14. Olivia
OLIVIA
“ D o you think Max likes me more than you? I think Max might be my friend now.” I smirked at Lucas as we pulled out of Max’s beautiful property.
He humored me and told me I could have him, which made me chuckle. Lucas and I both had busy days today, so we couldn’t meet with Max until the evening, which meant we’d needed to catch him right at the end of his day. Now that we were driving away, it was after eight and the sun was setting.
“This area is so beautiful. It’s like a dream.”
Lucas’s eyes bore into me from his side of the truck.
I wasn’t looking at him, but I could feel him watching me as I surveyed our surroundings.
Lightning bugs started to blink on and off over cornfields on either side of the winding road leading away from Max’s home.
Our windows were down, and the air smelled like summer.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.
“Do you have plans right now? ”
I turned to Lucas, a little taken aback. “Um, no. Not really. Why?”
“I want to show you something. If you’re up for it.”
“It’s not a ditch you’re going to throw my body in, is it?”
He barked out a laugh as he threw on his turn signal and made a left instead of a right to head home.
“No, Angel. I’m positive Max would turn me in immediately,” he replied with a wink.
I watched with fascination as Lucas’s expression both relaxed and got more anxious the closer we drew to whatever destination he had in mind.
It was an excited type of anxiety, though.
Like a little kid who was about to show you their favorite toy and they were invested in you liking it as much as they did.
We pulled onto a dirt road with a well-worn path, covered on both sides with overgrowth.
Eventually, we reached a clearing and the sound of flowing water reached my ears.
Nothing could have prepared me for the sight before me. There was a big, winding creek littered with boulders and flowing with clear, bubbling water.
But next to it.
Next to it was a massive, old stone grist mill.
The equally massive wheel was still attached to the outside.
It was in rough shape, but so beautiful.
I sucked in a breath and as soon as the truck stopped, opened my door to get out.
Everything was covered in moss, acting as natural sound absorption and creating a space that truly felt like another world.
This spot was gorgeous. I wasn’t surprised in the least that Lucas knew about it. This was exactly his cup of tea .
“It’s amazing. How’d you find it?”
“Well, I told you I’ve known Max since I was a kid. His family has lived in that house since then and we used to play in these woods. This was always one of our favorite spots.”
He walked past me and up a set of stone steps to a wooden door. But when he pulled a set of keys from his pocket and unlocked the padlock on the door, my mouth dropped.
“Is this yours ?! Do you own this?”
He gave me a half shrug and a half smile in response.
“Do you want to see the inside?”
I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to do more.
The building was so lovely, even in its disrepair.
I was positive the inside was still completely original.
It had to be amazing. I let out an unladylike squeal and basically ran to meet him at the door.
He chuckled and gestured for me to go inside.
As soon as we were over the threshold, Lucas grabbed a lantern from one of the deep window sills and lit it.
It wasn’t quite dark yet, but the sun was setting fast and we were in a stone building in the middle of the woods.
Most of the floor we were on was just open space, which was also the case for the two floors above us.
Some of the most beautiful open space I’d ever seen, but open space nonetheless.
The possibilities were fluttering through my mind so quickly I could barely keep up.
I started rattling them off to Lucas and moving around to illustrate my ideas as I verbalized.
He didn’t contribute much, just watched me with a faint smile and his hands in his front pockets.
He gave me a “Mm” every so often to let me know he’d heard me.
Then he offered to show me the actual mill in the lower level of the building.
Lucas insisted on going first, in case I tripped on the steps going down the three flights of stairs to the ground level.
When we arrived, he reached out to help me down the last few steps.
Then I was standing in an enormous room, with giant ceilings and all kinds of wheels that were once part of a system.
Moving together to grind down the mill into flour.
“This was likely not the safest place for children to be spending their time, but we used to spend hours in here. Climbing around. Setting up forts.” He looked up at all the old equipment and seemed so nostalgic that my heart squeezed in my chest. There were large windows in this room that were letting in just enough light to put a dusky glow on his deeply tanned skin.
“Why did you buy it?”
He sucked in a deep breath and turned to face me. “When it went up for sale, I couldn’t imagine it belonging to anyone else. It just always felt like mine.”
“And what are you planning to do with it?”
