Free Along Came Mr. Right by Gerri Russell Page B

looked at him, directly at him, her heart would fall to pieces even more than it already had.
    “Everything okay?” he asked.
    “Everything is as fine as we can make it, given the circumstances.” She had to put his offenses out of her thoughts for now. She was here for Paige’s sake. That’s what she needed to focus on. She opened the math book to a random page. She tried to focus on the equations. Instead her gaze lifted, and, against her better judgment, she looked at Max.
    He responded with another smile.
    Her pulse leaped. What was it about him that made her unable to look without wanting to taste?
    Olivia drew a long, deep breath, hoping the action would help her get herself under control. “How can I help?”
    He narrowed his eyes on her. “I’m having her take a standardized test to find out what she knows, beyond what I’ve taught, and where she needs help.”
    With an effort, Olivia pulled her gaze away from his, looking out the window instead. “That makes sense.”
    “Are you certain everything is okay? Because you seem different today.”
    Paige looked up from her papers with a frown, her gaze flitting between the two of them.
    Olivia wished she and Max could talk about what she’d seen on the Internet or in the newspaper this afternoon. She shrugged as she moved to sit at a desk near Paige.
    “Let’s just say I woke up from the dream this morning.”
    Confusion that couldn’t have been fake darkened his eyes. “You’re not making any sense.” A fierce frown creased his brow.
    “How’s the test going?” Olivia asked.
    “Fine.” Paige drew out the word as her eyes narrowed. She knew something wasn’t right between Olivia and Max.
    “You’d better get back to your test,” Olivia said, forcing a smile she didn’t feel. She’d have to explain things to Paige when she herself understood why Max had lied to her.
    Olivia stood and headed for the door, signaling with her finger for Max to follow. She wouldn’t talk about his deception in front of Paige. The girl had had enough disappointments in her life. She didn’t need to know that Max was no different from all the other men who’d deceived her.
    Such dark thoughts, however, didn’t stop her heart from leaping just a little when he looked at her the way he did now. They stood outside the door, almost toe-to-toe, so close she could reach out and touch him if she wanted to. He waited for her to speak, his expression one of hopeful understanding.
    “I don’t want anything to do with you anymore. Other than tutoring Paige, we have no reason to see each other.”
    “Olivia! You can’t mean that. The test was wrong. The program’s corrupted.”
    “It’s not because of the test.”
    His jaw tight with frustration, he asked, “Then what changed since Friday night?”
    “Maybe you should ask your fiancée . . .”
    “Fiancée?” His croak echoed in the silence of the hallway. “You know about that?” In the depths of his eyes she saw pain and something else, something she couldn’t name. With gentleness he reached out, touched her.
    She didn’t pull away, but she didn’t encourage him either. “Why?” Her voice trembled. “Why would you make love to me when you were engaged to her?”
    “It’s not what it looks like.”
    Olivia sputtered. It was the oldest line in the Cheater’s Handbook . She dug deep for control and poise, wanting to know the truth. “Are you engaged, or are you not?”
    A ragged sigh slipped from his lips. “Technically, yes.”
    She pulled her fingers from his as a shimmer of tears glazed her eyes.
    “Let me explain.”
    Another line from the Handbook ? “Where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire.” Tears fell to her cheeks. “I don’t know what else there is to say.”
    “There’s a lot to say, but there are also things I can’t tell you. Not yet.”
    His expression grew tortured. Despite her crushed heart, something in her ached to touch him. She barely held herself in check.
    “I