by Cara Wylde
Tristan didn’t disappoint. The memory she took with her fed her heated imagination for months. She almost changed her mind in the morning, when Tristan went to take a shower, and instead of ordering breakfast, Olivia took her dirty, crumpled clothes off the floor, threw them on, and left the hotel room. She couldn’t stay. She had made a decision the night before, and she knew for a fact that it was the right one, the only one that could somewhat mitigate the damage she had already done. She most definitely couldn’t change her mind because of a hot, hunky man who had just given her more orgasms than her body had probably been designed to handle. She could still feel him between her legs, long, thick, hard… If she allowed herself to think about him inside her, she risked turning around, barging into the shower, and throwing herself at him. He would take her right there, under the hot spray, and she would love every second of it. But then… she’d be lost forever, wouldn’t she? No. She had made a plan and she had to stick with it. For her family’s sake.
Olivia blinked rapidly and came back to the present. She was slightly cold, the blanket having fallen off her shoulders. She looked around her, at the bedroom drowned in darkness, then looked down at her son and touched his forehead. That night, Tristan had left her with more than a memory. He had left her with this little guy for whom Liv was now willing to do anything. Even live with her sister and her husband for a couple of weeks. Even walk all over her own pride, and look for the man she had selfishly used for a one-night stand and then left hanging in a hotel room.
***
Something wasn’t right. The apartment was too silent. Olivia snapped her eyes open, then blinked rapidly when the bright sunrays blinded her. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed, sat up, stretched briefly, and went to close the curtains. When she finally turned around, she noticed Liam wasn’t in bed. She sighed and went into the bathroom to brush her teeth and take a shower before getting dressed. Her son had a unique way of sneaking around. It didn’t matter whether she was asleep or wide awake. If Liam didn’t want her to notice him moving around or simply disappearing, she wouldn’t. It was beyond her comprehension. Not even a cat could be so stealthy. She wasn’t worried, though. He had probably woken up early and gone to play with his cousins. Except that the apartment still seemed unnaturally silent.
Olivia chose a cute, comfortable dress that stopped right above her knees, and put on just a bit of make-up. She let her slightly damp hair fall down over her back and shoulders, and went looking for her little rascal. The children weren’t in the living room. The next room she checked was her niece’s and nephew’s bedroom, but they weren’t there either. The two small beds were neatly made. Liv threw a quick glance at her sister’s and brother-in-law’s bedroom door, then walked towards the kitchen. A barely audible gasp left her lips when she saw Logan at the table, smartphone in hand, probably reading the newspaper.
Logan raised his eyes and studied her from head to toe.
“Good morning!”
His low, smooth voice sent a chill up Olivia’s spine. How in hell’s name had they managed to end up in the same room after days of actively, obsessively avoiding each other?
“Good morning,” she answered after clearing her voice. She walked to the table and poured herself a cup of coffee.
“Looking lovely today,” he said casually.
“Thanks.”
He took a small sip of coffee and cocked an eyebrow. “You can sit down, you know…”
“Sure.” She gave him a small smile.
“I don’t bite.”
She tried to laugh, but it sounded fake. “Of course you don’t.” She eventually sat down.
Logan went back to his phone for another five minutes, and Olivia cursed herself for having left hers in the bedroom. The situation wouldn’t have been this awkward if she had had something to do aside from drinking her coffee and pretending to study the kitchen appliances. It was inevitable. After two minutes, her eyes fell on the man sitting across from her. Logan hadn’t changed at all in the past year. He was the same tall, handsome man both she and her sister had fallen in love with. Yes, Olivia had fallen in love with Miranda’s husband the second she had laid eyes on him and he on her. That was almost two years ago. It felt like a lifetime… The shock when she had realized Logan wanted her sister and not her, the betrayal she had felt then… For the first time, she wasn’t getting something… someone she wanted.
Logan switched off his phone and placed it on the table, next to his cup of coffee. He caught Liv staring, and he smiled.
Olivia blinked a couple of times, cursing herself for acting like an idiot.
“Where are the kids?” she asked. There. A simple, normal subject of conversation. And also genuine, because she really wanted to know where Liam was.
“Grocery shopping with Miranda. She needed a hand and ended up with six.” He laughed wholeheartedly.
Liv tried not to laugh with him. As always, his laughter was contagious, and the cute dimples in his cheeks reminded her why it had hurt so badly that he had married her sister.
“Have they been gone long?”
He threw a glance at his phone. “Half an hour, maybe.”
“Oh. Okay.”
They were silent for a while, sipping coffee and stealing glances at each other, both trying to figure out what the other was thinking. It was all in the past, wasn’t it? Olivia kept repeating to herself that they were adults, they knew where they had been wrong, and they didn’t need to discuss it. They could talk about trivial things, right?
“So… how’s work?” she asked.
Logan bit the inside of his lip. “Good. Good.”
Olivia nodded. Well, that hadn’t gone as expected. She had hoped he’d start talking about his projects, given that he had been spending so much time at the office lately. Then, another half an hour would have passed, and maybe her sister and the children would have been home.
“Glad to hear that,” she said.