He kept his gaze steady as he said, “Make it my home one day.”
A chill skated down my spine. Something about the way he was looking at me, talking about building a home here. The intimacy of it was unexplainable. It striped me bare. I took a step toward him as I asked, “What’s stopping you?”
Lucas took his own answering step towards me. We were separated by a foot of space, but it might as well have been an inch .
As he moved close to me, I tilted my head up to meet his eyes and waited for his response with bated breath. I didn’t know what he was about to say, but I did know it was going to be one of the more important things a person has ever said to me.
Lucas reached up and brushed my hair behind my ear. His hand landed on the side of my neck, thumb extended onto my check. His eyes bounced back and forth between mine.
Down to my mouth.
Back up to my eyes.
He pursed his lips and let out a breath.
“When I make this building a home, I want it to be a true home. With a partner. Until then, I’m not going to change a thing.”
My breath completely stalled. I was enveloped in a buzzing sensation, like a swarm of bees invaded the place. We stood there, consumed by the moment, unable to look away. Lucas dragged his thumb back and forth on my cheek.
“Angel.”
“Mm.”
He placed his other hand on my hip. Squeezed once, hard, and used it to pull me in so there were only inches between us.
“I want to kiss you, Liv.”
I could not form words. No words came to mind. Well, a few did. Yes? Do it? Why aren’t you already? All great options that did not materialize. What did end up coming out was a hushed, mildly pleading, “Please.”
“Fuck.” That was the last thing I heard before Lucas descended on me. The kiss wasn’t sweet and soft. It was packed with months of tiptoeing around each other. Months of sideways glances and brushed elbows.
At the same moment his tongue demanded entry to my mouth, he used his hands and large frame to back me up into the window behind us.
The cold stone of the sill bit into my lower back and, for a moment, Lucas bent me backward with the force of his kiss. He pulled away just enough to make eye contact and brushed the hand on my face back into my hair.
We were both panting and flushed. The hand in my hair skimmed down my body, just barely touching me, until it reached its destination on my other hip.
With a squeeze on each hip, Lucas lifted me and sat me on the deep windowsill. I immediately opened my legs for him to step into and draped my arms over his shoulders. I tangled my fingers in the hair at the nape of his neck while his hands slid from my hips down my thighs.
Lucas leaned forward and pressed his forehead to mine.
“Angel. I’m going to need you to make a call right now.”
I made a little noise in my throat and squeezed my hands on his neck. Make a call? I couldn't even think. His hands were spread out on my thighs. His index finger brushing the seam of my dress. I did not have reasoning skills available to me right now.
“Words, baby. Do you want me to stop?”
“No,” I breathed.
He captured my mouth again, in complete control. I’d never been kissed like this before—the sensation of being pillaged and cherished at the same time. The mixture made me desperate and I was suddenly frantic to reciprocate.
My hands started traveling everywhere. Through his hair, across his shoulders, down his chest. From up on the sill, we lined up perfectly, and I felt his hard length as he lightly rubbed against me. I was pulsing with need, desperate for relief.
Suddenly, there was a loud crash that made me jump and Lucas whip around, putting his body between me and the perceived threat.
I peeked past Lucas to find a squirrel who had just knocked over our lantern. It quickly scurried away, leaving Lucas and me panting.
The interruption served as a huge bucket of cold water. I became acutely aware that I was making out with my coworker in an abandoned building.
I cleared my throat. “Um. It’s getting pretty dark. We should probably be heading back…”
Lucas’s head dropped between his shoulders, his hands on his hips. I watched him take a deep breath and shake his head slightly. When he turned to me, I saw heat and resignation reflected in his face.
“Yeah, let’s go.” He offered his hand and I hopped down from the window. As we made our way back through the building, I was so unsteady, I tripped several times. Each time, he swore quietly under his breath and righted me with a hand on my arm.
We got to his parked truck, and he helped me climb up to my seat. Before closing my door, he looked to the side like he was holding back from saying something. When he turned his gaze back to me, all he said was, “Let’s get you home.”
And then I suffered through the most sexually charged drive of my life before he dropped me off at the Alessi Construction offices where my car was parked.
We hadn’t spoken for the entire drive, but before I got in my car, I heard him rumble quietly, “Goodnight, Angel.”