“I have to go. I’ll see you tonight.” Hanging up, Olivia looks over at Rachel who’s still standing in the doorway with her arms crossed and giving her ‘that look’.
“What?”
“You look like crap, James. Are you going to tell me what happened last night?”
“Nothing.” She yawns as she says it and Rachel raises her eyebrows in disbelief. “Ok, something. I stayed the night with Ethan in a hotel downtown. Did you know who owns a hotel?”
“You spent the night with Ethan? In a hotel that he owns? In a BED?”
Olivia grins. “Well he’s part owner of the hotel, but yes… in a BED.”
“So I’m guessing you look like crap because you didn’t do much sleeping.” She laughs.
“Something like that.” Olivia replies blushing.
“Well what the heck are you doing here? Go home and sleep! I’ll cover for you. The day is almost over anyways.”
“Thank you, Rachel” She quickly retrieves her keys out of her purse. “I’m exhausted and we’re going to dinner at six with John and his girlfriend Shannon.”
“Wow, look at you. For three years, I couldn’t get you out of that house. Ethan shows up and all of a sudden you’re never home.”
Olivia worries, feeling guilty that her friend is starting to feel a little left out. “I’m sorry Rach. I guess I have been busy lately.”
Rachel holds her hands up, halting her. “Don’t say another word. You don’t need to apologize to me. I’m so happy that you’re out and doing stuff again. Actually, now that I’m not constantly worrying about you, Scott and I have been doing a lot of... you know? Rekindling the romance. I’d forgotten just how sexy that man is once we got all caught up in our careers and grown up life.”
Olivia frowns. “I didn’t know I was the reason you two had drifted apart.”
“You aren’t. You were just a convenient excuse. Now go home and get some sleep.”
A few hours later Olivia pulls the mustang into the parking lot of her old favorite restaurant that’s soon to be re-opened as “Ireland’s.” She loves it, loves that it’s the nickname that she had given him after Rachel’s messed up drunken introduction. Love him. Thank God, she was able to get a few hours sleep when she got home.
She’s just getting out of the car when Ethan pulls up in the Challenger and screeches to a halt in the spot reserved for him. When he gets out of the car, he watches her make her way across the parking lot. His stomach squeezes and he feels the air around him charge with energy as she approaches him. Lord have mercy! Her smile could stop traffic. It’s safe to say that he has it bad for Olivia James and he doesn’t think that feeling will ever go away. Love her.
“You look well rested. Got some sleep did you?” Smiling, he leans down to brush his lips on her cheek in greeting.
“Yes, did you?”
“A little, not very well without you beside me.” He admits as he reaches down to grasp her hand.
“Aw, you missed me?”
“I did. Even though you didn’t let me do much sleeping last night.”
“Complaining? Am I too much for you?” She flashes him a challenging grin.
“Nope. Maybe bragging a little.” His lips start to curl into a cheeky smile as he opens the door for her. “John and Shannon are already here.”
As they walk towards the table, Shannon greets Olivia with a big hug and a huge smile. “I’m so glad you came.” John and Ethan glance at each other quickly and acknowledge the instant friendship between the girls. Although it’s not anything they have ever discussed, it’s just known at this moment that their lives will be a lot less stressful if there is harmony between the two women who will be their companions.
Sliding into the booth, they fall easily into comfortable conversation. Ethan holds Olivia’s hand the entire time, tracing soothing patterns on the back of it with his thumb. She steals a few sideways glances at him, enjoying his attention and the sparkle in his eyes when he laughs. Such a contrast from last night.
When the waitress arrives at the table and refills the water glass, Ethan picks his up and quickly chugs it down. Olivia raises her brows at him and smiles. “A bit dehydrated, baby?”
“Just a tad.” He says, putting down his glass so she can refill it. “We’re ready to order.” He says to Cindy, the cute head waitress with the ponytail. Olivia is the last to order, she’s gone over the menu several times with close scrutiny. Closing it and handing it to the waitress, she finally makes a choice. “I’ll have a small chef salad, dressing on the side please.”
