The awkward silence that followed hung heavy on the air around her and she needed to escape. “Anyway, I have to go.” She opened the driver side door. “Nice to see you again…Abby,” she said to clarify that she didn’t mean Ben.
“When did you move to Denver?” Abby asked, obviously not planning to let her escape.
“About ten months ago…just as we finalized your divorce.”
“A little different from L.A. right?”
Ben was still staring at her.
She nodded. “A little bit…See you. Take care.”
“Hey, why don’t you stay for a while?” Abigail touched her shoulder to stop her from getting into the car. “We were just heading over to Ben’s new lake house for dinner. You should join us.”
“Uh…” She glanced at Ben quickly, but he was looking at Abby, an are-you-out-of-your-mind expression on his face. “I can’t,” she said as another man joined them.
Dark hair and identical blue eyes. Another Westmore. Fantastic. The guy wrapped an arm around Abigail’s waist. “Hi, I’m Jackson Westmore—the good brother.”
“Oh, come on,” Ben groaned.
Olivia was happy to see that he looked at least as perturbed by this reunion as she was. Obviously, he’d reached the same conclusion she had after the charity event—avoidance was best. Yet, she couldn’t deny the slightest pleasure of seeing Ben again. “Anyway, I…”
“I love the effect you’re having on my brother,” Jackson said with a smirk directed at Ben. “Very humbling. He needs that sometimes.”
“Jackson.” Ben’s tone was meant as a warning, but the other man smiled even wider.
“I was asking her to join us for dinner at Ben’s new lake house,” Abby told him.
Surely, Jackson would see the conflict of interest in that dinner invite, even if Abby were choosing to ignore it. Instead, he smiled. “That’s a great idea.”
“It is?”
Had she vocalized the thought or had Ben? They were so in sync, it was difficult to tell.
“Yeah. I mean, you may as well see firsthand the property your client is probably going to get in the divorce settlement,” Jackson teased.
Next to him, Ben’s face paled. They may be on his home turf, but somehow she had gained the upper hand. “Well, since you put it that way…”
Chapter 10
The enemy was in his lake house. Worse—the woman who had been on his mind, in a disturbingly good way, for days was in his lake house. And she was smiling, sitting with one leg curled under her on his new leather sofa, near the wood-burning stove they’d lit moments before. As the sun set and the early spring weather turned cool, Olivia Davis was in his lake house looking comfortable and relaxed.
Ben was sweating bullets. Seeing her on the street had been unexpected, and at first he’d thought he was imagining it. She’d been on his mind so much, it wouldn’t have surprised him if he’d fabricated her from his thoughts. But she’d been real. Real and beautiful, dressed casually in a pair of tight black leggings tucked into ankle boots and a pale pink sweater that hung off one shoulder. The fabric looked soft, but it was her porcelain skin that had tempted his touch. When she’d walked away, he should have let her go.
He continued to scrape the squeaky clean barbecue grill, staring though the window from the deck. “Don’t worry about helping clean up guys…I got it,” he mumbled. “I just have a playoff game tomorrow night—no biggie.”
The sound of his brother’s laughter coming from inside only irritated him more.
The next time they were alone, he was going to kill Jackson. Abigail inviting Olivia to dinner was bad enough, but his brother backing the idea went against every bro code possible. And they were actually brothers—therefore it was like a double violation of the sacred code.
Yet, despite his annoyance, he couldn’t say he hated this situation. His gaze landed on Olivia’s face, illuminated by the light escaping the fireplace, her cheeks slightly flushed from the heat, and his breath caught in his chest.
There had been no shortage of women in his life—beautiful, fantastic, interesting women—but no one had him feeling this tortured, this confused…Not since Janelle.
