"Fuck yes," she whispered and breathed in deeply. "I want it. I want one so bad."
"Then we're getting you one when we get back home."
"This is home." She brushed her hair off her shoulder and smiled. "Right? It always will be for me."
"Me too." I nodded and pulled out of the hotel driveway. "Me too."
***
"That was fantastic." I held her door open after the dinner was over, and the Parkmounts had picked up another million dollars in foreign investments from us. "You were brilliant."
"That was fun." She extended her hand. "Give me the keys. I wanna drive this thing."
"Yeah, you do." I pulled them from my pocket and handed them to her.
She walked around to the other side of the car and got in as I dropped down into my seat and buckled up.
"How fast does it go?" She buckled up and gripped the steering wheel before adjusting the seat and her mirrors. The movement caused her dress to ride up on her thighs, and I couldn't seem to take my eyes off of her.
"Really fast. Just play it safe until we get out of the city." I turned on the air conditioner as it suddenly felt so damn hot. "I gotta get this jacket off."
"Let me help you. Turn toward the window." She reached over and helped me pull my suit jacket off, gripping it tightly and tugging hard. I stifled a groan and took the jacket from her.
"Thanks. I'll hold it." I dropped it across my lap, happy to have something cover up my latest erection.
"Just throw it in the back." She grabbed it and tossed it in the back. "See? Much-"
"Yeah. I needed the jacket." I shook my head and rested my hands on my lap.
"Oh shit. I'm sorry." She turned and started to fumble with trying to get the jacket.
"Olivia. It's good." I pulled at her and leaned in as she moved back a little, but stayed close to the center console. "I'm turned on. It's fine. It's not the first time, and it won't be the last."
"Because of the deal?" I loved how airy her words were. She liked the idea of me being turned on.
"No." I touched the side of her face and licked my lips. "Because of you."
"Behave." She moved back and gripped the steering wheel. "You ready for this?"
"Wait until we're... fuck." I gripped the side of the seat as she hit the gas and jerked the car out of the parking lot and onto a side street. My concern was coming in my pants, not dying. She was so blistering hot as she sat beside me, determination on her pretty face. The dainty dress she wore opened at the top just enough to show me the tops of her breasts, and fuck if I didn't want to crawl over into her seat and press my lips to them. To her. All of her.
"I love it." She glanced over at me with elation on her face.
"It loves you from what I can tell." I chuckled. "So are you going to go with me to see Jake while we're here?"
"When are we going?" She turned down a long dark road and pointed to the front of the car. "We just go down here a mile and turn left, right?"
"Yeah, exactly." I turned on the radio and reached across her to roll down the windows.
"Caden. I can't see." She swatted at me as I moved back.
"We're going to see Jake tomorrow most likely." I sat back in my seat and pulled out my phone. I needed to know Annie's answer. If Luke was cheating on my girl, she had to know. I knew it would break up their relationship, and I was a dick for doing it for personal gain, but I had to know.
I texted her quickly just asking her to answer the question I asked in my office the other day. Had she slept with Luke?
She texted right back that she had. I couldn't help but ask when the last time was.
Her answer sent a shock wave through me. Not only did Luke have Olivia, but I knew without a doubt that Annie had a boyfriend.
Tonight. Don't judge.
"Did you hear me?" Olivia glanced over at me and smiled. "I'll go to see Jake, but no blonde jokes. Tell him."
I forced a smile. "Right. No blonde jokes."
She pressed the gas and the car shot off down the road. "Hold on, baby. It's about to get bumpy."
"Yeah... maybe it is." I leaned back in my chair and worked through how to tell her without ruining the evening. We both needed it too much and yet without telling her about Luke, the night would end with an awkward parting instead of me making love to her until she begged me to stop.
Who was the bigger bastard? My brother? Or me?
Chapter 21
Olivia
"I love this lookout." I parked the car and looked over at him, trying hard not to let him know how close I was to breaking all the rules. "You wanna go lay on the hood?"
He laughed and opened his door. "It's going to be a tight squeeze, but we can do it."
I got out of the car and walked to the front before leaning against the car and working on my shoes. The straps were tight, and I almost lost my balance.
Caden reached out and grabbed me before kneeling in front of me and working the shoes off my feet.
"Thanks." I moved up on the car and laid back. "Are we really in our mid-twenties? This scene feels like it belongs to us from years back."
He smiled and got up on the car beside me, but didn't lay back. He turned on his side and propped himself up on his elbow, leaving him to almost hover above me.
His dark hair and tanned skin were a deadly combination to any woman he turned his sights on.
"Why aren't you dating someone?" I moved closer to him as the wind blew. It had little to do with the temperature and much more to do with wanting to be close to him.
"I haven't found the right girl yet."
"No?" I wagged my eyebrows. "Tell me what you're looking for. I have some single friends."
"Yeah, all right." He reached over and brushed a random strand of hair from my face. "She has to have sandy blonde hair and big blue eyes."
"All right. I know a few of those kinda girls." I clasped my hands below my breasts and tried to breathe through my mouth so the tantalizing scent of his cologne would stop drowning me in lust.
