by Jennifer Rae
‘I said don’t go. Stay.’
‘Stay?’
‘Stay.’
Olivia drew in a ragged breath. Her brain was shifting inside her head.
‘Stay, Olivia. Stay here. Stay with me.’
Olivia stepped back, away from his scent and his overpowering physical presence. It was too much. He was too much. He didn’t want her to stay. He’d find out she wasn’t interesting and she wasn’t funny and she wasn’t as beautiful as he’d thought she was. Then he’d leave. They always left.
‘I’m not staying.’
‘Why not?’
He stepped closer again and all the oxygen in the air evaporated. He was too big and too close and too potent. She couldn’t breathe.
‘I don’t want to stay.’
‘I can’t give up on you that easily, Olivia. I can’t give up on us.’
His words were like a balm, but she hardened her heart. This wouldn’t last. ‘I wasn’t thinking straight this morning, Edward. I was tired and hungry. It isn’t anything to do with you. I don’t do...relationships. I just get too...too...’
‘Scared. I know. I know you’re scared. I know that’s why you’re running. I’ll let you in on a secret.’
A half-smile tipped his mouth and Olivia’s heart fell to the floor. Her hands hung loosely down at her sides but she longed to touch him. She wanted to feel his hard chest and his soft lips on hers. She wanted to feel the rough abrasion of his stubble against her top lip. She wanted to kiss the damn freckle just underneath his mouth which drove her wild. But she didn’t move.
‘I’m scared too. Scared of you. Of this. Of what I feel for you. I’ve never been like this before. Out of control and desperate. Desperate to see you.’
Olivia’s breaths were short and sharp. He was desperate to see her?
She studied his face. His cheeks were slashed with pink, his hair was falling across his lined forehead and his dark eyes were almost black. He looked down at her, still not touching her. A steady beat pounded through the veins in her neck.
He felt the same way she did and fear clutched at her heart. This wasn’t some one-night stand. This wasn’t a casual fling. This was real. He was really here, wanting her as much as she wanted him.
‘The truth is, Olivia,’ he said quietly, ‘I know we’ve only just met but—it feels like I’ve known you for ever. And if you leave me it’ll hurt...right here.’ He laid his palm on his chest.
If there was ever a time Olivia had needed a paper bag—this was it.
‘You said I won’t fit in to your life.’
‘I don’t want you to get bored. I don’t want you to lose interest.’
‘Me? Lose interest?’ Was he mad? ‘It’s you who will lose interest. In me.’
He moved closer so her breasts now brushed his hard chest. He lifted a hand and moved a piece of hair from her face.
‘Olivia, I love your hair and I love your short dresses and your sparkles and your gorgeous lips...’ He paused to breathe, looking directly at her mouth. ‘I love the way you say out loud what you’re thinking. I love the way you get it wrong and you fall over and then get back up again. I love the way you touch me and the way you kiss me. And I love the way you smile. You have a beautiful smile.’
Olivia’s heart whispered, and something buried inside her struggled to get out. The feeling took over her entire body and she couldn’t think. His words washed over her, flooding her veins with their intensity.
‘How could I ever lose interest in you?’
His lips were so close. His hot breath warmed her mouth and she swayed towards him.
‘You will.’ Her heart pounded and her head swam. ‘I’m not beautiful and talented and perfect. I’m not the right girl for you, Edward. You need someone more...steady. Someone who can be in a relationship for more than one weekend.’
‘You are what I need.’
His voice rose and it made Olivia step back. His eyes flashed and she saw something she hadn’t ever seen in him. Raw emotion. She watched as he breathed in and out and something simmered in him.
‘You were right. This weekend was life-changing. This weekend meant something to me and I thought it meant something to you too.’
It had meant everything to her. It had changed her life.
‘Edward. You...you made me feel something I’d never felt before. You made me feel like I was everything to someone. You made me feel like I was beautiful. I’ll never forget you. I’ll never forget how you made me feel.’
Olivia’s heart hurt as if it had been slashed with a knife. He didn’t understand. Love... Love was something she’d never have. He’d grow tired and she’d be heartbroken. She had to protect herself.
‘But don’t you understand? When I’m with you I want something I know I can’t have.’ Olivia couldn’t look at him any more. She blinked and breathed in deeply. ‘You take on all the responsibility, you take on all the blame, but you never let anyone in. Not really. You hover and help and worry, but you never let yourself fall. And the problem is I wanted you to fall. Deeply, ridiculously in love...with me. But we have to be honest. Some people are not cut out for love.’
Edward’s eyes were shining. His big body moved slightly closer and Olivia couldn’t breathe for a second. She couldn’t take it all in. His eyes, his stubbled jaw, that freckle. His heat, his scent—it was everything she wanted. And it was out of her reach.
His eyes travelled across her face and paused at her lips, then his eyes locked on hers.
‘You’re wrong.’
