Chapter Twenty-Eight
After a hot shower and some tea, Olivia felt worlds better.
The rain had shown no sign of stopping, and with the wind picking up even further, they had been told to hunker down for the night as the roads had closed back to the city.
One of the big oak trees a mile down the road had fallen, leaving the village cut off until morning when the council could move the tree safely.
Theo had gone back downstairs and spoken to the owner, gathering a spare pair of sweats and a jumper from the lost property bin.
After taking some time to consider everything that had happened that evening, Olivia found her fingers beginning to itch with the need to write.
Rifling around the side table, she found an old leather-bound bible, and a small notebook and pencil. Grabbing the notebook, she sat on top of the floral bedding and began scratching the pencil across the paper in cursive twirls.
It was as if her hands couldn’t move as fast as her brain, and before she knew it, she had filled pages, ripping each piece of paper off the notebook and laying them all before her like a puzzle, to then continue writing on the next page, adding her dots and triangles and markers.
She wrote until her hand cramped, until her fingers seized and until Theo came back through the door for the second time, now with some cheese and crackers, two packets of unopened crisps and a single pack of peanuts.
“The lady said that this was all they had until breakfast tomorrow morning.” Theo wandered towards the bed, putting the snacks on the bedside table before leaning over her shoulder and glancing down at the numerous scribbles she had made.
“You’re writing?” he said, giving her shoulder a squeeze.
“I just found myself wanting to let it all out, you know?”
Theo said nothing, just squeezed her shoulders once more and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “Can I convince you to take a break for a golden, unopened packet of unsalted peanuts?”
Olivia felt the corners of her lips pull up into a smile. She hated how much she loved that he could make her smile when she felt down. It was as if she couldn’t help but feel happier whenever he was around.
While she had been in the shower he had restocked the fire, found her clean and dry clothes, found her food. In the meantime she had been bawling her eyes out behind the thin, wooden bathroom wall, coming to terms with everything.
Theo was here, and despite not wanting him here initially, she was grateful he had been so pushy about finding out her location. Edward had been nice, but she had to admit she felt a lot safer with Theo.
Halting her pen Olivia looked at where Theo was fixing the fire. “Why did you come here?”
“I wanted to know you were all right.” Theo prodded the fire with a poker, before placing another log on the pile.
Olivia glanced at the man before her, eyes draping over his strong frame.
His forearms bare, olive-toned skin gleaming golden under the firelight.
The strong corded muscle moved and shifted with every step he made towards her, and when he leaned his closed fists on the bed beside her, before sitting his body down a foot from her on the plush duvet, she couldn’t help but stare at the way his veins wound around the back of his arms and disappeared underneath the sleeve of his jumper. She wanted to discover where they led.
“When you called…” Theo whispered, his deep brown eyes moving to hers. It was only now that she noticed how there was a golden streak in the right one, or how his gaze kept glancing down towards her dry lips.
Flicking her tongue out, she licked her lips and let out a sigh. “I’m glad you came,” she whispered.
Theo hummed, shooting her a warm grin and looking down at all the small papers around them.
“Theo,” Olivia whispered, pushing herself up onto her knees and moving closer towards him.
“Yes?”
“I…” she began, before leaning forward and brushing her lips against his. She had been dreaming of tasting him again since the first time at the games night. The taste of him had plagued her mind for weeks, the brief kiss playing over and over in her head.
Spearmint was now her favourite flavour.
After a moment of hesitation, she felt his lips press firmly back against hers, his hand reaching up to grasp the side of her face.
The papers crumpled under Olivia’s knees as she moved forward, her chest meeting his, his other hand coming around to rest on the back of her thigh, pulling her further into him until her knees fell either side of his abdomen on the bed.
“Olivia,” Theo moaned into her mouth, the baritone of his voice against her lip making her shiver more than she had when she was cold.
“Wait,” Olivia gasped as his lips began their sweet torture along the length of her neck, leaving quick bites and kisses on her delicate skin.
“What?” Theo growled against her collarbone, gently sucking more of her skin into his mouth.
“I— we need to keep this professional, okay?” Olivia parted her lips, which were still tingling with the remnants of their kiss.
