Chapter 12 Olivia
OLIVIA
“Do you think they’re okay?”
“Dunno. They look a little… tangled.”
“Should we wake them up?”
“We’re already late for school…”
“Dad’s gonna be so mad.”
I groaned, burrowing further into the warm cocoon I found myself nestled in.
Voices whispered around me, trying their best to rouse me from sleep, but it was no use.
Pine and pepper filled my nose, and I relaxed, comforted by the scent.
I wasn’t even sure what it was, because it definitely didn’t smell like my lavender laundry soap.
The blankets snugly wrapped around my waist tightened, pulling me closer to the source of heat. Duke was right. It did get a little cold at night.
Duke.
Last night.
His scent.
Oh my god.
My eyes shot open, finding Harper and Charlie both staring at the couch as though it’d grown two heads. It was only then that I realized the blankets around my waist weren’t really blankets at all.
They were arms. Strong, muscular arms that held me as though whoever they belonged to was frightened I might run away. Arms that, I realized with startling clarity, belonged to the man snoring beside me.
I sat up in a hurry only to be pulled back against Duke’s chest. His body was like a freaking furnace. I was beginning to sweat with our daughters staring at us like we were crazy.
“Duke,” I hissed, trying to pry his grip loose. He didn’t budge. I smiled awkwardly at the girls before trying again. “Duke.” This time, I accentuated my words with a sharp jab to his side.
He let go with a groan, rubbing his eyes to clear away the sleep before leveling me with a glare. “Ow. What the—”
“Morning, Daddy,” Harper said, breaking out into a fit of giggles next to Charlie.
Duke coughed, grabbing the nearest pillow to cover his lap. Morning wood was nothing to be ashamed of under normal circumstances, but honestly… I didn’t want to try to explain that to two nine-year-old girls. That would’ve been too much for me to handle.
“We weren’t sure if we should wake y’all up, but,” Charlie glanced at her phone, “we’re both late for school.”
“Yeah, like super late,” Harper added.
“Shit,” I cursed, hopping up to the sound of Duke’s muttered, “Fuck.”
“I should’ve set my alarm,” I muttered, hopping up from the couch. It was nearly ten.
Duke grabbed his phone and sighed. “I thought my battery would last until morning, but apparently not.”
“I kind of thought y’all were dead,” Harper said. “Dad never sleeps this late.”
“Neither does my mom,” Charlie added. She still had a shit-eating grin on her face.
Since I was a kid, I’d always run on minimal sleep. I was too much of a night owl to go to sleep early, but try as I might to sleep past sunrise, it never worked. No matter what time I went to bed, I was up by seven with no exceptions.
“Come on, girls. Let’s get you to school,” Duke said, pushing to his feet. I covered my laugh with the back of my hand as he dragged the pillows and blankets with him, earning a pointed glare.
“So… About that,” Charlie said. “Today was our field trip to the park. If you take us to school, there will be no one there because everyone left at nine.”
“Oh my god, that was today?” I groaned.
The girls nodded. “Yup.”
Duke cursed, still standing there holding the blankets and pillows at waist height. Honestly, it was sort-of adorable seeing him so disheveled.
Charlie turned to Harper and loudly whispered, “We should really start a swear jar.”
Harper nodded. “Then we’ll definitely be able to afford the ponies we want.”
“Ponies?” Duke and I turned toward our daughters.
“As in plural?” I asked.
“One for each of us. Duh,” Charlie deadpanned.
Right. Yes. Silly me.
“You know I’ve wanted one for years now, Mom. Dad keeps saying he’ll get me one, and then he doesn’t.”
I wasn’t opposed to Charlie having a horse, especially since she’d learned how to ride thanks to Cleo a few years ago.
But that was a big responsibility I wasn’t entirely sure she was ready for.
It was a miracle Grady hadn’t caved yet.
Normally, Charlie just needed to bat her long eyelashes at her dad to get whatever it was she wanted.
Duke shook his head. “Where would we even keep a horse, sugar? In your bedroom?”
“No, we’d need to build a barn out back,” Harper said. To her credit, she looked deadly serious.
His long fingers came up to scratch at the stubble along his jaw. Stubble that’d grown out significantly over the past few days. I noticed he never seemed to fully get rid of it. Not that I minded. I liked the sexy pornstache with a five o’clock shadow look.