Olivia pushed her forehead into a frown. ‘When I told you I wanted to stay you pushed me away. You broke my heart, Edward. I can’t let you do that again.’
Hearing the words come out of her mouth made Olivia’s heart ache. Tears threatened her eyes. She wanted him. More than anything or anyone. She desperately wanted to throw herself into his arms. But she was so tired and so broken she just didn’t know if she’d be able to recover if he let her down.
His eyes grew sad again and his mouth turned down into a frown.
‘Olivia, I’m sorry. I was...confused and frustrated. I’ve never felt like this before.’
He stepped away and Olivia felt the chill of the air again.
‘You’re right. You should go. If that’s what you want. If you need time to think, or if you don’t want this. It’s up to you. It’s your decision.’
Her decision? Her life had always depended on others. Her sister, her friends... She’d never been able to make a choice that was just for her. Until now. Until Edward had stood in front of her making her feel wanted and desired and everything to someone. Just as he was everything to her.
The bubble returned. The one in which there was only him and her and the rest of the world fell away.
‘I just need you to know that I love you, Olivia, and I will for ever.’
‘Edward...’
‘I love you.’
His words were rough and raw and sincere. He was trying to make her understand. And she stopped and finally listened.
‘You...you love me?’
‘Desperately. Ridiculously.’
A shaft of light shot through Olivia’s brain. This wasn’t just talk any more. This was serious. He was close and he smelled divine and he’d just said he loved her.
‘I want more than a one-night stand, Eddie. I want more than a weekend. Can you really give me more?’
His lips parted. His eyes turned dark and his breathing changed.
‘I can give you much more.’
The wind blew Eddie’s hair and he looked wild. Out of control. His eyes hungry. He wanted her and he couldn’t control it. No one had ever felt that way about her. But he did.
Her heart seized when his lips fell gently onto hers. He moved slowly, his lips gent
le, and she could feel him holding back. As if he was afraid to show her how he really felt.
She pulled back a little and he stopped and looked into her eyes.
‘I’m serious, Edward. If I stay—I stay. Do you really want that?’
His lips moved closer and she stopped him with a hand on his chest. His lovely, muscled, hard, hot chest.
‘I know I haven’t done this the right way. I should have taken it slower. I should have let you know how I felt before I took you to bed. But...’
He moved closer and his lips met her neck, but his hands still didn’t touch her. His restraint was driving her crazy.
‘I couldn’t wait. I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want you,’ he said roughly.
Olivia sucked in a ragged breath and lifted her head away from the feel of his rough jaw on her sensitive skin. She had to think. She had to tell him what she wanted before she lost every thought in her head.
‘Then you have to fix it. You have to call me and send me flowers and take me out to dinner and woo me.’
‘Woo you?’
His sexy smile was turning lethal. Olivia’s bones melted a little but she held strong.
‘Yes. Woo me. Woo the hell out of me.’
He sucked in a deep breath, then lifted his hand to trace her cheekbone. ‘Olivia, I want nothing more than to woo the hell out of you. You are going to be so sick of my wooing you’ll beg me to stop. But I won’t. I’ll woo you and woo you until you scream my name.’
Olivia had a sneaking suspicion his idea of wooing was a little different from hers.
His hand moved to the back of her head and pulled it in to meet his lips. His kiss was long and hard and deep and it left Olivia feeling faint. She didn’t care who saw. She wanted to rip her ridiculous coat off and have him on top of her right at the Heathrow Departures gate.
‘You deserve to be wooed, Olivia. Often. By someone who knows what they’re doing,’ he murmured gruffly into her hair before kissing her cheekbone softly.
Olivia sucked in a breath and pulled away from him. The sounds of the airport vanished. She couldn’t hear anything else but his voice, nor feel anything else but his touch.
‘I want you, Olivia. I want to be with you and I want you to stay.’
‘But what if I distract you?’
His eyes met hers and they burned with truth. ‘I want to be distracted by you. I can’t keep living in the past. I can’t keep trying to make up for my mistakes. I have to move on, and I want to move on with the only girl who drives me wild.’
Olivia’s eyes fell to his mouth, where a wicked smile had appeared. Her body throbbed. He loved her and she loved him. He needed her as much as she needed him. He wasn’t going to break her heart. He was going to mend it. This was the man she’d been waiting for. The man to send her mad with want and to make her feel as beautiful as she knew deep down that she was. This man.
She pushed herself up onto her toes until her lips sat tantalisingly close to his ear and then she whispered into it, ‘I want you, Edward. I need you. I love you.’ She tried to convey with her eyes what her heart was bursting to say. ‘And I want to stay.’
She was his. For real. A woman worth loving. A woman worth staying with.
‘And, Edward?’ She pulled away so she could see his eyes. His dark, beautiful eyes which captivated her. She knew it now. She wasn’t incapable of love. She’d just never met anyone worth fighting for before. She’d never met anyone who deserved her love. Until now.
‘Voglio avere sesso con voi.’
