“Actually, yes. And I’ll take Carter with me, I promise. It’s Thursday. Kiera usually drags me to Open Mic night at a bar in Davis Square called Johnny D's. It’s a pretty good time.”

“Ah, I’ve been there. Good bar. Great blues brunch on Sundays.” His phone started buzzing. “One minute,” he said to Olivia. He pushed the button on his phone, answering it. “Tyler. What’s up?” He looked at Olivia and mouthed “brother” to her. She nodded and mouthed “okay” back to him.

“Yeah… After the meeting… I’m heading down afterwards… Okay… Hey listen, Ty, I have to go. I’m at my girlfriend’s… Yes, you heard me… We’ll talk about it later.”

Holy crap! He called me his girlfriend! Olivia thought. Normally that would cause her to break out in hives, but the way the word rolled off his tongue did things to her. It made her burn for him.

Alexander hung up with his brother and dragged Olivia back into his arms, planting a kiss on her forehead. “I hope you don’t mind that I called you my girlfriend, Love.”

She gazed up into his eyes. “No. Actually, it made me a little wet when you said that. I’m not going to lie.”

He groaned and gave her a quick kiss. “On that note, sadly, I must leave you. I’ll see you soon, angel.” He walked out the front door, leaving Olivia feeling wonderful.

She collapsed on the couch, squealing. One of the installation men looked at her. Olivia thought it was Arnold. “I have a boyfriend!” she explained excitedly. He just looked at her and laughed.

“Oh my god! I need to call Kiera!” Olivia jumped off the couch and ran upstairs to her study.

“OHMIGOD! OHMIGOD! OHMIGOD!” Kiera shouted into the phone when Olivia told her the good news. For being over thirty, Kiera sometimes failed to act a day over fifteen, especially when it came to the opposite sex.

“I know! And I let him stay over last night! I actually asked him to!”

“Holy crap. Where is my friend Olivia, and what have you done with her?”

“I know. I feel like I’m thirteen. Is this the honeymoon phase everyone always talks about?”

“Yes!” Kiera replied. “It is. And isn’t it great?”

“Kiera, I feel like I’m on cloud nine. I’m happy. I’m smiling. He’s all I can think about. For once, I’m not thinking about my past. All I’m thinking about is my future and how he could be a part of that.”

“Aww, Libs! I’m so happy for you!”

“But what happens when the honeymoon is over? What happens when I don’t feel like this anymore?” Olivia worried that she would become obsessed with that feeling and would be heartbroken if she didn’t feel it anymore.

“Libby, when you’re with the right person, the feeling will never go away. You will always have that person on your mind. You’ll always miss them when they’re not around. You’ll always have this extraordinary excitement when you are together. That’s how you know it’s meant to be. And any relationship where you don’t have that is not worth your time.”

Olivia took Kiera’s words to heart as she went through the rest of her day. The security system installation was finished by five that evening. Chase quickly walked her through everything, helping her set a code. They also set up the keyless entry. Olivia was thrilled to not have to lug her keys around anymore.

After getting back from the gym, she took a quick shower before Kiera was expected at her house to head to Open Mic.

“What the fuck is this?” Kiera asked when Olivia answered the door.

“Alexander put in a new system. He wanted me to feel safer. And Carter has to drive us to the bar tonight. Don’t worry about the door and the alarm. I’ll give you the code, but so help me God, if you set off the alarm and I have to deal with a panicky Alexander, I will murder you in your sleep. And I’ll tell Mo that you have crabs.” Olivia joked, grabbing her guitar case.

“You do that and I’ll cut a bitch.” The two girls laughed. “Bye Nepenthe,” Kiera said to the cat as he stalked the front door. “Your cat hates me,” she remarked while Olivia armed the security system.

“Nepenthe doesn’t hate anyone. He just has murder in his heart is all.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CONSTANT BUTTERFLIES

“I’LL be here keeping an eye on things, ma’am,” Carter said when he escorted Olivia and Kiera inside Johnny D's. He motioned to a table near the door where he would have a view of the entire club. To the right of the door was the bar area with a few high top tables bordering the wall. To the left was a small dining area with a stage.

“Okay. Thanks Carter,” Olivia said, walking toward the dining room area and up to the small front table. She added her name to the list. Open Mic night was getting started and there were already about ten people on the list. She figured it would be about an hour or so before she would go on.

“Hey, Livvy!” Mo said as he and Marcus made their way over to her and Kiera’s table.

“Hey, Mo!” Olivia said, standing up and giving both guys a hug. “I didn’t know you were coming tonight.”

Mo met Kiera’s eyes and they shared a look as if Mo finally realized Kiera was attractive.

“Oh, I get it,” Olivia smirked, elbowing Mo.

Marcus and Mo pulled up two chairs and joined Olivia’s table.

“So, what are you going to do tonight?” Kiera asked as a server approached their table with their drink order.

“Well, actually, now that Mo’s here, I think I may want to switch it up, if you’re willing to back me up on percussion. Remember the song we were fooling around with last night?”

Mo nodded, his smile wide.

“That’s the one, then,” Olivia said.

“Sweet,” Kiera said, taking a sip of her cocktail.

~~~~~~~~~~

Across town, Alexander finally finished his meeting with his training strategist. Looking at his watch, he saw that it was half past eight. He rushed out the front door of his office building and climbed into the waiting SUV.

“Good evening, sir. Off to home then?”

“Actually, Martin. Let’s make a quick detour. How fast can you get me to Johnny D's in Davis Square?”

“I can be there in fifteen minutes, tops.”

“I’ll give you five thousand if you can get there in ten.”

Martin laughed. “Yes, sir.” He peeled into traffic, heading toward Davis Square.