Silence for another couple of minutes. She decided to drink her coffee faster, then head back to her room. This tension… whatever was happening right now… she couldn’t deal with it. She had to focus on more important things. Kassandra hadn’t texted her the address yet. Or, had she? She needed to check her phone.
“Olivia…”
The sound of her name made her sit back down just as she was starting to stand up.
“Yes?”
“I actually suggested Miranda to take the kids with her.”
Liv’s eyebrows shot up in curiosity. “Why would you do that?”
“So we’d have some time to talk…”
“About what? There’s nothing to talk about.” She spoke so quickly that she almost tripped over the words.
“About that night.”
Olivia sighed. That was why she had been avoiding him.
“It’s in the past, Logan. I, for one, have long forgotten about it. I thought you did the same.”
He shook his head slowly and smiled. “I still can’t believe you walked out on me like that.”
“Yeah, well… that was my moment of sanity.”
He looked straight into her eyes, pinning her in place. Even if she wanted to, she couldn’t look away from his intense gaze.
“Can you tell me right here and now that you never regretted running away?”
Liv swallowed heavily. “The only thing I regret is that we didn’t stop sooner.”
He shook his head again. His eyes let her know he didn’t believe her.
She furrowed her brows and placed her palms on the table, straightening her back and adopting an air of complete seriousness. She had to make him understand, once and for all, that what had happened that night had been a huge mistake which needed to be buried. Deep. For the sake of their loved ones.
“You were married to my sister. You already had a daughter, and your son was on the way. What happened that night…” she hesitated. “Actually, nothing happened.”
“We kissed.”
She c
losed her eyes and fought the memory. “Logan…”
“Your hands were all over me, I had your dress rolled down your shoulders…”
She could feel his eyes lingering on her shoulders just then. She snapped her eyes open and stood up in one swift motion.
“Stop.”
She walked to the sink and started rinsing her cup, her hands slightly shaking. Her whole body froze when she felt him behind her, his big, calloused hands sneaking around her waist.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“You smell so nice…”
Olivia turned off the tap water and turned around in his invasive embrace, placing her small hands on his wide chest to push him away. They stayed like that for a moment, looking into each other’s eyes. And that was when it hit her: she didn’t feel anything for him anymore. Yes, he was hot and handsome, and just her type, but he was also her brother-in-law and off-limits. She wasn’t the woman she had been two years before. Selfish and spoiled. She was a mother now. She had responsibilities and she understood what family meant, how important it was for her sister and her sister’s children that she, Olivia, was mature enough to respect some boundaries.
“Logan, no,” she said in a low, calm voice. “You have to let go now.”
His reaction was to squeeze her harder against his chest.
She fought him. “Let go, please. Nothing happened that night. I was young, drunk, and confused, then I got a hold of myself and made the right call. I like to believe that if I hadn’t had the decency to stop, you would’ve. You love Miranda, I know you do. So, let’s act like two responsible adults, never do it again, and forget it ever happened in the first place.” She pushed against his chest. “I know you agree with me right now.”
Logan sighed and let her go. Slowly, hesitantly. When she managed to wiggle out from between his body and the sink, he ran his hands through his hair, his shoulders slouching in defeat.
“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right. Of course you’re right,” he said.
Olivia smoothed down her dress, gave him a weak smile, and started towards the door.
“I’m sorry,” he added.
She waved him off and walked faster, eager to put as much distance between them as possible. Yes, she knew now that she felt nothing for him, but she couldn’t be so sure about what he felt for her. She didn’t want to know.
Reaching her and Liam’s room, she closed the door and leaned with her back against it. A heavy sigh left her parted lips.
“Damn it!” she whispered. “I knew I couldn’t stay here long.”
She should have gone to a hotel. But that would’ve meant spending a fuck ton of money. And what would she have told her sister? That she didn’t want to stay at her place because… what? She couldn’t have possibly come to NYC without telling her, either.
“What a ridiculous mess!”
Olivia had to fix it, and quickly. The guilt was still there. Her feelings for Logan had vanished, probably a long time ago, but the guilt had remained. It was wrong, so wrong of her to live here, with her sister, sleep in her guest bedroom, let her son play with her children, when she had been so close to betraying her once. Sisters didn’t do that to each other. They simply didn’t.
Liv took a deep breath and tried to chase the dark thoughts away. She spotted her smartphone on the nightstand. The blue, blinking light let her know she had a text.
CHAPTER THREE
Andes was a three-hour drive from NYC. Olivia had never visited that part of the state. She asked Miranda to look after Liam, telling her she’d be back in a couple of hours, then rented a car and started preparing herself emotionally for whatever was to come. She tried imagining herself knocking on Tristan Ward’s door, back straight, chin held high, asking him if he still remembered her. Then what? He would surely ask: “Why are you here?”, and what would she answer? “I’m here to tell you that you have a son.”
“No. Fuck no,” she whispered as she stopped at a red light.
She couldn’t tell him right away. What if what she was doing now was, in fact, a huge mistake? She had no idea what type of person Tristan Ward was. After all, what sort of man picked up a half-drunk girl in a bar, took her to his hotel room, and fucked her thoroughly until morning? Not the type of man who wanted a family, right? Or any sort of serious relationship. Did Olivia want such a man to be the father of her child? Not in a million years. So, no, she couldn’t tell him right away.