Duke had always been attractive, but the way I was seeing him lately put his younger self to shame.
He was muscular and yet soft. Handsome and yet rugged.
There were no overpriced flashy accessories.
The man didn’t even own a smartwatch, and his phone was at least four years old, given the cracked screen and shitty battery life.
He preferred stained T-shirts and a worn flannel to five-thousand-dollar suits. The boots by the door looked as though they were in desperate need of a resoling. There was no pomp or circumstance. Just a simple man with simple needs living a simple life.
When was the last time life had been simple for me?
I’d operated at an all-or-nothing, breakneck speed since the day I graduated high school.
John sent me away to college, where I majored in business operations and minored in music theory.
He had me out on scouting trips before I’d even graduated because I had an ear for talent.
That was how I met Grady, after all.
But even after I left school and started shadowing him at Hartstrings corporate office, I never took a break. The only vacations I went on were weekend trips I could get away to visit Grady on tour, but that was years ago.
This was the first time since I’d started my career that I’d been able to slow things down and relax, but it wasn’t the same. I still had to check my email. Still had frequent meetings with lawyers and others, not only for business matters but also for John’s estate planning.
I didn’t realize how desperate I was for a change of speed until I woke up late in Duke’s arms on a Wednesday morning.
“Looks like we have no choice but to play hooky,” I said, stretching my arms above my head. Duke turned toward me, eyes homing in on the sliver of exposed skin where my shirt had ridden up.
Both the girls cheered as the grump in front of me cocked a brow. “Hooky?”
“Are you unfamiliar with the concept? See, it’s when you take off work or school just because you can.”
“I know what it means,” he muttered. “But I can’t just decide not to work today. There’s a bunch of shit I didn’t get to finish last night. Sawyer’s probably over there already.” He walked toward the windows and pulled back the curtain. “Yup. Her car is out front. I have to go.”
With a sigh, he began walking toward the laundry room to drop the blankets, which I’m pretty sure was just an excuse to grab some pants. Charlie and Harper turned toward me, frowning.
“What if the girls and I came with you today?” I asked.
Duke stuck his head out of the kitchen. “What?”
“Yeah. I’m sure there’s something we could all do to pitch in, right?”
His brows furrowed. “Well, no. Not really.”
I shrugged. “At least you’ll have the best help around,” I teased. His lips twitched, and I considered that a win. “Come on. They can’t go to school now, and I’ve always wanted to know what it was like to work in a bar.”
“Why?”
I shrugged. “Blame it on Coyote Ugly.”
Duke barked out a laugh. “You know it’s not that kind of bar, right?”
“Any bar is that kind of bar if you just believe in yourself and the sturdiness of the structure you’re dancing on,” I said, tossing in a wink for good measure.
“What’s Coyote Ugly?” Charlie whispered, looking to Harper. Thankfully, she just shrugged.
“You’re too young to know, and you’ll never find out!” Duke called out.
The girls and I waited on bated breath as the silence stretched on.
I wasn’t sure why my stomach was in knots.
It was better if he said no, anyway. My email was likely overflowing, and I had several missed calls I needed to return as soon as possible.
Yet, here I was, not-so-patiently waiting for him to say yes.
Duke’s loud sigh was all the confirmation we needed to start cheering. “Christ. I’m going to regret this,” he said, walking back into the living room. He’d changed his shirt from last night. It was slightly wrinkled, but I loved that he didn’t care.
“Nope. We’ll be the best helpers ever. Isn’t that right, girls?”
“Totally,” Harper and Charlie agreed.
As the girls ran to drop their backpacks in Harper’s room, Duke turned to me. “About this morning…” He ran a hand through his thick hair. “I don’t know what happened. I’m sorry if that made you feel uncomfortable.”
I couldn’t hold back my laugh. “You’re apologizing for cuddles?”
The blush that crept across his cheeks was adorable. “I mean, yeah. I didn’t mean to cross any lines, or—”
I put my finger to his lips to stop him from talking. I may have lingered slightly longer than felt appropriate. “If I didn’t like it, I would’ve said something.”
“You liked it?” he asked, dubiously.
I nodded. “Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve been held like that?”