"Alabaster skin and a great smile. She has to play piano, and sing in the church choir." He ran the back of his fingers over my cheek. "And she needs to want kids, and love sex. I know that last one is going to be hard to find, but I want to have loads of practice in making babies, you know, so we get it right."
"Practice in making babies?" I laughed loudly and moved away from him only to turn on my side to mimic him. "You love sex?"
"Only with the right woman."
"Have you had a lot of sex over the years?"
"I've not made love to anyone."
"Bullshit." I sat up and pulled my legs up to my chest, wrapping my arms around them and glancing out at the city lights.
"I've fucked a lot of girls, which I regret tremendously, but being young gives you a green card to being dumb, I guess." He sat up and moved closer, pressing his shoulder against mine.
"Have you ever made love?" I hated to ask, but I needed to know what I was. Somewhere trapped inside of me was the notion that our one night together didn't mean anything to him. The taunting of my peers and people that were supposed to be my friends left me broken. It was stupid to live in the past, and yet I couldn't push beyond it.
"Only once. My heart was ripped from my chest the next day." He shrugged. "And the more I think about it, the more I realize that maybe I got it all wrong."
"Got what all wrong?" I leaned my head over and laid it against his thick shoulder as I closed my eyes. There was no strong emotion pulsing through me to stand up and defend myself against whatever he might throw at me regarding our last night together. I'd done nothing wrong but trust him.
He turned and kissed the top of my head. "Did you tell the cheerleaders that I had a little dick? That I was the worst lay in the world and that I forced myself on top of you?"
"What?" I jerked back like someone had doused me in ice water. "Why in the fuck would you say that?"
"Because." He lifted his hands as I got off the hood and took a few s
teps back. How dare he turn the tables on me and make it sound like it was my fault our world was destroyed that day.
"Because it's the truth in my mind. That's what I was told. I couldn't even hold my head up on graduation day. I left here and went to New York to recreate myself. To try and forget how bad it hurt to have a knife slid between my ribs on the morning after I gave myself to you. I was saving myself just for you... and then you betrayed me."
"What? No, I didn't. I would never do that to you." I wrapped my arms around my chest. "The cheer squad said that you told everyone I was a whore. That you were the one that talked to the counselors about your whoring girlfriend and they fucking called my parents. I had to sit in between my mom and my-" My voice broke as a sob took its place. "You ruined me."
"No way." He slid off the car and moved toward me faster than I could back up. "No fucking way I would do that. I would have sat between your parents myself and taken any beating anyone could give to save you. I'd never hurt you. I would have died for you, Olivia. I still would."
I couldn't figure out how to accept his words as truth. "I remember seeing the disgust on your face that next day at school. I'll never forget the way you looked at me. Like giving myself to you didn't mean anything other than the fact that you thought I was easy."
"Easy? Is that a fucking joke?" He gripped the sides of my face and forced me to look up at him. "I was trying to get into your panties for seven years. You are the worst whore in the world if that's the case."
I laughed, despite the fear that clouded my mind. I had to get away from him. If he didn't hurt me, then why weren't we together? Luke.
"You didn't tell them those things?" I whispered and slid my hands over his sides to pull him closer to me.
"Never. You didn't say that shit about me either?" He leaned down and brushed his nose against mine.
"Fuck no." I leaned in further as his arms wrapped around the tops of my shoulders.
"I tried to get to you back then, but between your daddy's shotgun and you ignoring me completely…"
"I thought it was you that ruined my life." I pulled back a little.
"Well, I'm telling you that I didn't. I would never hurt you. Not ever." He slid his hands up my back, pressing in softly as he leaned down and brushed his lips against mine. "I love you. I've loved you all my life. You know this."
"I can't do this. Whatever happened, it happened. We can't undo it." I gripped him tighter, letting my body betray my mind. "Your brother doesn't deserve this."
Caden kissed me softly, nothing more than a quick peck and moved back. "Give me the keys and let me get us back to the hotel. We can talk there."
"About what?" I grabbed my shoes and handed him the keys before getting back into the car.
"About Luke." He buckled up and glanced at me. "I'm so glad you're not the heartless bitch I believed you to be. I couldn't imagine how seven years meant nothing to you. My whole childhood, gone and for what?"
"I felt the same." I buckled up and let my shoes drop between my legs. "I'd rather hear whatever you're going to say about Luke now. I'm tired of being played with. If he's playing me."
"He's a bastard." Caden started the car and reached for my hand.
"I am too most days of the week." I closed my eyes and sunk down into my seat as he kissed my fingers.
"He's sleeping with Annie, Olivia." He gripped my hand tighter as I came up from my restful position and exploded.
"What? Are you sure? You're not just-"
"Never." He glanced over at me with a dominant glare. "I wouldn't lie to you. Fuck that. I might still want you like I did six years ago, but I would never fuck up your life to make mine right. I wouldn't do that shit to my brother either."
"How do you know?" I tugged my hand free from his. I wasn't a child. I could handle the truth.
"Here." He pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it to me. "There's no way I could know and not tell you."
I took the phone but didn't take my eyes off of him. "When did you find out?"