But he still knew nothing about her. He didn’t even know why she had been in Glenwood Falls that day, and he wasn’t about to let his guard down and let her get close to help her case. There was no way she’d just been in the neighborhood. She was up to something. Maybe the charity event had been as much of a setup on him as he’d tried to make it on her. Maybe she really was one step ahead of him all the time. Maybe she really was that good. Well, he didn’t know what kind of information she was after…but he was giving her nothing.
Though what he did or didn’t do, didn’t really matter. His brother and soon-to-be sister-in-law were babbling on endlessly, giving Olivia more information about him than she could ever need. Any minute now, Jackson would mysteriously pull a baby album out of his ass. The evening had to end before things got…complicated.
He put the scraper away and put the cover back on the barbeque before going inside. “Well, it’s starting to get late…” he said from his tense position near the living room doorframe. The only place left to sit inside the room was right next to Olivia, and he’d already made the mistake of getting too close in the kitchen when they’d both reached for the fridge door at the same time. Her soft, delicious scent had nearly destroyed him as an ache of longing to see if she smelled that way everywhere had consumed him.
It had been weeks since he’d been with a woman, and his unusual dry spell was making him extra…sensitive. Maybe that’s all this was. Damn, he hoped so, but the hollow, slightly nauseating sensation in his gut told him it wasn’t as simple as that.
“You’re right. We should go,” Abby said, jumping to her feet and grabbing his brother’s hand. “Come on, Jackson.”
“I’m not finished with my…”
Abby grabbed his wine glass and drained the contents. “Finished. Let’s go.”
Ben’s eyes narrowed. No wonder his brother had given up a career in hockey for this woman. Jackson had been head over hockey skates for Abby Jansen since they were kids. Ben swore he’d heard his brother’s heart shatter the day Abby had married his best friend. But somehow, they’d found one another again. And now they were apparently partners in crime.
But thankfully Olivia stood as well. “Yeah, I need to get back to Denver, too,” she said, checking her watch.
“It was great seeing you again,” Abigail said, collecting her purse and sweater and tossing Jackson his coat. She hugged her quickly. “Don’t be a stranger.” Dragging Jackson by the hand, she tried to leave.
Ben blocked their escape. “It’s rude to leave before guests.”
“I’m right behind them,” Olivia said, grabbing her own things.
“It’s late, maybe you should stay…” Abby started, but even Jackson shot her a look that said That’s a little too far.
She looked deflated, but then a wide smile appeared on her face as they all walked outside.
Ben turned to look at whatever was making her look like a cat that swallowed a canary. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me. Is that one of your guys?” he asked Jackson, pointing to the big construction truck blocking his and Olivia’s vehicles in his gravel driveway.
Jackson squinted, reading the side of the truck. “Yeah, those guys are pouring a basement next door for me tomorrow. I’ll call the owner of the company.”
“Think they’ll be able to move it tonight?” Olivia said, looking distraught to see her tiny car completely blocked by Ben’s Hummer and the big truck.
Jackson nodded as he reached into his pocket for his phone.
“I think it’s fate,” Abby said.
“It’s not,” Olivia said, but her cheeks turned a shade of pink that suited her far too well.
“Just the kind of suspiciously bad luck I seem to attract around you two lately,” Ben mumbled.
A moment later, Jackson put the phone
away. “I left him a voicemail…Told him someone needs to get the truck moved as soon as possible.”
Ben eyed him. Could he trust his own brother?
“Seriously, man, as fun as it is to torment you, I want you to bring home the cup this year more than anyone. I know you have to play tomorrow night, and I made sure Tom knows it. Someone should be here soon.”
He hesitated. Maybe he should force Jackson to drive them back to the city now. He could come back for the Hummer…
But Abby was already at the truck. “Come on, Jackson. We have to pick up Dani from your sister’s house.”
“I’ll keep calling Tom,” he yelled as he climbed in.
“Funny how they weren’t blocked in,” Olivia said, looking as annoyed to be left stranded together as he felt. Or wanted to feel.
“Well, I guess we wait.”
Olivia sat on the swing on the porch.