Alarm bells sounded in my head, warning me to slow the fuck down. We were stepping into unfamiliar territory. I wasn’t sure if I should give him this piece of honesty or let it die with me.
“How long?” His voice was no more than a low rumble.
“Nearly ten years.”
A line formed between Duke’s brows as he did the math. “But Charlie is—”
“She just turned nine,” I confirmed.
In the entirety of my life, I’d only been with two men.
The first was a random guy I met at a frat party my first year of college.
I put no stock in the idea of virginity.
I had no desire to wait until marriage or for Mr. Right to come along.
For me, it was just one more thing to check off a list, honestly.
The second and last was Grady.
Charlie was the result of one of our lowest moments. I’d picked Grady up from the very bar Duke now owned. We came home, both feeling sorry for ourselves for different reasons, and let our bodies work out our frustrations. Then, in the aftermath, we realized we’d foregone a condom.
Nine months later, I gave birth to our daughter, who turned out to be the best thing to ever happen to either of us. It wasn’t planned. Kids weren’t even something we thought would be in the cards for us, honestly. But Charlie had changed both our lives.
It’d only happened once, though.
I thought about dating after the divorce, but it was different now.
Social media was full of weirdos looking for a handout, and now that I had a kid, I wasn’t about to trust some random guy I met off the internet.
The whole concept seemed like too much work.
I didn’t want to spend what little time I had on anyone other than my daughter.
Until now. Until I was staring up into bright green eyes that made my heart race every time they met mine.
Feeling that way was dangerous. Duke and I had no future. Eventually, I’d have to return to my job and leave Pinecrest behind once again. Each day I stayed, each moment I let myself indulge in the freedom I’d been gifted, was one step closer to the end.
I wasn’t sure if he felt the same curiosity I did, but for my sake, I should’ve made up some excuse to leave his house before I spent another day wishing I could stay.
But I didn’t.
Charlie and Harper came bounding into the room, both laughing about god only knew what, as Duke and I stepped apart. He cleared his throat, forcing a smile, before he said, “Y’all ready to work?”
They nodded enthusiastically as we walked out of the house. The girls each grabbed one of my hands. Harper reached out for her dad’s, waiting patiently for him to take it. The smile he gave her, soft and full of tenderness, made me weak at the knees.
We walked like that, hand-in-hand, the short distance to the bar. Charlie hummed some song that was stuck in her head while Harper bobbed along to it. I looked over to Duke, who was fully grinning. The sun shone down on the four of us, bathing us in warm light.
As we stepped into Frank’s, Charlie and Harper immediately went over to the jukebox to pick a song.
“So much for helping,” Duke muttered.
I patted his chest, trying hard not to focus on the heat seeping through his clothes. “You knew that wouldn’t last long.”
“Hey, guys!” Sawyer said from behind the bar. She paused when she saw me, a knowing smile playing on her lips. “Olivia, right?”
I walked over and held out my hand. “Right! And you’re Sawyer?” The young girl nodded. “I hope your boss gave you the tip I left last time I was here,” I said, giving her a wink.
“You know damn well I did!” Duke called from somewhere in the back.
“I don’t know…” Sawyer drawled. “How much was it again? He only gave me a twenty.”
I gasped. “Duke Bennett, how dare you pocket the other eighty!”
Sawyer and I broke out in a fit of giggles as Duke rounded the corner, a scowl already forming. “That’s a damn lie, and you—” he paused, pointing between the two of us. “I can already tell this is a bad idea.”
“Why, sir, whatever can you mean?” I asked, thickening my accent. “Whatever you’re accusing me of is slander, and I won’t stand for it!”
Duke pinched the bridge of his nose, which only had us laughing harder. “Yup. Terrible idea.”
“I don’t know,” Sawyer said. “I think it’s the start of a beautiful friendship.”
“Or a definite pain in my ass,” he sighed. “Listen, the mop and bucket are in the closet over there. Why don’t you make yourself useful and leave my staff alone? She’s got work to do.”
I gave him a salute as he disappeared into the cramped storeroom. “Sir, yes, sir.” Leaving Sawyer to finish what she was doing, I walked back toward our daughters. “Alright, girls. Let me teach you a thing or two about Coyote Ugly.”
While I couldn’t be sure, I swore I heard Duke cursing beneath his breath.