Ethan gets the servers attention. “No tomatoes in that salad, Cindy.”
She makes a note. “Sure Mr. O’Connell, I’ll let them know.”
Olivia looks at him impressed. “What?” He asks. “I pay attention sometimes.”
“You’re only having a plain salad for dinner? That’s not very much food. Aren’t you going to be starving?” Shannon asks.
Olivia responds in a manner that’s very matter of fact, but she gives Ethan the devils smile. “No, I’ll be fine. I had enough protein this morning to hold me over… for days.”
With his water glass pressed to his lips, he’s stunned at her comment and swallows the water too quickly, choking as it goes down the wrong way.
“Are you okay?” She asks She asks concerned at how red his face as she gently pats him on the back until he stops coughing.
“Yes I’m fine.” He says shaking his head and dabbing at his mouth with his napkin. Nobody else at the table is any the wiser, but Ethan shakes his head and tries to hide his smile.
Shannon has a thought. “Ethan, did you tell Olivia about the Bramtech deal?”
Remembering that they ditched Stacey with Carter, without even saying good-bye, Olivia gets a little nervous.
“What about it?” She asks curiously.
He squeezes her hand. “They came by the office this afternoon and signed the papers.”
Olivia is surprised. “Really? I thought they had until next week to decide?”
“They did, but they came in today and said they had made a decision and were ready to sign.”
“Ethan, that’s great news!” She’s so glad that it’s done with and he can stop stressing. “So…. was Stacey there? How was she?”
She quickly glances at Shannon who is trying to hide a smile.
Ethan makes a face, trying to figure out what’s going on between the two girls. “Yes she was there. She was in a really good mood actually. She looked…” There is a pregnant pause as he thinks of the right word.
“Satisfied?” Shannon adds, not able to hold back her grin any longer.
“Yeah! She did. Didn’t she?” Ethan agrees looking at John to see if he also concurs.
Shannon and Olivia start to snicker and Ethan looks between them both and then back over to John who shrugs. Shannon puts her hand over her mouth trying to stop her laughter. Olivia can’t even look at her as she tries to regain her composure. Ethan tilts his head and waits, looking for an explanation. “What did I miss?” He finally asks.
“Wow, you really did have a lot to drink didn’t you?” Shannon asks.
“Shannon.” John warns, trying to steer her away from that conversation.
“Well it does get a bit fuzzy after we ended up at Euphoria.” Ethan admits. Looking confused and wondering what the hell happened.
Olivia looks over at him still trying to pull herself together. “Let’s just say that you need to give Carter a big raise, and leave it at that.”
“Carter?” He looks at her as if she has three heads and then turns to John. “Come to think of it, where was Carter today? I didn’t see him.”
“He sent a message and said he wouldn’t be in today. He didn’t say why.” John replies, hoping that Ethan will drop it.
“He probably needed time to recover.” Olivia adds still struggling to hold back her laughter.
“Really? What did he get into last night?” Ethan asks, thinking she meant recovering
from drinking too much alcohol.
“Stacey.” Olivia says under her breath. Shannon snorts, breaking into a fit of uncontrollable laughter and Olivia follows holding her stomach. The boys look at each other, completely in the dark.
“Huh?” He asks, not quite catching what she said. Completely frustrated, he looks over at John. “Do you have any idea what they’re laughing at?”
“No clue.” John lies, deciding that it’s one of those details that Ethan just doesn’t need to know. If Carter wants to tell him, he’ll leave it up to him.
“Well what’s your excuse then? I was pissed.”
“I don’t have one, but I think it’s pretty clear that we should keep these two away from each other.”
Ethan watches Olivia wipe the tears from her eyes as she pulls herself together. “No kidding.” He shakes his head, tired of trying to figure them out.
After dinner, they order coffee and relax, listening to the live band that Ethan had booked for the evening. Starting to feel really tired, Olivia yawns and then leans slightly towards him, resting her head on his shoulder. Leaning his head in towards her, he rests his cheek on the top of her head.
