by Ava Walsh
“I’m sorry for all the embarrassment that you’ve had to go through. I wish you didn’t. I wish it was as smooth sailing as I imagined it would be,” I said, maintaining a few feet of distance between us. I didn’t want her to get the wrong impression of my intentions.
“It’s not your fault. It was a contract, after all, it was good while it lasted,” she said, tucking in loose strands of her hair behind her ears. She had never looked more beautiful, of that I was sure.
“It was good while it lasted indeed,” I said and she looked away from me and there was silence in the room again.
“I’m quitting my job,” I said and she jerked her head to look at me.
“You don’t have to do that. It’s your family business. I’ve decided to quit anyway,” she said. I smiled and shook my head.
“Remember the rule you came up with? That you’d maintain your position after this ends,” I said and a soft smile graced Kayla’s lips at the memory. So much had changed since then.
“I was being stupidly naive,” she said and I shook my head again.
“You can stay, Kayla. I’m holding on to my end of the contract, you get to keep your position,” I said and she stared at me in silence.
“I can’t work there anymore,” she replied.
“I can talk to father and make sure you’re transferred to our California offices if you don’t mind moving. You don’t have to work with these people anymore.” I could see that she was thinking as she stared at me with her large chocolate colored eyes.
“I know you’ve worked hard at your job Kayla, and you’re a prized possession at the company. You don’t deserve to leave all this behind. Especially since it’ll suit me better to quit anyway,” I said and she licked her lips and sighed.
“I’ll think about it,” she said, holding her head high. That was the Kayla who was so good at her job: confident, professional and never backing away from a good deal. I smiled at her, but she only tried. I could see she was still hurting, but she was too proud to say it. As was I. I didn’t know if I was prepared to lay my heart out in the open like that, for another woman to come and trample all over.
We were quiet for a few minutes.
“So aren’t you going to ask me for a last time?” she asked, her voice dropping and growing softer.
“Ask you for what?” I asked, and I saw her jaws clenching.
“Sex,” she replied.
“No. I won’t,” I said and her eyes widened. “It’s over. That is over. I would rather have you first, as someone real, to talk to, and then your body.” For the first time she really looked at me, straight into my eyes and my arms shook in fear of what she was going to say.
Chapter Thirteen
Kayla
I couldn’t decide if this was a part of some kind of trick that he was playing on me. I wasn’t even sure if I had heard him correctly. He wanted me as a person? He said that when I had practically just offered him my body?
I stared at him, while he looked back at me, his eyes boring into me intensely. He wasn’t smiling, he was serious.
“I don’t know if I understand what you mean,” I managed to say after several seconds of silence.
“I mean Kayla, that I want you. Of course I want you. But not just as a part of a contract,” he said. I could see his lips moving, his blue eyes sparkling in the dim light of his living room. His strong shoulders squared and tight. He was as defensive as I was. I didn’t know what to say to him, this wasn’t what I expected. I prided myself in being able to judge people accurately. In Oscar’s case, I had missed the mark by miles.
“Kayla, I know you don’t trust me…I know you’re scared,” he began and something in me made me interrupt him.
“It’s not you, Oscar. It’s my own family, or rather the lack thereof,” I blurted out and I saw his face change. His defenses came down a little.
“You don’t trust me because of your family?” he asked, confused.
“Because of my father.”
“What did he do to you?” There was a glint of rage in his eyes as he said it. I could see now how the punch on Jonathan’s face came about.
“Nothing. He was my mother’s boss. He left her when she got pregnant with me. I’ve never met him, I don’t even know who he is,” I blurted it all out, and only at the end of it did I realize that I was crying.
Oscar lunged towards me, enveloping me in his arms as he held me to his chest.
“I’m sorry you had to go through that, Kayla,” he said as he stroked my hair. I held on to his chest for dear life. I felt safe in his arms. Besides mama, nobody had ever made me feel like they genuinely cared. This man, who I thought I had all figured out, did.
“Is that why you pushed me away? Because you thought I would do the same to you?” he asked and I nodded.
“I kept pushing you away because of an ex-girlfriend who cheated on me,” he said and I pulled away from him to look into his eyes.
“That bad huh?” I asked and he raised his eyebrows.
“She slept with Jonathan,” he said and I nearly broke into a laugh. Who would ever choose Jonathan over Oscar?
“So that punch was a long time coming then,” I said and he squeezed his arms around me a little more.
“Kayla, can we start over?” he asked and I nodded. There was nothing more that I wanted. I hadn’t even realized that this was what I wanted. I had been so angry with myself for falling in love that I had refused to acknowledge that falling in love could also be beautiful and mean happiness.
And the last person I had expected to feel happy about was Oscar Connell.
“I have never been this excited to have a contract of sexual favors ending,” he said, and I raised an eyebrow at him.
“How many have you had?” I asked him, lightly punching his arm. He laughed and then held me even tighter in his grip.
“I’m not going to lie, a few of them,” he said. It didn’t surprise me. His proposal had been too casual, too easy. He had done it a few times before.
