Chapter Thirty-Five
Kayden
“Where are we going?” Olivia asked, looking out the window.
She hadn’t asked where I was taking her until we’d left the city.
I’d expected her to ask questions before then but we’d been mostly chatting about Kaylee.
Olivia seemed to be making up for all the time I’d missed with her.
She painted a picture of Kaylee’s early life well and I could vividly imagine the two of them going through each stage together.
From the sleepless nights of their first few months, to her first steps, to her saying “mama” for the first time.
Olivia explained it all in so much detail it was like I could see Kaylee’s childhood unfolding in my mind.
“To where we met,” I answered. I wanted to take Olivia on a first date that felt special and unique to us, and that place was a small restaurant, frequently used as a wedding venue on the coast, where I’d had my first inkling of what it could be like to connect with someone romantically.
She’d been the first person to open my heart.
Sometimes I wondered if I would have been ready to give myself to Jace if I hadn’t met her back then.
I took my eyes off the road for a short moment and glanced at her. She was smiling and with the moonlight reflecting off her skin she looked even more beautiful than usual.
“That’s a very sweet choice,” she said, taking my hand. I brought the back of her hand to my lips and kissed it gently.
“I could listen to you talk about Kaylee all night. I want to know everything about her,” I said. “But I have one more question about her and then I want to focus on us for the rest of this evening.”
Olivia rested her head on my shoulder. “Okay, what’s your last question?”
“How did you get pregnant?” I asked.
She lifted her head and looked at me curiously. “I’m not going to be offended if you want a paternity test,” she said, looking a little hurt despite her words.
“No, Olivia. I believe you. I really do and I don’t want a test. I can tell that little girl is mine,” I said, chuckling and hoping she wouldn’t think I doubted her word. “You told me you had an IUD that night.”
She scoffed. “You’re right, I forgot about that. Well, I thought I had one. Turns out I have a tilted uterus, which can apparently make placement and permanency of an IUD problematic. The doctor who put it in didn’t tell me that though, and when I wound up pregnant, they told me it had dislodged.”
“I see,” I said, turning on to the stretch of road where the wedding venue was.
I wasn’t all that familiar with the intricacies of the female anatomy, but I made a mental note to look into her condition in case she ever wanted to have more children with us in the future. “Does that cause you any problems?”
“Other than getting pregnant on a one-stand night? Nope, not so far,” she said with a laugh. “I’ve always had intense periods, so that could be related. But no complications with pregnancy or sex.”
“I’m still going to read up on it,” I said matter-of-factly as I pulled into the parking lot. “I read up on shellfish allergies this afternoon.”
She smirked at me. “Of course you did, and I sense you have questions now.”
“I just want to make sure I understand so I can do my part to keep you safe when we’re together,” I said. I turned the car off and shifted in my seat to face her. “Are you allergic to crustaceans, mollusks, or both?”
“What the hell is a mollusk, Kayden?” Her head fell backward as she laughed.
“Mussels, clams, scallops,” I listed off a few.
“Ew.” She shook her head and grimaced. “I’m only allergic to crustaceans but if it comes from the ocean, don’t feed it to me. I can’t stand the smell.”
I chuckled. “Okay. I called ahead to make sure they could handle a shellfish allergy since they serve seafood here, and they said they could. Also, don’t you think this is something you should have considered at the wedding?”
She raised an eyebrow. “I was a bit preoccupied by the gorgeous and slightly nervous man who’d asked me to be his date for the evening. I carry an EpiPen, so in the instance of cross-contamination, I would have survived.”
“You would have given me a heart attack,” I said. My pulse raced at the thought of having to witness her in anaphylactic shock.
“It would have been memorable,” she said with a grin as she reached for the door.
“It was pretty fucking memorable all the same,” I muttered as we climbed out.
We went inside and I rested my hand on the small of her back. She’d chosen a short, red dress and my desire to run my hand up the inside of her leg was growing. Doesn’t help that I saw this very dress hiked up around her waist and my boyfriend’s dick buried inside her less than an hour ago.
With the heels she’d slipped on she was nearly the same height as me, and I leaned into her ear as the hostess led us to our table. “You look beautiful, Olivia.”
She smiled and flicked my tie. “You don’t look so bad yourself, handsome.”