“I like these guys. They’re pretty good.” She nods her head to the beat of the music.
“I agree.” Shannon says. “So what plans do you have for the grand opening Ethan? John won’t tell me a thing.”
Olivia grins. “Good luck, he won’t tell me a thing either. It’s a giant secret apparently.”
Ethan laughs. “I thought women loved surprises?”
“NOOOOO!” Both girls say in unison.
Ethan looks at John. “They’re starting to frighten me now.” John nods his head in agreement.
“Well, I have a few bands scheduled to play live. Ones you may know. And my friends are coming from Ireland. They have a band and play mostly local pubs. I thought I’d like to incorporate a little bit of home.
“That sounds really nice.” Olivia says. “I am looking forward to meeting your friends.”
This time both John and Ethan laugh. “Trust me. If I can find a way to keep you away from these guys, I definitely will. Although, I’m not sure if there’s any point, since you’ll just ignore me anyways.”
Olivia leans back to look up at him with her brows lowered. “Well now I’m just more curious why meeting these guys has kicked your ICF into overdrive.”
“ICF?” Shannon asks curiously.
“Inner Control Freak.” Knowing that he’s not going to like her sharing that with Shannon, she looks up to meet his scowl. Grinning, she offers up her lips for a kiss and he hesitates for a bit, still a little annoyed. Finally he sighs and then lowers his lips to hers, brushing them with a brief kiss, and then quickly moves away. But Olivia’s not having that, she raises her hand and reaches for the back of his neck, firmly pulling him forward for a longer, sizzling lip lock. Trailing her hand down his chest and across his stomach, she reaches down to brush along his thigh, making his muscles tighten and the front of his pants start to bulge.
Pulling away, she smiles, then lightly presses her mouth to his ear and whispers. “I think there might be something we need to discuss in your office, Mr. O’Connell.”
Chapter 28
For the next few days, everybody is extremely busy. Shannon has her team interviewing the witnesses who saw Jessica at the bar and trying to get a judge to sign an order preventing her from contacting Ethan’s friends and family as well as the media. John is up to his ears in grand opening arrangements. Rachel and Scott are busy rekindling their romance. Ethan and Carter spend hours behind locked boardroom doors hammering out a business plan for Australia. And Olivia? Well, she has taken on a very difficult client at work.
The events of the past week are starting to wear her down. Her current client is difficult beyond all reasonable measures and for the first time ever, she feels like throwing her hands up in defeat. Then there are the nightmares. They happen every time she closes her eyes since the psychic in the underground parking warned her about Sam. It’s hard to cope with difficult days at the best of times, but damn near impossible when you don’t get any sleep. It wouldn’t take much to push her over the edge into that anxiety attack that’s been threatening all week.
Ethan calls her late in the afternoon. “Hey, beautiful.”
“Hey.”She smiles for the first time today.
“I’ve missed you the past couple of days.”
“You’ve talked to me every day, Ethan.” She laughs.
“I know, but I want to see you. Join us for dinner tonight.”
She thinks about it for a minute. “I don’t think so. I really wouldn’t be good company.”
“What’s wrong?” He asks concerned.
“I’m just really stressed.” She’s on the edge of tears and fighting it.
“Well, then I won’t go to dinner. I’ll come to your place and we can talk.”
“No!” She pulls herself together. “You go to dinner. I just need to go home and try to get some sleep. If you come over that won’t happen.”
“I’m more than capable of exercising self control, Olivia.” He’s annoyed at her refusal.
“Yeah, but I’m not and I have a bruise on my stomach from Tuesday night to prove it.”
Ethan groans. Why did she have to mention Tuesday night? He still has a lot of work to do today and he can’t afford to be distracted. Despite the efforts to stay focused, his mind now wanders to what happened behind locked doors in the restaurant office, the sight of her bent over the edge of his desk, the feel of her body underneath him as he slid into her from behind.
“You’d be impressed.” She says with a half giggle. “It’s in the perfect shape of your stapler.”