A slow smile spread across his face. ‘Do you have any idea what you just said?’
‘I get the general idea of it,’ she said with a wide smile.
‘That’s my bad girl.’
Her arms circled his neck as their lips met in a deep, wild, uncontrollable kiss and finally, Olivia let herself fall desperately, ridiculously in love.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from MR. (NOT QUITE) PERFECT by Jessica Hart.
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ONE
Making Mr Perfect by Allegra Fielding
You’ve met a new guy. You’re hot, hot, hot for each other. He’s everything you ever wanted. But have you noticed that the infatuation phase never lasts? ’Fess up, ladies. How long before you’re out with the girls and you find yourself saying, ‘He’d be perfect if only he talked about his feelings/cooked occasionally/arranged a surprise mini-break/unfriended his ex on Facebook/insert peeve of your choice? He’s still hot, you still love him to bits, but he’s not quite as perfect as he seemed at first.
Are we asking too much of men nowadays? In a fairy tale, Prince Charming’s task is clear. He has to hack his way through a thicket, slay a dragon and rescue the princess. Easy. In real life, we want our men to do a whole lot more to deserve us. Here at Glitz we’ve been conducting our own super-scientific survey over a few cocktails (pomegranate martinis, anyone?) and it seems that we want it all. The perfect boyfriend, it turns out, can fix our cars and dance without looking like a total dork. He looks good and he’ll get rid of that spider in the shower. He’ll sit through a romcom without complaining and be strong enough to literally sweep us off our feet when required.
But does such a man exist? And if he doesn’t, is it possible to create him? Glitz gives one lucky guy the chance of the ultimate makeover. Read on and see how one unreconstructed male rose to the challenge of becoming the perfect man. Meet—
Allegra lifted her fingers from the keyboard and flexed them. Meet who?
Good question. Funny how the world was full of unreconstructed males until you actually needed one. But as soon as she had started asking around, it turned out that nobody wanted to admit that their boyfriends were anywhere near imperfect enough to take part in her experiment.
With a sigh, Allegra closed the document and shut down her computer. Had she been too ambitious? But Stella had liked the idea. The editor in chief had inclined her head by an infinitesimal degree, which signified enthusiasm. Now Allegra had a big break at last—and it would all fall apart if she couldn’t find a man in need of a major makeover. One measly man, that was all she needed. He had to be out there somewhere...but where?
* * *
‘Ouf!’ Allegra threw herself extravagantly into the armchair and toed off her mock-croc stilettos with a grimace of pain. The needle-thin metal heels were to die for, but she had been on them for over twelve hours and while they might be long on style, they were extremely short on comfort.
Max didn’t even look away from the television. He was stretched out on the sofa, flicking through channels, looking oddly at home in her sitting room. He had been tidying again, Allegra registered with a roll of her eyes. You would never catch the magazines being neatly lined up on the coffee table when it was just her and Libby. The radiators would be festooned with bras and thongs and the surfaces comfortingly cluttered with useful stuff like nail polish remover, empty shoe boxes, expired vouchers, cosmetic samples and screwed up receipts. She and Libby knew to check down the back of the sofa for chargers. They knew where they were with the mess.
/>
There was no point in trying to tell Max that, though. Libby’s brother was an engineer. They said cosy sitting room, he said tip.
She massaged her sore toes. ‘My feet are killing me!’
‘Why do you wear those ridiculous shoes?’ Max demanded. ‘It’s like you put yourself through torture every day. Why don’t you wear trainers or something more comfortable?’
‘Because, Max, I work for Glitz,’ said Allegra with exaggerated patience. ‘That’s a fashion magazine and, while I realise that as Mr Hasn’t-got-a-clue you don’t know what fashion is, I can assure you that my editor would send me home if I turned up in trainers!’
‘They can’t sack you for what you wear,’ said Max, unimpressed.
‘Stella can do whatever she likes.’ Such was her editor’s power and personality that Allegra found herself glancing over her shoulder and speaking in hushed tones whenever her name was mentioned.
‘That woman’s a monster. You should tell her where to get off.’
‘And lose my job? Do you have any idea how hard it was to get a job at Glitz?’ Cautiously Allegra wiggled the blood back into her poor toes. ‘People kill for the chance to work with Stella. She’s like the high priestess of fashion. She’s totally awesome.’
‘You’re terrified of her.’
‘I’m not terrified,’ said Allegra, not quite honestly. ‘I respect her. Everyone respects her.’
Everyone except her mother, of course, but then it took a lot to impress Flick Fielding, as Allegra knew to her cost. She suppressed a little sigh at the thought. She had been so hoping that Flick would approve of the fact that Stella had given her a job in the face of such competition, but her mother had only raised perfectly groomed brows.
‘Glitz?’ she’d echoed as if Allegra had boasted of a first journalist job with Waste Collectors Weekly instead of a top-selling glossy magazine. ‘Well, if you’re pleased, then of course...well done, darling.’