We sat down and looked over the menu, both choosing one of the steak specials. Olivia ordered a glass of wine and then smiled mischievously.
“You have ten minutes until they come back with our drinks to tell me everything I need to know about my date tonight,” Olivia said, her smile spreading as my eyes widened.
“Are you serious?” I asked.
She nodded. “Is that not what I had to do four years ago?”
“Sure, but that was to protect our cover for the evening.” I took a sip of water. “What do you want to know?”
She shook her head. “Not how this works. Whatever comes to your mind. Spit it out before they come back with my wine.”
I laughed and rubbed my sweaty palms on my thighs. “Alright, I’ve got this. When do I start?”
“Now. I’m sure you’re down to seven minutes,” she said smugly.
“I’m thirty years old and I wanted to be an architect since I was a little kid and I saw one on TV.
My mom is dead, I had a little brother who died in a car accident, and I’ll share those details with you but not in the middle of this word vomit.
” She took my hand and squeezed. “I left Boston for college because my father is an abusive piece of shit. I’m proud to be bisexual and a recovering alcoholic. ”
She smiled proudly at me. “I’m happy to hear you say those things so easily now.”
I took another sip of water. “I have a daughter who I’m just getting to know but who I’m already crazy about.
I have an unreasonably high IQ, enough fears and phobias to keep surprising you for years when they pop up, and I don’t like talking about myself to anyone except Jace and you.
I’m in love with the same man as you and it feels unreal that we’re even sitting here when I’d become convinced that I lost you forever a long time ago. ”
The waiter appeared with Liv’s wine, and I took a deep breath. “Thank God,” I said, sighing in relief.
She burst out laughing and squeezed my hand until the waiter was gone. She brought her wine glass to her lips and smiled around it. “Will you tell me about your family?”
“Of course,” I said. I found myself walking her through the details just as easily as I had with Jace.
Telling her after I’d already told Jace made it a little easier.
The memories were more accessible and I felt confident that if I told her now, I wouldn’t have to talk about my past anymore for a while.
It wasn’t like I wanted to suppress the memories—my therapist in rehab had made it clear that wouldn’t do me any good—but I also didn’t want to bring it up regularly.
Olivia was empathetic and shared details about her absent father as well.
“I think that’s part of why I never looked for you,” she said, taking a sip of her wine and sighing.
“I’m sorry, Kayden. I knew you didn’t want to be in Boston, and I was afraid if I found you and told you about our daughter, she’d have a father who breezed in and out of her life too. ”
I took her hand in mine and held it on top of the table. “I don’t hold any resentment for the choices you made. But I need you to know, if things were different, I would have been here for both of you. Every single day.”
“I know that now,” she said with a sad smile. “But then we might not have Jace, and that makes me incredibly sad to even think about.”
“I know exactly what you mean,” I said. “How did you two meet anyway? He’s never said.”
She laughed and a nostalgic smile washed over her face. “I suppose I can thank you for that, actually.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Oh, really? Explain.”
The waiter appeared at the table and set down our meals before Olivia continued, “When I woke up the morning after our evening together, I went straight to my perverted boss and quit. He offered me more money to stay and didn’t even look at my tits during the whole exchange. It must have taken him great effort.”
I laughed and took a bite of my steak. Delicious. I’d forgotten how good the food was here because I’d been so distracted by the memory of my company that night. “And yet, you held your ground?”
“I did. I’d made a promise to a gorgeous man who’d made me come very loudly in a bathroom the night before. I couldn’t let him down.”
I took a sip of my sparking water to keep my mouth busy, otherwise I’d be tempted to crawl across the table and kiss her. “And how does Jace factor into this?”
“I walked around the city that morning trying to find a restaurant where I’d get a chance to bartend like I wanted and where the manager hopefully wouldn’t be a perv.”
“High bar,” I teased.
“I walked by Harrison’s Bar and Pub, a sports bar that’s been in the city for years now, and I really liked the vibe.
I went inside, and standing behind the bar was one of the hottest guys I’d ever seen.
His thick, curly hair was golden and slicked back and his face was cleanshaven.
The look was incredibly hot, but he looks better with the beard. ”
“He can never shave that off,” I said, thinking about the way it felt against my skin when he kissed me or sucked me off.