“But never before did I end the contract so I could date the girl, Kayla. This is a first,” he said, softly kissing my forehead. I licked my lips and accepted the kiss. I could live with that. As long as what he was offering now was real, it was a good deal.
“Is this the part where you rip my clothes apart and take me here on the carpet?” I asked him, but he pulled away from me and shook his head.
“I could if you really want to. But I was thinking that the best way to start over would be to get Maria to set us a candlelit dinner, where I ask you about where you grew up and what kind of ice cream you like. You can maybe ask me what colors don’t suit me and who my best friends are. You know, like normal people,” he said, drawing away from me as I laughed.
“You may be right, but normal is boring,” I said and he was laughing too. Then I felt his hands on the buttons of my jeans. The next thing I knew was that his hands were on my bra under my t-shirt. He was making me moan already, his hands finding their way into my pants. I was on the carpet, tugging at his clothes and he was smiling, watching me as he kept me pinned to the floor.
I was not tired of him yet, he had got it wrong. I would never be tired of him. Oscar Connell was one of a kind, and I was wrong to assume that all men were like my father.
No, Oscar Connell was the love of my life and I could see it in his eyes as he entered me, that he loved me back.
*****
THE END
Bonus Book 2: The Football Star's Secret Baby
Description
I’d rather die than tell him...
Olivia Snyder is making do. Her daughter, Maya, is turning two in a few months and Olivia believes she has it all under control.
She never really achieved her dreams because she got pregnant early… but what more could she ask for except that her daughter grows up happy?
But then problems start to brew. Sophie, her childhood best friend, returns to their sleepy town for a family event. Sophie and Olivia meet
up for their usual girl-time. But what Sophie hasn’t told Olivia is that her older brother Rufus is coming home too...
Rufus has made it big in NFL. He had always been the town’s sweetheart but he has now quickly become the national heartthrob as well.
This wouldn’t be an issue if Olivia wasn’t still hung up on him, his classic good looks, that dimpled smile and the way he has about him which makes all women fall at his feet...
Olivia has secrets to hide: not only her feelings for Rufus, but also that they once slept together in college. She can never let Sophie find out that she slept with her older brother.
Especially not now that Rufus is back in town... How will Olivia keep her secret, now that her life seems to be unravelling?
Chapter One
Olivia’s phone beeped beside her and she turned it over so she wouldn’t be troubled by the flashing light. She needed to get through this last hour without any more distractions. A woman was holding a stack of three books in her hand and waiting at the till when Olivia returned to take up her post. Three books was good, but not enough to hit her target for the day. A few people would have to miraculously appear in this last hour and purchase at least ten more books between them. The trouble was that nobody was buying physical books anymore, so independent bookstores such as the one Olivia was working at made very little money now.
She smiled at the woman anyway as she zapped the barcodes on the books and then put them in a small paper bag for her. The woman handed Olivia the exact change and walked away. Olivia sighed. She looked at her watch again, fifty-five more minutes to go.
The bookstore was empty again. Stacks of freshly printed books were piled on the front table, trying to attract passersby into the store to flip through them and, hopefully, make a purchase. Olivia stood behind the till desk, looking hopefully at the people on the street. She needed to make her target for the day, or it could mean risking her job. The management was cracking down on employees now, and getting strict with their sales targets.
Olivia caught a reflection of herself in the shop window as she remained standing, looking out. Her usual brown curls looked frizzy, given that she hadn’t had the time to properly condition them in a while. Her large gray eyes looked wide and sleep deprived, especially without any makeup. Even her lips looked chapped and tired. She quickly reached for the lip gloss she usually stored in one of the drawers and ran the tube over her lips once, knowing full well that just some lip gloss wasn’t going to cut it.
Her phone beeped again and, this time, she reached for it. The store was empty so there was no point denying herself the distraction from her boredom.
She’d received a couple of messages from Sophie again. She was in town now and wanted to meet up. Olivia sighed and rolled her eyes. They had been friends since kindergarten and had grown up together. Now Sophie lived in New York and had a fancy job at a publishing house, while Olivia was still stuck in their hometown.
She quickly sent a response back to Sophie, letting her know that she would only have a few hours on Saturday afternoon to meet. The rest of the time, she’d be busy at the bookstore or with Maya. Olivia loved Sophie, just as much as she knew Sophie loved her. But it was getting increasingly difficult to keep up with Sophie’s lifestyle now. She didn’t have the fancy lifestyle that Sophie enjoyed, didn’t live a high-flying corporate life, didn’t own the designer shoes or handbags that Sophie now flaunted. A rift was slowly developing between them, and Olivia was recognizing that they had less in common and fewer things to talk about. But she couldn’t let Sophie go, despite everything that had happened. She was still her best friend.
Sophie replied with an excited text and an invite to come over to her parents’ home, and Olivia put her phone away. It was back to praying that she got a few more customers in before closing time.
The boredom of not having anything to do resulted in her mind drifting to thoughts of Sophie again…and this time, Rufus as well, Sophie’s older brother. Rufus Frost. He was the guy who Olivia had grown up around, her teenage fantasy. She had spent her whole life drooling over and pining for him.
