“So, what if it is just a dream? Big deal. People have dreams. That doesn’t mean they have brain damage. Or, it could turn out there were two guys in suits, and you’ll know soon enough. Either way, you’ll have an answer. Won’t having an answer be better than just worrying about it?”
“Now you sound like a psychologist,” Olivia said with a little laugh.
“Just a psych major, no shingle.” This time Olivia’s laugh was bigger.
“You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you, Joshua?”
“Would it surprise you that I’d like to take you out sometime?” he asked.
“Now that isn’t a surprise. If you hadn’t asked, I was going to,” she admitted with a smile.
“Oh, I like that.” He grinned broadly. “A woman who knows her mind and isn’t afraid to go after what she wants.”
“I recently had an epiphany that life was too short not to go after what you wanted.” Joshua figured it had to do with the beating that Chance had referred to, but he wasn’t going to probe, at least not now.
“Olivia Ann Prescott, it sounds like, at the moment, we both could use a little down time, so how about later in the week?” Joshua pulled out his cell phone. “I would like to call you before then, just to hear what you find out from the security tapes, would that be okay?” Olivia nodded and gave him her number. Just at that moment, Sam slid the deck door open.
“Am I interrupting something?” he asked.
“We’re just exchanging contact information,” Olivia explained. Joshua liked her upfront explanation.
“Nice work, Parker, you have good taste. Now let me take your sorry ass home and explain why you better be nice to my little sister.” Olivia laughed at Sam’s antics, but Joshua was savvy enough to know that Sam was serious.
“Olivia Ann, it was very nice to meet you. I’ll be calling you.”
“You’d better,” she replied with a mischievous grin. Yeah, he really liked this woman. It was going to be worth Sam’s lecture on the drive home.
Chapter 4
It was four o’clock Sunday afternoon when Ian finally called Joshua. Joshua was going to give him until six, and if he didn’t answer, he would have gone over to his house and pulled him out. Ian had a tendency to hide in his cave when life threw him too many curve balls. Joshua’s role was to make sure that he didn’t fall off the face of the Earth. Of course, Ian’s role was to make sure that Joshua’s feet occasionally stayed on the Earth. It was a partnership that had worked for almost twenty years.
“I’m calling as promised. I’ll see you tomorrow at the station.”
“Come over,” Joshua quickly said before Ian had a chance to hang up.
“Not up for it.”
“Then I’ll come over there, and you won’t be able to get me to leave.” Joshua smiled into his phone, knowing he’d won.
“When?”
“Now. I’ll have salmon grilled by the time you arrive. We can eat on the beach. Nobody’s out there, the weather sucks.”
“Good.” Ian hung up. Joshua wasn’t sure if Ian was saying good to the weather sucking or the grilled salmon, but he didn’t care. Ian was coming over.
By the time Ian arrived, Joshua had all the food bundled up into the ice chest. It didn’t matter that it was called an ice chest—it carried everything, warm and cold, just fine. Joshua lived in a cottage that was right on Fate Harbor’s beach. Beach was kind of a misnomer, since the sand was the consistency of gravel. But, you had the Puget Sound right at your doorstep, so what could be better? Ian carried the chest, and Joshua brought down two lawn chairs, which they planted under the gray Pacific Northwest skies, assured that they would be the only fools eating dinner out on the beach.
They ate in silence, just listening to the water lap onto the shore. It wasn’t until Joshua broke out the dessert that Ian was forced to comment.
“Ding Dongs?” Ian sneered in derision.
“The dessert of champions, my friend. But don’t think that the gourmet treats end there.” Joshua leaned over and rummaged around the cooler and pulled out, in triumph, a small golden package.
“Twinkies!” Ian smiled, eagerly grabbing the cake out of Joshua’s hand. “Now, this is the life.” Ian leaned back in contentment, quickly opening and taking a bite. Finally he spoke. “Montana sucked ass.”
