Learning To Love (The Griffin Brothers Book 4) (21 page)

“You know I can’t
deny you anything. I love you. And I was serious about all my
offers.”

“I know.”

I mean what I say, but
I also know I won’t be able to do this for months. I just can’t.
I love her, but she needs to believe in herself. And in us. I’ll
just have to convince her.

Olivia

These past two weeks
have flown by. We got the house and picked up the keys yesterday. I’m
waiting here for the first furniture delivery. We picked out some
comfortable couches and a cool dining room set. The loft will be full
of bookcases for me, but I told Luke we need to get them from IKEA
because they have cheap ones. He tried to argue, but I stood firm. I
did let him buy me a comfy chair, though. The second bedroom will
have a desk for Luke, and whatever else he decides to put in there.

The place I let him
splurge was the bedroom. Our bed is totally sexy. It’s got a dark
grey tufted headboard, and low footboard. We picked a super comfy
mattress, and I can’t wait to try it out. He let me get the
comforter I fell in love with. It’s got pink and purple flowers
with a few other colors and looks like an Impressionist painting. I
didn’t think it was an option, but Luke said he’s man enough to
sleep on some flowers. God, I love him.

We also have some cool
grey dressers, and a vanity table, and chair for me in the bedroom.
The closet is a walk-in and I love it. There’s plenty of room for
both of us since I don’t have a ton of clothes. I’m putting a
little lingerie dresser in there, though. Lingerie is something I
have
been buying a
ton of lately. It makes me feel so powerful to wear sexy things for
my husband and see his reactions.

The doorbell breaks me
out of my thoughts, and I go over to let the first workers in.
Everything goes smoothly, and the furniture is placed and put
together in a couple of hours. I have just enough time to make the
bed and slip into something sexy before Luke gets here. I have a
surprise for him. One I think he’ll like.

“Ollie? Where are
you?” he calls out as he enters the house.

“I’m upstairs in
the bedroom, Luke.”

I hear him bound up the
steps, and then he’s walking in the door. “The house looks
great…” He stops when he sees me lying across the bed in my lace
teddy. “Damn, honey.”

“Welcome home. I have
something to show you.”

“I can see that.”

“Something else,” I
tell him with a laugh, as I get to my knees. I reach out my hand to
show him.

“Your license? Umm,
I’ve seen it.”

“You haven’t seen
my new one.”

“New one?”
Realization hits him. “Did you change your name?”

“I did.”

He grabs the license
from me and his face breaks into that deadly smile of his when he
sees it. I’m officially Olivia Griffin now. “I’m going to make
you come so hard, Mrs. Griffin.”

“I’m counting on
it.”

He grabs me and
proceeds to make me come hard,
several
times, before we both need some dinner. We order Chinese food and put
our clothes on to wait for the driver. We’re entwined around each
other as we lounge on the couch. “I can’t wait to put up the
pictures and things I found for in here,” I say as I look around
the living room.

“I can put up the
pictures for you. I know you want to start studying for finals this
weekend.”

“I do. You’re so
lucky that you don’t have any.”

“I took extra classes
and summer school so I wouldn’t have any. Not sure how lucky I was
for those semesters.”

“My genius husband.”

“Not quite a genius,
but I do okay.”

I turn to look at him.
“You’re more than okay, Luke. Don’t forget that.”

“You always make me
feel great, Ollie.”

“That’s my plan.”

He kisses me and we
make out until the food arrives. When it gets here, we decide to eat
around the coffee table like we always did at our separate places. It
just feels right. I let him put on a baseball game while I work on
homework. When he sees me yawning, Luke shuts off the game and picks
me up. He carries me upstairs and we undress. Then we slip into our
new bed and go to sleep, curled around each other.

* * *

Luke

I’m taking Olivia to
our first Friday barbeque at my parents’ house since we’ve been
married. I’ve been going by myself the last few weeks, but I really
wanted her with me. Even if I can’t tell them we’re married, I
want my family to know we’re still together. The secret is wearing
on me, especially when I see my mom, and I need
something.
Having them think she’s still my girlfriend will do for now.

We walk in holding
hands and I see my mom’s eyes light up. “Olivia! It’s so nice
to see you.”