Rufus was destined for stardom, he always had been. In school, Rufus was one of the popular kids, while Olivia and his sister were the nerds. However, Rufus always looked out for them and made sure that nobody ever picked on Sophie or her best friend. Not on his watch.
College was the same. Rufus was the town hero, the rising football star who was going to take the town and the college to national prominence. Girls threw themselves at him, boys wanted to be him and parents wished he was their son. Nobody was left out of Rufus Frost’s charm spectrum, least of all Olivia.
She grew up in his shadow, admiring him for his looks, his good nature and of course his superstardom. But Rufus had always been out of Olivia’s league. She knew that. Which was why, when he joined the NFL and his charisma and success carried on to the national level, nobody was happier to see him go than Olivia. She didn’t want to be in his presence anymore, she didn’t want to suffer all her life, pining away for a man she could never have. Even though it had seemed for some time, to her at least, that they might actually have a chance, Olivia knew the truth was that they never did. Rufus didn’t feel the same way. To him, Olivia Snyder was nothing more than his sister’s best friend.
The bell hanging over the bookstore door tinkled, snapping Olivia out of her thoughts. A customer had walked in! The middle-aged man looked around the shop for a minute, his hands flying over the bookshelves, dragging out titles he thought he wanted. Olivia watched from the till with a smile on her face, ready to recommend books or spark up a conversation that might eventually lead to a sale.
The man walked out of the store empty-handed. It was almost like the universe was teasing her. She was going to have to go home without having met her target today, bringing her one day closer to losing her job.
***
Olivia parked outside her mother’s house and remained sitting in the car for a few minutes longer. She needed to compose herself before she went it. The door was left open as usual, as her mother was never in a habit to lock the house. Olivia walked in, adding a forced spring to her step and pasting a smile onto her face.
Her mom was in the living room, in front of the television, with Maya on her lap.
“Hello, kids,” Olivia greeted them chirpily. Her mom and Maya both turned, both equally happy to see her.
“Hi, honey. How was your day with Nana?” Olivia reached for her daughter, who grabbed her by the neck and hung from it while they cuddled. Maya had not started talking properly yet, but could say a few words, which always made Olivia proud. She was certain that her daughter was going to be a genius.
“How was your day?” Jen, Olivia’s mother, asked.
“Good, good. We had a busy day at the store,” Olivia replied, still hugging her daughter and trying to avoid her mother’s inquisitive stare.
“Really? I heard from Lucy that they’re planning on closing the store down. Not enough customers.” Jen had folded her arms across her chest and was glaring at Olivia while she spoke.
“I don’t know why Lucy would say that. The store is doing really well now.” Olivia was still not looking at her mother, instead busying herself with smoothing the delicate blonde curls around Maya’s angelic face.
“So you’re meeting your targets?” Jen still urged, and Olivia rolled her eyes.
“Yes, mom. Will you leave it be? I have to go now.” She whipped around quickly, with Maya still in her arms, and rummaged around to pick up the bags that she’d brought over in the morning. Jen was awfully quiet as she watched Olivia clearing up the mess of toys that Maya had made.
“Olivia,” Jen said, in a low, worried tone.
“What, mom?”
“You’ll tell me if things are going badly?”
“Yes, I will, mom. I can manage it myself.” Olivia positioned Maya on the crook of her hip and then came over to give her mother a quick hug.
“It’s Maya I’m w
orried about. She’s going to turn two in a few months, her necessities and expenses are only going to grow.” Jen still had that worried voice as she spoke. Olivia pulled herself away from her mother slowly and looked at her. Olivia knew her mother meant well, but she didn’t want to cause worry.
“We’ll be fine, mom. Thanks for your help, though.” Olivia tried to smile weakly while stroking her mother’s arm at the same time.
“Why can’t the father help, too?” Jen hurled the words at her and Olivia turned around to start walking away. Not this again!
“Don’t start, mom. I told you he doesn’t want to be involved.” Olivia zipped up the bags and started to walk towards the front door.
“Can’t we sue him and make him pay?” Jen stood up painfully from the couch. Her hip was getting worse.
“I don’t want him involved either, mom. Please, just forget it.” Olivia had opened the door now and was distractedly smiling at Maya while she played with her earlobe.
“Olivia…”
“I have to go now, mom.” She blew her mom a kiss and was out of the door and down the steps when she remembered. She rushed back into the house and found Jen still standing in the middle of the living room where she had left her.
“Can I drop Maya off on Saturday afternoon for a few hours? Sophie is going to be in town,” Olivia asked, and Jen nodded.
“Of course, honey.” Jen smiled at her daughter, with a little sadness in her eyes.
“Thanks, mom. See you Saturday,” Olivia said, with a quick wave, and was off towards the car again.
“Hi, baby. Sorry I was late again today. We’ll go home straight away, won’t we?” She was settling Maya into the car seat as she spoke. She liked to chat with her casually like she was already a grown up. The truth was that Olivia didn’t have anybody else to talk to. The bookstore was always empty, her own apartment was devoid of any adults and she had lost touch with all her friends because she didn’t have the time for them.