Joshua smiled, knowing that Ian had just released the pent-up sadness, anger, and frustration from the fire and death with that one sentence. It had taken years for Ian to be able to process things so quickly. In the past, it would have taken months for him to wallow and suffer in anguish about an event like the one they had just gone through. Now it only took a day or two. Joshua liked to think he had a part in that.
“I met a woman.” Joshua reached for another foil-wrapped treat.
“Between when Rick dropped us off and now?” Ian asked incredulously.
“Yep.”
“Woman enough to mention, huh?” Ian asked.
“Yep.”
“Going to date her?”
“Plan to,” Joshua answered.
“Going to sleep with her?”
“Plan to,” Joshua answered again.
“Hmmm.”
“Hmmm. What?” Joshua asked.
“What do you know about her? Is this casual?”
“I don’t think she’s going to be here for long, so yeah, it’s probably got to be casual. But, I think I know I don’t want it to be casual,” Joshua answered.
“Shit. What’s her name? How did you meet her?” So Joshua explained everything, and Ian listened, steely eyed. Because his job was to make sure that his friend didn’t get hurt when he led with his heart.
* * * *
The next two days went by in a blur. Ian and Joshua took the first shift back as Rick and Bob finally got their days off, and Eric and Dane took a couple of days down time as well. Each night Joshua called Olivia. On the second night, he learned that there had been two men in suits who had taken her from the front of the building. The Boston Police Department initiated an investigation, starting with a phone interview they conducted with Olivia. Unfortunately, she didn’t have a lot of information to provide.
Ian was his normal surly self. Joshua could tell he wasn’t happy about his interest in Olivia, and he took that with a pound of salt. Ian always worried about Joshua’s romantic entanglements, especially after Fiona, the Fucking Fiancée Fiasco. To this day it rankled that Ian had been right about her and Joshua had missed it. Joshua consoled himself that it’d been one of Ian’s rare Scottish flashes of ‘knowing’, and not any real insight on his part.
On the morning of the third day, when Eric and Dane were due back at the firehouse, it was time for Joshua and Ian’s scheduled downtime. Ian got a call from his mother in Phoenix, saying his dad had just broken his leg, but he was fine. Ian’s sister lived in Phoenix, but she had three young children and couldn’t really be expected to help care for their father, so Ian put in for some time off to go and help out.
They met for lunch twice. Joshua took her to Hart’s Diner one day to see how Olivia would deal with the craziness of the small-town culture. He was pleasantly surprised.
“Olivia!” Karen Hart greeted her with glee. “I’m so glad you finally escaped the compound. I never thought Chance and Sam would let you out of their sight.”
“I tunneled out,” Olivia explained with a laugh.
“Karen, it’s rush hour, no fraternizing, we have pick-ups,” a tall man in back yelled out in a disgruntled tone.
“Hey, Jace or Dale, or whomever—I’m a customer, and she’s explaining the specials, so mellow!” Olivia yelled back, in a tone that was both teasing and commanding at the same time. Joshua had never heard it and it aroused him.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt,” said Dale Hart apologetically. Joshua smothered a grin. It wasn’t often that someone got Dale to back down so easily. He looked over at Karen, who was looking just as impressed.
“No problem, you
just didn’t know,” Olivia said with a charming smile. Dale gave a big smile back.
“Karen, take your time, honey.” Dale surrendered.
“Olivia, you need to come home with me, or you have to give lessons on how you do that. I can only get that kind of good behavior after sex.” Karen giggled, and Olivia joined in.
“I’ll tell you what, you explain to me what you do to get such positive reactions after sex, and I’ll explain my boardroom voice to you.” Olivia smiled.
Joshua just took it all in. He was fascinated at the thought that Olivia might need lessons in sex, and he couldn’t wait to hear the boardroom voice again, because that made him hot!
The next lunch outing he took her on was to Earl’s Fish ‘n Chip Shack near the pier. They only had stand-up tables outside. The food was great, but he was curious to see how she would react to such a lowbrow establishment. All she did, however, was eat like food was going to be abolished the next day.