He frowns. “Why didn’t you say something if you were uncomfortable?”
She laughs. “Because at the time I didn’t care, I just needed you deep inside me.”
He quietly curses. “Do you know what it does to me when you say things like that?” He whispers into the phone.
“I think I might have an idea.” She teases. “Seriously though, you go to dinner. I need some downtime.”
“Olivia I want to see you tonight.” He’s not prepared to give in this time.
“Ethan, please stop.”
“No. I want to see you.”
She sighs. “You’ll live.”
“Are you sure? I haven’t seen you in so long it feels like I might die.”
“It’s been two days! You’ll be fine. Since when are you such a drama king?”
“Since I haven’t been able to kiss you or touch you for two days.” He says with a low raspy growl in his voice. “You’re all I can think about.”
Ugh, this man knows the meaning of perseverance and he drives her crazy with it. Two hours of emails and several sad face texts later, Olivia gives in and dials his cell phone.
“OK, Ireland I give up! I’ll come by on my way home and say Hi.”
His mood lightens. “Really?”
She can’t believe she even suggested it. She knows that if she stops by he won’t let her leave. That was a really stupid move. “Really. But I’m not staying for dinner, and no funny stuff from you. Got it?”
“Promise.” He says, a happier tone returning to his voice.
When Ethan sees her walking towards the table, he gets to his feet and reaches her in a few quick strides. Throwing his arms around her, he lifts her into the air and squeezes her before letting her slide slowly down his body. When her feet touch the floor, his mouth swoops down for a kiss. And then another. When he lets her up for air, her face is red and she feels extremely warm.
“Wow!” She says trying to fan some cool air over her face with her hand. Ethan smirks and steers her towards the booth. Shannon gives her that knowing girlie smile, making her blush even more. After ushering her into the seat against the wall, he slides in beside her so she can’t escape. She looks at him with a warning in her eyes. “I’m not staying.”
He tries to
look innocent. “I know.”
“Then why do I feel like I’m being corralled?” Before he can say anything, the waitress comes with their food and places a plate of pasta topped with roasted chicken in front of her. She looks at it, sighs and looks at Ethan with her brows raised.
“What? I ordered you dinner. You have to eat right?” He turns to eat his dinner and then glances at her sideways waiting for her reaction. When he catches her rolling her eyes at Shannon, a small smile on her lips, he takes a breath and relaxes.
Not having eaten much in the past few days, Olivia should be starving but she isn’t. She begins to wonder if today’s harassment about joining him for dinner is because Rachel has tattled on her again. She manages a few mouthfuls but the thought of food right now isn’t really appealing.
“Eat.” Ethan encourages, his patience starting to wear thin.
She looks up at him and catches something in his expression. Yup. Fucking Rachel! She plays with the chicken a bit, cutting it into smaller pieces and moving it around on her plate.
Ethan is well aware of what’s going on. “Don’t think you’re going anywhere until I’m satisfied that you’ve had a decent meal.” He says it in that ‘don’t even try that bullshit with me’ tone. Olivia looks up at Shannon for support.
“And don’t bother looking over at Shannon; she’s not going to rescue you from me. You need to eat. I’ll feed you like a fucking child if I have to.”
You have got to be kidding me! Olivia’s jaw drops and she looks over at Shannon and John in total embarrassment. They politely look down at their plates and pretend they aren’t paying attention. Olivia picks up her fork and stabs it angrily into a piece of chicken and turns to look at Ethan as she shoves it in her mouth. Then another. Ethan can’t help himself, he starts to smirk at the look on her face. He imagines she would much prefer to jab that fork straight into his chest instead and it makes him chuckle. “Brilliant! I’ll sleep better knowing you’re not going to die of malnutrition today.” The words are no sooner out of his mouth when he realizes his hand is about to be pierced by her fork. Moving it just in time, the tines miss his hand, hitting heavily down on the table.
Intractable Souls : Book 1 of the Bound for Ireland Series Page 51
