by Lynne Silver
“Now that you know that, what are you going to do?” Olivia asked.
“I’ll talk to our lawyer again, but it fucking sucks that there’s not much we can do other than fire her.”
“I hate this.” Olivia said. “She should go to jail.”
“Agreed,” Cat said. “But remember what Lawrence said. We have no evidence that would hold up in court. Fatima only heard her say she had the power to mess with people’s drinks. She didn’t come out and say she was going to drug Drew.” She frowned. “My list of people who deserve bad karma is growing.” She shrugged and gave a little wave. “I’m going to find Ian.” They watched her weave her way through the dance floor to the office.
“Dance with me?” Drew asked.
She shook her head. “I’m too angry to dance. Plus we promised our parents we’d take it easy.”
“We’ll keep it slow.” He gave a signal to the DJ who switched out the beat for a slow song. The dance floor quickly cleared, but for once he didn’t give a shit. He was going to start and finish a dance with his girl, and nothing and no one was going to stop him. “Please, Liv. Dance with me.”
“Fine,” she said ungraciously, but by the time they reached the dance floor, her hand had softened in his, and she was leaning into him and swaying.
He held her narrow waist, luxuriating in how right she felt in his arms. There was nowhere else on earth he wanted to be.
“This is nice,” Olivia said, almost dreamily. He still wasn’t used to the sound of her hoarse voice, and it made him angry that he hadn’t been able to protect her.
“Drew,” a man’s voice interrupted them and he felt a hand on his shoulder.
“I’m going to punch someone,” he announced. “One day, we’ll finish a dance.” He turned from her to see it was his dad. “What are you doing here?”
“I was in town and thought I’d stop by.” He gave Olivia the eye starting at her toes, pausing at her breasts and slowly going up her face. A slow smile spread across his face, and Drew decided to make good on his promise of punching someone. Only Olivia’s arms, still wrapped around his shoulders stopped him from taking a swing.
“I would’ve appreciated the company last week up in Baltimore,” he said to his dad.
“Oh, right. Your little procedure. Looks like it went well.”
“He had his kidney removed, Mr. Weaver,” Olivia said, as she removed her arms from touching Drew and turned to stand off with his dad. Her hoarse voice didn’t detract from her message at all. “It was a lot more than a little procedure.”
His dad’s grin wavered slightly. “Who’s this, Drew?”
“This is none of your damn business. You can’t show up when it’s convenient, Dad. If you want to know who this amazing woman is, and how important she is to my life, then you have to be part of my life. And right now, you’re not.”
“Drew…I…” his dad stuttered.
“You should leave. If you want to see me, call me and we’ll arrange a time. But it won’t be at my club.”
His dad’s mouth opened then closed. He gave a sober nod, then turned on his heel and walked out.
Drew stood, frozen in place, watching his dad leave. “You okay?” Olivia’s voice was soft, as she anchored him by grabbing his hand.
He looked down at her beautiful face. “Yeah, I am. Now let’s finish that dance.”
Late that night—really early morning—he lay in his bed with Olivia soundly asleep in his arms. He’d drifted off after making love to her gently and slowly, but woke up a few seconds ago.
He’d been having a dream in which his father and he were hiking in the most beautiful rainforest he’d ever seen. Each tree had been sexy, if that was a thing, but in his dream-addled mind, he’d understood the trees were sexy women. They’d waved their branches, leaves shushing like the sounds of silky lingerie moving over naked skin, trying to seduce him into their lure, but something had held him back. In his sleep he’d rolled over and woken with a start to open his eyes to the most beautiful sight in the world. Olivia.
“Is that our box or my mom’s?” Drew called.
“Mom’s.”
It was six months after Karen and Drew had their kidney surgeries, and they were both doing great. Great enough, that Karen was ready to live on her own. Drew, however, didn’t want her to move far. He’d gone house hunting and found a small home on a canal with a garage converted into an in-law suite. Perfect.
The two of them were moving in now, and sometime soon, when they finally said their official I dos, Olivia would move in also. Her parents had accepted that some nights she’d stay at Drew’s, but officially living together without a government sanctioned license was not going to fly. That was cool with her. She couldn’t wait to be Drew’s wife and live with him. First she’d have to find a day that fit with her work schedule at a drop-in health clinic.
“Yo, Livvy. You gonna help, or you gonna stand there daydreaming?”
“Lo siento.” She hurried after her brother, who’d gotten friendlier with Drew and was helping them on moving day. Even more shocking was the sight of Javier coming out of the house to go to the truck for his next box. Things weren’t all roses between them, but he and Drew had a long private conversation, and things were okay, if not exactly cool. Either way, she was happy he was back in her life and she hoped he’d find a love of his own soon.
Speaking of loves… Her man was coming down the path looking all too delectable in a sweaty shirt and shorts. “You could use some water,” she said, and grabbed him by the hand to steal him for a long kiss.
“It’ll take all year to move if you two don’t stop playing love birds,” Karen called from her seat on a folding chair in the shade. “Go, Brodie.” She released the leash on the dog, who predictably came bounding over to Drew to jump on him.
She and Drew laughed.
“Go,” she whispered. “Get our house ready.”
He leaned in for a final kiss. “Love you.”
“Te Amo.”
Lynne Silver is the author of sexy contemporary romance such as the popular Alpha Heroes and Coded for Love series. She absolutely loves to travel and explore new cities. She’s addicted to donuts, fancy purses, romance novels, and video games. She lives in Washington, DC, with her husband and two sons. She loves connecting with readers so please find her on social media.
Lynne’s monthly newsletter
Facebook
Reader Group
GoodReads
Website: www.lynnesilver.com
Other Books by Lynne
The Worthy Series
Unworthy- Ian & Cat’s story
Worthless- Danny & Amy
The Alpha Heroes
Hot Nights with the Fireman
In Bed with the Bodyguard
In Deep with the FBI Agent
Coded for Love
Heated Match - Adam
False Match - Chase
Conquered Match - Ryan
Desire Unmatched - Xander
Desperate Match - Rowan
First Match – Shep
Others
Love Technically
Cruising for Love
Waiting on Love
His Desirable Debutante
Thank you to my amazing team, especially Linda at Sassy Savvy Fabulous. Could not do this without you.
Huge shout out to my reader group, the Silver Divas. I love writing books that make you love reading.