“Oh my God, Joshua, that was the best fish ‘n chips I’ve ever eaten, and I live in Boston!” She said that as she snatched a piece of fish out of his basket with a cheeky grin. He couldn’t help but grin back.
“Hey, since you’ve been testing me the last couple of times we’ve gone out, how about I choose the next test?” Olivia suggested innocently. Joshua felt his mouth drop open. He quickly closed it at her amused glance.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Ms. Prescott,” Joshua said with as much false innocence as he could muster.
“I get the feeling you thought I was some kind of pampered princess, who couldn’t cope with real life. You thought that a lunch at some place as cozy as Hart’s or as down to earth as Earl’s Fish ‘n Chips Shack would be too real for me. How am I doing, Joshua?” She looked him dead in the eye with the last sentence with no teasing, no twinkle.
“Look, Joshua, I really liked you when we first met over at Chance’s. To tell you the truth, I’ve enjoyed my time with you. But—I haven’t really liked the feeling that you needed to play a game, to judge me. So, would you like to tell me what’s up with that?” When Joshua looked over at Olivia he realized that she wasn’t just showing off her deductive powers, she was actually hurt. Dammit, he’d been behaving like an ass, and instead of just calling it quits she asked him a direct question. God he admired this woman. “I was in a long-term relationship while I was a cop,” Joshua began. Then he paused, still trying to find the right words. “I didn’t see the woman clearly. My friend Ian, he really saw her, but I didn’t. It wasn’t that she wanted the ‘good life’, per se. She just couldn’t fit into my life. I always ended up doing the things that she wanted to do, and I didn’t even notice that gradually, I gave up all the things I liked to do, and the people that I liked.”
“Okay, I get that Joshua. But why test me on our first two dates? Isn’t this something that you would check out with a woman over time?” Olivia asked kindly.
“Nope,” Joshua answered firmly. “I try to cull out those women who can’t handle what I like right up front. You’re just the first woman who caught on to my tactics.” Olivia watched, fascinated, as his dark skin flushed. “I gotta say, Olivia, the fact that you figured it out makes me hot.” What about this woman didn’t make him hot?
She threw her head back and laughed, making heads turn.
That weekend Joshua asked her where she wanted to go, so they went to dinner over at Chance, Sam, and Josie’s house on Saturday, and then to a cheesy sequel on Sunday afternoon.
“I can’t believe you talked me into seeing that movie,” he groaned as they left the theater. “The first movie was terrible!”
“That was the point,” Olivia said enthusiastically. “You knew that the sequel was going to have to be so much worse, that it was going to be bad to the point that it would be funny. Now admit it, Parker, I heard you laugh out loud.”
“Okay, maybe a couple of times,” Joshua admitted. When he got her safely into his car, he reached over for her and brushed his lips against hers for the first time.
“Thank God,” Olivia moaned against him. “I’ve been needing this.”
“Yeah, well, after you figured out the tests, I had to put this off for a bit.” He leaned in again, and Olivia eagerly opened for him. He really wanted to ask her to go home with him, but he knew it was too soon. But oh how he wanted to. They stayed in the car, necking like teenagers, until some teenagers walked by and made some remarks loud enough for them to hear. Joshua drove her home to Chance’s house.
That next week, Joshua worked every day, and the firehouse was busy. Nothing too bad, some minimal fires without much property damage, but it did keep the team hopping. They talked on the phone every night.
Joshua continued his campaign of phone calls and was happy when Friday night rolled around so that he could finally pick Olivia up for dinner. He had it all planned, starting with a meal at Dolce Vita.
“I liked dinner, the food was great, but the company was better.” Joshua enjoyed Olivia’s praise. The woman didn’t beat around the bush. She consistently meant what she said, and he found that an attractive trait. When he told her that, he was surprised to see her blush.
“At my job, I have to bite my tongue most of the time. I’d say that only ten percent of the time do I get to say what I want to say. It’s been freeing here at Fate Harbor. Of course, I could just be reverting to my childhood because I’m around Sam and Chance,” she admitted ruefully.