She slowed down when she entered Andes. The picturesque village was on the western edge of the Catskill Mountains. Lovely houses, large gardens filled with green trees and flowers in bloom, clean streets, and welcoming people – Andes certainly looked like a small piece of Heaven God had left on Earth intentionally. The village was already quite isolated, so Olivia was surprised to realize the address Kassandra had given her was taking her even closer to the mountains, away from the houses, shops, and friendly bars and inns of Andes. When she finally stopped, she found herself between two rows of houses which looked very much alike, as if they had been built at the same time, by the same people. It looked like a separate neighborhood that belonged to Andes, but not quite.
Liv stepped out of the car and took a deep breath. The air was so fresh that her lungs almost couldn’t take it. Clean and sharp, it stabbed her chest mercilessly. Or, was that the adrenaline which had been making her pulse race like mad for the past half hour? She sighed and checked Kassandra’s text again. Yes, she was at the right address. Tristan Ward’s house was the one in front of her. All she had to do was cross the street, but she just wasn’t ready. She wasn’t brave enough. Not just yet. She looked up and down the street. It was odd that everything was so quiet. There was no one around, and no movement came from the houses. Yet, it was obvious that people lived there. The lovely yards were well-maintained, the balconies were filled with flower pots, and expensive cars were parked in front of a couple of houses. These people were certainly not poor. “That’s a good sign, I guess,” she thought.
Eventually, Olivia decided she couldn’t just stand there forever, and crossed the street. She climbed the five stairs leading to the front door, squeezed her hand into a tight fist, and knocked three times. Her mind was blank. At that moment, she had no idea what she would say to the man who would answer the door. Her knees were shaking, and there was no point in trying to control them. She cursed herself for having chosen to wear the tight, blue dress that stopped right above her knees, and high heels. It was an outfit that only worked for a confident, independent woman, and even though that was exactly who Olivia was, she didn’t feel like it now, and she wasn’t so sure she’d be able to act the part anymore. When no one answered the door, she swallowed heavily and knocked again. Her whole body was fighting the impulse to turn around, run to the car, and drive back to the city. She had tried, he hadn’t answered. End of story. But that would’ve been too lame, wouldn’t it? She was stronger than this. She wasn’t doing it for herself, anyway. She was doing it for her son, and her son needed her to be brave.
The sound of footsteps coming from behind the front door made her heart beat even faster, if that was possible. Liv tried to calm down, telling herself it might as well be someone else. Tristan could be married. Or, he could live with a brother or a sister, and they could be the ones to open the door. It didn’t have to be him. The fact that this was his address didn’t mean he had to be the first person she saw. The door opened, and Olivia forgot how to breathe. It was him.
Long, blond hair tied in a ponytail that reached his waist, soft beard covering his strong jaw, those intense blue eyes that could hypnotize her and make her forget why she was there in the first place… Liv parted her lips, tried to make her tongue work and her vocal cords cooperate, only to fail miserably. She wanted to look away so he wouldn’t see the panic in her eyes, but there was no way she could. He looked even more imposing than she remembered. His wide shoulders blocked her view inside the house, and his rock hard muscles rendered the white T-shirt he was wearing abs
olutely irrelevant. It wasn’t as if the thin fabric could hide anything.
“Olivia,” his full lips whispered.
And she melted right then and there. On the inside, of course. She struggled to hold it together on the outside.
“You remember me,” she said in a voice that didn’t sound like hers.
“How could I forget you?”
She smiled, though she didn’t know why, or what she was trying to convey through the small, unexpected gesture. She felt as if her body didn’t belong to her anymore, her muscles didn’t listen to the commands of her brain. What was she supposed to say now? She was sure she had made up a speech in her head just some minutes before, but for the life of her, she couldn’t remember one word, let alone a full sentence. It was a miracle she was still standing on two legs on this man’s doorstep.
“You’re here,” he said. “How is this possible?”
He studied her from head to toe. She looked even lovelier than that night, two years ago. Had it really been two years? He had looked for her the next day, had tried to detect her scent, but it had been no use. She had been gone just the way she had appeared in his life: like a flash of lightning. There, for a split second, enough to enslave him forever. Tristan Ward couldn’t believe his mate was before him, her big, green eyes boring into his, her body radiating the delicious warmth he had been craving for so long. He wanted to ask her why. Why had she run away that morning? Why had she disappeared? Why had she returned? But he realized it didn’t matter. Not now. All that mattered now was that she was there, three feet away from him, that he could touch her, could take her hand and pull her inside, never let her go. No, he wouldn’t let her go this time, even if that meant tying her to his bed.
“I… I had to see you,” she managed.
“After all this time…”
He did something Olivia hadn’t expected: he offered her his hand. She looked at it reluctantly, then took it. When he wrapped his fingers around her small hand and pulled her over the threshold, she found her legs moving of their own accord. There was no fighting it… the attraction. She hadn’t been able to fight it that night, she wasn’t able to fight it now. Before she knew it, the door closed behind her, and Tristan had her pinned against the wall.
