Come Together (26 page)

“So do I,” he said. “I’m feeling . . . restless.”

I tugged on the waistband of his pants. “Stay then.”

“It’s not appropriate, and I don’t want your dad to feel uncomfortable.”

“What a gentleman,” I teased.

“Would a gentleman do this?” he asked, squeezing my ass to pull me against him.

I responded with a lustful groan. He was pressed against me in all his glory, and a carnal need blossomed in me. “I can’t wait,” I said with finality. “Sex. Now.”

He laughed and brushed a piece of hair from my face. “If I can, you can. This weekend is about me getting to know your dad.”

“This weekend!” I exclaimed, trying unsuccessfully to push him away. “Don’t tell me you plan on abstaining the whole weekend.”

“Sorry, baby, but we’re not goddamn teenagers. We can handle it.”

I grumbled to myself as he took my hand and led me to the car. “How do you like my rental?”

“I hate it,” I said with a pout, and he roared with laughter.

“Don’t take your frustration out on the car.” He leaned in to give me a sweet kiss. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“Tonight.”

I smiled reluctantly and pressed his hand in mine. “I’ll see you in the morning?”

“Try and stop me.”

I turned away, but he pulled me back by my hand for another series of pecks. He let go finally and smacked me on the ass. “Bye, gorgeous.” He hit the key fob as he walked away, and the car beeped.

“David?”

He looked at me over the roof. “Yeah, baby?”

“I love you,” I said.

He stared at me a moment before responding. “I love you, too.”

I curled into my sweater and headed back into the house. I’d finally told him how I felt, but it wasn’t nearly the truth. I didn’t just love him. What I felt was so much greater than that.

CHAPTER 18

THE DISTINCT AROMA of brewing coffee lured me from my sleep. It was earlier than I preferred to wake up on the weekend, so I grumbled on my way downstairs.

My dad sat at the kitchen table, barely acknowledging me as he browsed
The Dallas Morning News
. I poured myself coffee and tried to seem casual. “So, what do you think?”

“’Bout what, kiddo?” he asked the newspaper.

“David.”

He folded the paper in his hand and looked at me over it.

“Please be honest,” I said. “The best way to protect me now is to tell me the truth.”

He considered this a moment. “I’ve dealt with a lot of people over the years, and I’m a good judge of character. I like him. Thing I like best is that he adores you. That, and I can see he’s strong enough and smart enough to make tough decisions. You don’t get that far in business by pussy-footin’ around.”

“Do you like him because he’s a good businessman or because of the person he is?”

He chuckled. “He’s a good guy. And Bill was too. The difference is that Bill didn’t quite know what to do with you.”

I blushed because the first thing that came to mind was the one enormous, mind-blowing change in my sex life.

“You up for a run?”

I wrinkled my nose. “A run? Like exercise?”

“Yes, Olivia, like exercise. Call up David and invite him.”

“You want to go for a run with my boyfriend?”

He bristled. “I don’t see any reason why not.”

The reason why not was that he’d never done such a thing with Bill. “I think he runs,” I said with my eyebrows furrowed. “But I doubt he brought anything with him.”

“I have shoes he can borrow.”

I shook my head before I fell into a fit of giggles. He only stared at me with confusion. When I could speak again, I gasped, “He’s . . . a size . . . fourteen and a half.”

“Oh.”

I smiled as I shook my head again and dialed David’s number. “My dad wants to go for a run with you,” I said when he picked up.

“Are you coming?”

“Me? I’m going for a breakfast burrito.”

He laughed. “I’ll be right over.”

The smartest thing I did in Bill’s apartment was grab a bikini. It had been too long since I’d been poolside, and I was happy to park myself in the Texan sun while David and my dad exercised.

I was sufficiently relaxed and reclined on a latticed lounge chair when they returned. I waved from across the water. My dad excused himself to shower, and David followed the perimeter of the pool until he was standing over me.

He bent at the hip and crooked a finger under the string between my breasts, pulling up slightly. “Nice bikini,” he remarked before straightening up again.

I lowered my sunglasses and checked him out. He wore only red and white basketball shorts, having already peeled off his shirt, and the planes of his chest glistened with a sheen of sweat. I wrapped my hand around the back of his knee and ran it up the opening of his shorts.

“How long have you been out here?” he asked.

I shrugged, and slid my hand back down his leg. “As long as you’ve been gone.”

His eyes scanned my body. “Won’t you burn?”

“I’m wearing sunscreen.”

He picked up the sunblock from the side table and examined it. When he seemed to decide it was suitable, he held it out to me. “Put more on.”

I pouted. “But I’m trying to get a tan.”

“Your skin is good the way it is. This shit,” he waved in the general direction of the sun, “is bad for it.”

“But – ”

“More,” he cut me off.

I sighed and took it from him. I squirted some onto my stomach and chest and began to rub it in, careful not to miss anywhere that might give me funny tan lines. I lifted the band of my bottoms and smoothed it under. When I looked up, David watched from under heavy lids.

“Perv!” I cried. “You just wanted to watch me put it on.”

He grinned. “A perk.”

I rolled my eyes. “So, hmm, Saturday morning, huh?” I asked, massaging a handful of lotion over my thighs. “It’s going to be a long, long weekend.” I lifted my left leg, rubbed the lotion down my shin and then moved to the right, where I made my way back up.

With a small growl, he adjusted his shorts. “Give me that,” he demanded impatiently.

“I’m not finished.”

“Now, Olivia.”

Without looking up, I passed him the bottle.

“Sit up.”