"Tonight."
Chapter 22
Olivia
"Un-fucking-believable," I whispered and handed him the phone back. I wasn't good enough for the town hero years ago and wasn't good enough for the town dick now.
"Olivia." He reached over and squeezed my shoulder as I turned toward the window and pulled my legs into the seat with me.
"Leave me alone. Please." I pressed my chin to my arms and watched the darkness make way for the various lights of downtown Houston. Nostalgia rolled over me, and I wanted to see my mother. Maybe staying in the hotel with Caden wasn't a good idea. I could get a cab to take me over to momma’s or even call her and she would come.
"Guess what I got." His calm demeanor and soft tone forced me to look over at him.
I wasn't willing to cry a single tear for Luke Taylor. Fuck him for using me. I'd be packing up my shit and leaving him and his firm when I got back to New York. And then... I was leaving the Big Apple too.
"What did you get?"
He glanced over at me. "A bike."
"You trying to get healthy?" I didn't feel at all like talking, but the very fact that he had changed the subject and was trying left me with little to no choice.
He chuckled. "No, silly. I got a Harley. I'm taking you for a ride out to the prettier parts of New York when we get back."
"Maybe." I turned and watched other cars move by as my heart ached in my chest. "I hate him."
"I do too." He rubbed his hand over my arm. "I didn't tell you so that we could get back together."
"Why did you tell me?" I turned my head a little so I could watch him from the corner of my eye.
"Because you deserve to know. I would want to know."
"Would you?" I unbuckled and got out of the car with my shoes dangling from my finger as soon as we pulled up to the hotel.
"I would. Trusting the wrong person with your heart can lead to intense amounts of pain." He followed me into the elevator and stopped in front of me as I pressed my back to the bar behind me and forced myself to look up at him.
"What do you want from me, Caden? I'm glad we cleared up the past, but I'm not her anymore. I'm not sure who I am." I shrugged, feeling so incredibly empty all of a sudden. My glass house didn't sustain the rock that was launched at it. I could feel it shattering around me.
"I don't need you to be her. I need you to be you." The door opened, and he reached out and picked me up, carrying me like a newlywed bride.
"Put me down." I sunk down into his arms and rested my head on his chest. "Or don't actually."
He kissed the top of my head and stopped outside the door. "How about just for a minute?"
"Yeah, okay." I gripped his neck and slid down the front of his body. "Why am I not enough?"
Anger burned through me as tears filled my eyes.
"You are so much more than enough, and you know it. That bastard has no clue of what he has because you've tucked the real you behind the same icy cage that I've tucked myself in." He reached around me and opened the door. "Come in here and we can share a bottle of wine and scream 'fuck the world' like we used to when we were kids."
I walked in numbly behind him before stopping at the couch and turning over my shoulder to have him watching me.
"Why do you still love me?"
"Why do you not love me anymore?" He moved up behind me and reached up, tugging the zipper to my dress down slowly.
I closed my eyes and let out a soft sigh as his finger pushed the soft silk off my shoulders, letting it hit the ground beneath us.
"Who says I don't?" I turned and reached up to work on his shirt, unbuttoning it as he reached out and brushed his fingers down my stomach and over my hips.
"You sure you want this?" He pulled me in tight as I pushed his shirt over the thick muscles of his shoulders and leaned in to kiss his tattoo.
"I can't remember ever wanting anything more." I groaned as his hands slid over the curve of my ass and gripped tightly.
"Jump and let me carry you to the bedroom." He held on tightly as I did as he asked and wrapped my legs around him. "This is fucking..."
"No." I rolled my hips and ground against his erection. I wanted his slacks off, but it would have to wait. "I wanna fuck."
"It's not the same with you, Olivia. It can't be." He pulled me down for a long kiss that left me dizzy with need. He slipped his hand into my panties and cupped my ass again only to dive a little lower and brush his finger over my wetness.
"I just want us to be together. Even if tomorrow ends it." I moaned and tightened my arms around his neck. "Just tonight at least."
"Stop talking like that. We have so much to-"
"Tonight." I pressed my lips to his and tightened my thighs around him as he laid me back on the bed.
"Whatever you want. I'm all yours." He tugged my panties over my hips and chucked them behind him before dragging his eyes up to mine. "Take your bra off. I wanna touch every part of you, taste every inch."
I groaned again and worked on my bra before tossing it aside and laying back.
His strong hands roamed over my body, squeezing and tugging, gripping and scratching as he moved onto his knees near the bottom of the bed. "I've wanted to do this more than I care to ever admit.”
"Then do it. Do anything you want."
"I wanna do whatever you want tonight." He ran his tongue up the center of me, lapping a few times as the world melted around me. He was the only man I'd ever wanted between my legs. To have him there again stirred up too many emotions.
"Fuck me," I whispered and lifted my legs as he worked me far better than anyone I'd been with before. I couldn't help but glance down at him to see if he was enjoying himself. The soft grunts leaving him combined with the expression of ecstasy on his face as he licked and sucked at my skin drove a spike of carnality through my center.
My Last First Kiss Page 89
