Chapter 22 #2
Her laugh cascaded over my skin. She pushed up on my chest and sat, a position that was too tempting and had me yanking her forward so she was straddling me. Bad move because her brow arched perfectly when she noticed what she did to me.
“So you want me to wear the heels instead of the boots?”
I reached up and tugged her hair loose, letting her curls cascade over her shoulders.
“What I want is to stop talking about the past and relish this moment.”
“You brought it up,” she said, rocking her hips and causing a groan to come from me.
“No, you brought it up, and I didn’t let it go.” My hands pushed at her shirt, finding skin and following the path up her stomach until her breasts sat in them. Pert and perfect.
“Take your coat off, Olivia.”
Her lips parted, a breath escaping, a moment passing before she shrugged it off and I shoved her shirt up. My lower body rebelled even when goosebumps pebbled on her skin. I’d warm her up before she could even contemplate shivering.
“No more looking back,” I said, sliding my hand around her back and unhooking her bra. “The past is gone, and we’re not getting it back. Neither of us can change any of our decisions.”
I dragged the bra from her, hissing when her breasts popped free. Taking her hair in my fingers, I pulled her to me, letting her mouth hover over mine and locking eyes with her.
“Understand?”
“Yes,” she breathed, and my unruly dick leaped.
I wanted to make her promise that we would only talk about the future, but the future was still unsteady, and bringing it up would ruin the moment. “We live for now. That’s all. This moment and the ones that follow, we stay in them.”
She exhaled, the air sweeping over my lips like a gentle caress. The sweet scent of jasmine lingering with it.
“Can you do that for me, Olivia?”
Soft shades of gold and chestnut sat in the depths of her irises, a band of sage within them. Mesmerizing and deadly, her eyes had always been my downfall.
“Yes.”
“Good. Now be a good girl and take those pants off so I can fuck you.”
I captured her gasp before she could free it, kissing her like it was the last and first time, treasuring the sensation of her skin in my hands, her lips against mine, her mere presence after going for so long without it.
“You look fine,” I told Olivia as we walked through the town square. “If you tie your coat one more time, the thing is going to rip.
“It’s not sitting right,” she barked, and I shot her a glare. “Don’t give me that look.”
“I’ll give you any look I want to. In fact, if you keep up that mouthy attitude, I’ll flip you over my shoulder and fuck the brattiness out of you behind that building.”
Her lips thinned, eyes growing a richer shade closer to brown.
I was finding I enjoyed riling up the bitchy side of her.
It was fun to get her worked up. The resulting sex wasn’t a bad consolation either because when she was in one of those fiery moods, she came even harder.
I shifted my pace, adjusting the sudden discomfort in my pants.
“I’m not being bratty, and watch your language.”
“Now you’re being bratty.”
I placed my hand over hers, stopping her from tugging at the tie on her jacket.
It was too expensive. Long wasted, gray wool that came to her mid-thigh and had two buttons and a fancy sash around the waist. It didn’t fit in here.
It belonged in the city where high fashion ruled because it looked like she’d just worn it at a runway show.
But it was all Olivia, and paired with the jeans and boots, it worked on her.
Compromise. That’s what she was doing, but she was nervous about tonight, and I needed her to relax.
“You look fantastic, and no one here is going to judge you. And it’s not like you haven’t met any of them.”
“This is different.”
“Why? Because there are candy apples and hayrides?”
“That’s a Ferris wheel,” she said, pointing across from us.
“Yeah, so what? Doesn’t mean those people will stop what they’re doing and point at you while they yell city girl.”
Pursed lips told me my joke hadn’t thrilled her.
I tipped her chin and gave her a smile. “You are Olivia Icinda. Billionaire bitch from New York City. The smartest woman I know and the most beautiful one. Now, put your resting bitch face on and let me proudly parade you around the festival. I’m going to stuff you with popcorn, funnel cake—no, never mind on the funnel cake, I remember what happened the last time we had that—candy apples and beer.
And to finish the night off, I’m going to win my date some oversized, gaudy stuffed animal that I’ll have to heft around with me the rest of the night. ”
She lost her fight to keep her grin contained, and it spread, lighting her features. It struck me that she was standing there with me, loving me, breathing the same air as me. A desperate need to gather her in my arms and freeze this moment overcame me, and I stepped back, clearing my throat.