“It’s nice to see
you, too, Maggie.”

The rest of my family
greets us and then we sit down to eat. Everyone makes small talk and
acts like it’s no big deal that I brought her, but I catch my
brothers and parents watching us every so often. Especially after I
kiss her, which happens frequently. Nothing crazy or inappropriate,
just little kisses. I know I’m sending a big message, though. She
was the first girl I’d ever brought to a barbeque night, and to
have her here again means something. I’ve also never kissed a girl
as sweetly as I kiss her in front of my family. I’ll admit that
I’ve kissed some not so sweetly when we’ve had parties and stuff,
and honestly, I’m a little embarrassed that my mom saw that. But it
is what it is. I can’t change that. I
can
show them that this is different. And that’s what I’m
doing.

“How’s the studying
going, Liv?”

“It’s going, Candi.
I’m pretty sure I’ll pass.”

“Of course you’ll
pass,” I assure her.

“It’s crazy that
you have finals and then graduation a couple days later,” Alex
says.

“I know. It’s
scary.”

“Maybe I’ll
actually have this baby before then, and the three of us can come.”

“Babe, her graduation
is only like two weeks away. We can’t take the baby out that soon,
even if you do have it next week.”

“The blogs and stuff
I’ve read say a week at home is good. I’m not missing graduation,
and neither are you.” Candi’s glaring at him and it’s pretty
funny.

“Okay, okay. We’ll
go.”

“I know we will. We
need to be there for Luke and Liv. Your brother’s graduating, too.”

“Not at the same
time, but I appreciate the support. I can’t wait to see my girl get
her diploma.”

“We’ll all be at
both if you have tickets, Olivia,” my dad tells her.

“I got extra because
I was hoping you’d come,” she tells them a little shyly.

“We’d love to,
especially because it seems that you’re part of the family now,”
my mom says.

Olivia looks panicked,
and I have to save her. “Don’t scare the poor girl, Mom.”

“I’m not scared.
Luke. Just happy that everyone would accept me.” I see it then.
She’s about to cry, and not from sadness. With how rough her family
is on her, Olivia’s grateful for mine and their acceptance.

“Of course they
accept you. I’ve never brought anyone to barbeque before. And now
I’ve brought you twice. Everyone knows what that means to me, and
also how incredibly awesome you are.”

“I’m happy to have
you in the family, Liv. You know that,” Alex tells her with a
smile.

“Thanks, Alex. For
everything.”

“I just had a
thought. We’re throwing a graduation party for Luke. We should do a
combined one with you, Olivia. I can call your mother and work it
out.”

“I appreciate it,
Maggie, but, umm, my parents don’t know about Luke and me. They
don’t, well, approve of him.”

“Excuse me? They
don’t
approve
of my
son?”

“You’ve gotta
remember, Mom, that they’ve only seen me with girls at parties, and
have heard that I have no ambition.”

“I tried to tell them
he’s different, but when he came to a dinner with me a few weeks
ago, they practically threw him out.”

“From what I can
tell, your parents are pretty involved in your life. How long are you
planning to keep this from them?” Yasmin asks.

“Hopefully not long.
I love Luke, and I hate having to hide that.”

“Well, maybe we could
still have a joint party. I’m planning one already with your mom
for Alex and Rose so I could tell her this one would be a good idea,
too.”

“It’s up to Luke.
It would be a little awkward since we couldn’t be together, but I’d
love to celebrate together in any way.”

I sigh before
answering. “Let’s do it. It’s probably going to kill me not to
kiss you or hold your hand, but we can always celebrate together
after.”

“Great. I’ll call
your mother tomorrow and set it up.”

The rest of the night
goes by quickly. We eat, laugh, and just have fun with my family.
Olivia fits in so well with them, and though it’s killing me not to
be able to call her my wife, I’m just happy they love her, too. My
mom sends us each home with some leftovers, and we accept them
without telling her they’ll be going in the same fridge. I hope my
wife can find that courage soon.

