Chapter 29
Noah
“When you said we were going to ‘the pub down the street’ I didn’t think its name was actually the Pub Down the Street,” I say to Ollie as we walk up to the pub to see this lively redhead pipe up from a table in the back, waving us over.
Ollie just shrugs in response. I can feel her emotions shift as the biggest smile grows on her face. “That’s Caroline,” she says.
Looking back to the firecracker, I see Cole sitting at the table across from her, head down playing something on his phone.
Caroline’s excitement as she’s jumping up and down waiting for us to come over is comical and I'm half surprised she hasn’t run across the bar to hug Ollie as if she hasn’t seen her in a month… when in reality they live together.
Cole stands up next to Caroline with a huge shit-eating grin on his face as we approach and I can’t help but wonder what he did all day and if there is something secret going on between the two.
Cole would vehemently deny it for Ollie’s sake, but I don’t think she would mind it.
It's clear she has a deep connection and friendship with Caroline, and I’ve known both Ollie and Cole forever so there’s no doubt about the connection they share.
“Are Mason and Savy here yet?” Ollie asks Caroline as we approach the table.
“No, they got stuck in traffic on 43,” Caroline replies with an annoyed look on her face.
“Ugh, that’s the worst highway coming into the city,” Ollie replies.
We sit down across from Caroline and Cole, leaving space for the others at the end of the table when they get here.
“Caroline and I met at a spin class downtown,” she tells me.
“Technically not originally. I did the new business piece when the practice opened.” Caroline interjects.
I learn that Caroline is a journalist and a bit of an adrenaline junkie so she always tries to report on the big events, controversial topics, and basically anything in between that people will talk about.
“Okay, fair, but we didn’t become friends until Syd tried to kill us in our first spin class and we could barely walk out.” Ollie laughs. Caroline and Ollie lean their heads together as they recount that moment and it is clear the love they have for each other.
I don’t hear the initial comment Cole makes but I only assume it’s full of snark based on the shared snarled look they share before Caroline retorts, “I don’t know why you act like you hate this, you know you’re one minute away from falling in love with me.”
I almost spit out my beer, laughing at her remark.
Cole’s face turns so red it matches the color of his ale and he rolls his eyes before looking back at his phone. At this moment I know Caroline is the person Cole has been keeping a secret.
As we start to round 11 p.m., everyone’s getting tired and I'm grateful to be making the short trek back to the house. The time at the bar has solidified my notion that Ollie is exactly where she needs to be. The way she lights up when her friends are talking and how she’s fully invested in listening and caring about what they have to say warms me from the inside out.
She’s always been empathetic but strong in her belief system, and it's clear that after all her time in the city, and all of our problems that she never lost sight of it…
and that might actually be the hottest thing about her.
She stand by the people she loves, and show them the love and support that they need, even when their beliefs are different from her own. It draws me into Ollie more than ever.
It's probably a good thing that we had a few drinks tonight to give me some liquid courage to place my hand on the small of her back as we walk and then transition to putting it around her shoulder for the walk home.
Initially, she tenses for a moment as a bolt of electricity shoots through both of us, pulling me closer to her but quickly relaxes into my shoulder and makes the journey home tucked tightly into my side.
Where I wish she would stay forever.
While it's a short walk back to the house we make it two blocks before Ollie is pulled away by Caroline as they walk hand in hand, laughing and giggling the remainder of the walk home. I can’t hide the smile that comes across my face as I watch them walk ahead, Ollie grabbing Savy’s arm to join them.
Mason and Cole fall back to walk with me and watch the three girls with giddy smiles on their faces.
“They’re three peas in a pod,” Cole says finally. He looks at Mason and continues “How the hell do you live with them all the time?”
Mason just chuckles and shrugs off the question before saying, “The way they just took Savannah in and made her one of us is something I will forever be grateful for.”
It's clear he really cares about Savannah but also values his relationship with Ollie and Caroline. I mean, they have lived together for the last nine years so I really shouldn’t be surprised.
Watching the three girls, they are all entirely different personalities that I couldn’t imagine meshing together initially.
Caroline’s the firecracker, a wild child that goes perfectly with her vibrant red hair and her long ass legs.
I swear they go on for miles. It's also the main part of Caroline that Cole cannot stop looking at. Whereas, Savannah is shorter than Ollie, with medium-length wavy blonde hair. She’s the wallflower of the group.
Ollie is the in-between of the two different girls.
As we climb the front stairs, Caroline fumbles with the lock, each girl pairing off with one of us.
We barely make it into the living room before Mason and Savannah disappear up stairs.
Caroline and Ollie grab an extra blanket and pillows for the couch from the closet where Cole and I are going to sleep.