“Are you okay?” she asked, her smile faltering.
I rubbed my face. “Yeah, just…” I don’t want you to leave, but I know you will, and it will kill me this time. “…thinking how beautiful you are.”
She studied me. Likely she could see into my thoughts and read the frantic impulses that were spreading through me. I wasn’t so sure the same weren’t hammering her, but she hid it well. I dropped my eyes and took her hand.
“Hudson.” My sight leaped back to her. “Live in the moment, right?”
She’d turned my words back on me. I was breaking my own rule, thinking of the future and not doing what I’d made her promise she would do.
My fingers threaded around her neck, and I drew her to me. “Right. And in this moment, you’re not fooling with your coat. You’re going to confidently walk into a small-town festival and act like you own the town.”
“I could, you know.”
“What?”
“Buy the town.”
With a shake of my head, I gave her a quick kiss, not risking any more than that, or I’d be back at my truck feasting on her with no thoughts of the festival.
“That’s my girl,” I mumbled, scraping my teeth over her bottom lip. “Ready to go show this town what a real city girl looks like?”
Her laugh rushed from her, and I savored it, filing it with the other memories I suspected I would cling to when the weekend ended. It was Friday night. That left two more days to soak her in and two more days to prepare for the second hardest moment in my life.
“I’ve never been to a festival,” she admitted as we walked toward the entrance.
“Never?”
Music was coming from ahead of us, families filing in. Booths with vendors lined the entranceway. The games and rides were further in, a hayride and a makeshift haunted house set up at the back of the field that was just beyond the center of town.
I waved to people as we walked by, seeing the knowing smiles when they looked at Olivia.
Thankfully, Jessie had been the only one in town I had dated.
The town was too small, and I didn’t like gossip, nor had I wanted a reputation as the town heartbreaker.
I’d kept my dating outside of town, sometimes online, when I was too lonely.
I was glad I had, because it meant I wouldn’t expose Olivia to any unnecessary drama or awkward introductions.
There’d been plenty of women I had turned down, however, and those were the ones who were really eyeing her.
Not that she cared or noticed. Head held high, she walked in as if she owned the place, although her eyes were wider than normal.
“How can you never have gone to something like this? What about an amusement park?” I asked, going back to her last statement.
“My father would have flayed us if we had ever done something like that.”
“Coney Island?”
She shook her head. No wonder she’d looked at everything as if it were new when we’d been together. We’d never gone to anything like this. The school event where she’d had too much funnel cake was the closest we’d come. Usually, we stayed in or went to parties unless we were out riding.
“Hudson! Liv!” Jessie bolted toward us with little Carl in her hands and big Carl trying to catch up to her. “Oh shoot, sorry. I shouldn’t have shouted your name like that,” she said when she reached us.
“It’s all right.” Olivia gave her a tight smile, and I nudged her shoulder.
“Carl,” I said, throwing my hand out to him. He was the closest I had to a best friend here, but his demeanor was the complete opposite of mine. Thus, the reason he’d been a better fit for Jessie. “This is Olivia.”
“Finally get to meet the new talk of the town,” he said, giving her a polite nod.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Formal and well-practiced.
“Place is packed,” I said, shooting a glance at her before turning back to them.
“Yeah. I think everyone was ready to get out of the house after the storm. Thank goodness the trucks got through now that the road has dried up.”
“The main road?” Olivia asked, her posture going stiff. Dread crept its way up my shoulders and sat perched to strike, its claws digging into my flesh.
“Yup.” Jessie adjusted the baby on her hip. “Still a little water, but nothing you can’t pass through.”
“Took a ride through it this morning,” Carl added, “and it was nothing more than a sheen of water. Should dry up before the freeze comes in next week. Guess we should be glad we had this freak warm spell. Otherwise, we’d be stranded here till the next thaw.”
“That’s an exaggeration, Carl,” I teased him.
“Block of ice over the roadway would not be pretty.”
“So the road is clear?” Olivia asked again. They both turned their attention to her, just as I did. Her stance was rigid, her fingers digging into my hand, her bottom lip sucked in as she gnawed on it.
“It is,” Jessie answered, her eyes going soft. She’d always been keen on emotions, sensitive to them.
“Yeah,” Olivia muttered. “Cleared.”
I squeezed her hand, and she looked at me.
“In the moment,” I said, and she gave me a nod.