by T. K. Leigh
“Don’t cry, Olibia. I’ll always be here for you.”
Tears continued to stream down her face as she processed everything that she had been through over the past several months.
Alexander slowed his rhythm, looking down at the beautiful woman beneath him. “Please don’t cry, angel. I need to know you’re alright. I need to know I’m not hurting you.” He brought his hand to Olivia’s face, gently wiping her tear-stained cheeks. He planted soft kisses all over her face where her tears once were. Pulling back, he beamed his brilliant smile at her. “That’s my girl.”
Olivia grinned in response, giggling through her tears, moving beneath Alexander once again. He met her rhythm, burying his face against her neck.
“Faster, Alex,” Olivia breathed out, starting to feel that familiar clenching feeling.
“Are you going to go again?” he asked, pulling back to stare into her eyes.
“I think so.”
He began to move at a quicker pace on top of her.
“Alex, wait. I haven’t taken my birth control pills lately. I forgot them when I went to Vegas and never started a new pack.”
He continued moving quickly, his own orgasm imminent. “What do you want me to do, Olivia? I’m about to come. I can’t stop now. Are you worried about getting pregnant? If it happens, I’m okay with it.”
Olivia stared deep into Alexander’s eyes, unable to focus as she took in those green eyes and felt her body begin to tremble.
“Olivia, answer me. What do you want me to do?”
“Fuck, Alex. Don’t pull out!” she cried out as her orgasm took over her body.
He pumped faster, leaning down and gently tugging on her nipple with his teeth as he found his own release, muttering her name against her skin before collapsing on top of her.
“That was pretty fucking intense,” she commented while they both attempted to get their breathing under control.
Alexander rolled over, pulling her body against his, wrapping his arms and legs around her as he gently caressed her skin for several long moments. “Olivia, darling, do you want to talk about what happened to Kiera?” he asked sweetly.
She sighed. She didn’t even want to think about it, but she knew she couldn’t avoid it forever. Turning to face him, she ran her fingers through his messy hair, his green eyes intense and desperate for information.
“I called her earlier this morning,” she started. “I wanted to tell her about my father.”
Alexander scowled.
“Hey. You never said I had to keep it quiet.”
“Okay, okay. Sorry. Continue.”
“She didn’t sound too good. She said something about a fight with Mo, so I told her I’d be over there soon. I grabbed my car and drove over.”
“Wait a second. Where the fuck was your protection detail?” His eyes grew wild with anger.
She glared at him.
“Okay, okay. I’ll worry about that later. Go on.”
She continued to run Alexander through the events of that morning, leaving out the part about running into Simon. She knew he would overreact to that piece of information so it would be best to just keep that from him.
“Back up a second, Olivia. You said the guy looked familiar?”
“He did, but I can’t remember where I’ve seen him before.”
“What did he look like?”
His face was now ingrained in her brain. “He was big. Tall and built. He had evil eyes and his breath stunk. His voice…” She trailed off, her mind racing.
“What is it? Do you remember something?”
“It was the guy from that day in the snow…” Olivia shot up, covering her chest with the blanket. “I knew he looked familiar.”
Alexander had a feeling that there was more going on than she probably knew. His heart sank as he came to the realization that the attack wasn’t about hurting Kiera. It was about hurting Olivia. “Listen to me, Olivia. This is not your fault.” He pulled her back down next to him, staring into her eyes. “Nothing you could have done would have stopped it. We don’t even know who that guy is or what he wants. It could all just be a coincidence that he attacked Kiera.”
Olivia buried her face in Alexander’s chest, relishing in the warmth of his body, not wanting to tell him about the letter Carol showed her. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore, Alex. I’m exhausted. Every time I close my eyes, all I see is Kiera’s blood-covered body, and I just want to forget it, even if just for a minute.”
“Okay, but we need to talk about it at some point, about what it all means.” He gently kissed the top of her head.
“We will, but right now, I need you to help me forget.” She pushed him on his back and crawled on top of him, desperate to feel him inside her again.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
MORE SECRETS
OLIVIA CROUCHED IN THE corner of her family’s large estate on the beach, playing hide-and-seek with her best friend, Alex. She was a great hider.
“What is this, Jack?” her mama asked, her voice concerned.
“Marilyn, you weren’t supposed to find that.” Her father sounded angry.
“Jack, this is some serious stuff. Please tell me that you’re not involved.”
“What do you take me for? Some criminal? I would never betray my country like that!”
“Then explain to me what this is. Please. I beg you.”
“This is classified stuff. Something I’m working on. A bit of a side project. There’s a lot of big brass involved here, Mary. I don’t know who I can trust. This runs so deep, even up to the top of the CIA. I had to bring all the evidence home so that they don’t find out that I know. To keep me safe… To keep you safe…”
Olivia’s mother let out the breath she was holding. “Thank god. You had me worried for a minute,” she said, running her hand against his face. “I need to go. I’ll be back by dinner.”