Thankfully they have a large sectional so there’s plenty of space for each of us to sleep in our own space.
Once Caroline drags herself down the hallway to bed, Ollie tucks herself firmly into my chest, pressing the side of her face into my chest. I wrap my arms around her shoulders, pulling her tight to me, resting my chin on the top of her head.
Cole just rolls over, making a gagging noise like he used to do back when we were teenagers even though we all know he’s in full support of this, otherwise he wouldn’t have brought me out here for his weekend getaway.
I can feel Ollie smile in response to Cole and everything feels right.
Like we’re exactly where we’re supposed to be.
“I should go to bed, we have a full day tomorrow before you leave,” Ollie says in a muffled tone, still leaning against me.
I know she is right but it's nearly impossible to hide the disappointment from having to let her go.
I know she is still skeptical about our relationship and that is entirely my fault, but I just wish she would let me back in. At least give me a chance.
“Okay,” I whisper in response, slowly loosening my grip. She pulls the top half of her off me placing both her hands on my chest with a slight sleepy smile on her face.
Fuck.
There is no way I'm going to be able to let her go when she looks at me like that. The look on her face as the corner of her mouth starts to curl up into the sexiest smirk tells me she’s had too much to drink and knows exactly what that look does to me.
“Ollie, go to bed now, or Cole’s going to hear the sounds you make when I kiss you,” I say with both my hands on the small of her back, secretly hoping she decides to torture her brother.
She pulls away, without saying a word, clearly signifying this is not going in my favor tonight. Then before I even know what hit me she launches onto her tiptoes to give me a peck on the cheek before whispering “good night” and disappearing down the hallway to her bedroom.
I hear the soft chuckle of Cole who’s pretending to be asleep on his side of the sectional. I am thankful we have been able to fall back into the friendship we’ve shared since we were five, as if that dreaded decade didn’t exist.
Ugh. My entire body aches for Ollie as I crawl onto the couch under the knit blanket Ollie left for me.
The ache deepens when I realize this is the same blanket we used on the porch swing all those years ago when I finally gave in to my feelings for her.
I have never been a great sleeper but there is no way I'm going to sleep tonight now.
And I’m right. For the next three hours, I'm either tossing and turning or staring at the ceiling wondering if Ollie is asleep. I even get up twice and creep to the beginning of the hallway before stopping realizing I have no idea what room is hers and that is not a risk I'm willing to take. Plus, it’s fairly clear that she doesn’t want me in there with her.
But damn I just want to wrap my arms around her, lift her into my chest, and kiss her.
“Hey,” I hear the whisper coming from the end of the hallway as a slight light fades from one of the rooms. It's too dark to see who exactly it is but I already know it's Ollie. I prop myself on my elbows as she leans farther into the hallway waving, indicating for me to follow.
“Can’t sleep?” she asks as I get closer to her, and I shake my head no, wanting to remain silent so as not to wake anyone else up.
Once we close the door to her bedroom, she gestures to the big bed in the middle of the room.
This room is such an adult room and so different from the setup of the childhood rooms she and her brothers had back in Fisher Creek.
Her bedroom is full of very light neutral earthy tones, paired with a beautiful tree in the corner next to her desk by the window.
She climbs onto the bed and gently pats the made side for me to sit next to her.
I slowly walk around the bed taking in her sheer beauty.
I'm always amazed at how makeup for many has become a necessity whether they use it as a way to impress someone else or feel good about themselves.
Ollie has never been like that. She grew up on the farm and while Penelope was always using makeup and taking ages to get ready, Ollie never saw the point in it since she's going to either sweat it off or get dirty anyway.
Looking at her now in her little black silk pajama set as she sits crisscross on her bed and pulls up the blanket over her lap, I can’t get into the bed fast enough.
“Me either.” She shrugs. “I couldn’t get my brain to turn off the idea of kissing you.”
I feel the ache in my chest at that line, because, well, same. Instead of replying with words, I lean over, turn her face toward me, and kiss her. The kiss is full of passion, and lust and instantly brings me back to that night doing karaoke in Fisher Creek.
She melts into my arms, bringing one hand up to the side of my face, the other hand pressed firmly against my chest. My hands reach to pull her onto my lap.
Her silk pajamas don’t leave much to the imagination as the thin black material hangs loosely over her hardening nipples.
She straddles my lap rubbing against my already erect dick through my gym shorts.
Leaning up against her headboard is perfect to allow both my hands to wander across her perfect body, reaching up and giving a gentle pinch to her nipple.
She lets out the faintest little gasp separating our lips and giving me a devious smile.
“This okay?” I ask quietly.
“Mm-hmm,” she slides off my lap and down toward the end of the bed, moving my shorts and boxers down in one swift motion.