Theo’s kisses stopped, his head coming up to brush his nose against hers.
His hands remained on her face, cradling her cheeks in his palms and brushing his thumb back and forth along those swollen, plump lips he had just tasted.
Wiping his thumb across her bottom lip, his eyes followed the action as her cherry chap-sticked lip puckered at the movement.
“Uh huh,” he rasped, biting his bottom lip. “Professional.”
Without a second thought, he slammed his lips back down onto hers, their mouths colliding like a tsunami onto flat plains, slanting, licking, biting greedily at each other’s lips.
They both dragged in heavy breaths of air with each reluctant parting, as though they were drowning and the only thing that could save them was the taste of each other’s lips.
Theo struggled to contain his composure as Olivia’s hands began tracing the tough, corded muscles of his back, pulling him closer with fevered need.
Keep it professional.
Yeah right, Theo thought. He had known he wanted her from the first night at the bar.
She compelled him. She was the hunter, and he was the prey, and God how he loved to be hunted by her.
They shouldn’t be doing this. He knew that they were walking across dangerous landmines that could explode at any given moment.
They were putting everything on the line.
Her book, their date to his sister’s wedding, their friendship.
Theo’s feelings for Olivia had been slowly increasing every time she looked his way, every time she texted him, every time he goddamn thought of her.
Simmering, then bubbling to a high temperature of need and unmatched desire.
Theo had known exactly how this was going to go from the very beginning, only Olivia had no idea. Trying to find her leading man when he was right here. Maybe not the leading man for her novel, but her leading man in real life.
God, she’s beautiful, Theo thought as their lips broke once more, her head tipping back, a small smile melting onto her face as he began kissing the two dimples on her cheeks, the freckle on the left of her jaw line.
He wanted to kiss each and every inch of her.
The shower had plastered her long blonde hair against her neck, the water made her skin taste refreshing, like lavender and honey. His hot lips against her cool skin caused goosebumps to erupt across it, the good kind, as he leaned back up and captured her lips once more.
Olivia could feel the burning heat between them as he pressed her firmly against his tall frame. With a gentle push, they were both falling backwards, the crunching of paper underneath their needy bodies not an obstacle to what she imagined Theo wanted to do to her.
She wanted to be as close as possible to him, the urge to wrap her leg around his waist flickered in her brain and with that she knew they had to slow down.
“Theo,” she breathed, her chest falling rapidly as he hummed in response against her neck. “We have to stop.”
He groaned, placing a firmer kiss against the curve of her neck, making her laugh turn into a low sound of protest as he continued his path downwards.
“Theo,” she moaned as his hand made its way underneath the lost property jumper, its dark green fabric bunching in his fist, his cool knuckles brushing the naked skin of her abdomen.
“Do you want to stop?” he said, his voice raspy and low. She felt a pull in her lower stomach, and she knew she couldn’t wait any longer.
She wanted this man. Of that she was certain.
She leaned up, wrapping her arm around his shoulder and kissing below his ear. “God no, don’t stop.”
Theo’s inhale spoke a thousand words as he lifted her upper thighs and laid himself between her legs, their bodies meeting in a delicious roll of friction. “As you wish, my treasure.”
Theo’s fingertips buzzed with anticipation, and he could feel Olivia’s heartbeat thudding with excitement.
With her consent, hands began to pull clothing off, trying desperately to peel one another out of the scratchy material of her jumper and his rain-sodden clothes.
Both of them laughed as the fabrics fell to the floor with heavy thuds.
At the sight of her creamy white skin, Theo groaned, skirting a hand across the curve of her shoulder, his mouth following the movement as he pulled the strap of her bra down slowly. “You have no idea how long I’ve waited for you, Livvy.”
Olivia sighed, her eyes never leaving his as she lay back on the bed, her hands pulling at the hem of his white T-shirt. As much as she loved the way it clung deliciously to his muscles, outlining every curve of his strong chest, she would rather see the real thing, no fabric coming between them.
At that moment she wished she had worn one of her fancier bras, one with lace and detailing, instead of her basic white cotton bra, the cup decorated with simple panelling and a thick underwire band.