I obeyed, leaning forward and wrapping my arms around my legs.

He threw a long leg over the width of the chair and sat behind me. I dropped my forehead on my knees and sighed while he massaged sunscreen onto my back. With my breasts pressed against my thighs, I held my bikini top in place when he pulled on the tie and let the strings drop.

Even after he’d run out of sunscreen, he continued to knead my skin. His muscular hands pushed into me hard, but I suspected he wasn’t even using half his strength. I groaned into the ache as he worked my shoulders and then up my neck. He inched forward, closing any space between us, his erection digging into my lower back.

I bit into my knee, already wet in my bikini bottoms. He swept my hair over one shoulder and pressed his lips to the top of my spine. His hands slipped between my chest and thighs to cup my breasts while he kissed the length of my neck.

“Are you feeling me up in my dad’s house?” I whispered.

“Mhm.” My nipples tightened under the gentle force of his fingers. “I want to be inside you,” he said into my ear. I sucked in a sharp breath just as his hands fell away to retie my bikini.

“No,” I groaned into my knees.

“Sorry, but I don’t trust myself one second longer.”

In one motion he was standing beside me again.

Despite my frustration, I grinned when I glanced at his crotch. “Honey,” I crooned, “can’t you do something about that? My dad could be back any second.”

He adjusted his shorts again. “Shit.”

“Pool?” I suggested.

“After you.”

“Oh, no, I’m – ”

He scooped me up, and I squealed as he tossed me into the deep end.

“David!” I swiped hair out of my eyes just as he landed a few feet away.

He resurfaced, whipping his hair away from his face. “We needed to hit the reset button,” he said.

“It’s cold,” I whined but made no move to get out.

“You’ll survive.”

I laughed. “Thanks for going with my dad by the way.”

“I wanted to,” he said, swimming backward. “He’s in great shape.”

“What did you guys talk about?”

“Not much. We mostly ran.”

I smiled to myself.

He jutted his chin at me. “What?”

“I was just trying to picture Bill running with my dad. That would never happen.”

“He said the same thing.”

“He likes you,” I said.

He grinned wide, showing off all his teeth.

“That makes you happy,” I observed with a giggle.

“His approval is the only one that means anything to me.”

I cocked my head. “Only his? Not my friends’? My mom’s?”

He swam closer to me, his agile limbs cutting through the water like knives through butter. “Only his.”

I frowned and looked away. “The other night you said you spoke to Andrew.”

“Yeah.”

“What else did he say?”

He sighed and followed my gaze across the backyard. “In a nutshell, that his loyalty lies with Bill. He’ll talk to Lucy, but she’s pissed. At both of us.”

“I thought I would’ve heard from her by now. It’s been a week since I told her.”

“I’m sorry, baby. I really am. Maybe you should try calling her.”

I nodded. “Maybe.”

“Andrew also said that Lucy and Gretchen are on the outs, but he didn’t elaborate.”

I gave him a small smile. “Dani said you were sleeping with me because you couldn’t get it from her, and Gretchen called her out. She said it was because you didn’t want to.”

He laughed, but his gaze fixed intently on me. “Did you really throw your drink on Dani?”

I swallowed as my cheeks heated.

He shook his head. “Scrappy, honey.”

I nodded my agreement.

“I’m glad you and Gretchen are on my side.”

“Gretchen’s been rooting for you since she found out the truth about us. Especially since she called you when Bill was out of town and told you to come to my apartment. I don’t know what you said to her, but she bought it.”

“I wasn’t trying to sell her anything. I didn’t even have to tell her I was miserable. I just told her the truth . . . that I love you. That I’d purchased the house so I could curl up in front of the fire with you. Throw ball in the front yard with Alex or . . .”

I fidgeted with the strap of my bikini. “Were you going to say your son?”

“Yes, or that,” he said with a gentle smile. I took a moment to picture David with a young, teenaged version of himself, tossing a football as I watched from the porch. “So,” he continued, “if I’m to understand correctly, you’ve spent the week hearing from Bill and Dani that I’m a player who will soon grow tired of monogamy.”

“More or less. But I have Gretchen and my dad to thank for setting me straight.”

“I owe them then.”

“My dad said that even though he loves and misses Gina, his second wife, he wouldn’t change a thing about their relationship. He said he doesn’t regret loving her.”

“Why would he regret loving her?”

“I asked if he did.”

He ran a hand through his inky wet hair and inched toward me. “You asked that because . . . ?”

“He’s been through a lot with her, and I can tell he’s hurting over their breakup.”

“But why would anyone regret loving someone?”

“When you love that hard, it’s almost inevitable that someone will end up hurt. I never understood why anyone would risk it. He explained that even hurting the way he is, he wouldn’t change it. I get it now. After last night, after whatever it was you broke through, I get it. Here with you, if it all went away tomorrow, at least I would have this right now.”

He was closer now, and his arms came around my shoulders. After a quick peck, he drew back and looked into my eyes. “When you actually talk to me, it helps me see why you’ve made certain decisions.”

“I knew it was fucked up,” I whispered. “But I didn’t know how to change it. I didn’t know letting go could be so right. But seeing you in pain was far worse than my own pain.”

“Fuck, but I was afraid I’d never get through.”

I touched his face. “I’m sorry.”

“Olivia,” he said, tucking wet hair behind my ear, “promise me you won’t hide from me. I not only
want
to hear what you’re thinking, I have to. In order for us to be a team and move forward, you have to be forthcoming with me.” He smiled mischievously. “I’m fascinated with your every move, and it scares me because I’ve never felt that way before.”