“You can come back inside,” he said. He could behave. He hoped. Of course it would be easier if she wasn’t wearing that off-the-shoulder sweater, teasing him with the view of a pink bra underneath, and those leggings that clung to her beautifully tempting curves. The fact that he knew how her body felt didn’t help things, the way her waist gave way to sexy hips…Maybe outside was safer.
She must have agreed as she shook her head. “Nah, that’s okay. It’s nice out here. I rarely get a view like this one in the city.” Her gaze was on the snow-covered mountains casting a reflection on the dark lake, lit only by several street lights.
The view of the mountains was his favorite part of lakeside living. Once the season was over, he planned to spend most of his time there. He hesitated. “I’m going to grab the rest of the wine…then I’ll come back and wait with you?”
“It’s your house.”
That wasn’t what he wanted to hear. “Right. But are you okay with company? My company.”
“Sure. But no wine for me. I will have to drive eventually, hopefully…” her voice trailed off as she stared at the blocked vehicles.
Going inside, he released a deep breath and emptied the remaining red wine into a glass. He hadn’t had any with dinner, and he wasn’t a big wine drinker, but he needed something to calm the anxiety that had been increasing from the moment he’d seen her on Main Street.
“Be good. She’s off-limits,” he said to himself as he opened the screen door and rejoined her.
Placing his glass on the end table next to the swing, he sat, leaving as much room between them as possible. “So you never did say why you were in Glenwood Falls today.”
“Just felt like getting out of the city,” she said noncommittally. He sensed it was a lie. Her expression held a peaceful look he hadn’t seen on her before. He could certainly understand wanting to escape for a while.
“It is a great place to recharge the batteries,” he said.
“That’s what you’re doing? Recharging before the next game?”
He laughed. “I wish. No, I had to drop off some donation items at the fertility clinic—the head physician and his wife are holding a fundraiser and I said I would. And then my sister needed help putting up some shelves in her new baby clothing store. So, no, there was no relaxing or recharging batteries for me today.” Even if that had been his mission, she’d have shot that to hell by showing up, but it was hard to feel stressed in that moment with her, surrounded by a peaceful silence. For the first time all evening, he started to feel the awkward tension slip away, replaced with a different kind of sensation—a warm, unfamiliar, electrically charged feeling coursing through him. She was just an arm’s reach away…but he kept his hands to himself. Touching her would only make a bigger mess of things.
“Have you lived in Glenwood Falls most of your life?” she asked, freeing her feet from her boots and tucking them under her on the swing.
He reached for the blanket on the back of the swing and opened it, draping it over her legs. She smiled in thanks and he swallowed hard, struggling to remember the question. Those perfect, nude lips were so tempting. He averted his gaze. “Since I was ten. Moving here from the city took some getting used to, but then Jackson made friends with some older kids who played hockey out here on the lake every day in winter, and once I started to play with them, I learned to appreciate the quiet, slower pace of the small town.”
“That’s how you started playing—on the outdoor lake?”
He nodded. “To be honest, I wasn’t interested in hockey—I actually preferred football. Jackson was the hockey-obsessed one, but his love of the game was infectious. When I started playing, I could barely keep the puck, which for a competitive, naturally athletic kid like me was a blow to the ego. So I learned fast, and then I was unstoppable,” he said with a grin.
She rolled her eyes. “Of course you were. I bet you’re sickeningly good at everything, aren’t you?”
“Not everything. But most things.”
She shifted on the seat, her expression turning to one he couldn’t quite name. “And you probably get everything you want, don’t you, Ben?” Her dark eyes held no trace of annoyance, just a curiosity that made him slightly uncomfortable. They were moving into territory about his life, a place he preferred not to go. Couldn’t go without letting her in even more.
The smile slid from his lips ever so slightly. “Not always, but most of the time, yeah.”
“That must be nice,” she said, looking away, her attention back on the lake.
