in her chest or prevent her from pacing her apartment for the next two hours.
    From the window of her condominium overlooking Seattle, she could see twilight spreading subtle fingers across the skyline. She wondered how long he would wait for her, or if he’d waited any time at all.
    Olivia released a frustrated growl as she turned to pace from the window to the kitchen and back again. She had to shut Max out of her heart. The man was a liar and a cheater. It would be far too easy to give herself over to the tears that threatened, tears like those she’d shed for Damien in great quantities after their broken engagement. But she was stronger now. That relationship had taught her many things. Mostly that she couldn’t trust men and could rely only on herself.
    In spite of that strength, she struggled not to close her eyes and let her other senses take over. She’d known Max for only a week, but in that week he’d made her feel alive again.
    With one picture that was gone. All that remained was for them to see Paige pass tenth grade. To do that in Max’s presence she’d have to be resilient. She’d done that before; she could do it again.

    Olivia put her resilience to the test Monday afternoon. She paused just outside the door of Max’s classroom at the high school. Her palms grew damp, and a tiny hammer of panic she’d thought she’d wrestled into control began to pound in her head.
    I can’t do this .
    She had to do this for Paige’s sake.
    Drawing herself up, she stepped into the room. Max and Paige had already started working on her geometry, if Paige hunched over a piece of paper was any indication. At her entrance, Max looked up and smiled.
    Pain and confusion bubbled up inside her as a traitorous flare of warmth rushed through her limbs. Her body didn’t care that Max had betrayed her, but her sense of self-preservation did.
    He unfolded himself from one of the student desks and fixed his gray eyes on her. The raw hunger she saw there made her shiver as he came to her side.
    “I missed you Saturday afternoon.” He took her hands in his.
    “Something came up.” She pulled her hands away to work on the buttons of her coat. With exaggerated care, she removed her coat and set it on the back of the chair.
    “My algorithm got to you, didn’t it?” he asked, his tone serious.
    “No,” she lied.
    He hesitated a moment more before he handed her a math book. “If you don’t want to talk about that, then are you ready for some tutoring?”
    Olivia accepted the offering without making eye contact. If she