* * *

Olivia

It’s a couple days
later and things are still a little strained between Luke and me.
He’s been beyond patient about everything, but I just can’t bring
myself to tell my parents. I know it’s dumb. I’m dumb. I don’t
need them financially, and they’re not really there for me
emotionally, but for some reason, I just can’t cut the ties. I know
that telling them about Luke being my husband would do that. They
would disown me. I haven’t been given an ultimatum yet, but I feel
it coming. We didn’t even make love last night.

I’m sitting at the
dining room table studying while Luke is watching another baseball
game. He didn’t ask me to sit with him. He knows I need to study,
but I don’t think that’s the reason. I’ve just gotten up the
nerve to say something when his phone rings.

“Hey Owe. What’s
up?”

“Now? Shit. I’ll be
right there.”

He gets up and heads to
the door. “Luke?”

My phone rings before
he can answer. It’s Owen. He tells me Candi’s in labor and asks
me to come down to the hospital as it’s getting close. I tell him
I’ll be there. Then I turn to my husband.

“You were just going
to walk out and not tell me? Really?”

“I’m sorry. I
didn’t think.” He doesn’t look sorry, though.

“Whatever. Be pissed
at me all you want, but this is
Candi
.
The person who saved me. From you as I recall.” I grab my purse and
keys and head to the door myself.

“You’re going
there?” He blocks the door.

“Yeah. Right now I
am. Get out of my way.”

“Fine. Be a bitch
then. God knows I deserve it. I mean, I’m only lying to my whole
family because you can’t grow a pair and stand up to yours.”

I push past him before
the tears start. I know he’s right, but damn if that didn’t hurt
me. A lot. I get into my car and drive off before he’s even in his
own car. I concentrate on calming down before I get to the hospital.
I don’t want to be the focus there when it should be on Candi. We
were both wrong tonight, and we’ll get past it. I hope.

I park and walk inside,
stopping at the desk to check in. They give me a pass and
instructions on where to go. I sense Luke coming in as I’m
finishing, but I ignore him and go to the elevators. I take one up
and see the Griffins in the waiting room.

“Liv, you’re here!
Where’s Uncle Luke?”

“I don’t know,
Alex.”

“You didn’t come
together? I mean, I thought you’d be together.”

“Not tonight.” I
try to smile, but it’s hard. I can tell she wants to ask more, but
I’m saved. Well, kind of.

“You’re here, Uncle
Luke.”

“Of course I’m
here. My godchild is about to be born.”

He moves past me and
engulfs her in a hug. I use the distraction to go sit next to Chloe.
She looks at me curiously. “Is everything okay, Olivia?”

“Yeah. I’m fine.”
The tears are threatening, though, and I excuse myself, then
practically run to the restroom.

I make it inside and
slide down the wall, openly crying now. I know one of the girls is
probably going to come after me, but I just need to get it out. All
of it. The pain of possibly losing Luke, the longing for my parents
love, and the anger over knowing that I’ll probably have to choose
one of them or the other. I love Luke so much, but how can I give up
my family?

I’m ugly crying, with
my knees bent and my head buried in my arms, when I hear the door
open. “Ollie, honey, don’t cry.”

I didn’t expect Luke,
and I snap my head up to look at him crouching in front of me. I say
the first thing that comes to mind. “This is the ladies room.”

“I know, and I’ll
probably get kicked out any second now, but I had to make sure you’re
okay.”

“I’m not, but it’s
my own fault.
I
did
this to myself. To us.”

“I agreed to it, and
I shouldn’t have been an ass.”

“I was an ass, too. I
shouldn’t have said what I did.”

“We both said things
we shouldn’t have. I guess we’ve just had our first fight as a
married couple. Do we get to go home and have make-up sex later?”

“Definitely.”

He pulls me to my feet
and into his arms. We hold onto each other for a few minutes. I pull
back to look at him. “I love you so much, Luke. I want you to know
that.”

“I do know it. You
know how much I love you, right?”

“Yes. I know.”

“I should probably
get out of here, but you’ll be alright?”

“Yeah. I just need to
wash up and then I’ll be out.”

He kisses me on the top
of my head and goes back into the waiting room. I splash some water
on my face and then head out myself. I smile awkwardly at everyone
before sitting next to Luke. He immediately reaches for my hand and
brings it to his mouth, kissing my knuckles. I relax and lean my head
on his shoulder.