“Since I haven’t known you long, it’s probably wrong of me to judge, but, Olivia, I just can’t see you as anything but straightforward. Doesn’t your job eat at you? Do you like it?”
“Is this my friend Joshua asking, or is this the psych major asking?” Joshua could see caution entering her eyes for the first time that evening, and he found himself regretting his question.
“It’s really hard to separate the two. First, I’m glad you consider me your friend. Secondly, I have a degree in psychology, so I’m always going to bring that to any conversation we have.” He waited for her to respond, hoping that she would understand what he was saying.
“Fair enough.” Olivia reached across the table and took his hand, and he turned it over, twining their fingers together. Once again he felt that immediate spark of electricity. There was no mistaking that the two of them had some serious chemistry.
“My house is two blocks from here, right on the beach. I thought I could make you a special Washington State dessert.” Joshua held his breath.
“I would love that, Joshua.”
They held hands all the way to his house. He gave her one of his heavier coats to wear, and then got a blanket and took her out back, where he had the makings for a beach fire set up. He had picked up two sticks and a plastic bag on the way out of the house along with a bottle of wine and two glasses.
While they waited for the fire to get going, he asked her if she was taking any medications that prevented her from drinking wine. When she said that one glass would be okay, he poured her a glass of merlot, saying it was an excellent vintage to go with tonight’s dessert. At which point he pulled out all the makings for s’mores. Olivia gave a loud laugh, and realizing there was no other response, Joshua pulled her into his arms for their very first private kiss.
As their lips met there was an immediate surge, and they both leaned forward, lips parting, tongue tangling with tongue, and warmth meeting warmth. Joshua was immersed in the taste and texture of Olivia Ann, the wet slide of their lips. He thrust inside the silky cavern of her mouth, seeking a deeper connection. He heard her gasp, and then he heard a groan and realized that was him, as he pulled her onto his lap. He wrapped one arm around her waist, the other clutching her hair, moving her head so that he could position her exactly as he needed so the kiss would never end. Then he heard her whimper, and it was the only thing that could have ever made him stop this perfect moment.
“Kitten, are you okay?” It was the way he had thought of her, with her back arched hissing at Chance when he h
ad first seen her.
“My ribs are still a little tender,” she admitted as she gazed up at him with darkened eyes. “I didn’t want to stop, Joshua.” She shifted her bottom in his lap so that she was nestled against his denim-covered erection. “I liked kissing you, being close to you.”
Joshua cleared his throat. “We still have wine and dessert,” he reminded her.
“I know what I want for dessert.” She purred. Yep, definitely a kitten.
“Olivia Ann, first dessert! Then, we’ll have a serious conversation, then maybe we can discuss further activities.”
“Don’t you have condoms?” she asked.
“Dessert!” he maintained. “I need my burnt marshmallow craving taken care of before I can think of my other cravings. You do know how to make a s’more, don’t you?”
“I’ve roasted marshmallows, but I’ve never had a s’more,” she admitted.
“Ahhh, you weren’t a camper. Here I thought you had a perfect pedigree. Allow me to broaden your horizons.” Joshua insisted upon keeping her in his lap as they roasted marshmallows and made a mess of gooey chocolate on graham crackers.
“Oh, my God, this tastes wonderful,” Olivia said around a mouthful of s’more, her eyes wide.
“Told you.”
“Joshua Parker, the mind boggles at the idea of what other pleasures you might be able to introduce me to.” She looked up at him seductively.
She watched as he dutifully put out the fire, learning the proper way to perform the task. There were more steps than she would have thought. She then helped him pack up and shake the sand out of the blanket. She enjoyed the sensation of resting her head on his shoulder as they walked back to his house.
“So what is this serious conversation you wanted to have? I recently came out of the hospital with clean blood work, but I’m not on any birth control, at least not at the moment. What about you, have you been tested?” she asked.
“It’s been over a year since I’ve had sex, and I’ve been checked since then, so I’m clean,” he answered.
Protecting Olivia [Fate Harbor 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 4
