Chapter 15 #3
“I thought I told you to stay in that bed.” I snatched a T-shirt from my drawer as she sauntered out of the room.
“You did, but I’m thirsty,” she called.
I followed her out, seeing her head into the guest room. In a few seconds, she emerged with a pair of socks with puppies on them.
“Courtesy of Sheila,” she said, leaning on the doorframe and tugging one on before switching sides to put the other one on.
My grin was wide. “I’m definitely getting a picture of that.”
Her hand swatted me, and I caught it, pulling her to me. “You’re the most adorable woman I’ve laid eyes on.”
“I’m not adorable. That’s insulting.”
I threw my head back as I laughed. “Why is that insulting?”
“Because it makes me sound like a child.”
I rolled my eyes and released her, turning her toward the stairs and swatting her ass. “Be a good girl and get your water so you can crawl back into that bed and wait for me.”
“Demanding ass,” she muttered as she descended the stairs.
“But you like my demands.”
She peeked over her shoulder at me, a grin fighting her hold on it.
“And you are adorable. Deal with it. You can return to being sexy and beautiful when I’m done ravaging you.” Not that anything would keep her from being either of those things.
“I can’t be adorable when I’m running a billion-dollar company,” she said, continuing her path into the kitchen and not noticing that her words had halted my steps.
The reminder that this was limited, that her life would be an obstacle I didn’t know if I could surmount.
I’d told her we’d make it work, but would we?
It had been a rushed proclamation, a desperate attempt to diminish the fact that our lives were starkly different.
Stop thinking about it.
“Eh, I’m sure wearing those cute puppy socks would help you close deals.” I picked my boot up, pulling it on. “Do you close deals? Or is that your brother?” Both owned the company, even if their father had intended it to go to him. With their revenge, it had become hers, too.
As I put the other boot on, I thought about that.
Her brother had protected her for years, taking her punishments, but had he protected her more than she knew?
Buying out their father ensured their business owned the assets, and he had built their company with her having an equal share.
Redistributing the business’ worth between them and not just in his hands.
“I like to let him deal with most of that. Of course, it sounds like he handed that over to Tori on this deal.”
I shook my head, clearing the thoughts out and giving her a nod. “True. If I’d known it was him, I would have turned it down.”
She lowered her glass of water, and I refrained from teasing her about drinking tap water again. Her expression had turned serious. “Do you regret saying yes?”
My brows furrowed, and I stared at her. “I know you didn’t just ask me that.”
“Why? I’m a distraction to your everyday life. An annoyance. A problem you now have to solve.”
I stalked over to her, wrapping my hand around her neck and turning her body to me like she was nothing more than a rag doll.
“You’ve been a distraction since the day I met you, Olivia Icinda.
And when you broke my heart, you remained one, stirring those splinters of pain constantly so I never got over you.
A constant distraction I couldn’t remove.
You were an annoyance with your expensive bag and clothes, your fancy nails—”
“I broke one, and that’s annoying.”
I scowled at her. “Don’t interrupt me when I’m being sweet.”
“This is sweet? You’re holding me like I’m a kitten and growling at me.”
Tugging her close, I lowered my face to her ear. “I don’t growl, and you are the sweetest-tasting pussy.”
“God, you’re so dirty.” She scrunched her nose, and I let out a laugh.
“I am, and you love it. Now let me finish,” I scolded.
“You are not a problem. Our situation is a problem. One we’ll deal with when you have to return to the city.
But you are not a problem. You are the solution to the cloud that has hung over me since the day you left me, and I don’t care what we face when you leave because I’m not letting you go again, Olivia. ”
A sexy inhale shook her chest, and I leaned over, giving her a crushing kiss before I released her and walked back to the door, adjusting the strain in my pants. I put my rain jacket on, leaving my hat this time and tugging the hood over my head instead.
“When I’m done, you’re going to take care of the discomfort you just caused me.”
“I caused? I beg to differ.”
The rain rushed into the house when I threw the door open. This was going to be miserable. The front of the yard looked like a pond with rapids churning through it.
“Either way, I expect you to alleviate it.”
I slammed the door behind me, but not before I heard her huff. Smiling at the sound, I lowered my head to the sheets of rain pelting me and thought of how the day had turned. How Olivia Icinda had returned to my life and, somehow in the span of two days, glued my jagged pieces back together.