The smallest glimmer of resentment in her voice made him move closer, lifting the edge of the blanket to slide beneath it. His thigh brushed hers and he turned slightly to face her, letting his arm rest behind her. “Is that a bad thing? You make it sound like a bad thing.”
She shook her head. “It’s not a bad thing…if you’re you.” She continued to avoid his gaze.
“What about you, Olivia? You work hard. You must get what you want. I hear your court win record is something I should be terrified of.” Turning the tables on her was his only defense. He refused to give too much without getting anything in return.
She nodded. “Career-wise, I definitely achieve the goals I set for myself.”
The added “career-wise” part intrigued him. “And outside the courtroom?”
“Crossing the line into too personal again.”
She’d started it, and all of a sudden, he refused to retreat. “Are you always this shut down, closed off? Or has someone ever gotten in there?” He nodded toward her heart.
She hesitated. “Like you, my career has been my primary focus,” she said simply.
The temptation to touch her was overwhelming, so he gave in. He traced a hand along her cool cheek, and it warmed slightly under his caress. “But I still have fun…make time to enjoy life.”
“At the expense of countless women, you mean?” she moved her face away.
He wouldn’t deny it. “I like keeping things casual, yes, but the women I get involved with know not to expect any more than that. I make no promises.” Another relationship was something he wouldn’t even entertain…or at least he thought he would never entertain. Being with Olivia felt terrifyingly too right.
“Yet somehow you decided to marry a ghost from your past with whom you’d just reconnected hours before.”
He stiffened, feeling the mood around them change. “We’re back to the court case.” Had they actually gone almost five full minutes without bringing it up? Though admittedly, any other conversation, any other direction in which to take the evening was probably pointless—and worse, dangerous.
“What else is there, really?” she asked, echoing his thoughts. She tossed the blanket aside and stood.
He grabbed her arm and was on his feet in a flash. “I don’t know. How about this?” His mouth crushed hers and he felt her gasp in surprise, but half a second later, her arms were around his neck and she was returning his kiss with a fervor he’d never expected.
Pushing all other thoughts away, he pulled her closer, aching to feel every inch of her against him, knowin
g this kiss would be the one and only. Hopefully, it would be all he’d need to put this stupid yearning for the woman to rest.
His hands moved from her waist, up her back, then tangling in the hair at the base of her neck. His tongue parted her lips and she moaned, which nearly drove him completely mad. Her lips were as soft as he’d imagined, and when her fingers slid into his hair, his pulse raced.
The feel of her breasts against his chest made it impossible to think straight. He was sure she could feel his increasing hardness pressed against her, but she didn’t move away. Her hands slid lower to grip his sweater as she held him even closer. The fact that she wanted this as much as he did had his body and mind in a heated battle. He wanted nothing more than to scoop her up, bring her inside the lake house, and really make a mess of things, but the beating in his chest made him fear this attraction was more than just physical. What the hell was he doing? He was supposed to be keeping his distance, but she felt too good in his arms. He never wanted to release her, which was exactly why he had to.
Fighting to catch a breath, he broke away, moving a fraction of an inch from her lips. “Olivia,” he murmured.
As if the sound of her name broke the spell she’d obviously gotten lost in, she stumbled away from him, her hand going to her mouth. “Shit.”
“Yep.”
“No, like really, shit,” she said, almost frantically, running a hand through her tangled hair. “I have to go.” She bent to collect her boots, bumping her knee against the swing.
“You okay?”
“Fine. Just have to go.”
She’d said that already. “Car’s still blocked.”
“I’ll walk.”
“Relax. Breathe. It was just a kiss.” Liar. It wasn’t just a kiss. It was a mind-blowing tease of what couldn’t be. How he wasn’t the one losing his shit right now, he didn’t know.
Lights from a vehicle turning into the driveway cast a bright glow over them.
“Oh thank God,” she said, trying to flee once more.
Maybe This Love Page 9