“Marilyn, wait. Where are you going?”
“Out with Colleen. She’s heading back home later this week to get ready to deliver the baby. I want to spend some time with her before I don’t see her again for the rest of the summer.”
“Okay. I love you, sweet girl.”
Olivia saw her mother turn and smile at her father. “I know.”
She heard the door close. Her father strode over to the phone in the kitchen and dialed. “Hey. It’s me. I need your help.”
~~~~~~~~~~
“OLIVIA, WAKE UP, PLEASE. You’re scaring me. Come on, baby,” Alexander pleaded, trying to shake her awake. He had been trying to wake her up for the past several minutes. He had hoped the nightmares would subside once she knew who she was. Apparently, that wasn’t the case.
“Olivia, please…” He watched as she shook and screamed, unable to do anything. “Please…”
Suddenly, her eyes flung open and she gasped for air.
“Oh, thank god. You had me worried, love.” Alexander pulled her head flush with his chest. “That must have been some nightmare.”
Olivia couldn’t speak. Her tongue felt as if it was caught in her throat. She had never had that dream before and she didn’t know what to make of it. It didn’t make any sense. Nothing did anymore.
At first, Olivia thought that the only thing Alexander had kept from her was that they were childhood friends. There had to be something more…something that had to do with the reason his father had to fake her and her father’s deaths. She had a feeling Alexander had all the answers, and she wanted those answers. But, at the same time, she kept hearing Carol’s words in her head, pleading with her to trust his judgment.
Alexander held Olivia tight and soothed her tears as her shaking began to subside, desperate to calm her down. He didn’t want to ask, but he needed to know what had her so shaken up. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Just another stupid dream, Alex. Go back to sleep. Don’t worry about me.” She took a deep breath, inhaling his scent.
“But I do worry about you, Olivia.”
&nbs
p; “I know you do. I just don’t want to talk about it. Okay?”
He held her tight, scared that he would lose her again if he pushed her any further. “Okay.”
~~~~~~~~~~
THE FOLLOWING MORNING, ALEXANDER’S phone began ringing, waking him and Olivia up. “Alex, don’t answer it. Please,” she begged sleepily. “I don’t want you to leave this nice warm bed.”
Reaching for the cell, he looked at the caller ID. “It’s Carol. She may have some information about Kiera’s case.”
Olivia exhaled. “Fine. But you owe me.”
He answered the phone, grinning at the beautiful brunette in his bed. “Hey, sis.”
“So, thanks for telling me Jack DeLuca is still alive.”
Shit. Alexander got out of the bed and walked down the hall to a spare room for a little bit of privacy.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for anyone to know. I didn’t even want Olivia to know.”
“What?!” she shouted, enraged by Alexander’s admission. “That’s her father, for crying out loud! You really wanted to keep that information from her?! After everything she’s been through?! Haven’t you kept enough secrets from that poor girl?!”
“I know, I know. But there was a reason that Dad put them both under protection. There was a reason their lives were better off if the people they were before the accident were thought to be dead.”
“I trust you, Alex. I always have. But you need to start looking at the bigger picture here. Some serious shit must have gone down back then for Dad to do what he did.”
Alexander walked over to the window and stared down at the waterfront, sunlight shimmering on the ocean below him. “What I’m about to tell you cannot be repeated to another soul.”
“Alex, come on. I’m a detective, in case you’ve forgotten. I know all about classified information. I deal with it on an almost daily basis.”
He took a deep breath. “Several months ago, I confronted Jack outside of Olivia’s home. He was sitting out there, keeping watch over her. I have no idea how or when he found her, but he did. I had just read Dad’s letter that told me what happened all those years ago…or, at least, a rough idea of what did.
“Anyway, I had been seeing the same rental sedan everywhere Olivia was so I wanted to find out who the hell it was. As I approached the car, I thought my eyes were betraying me. It was him. Jack. But an older version of him.”
“Wow,” Carol exhaled.
“I made him get out of the car so that we could have a little talk. I still had no idea why Kiddish and his goons were after Olivia again after all these years. She was just a little girl back when everything went down.”
“I’ve always wondered the same thing. None of it made any sense.”
“I know. Come to find out, Jack had collected evidence on certain higher-ups in the government, including the CIA, who had been brokering deals with known terror organizations. It became clear that the entire family was in trouble so he reached out to Dad for help. After the crash, Jack was concerned that both his and Olivia’s lives were still in danger.”
“But that doesn’t explain why these people hired Kiddish again. I mean, Olivia was…”
“Just a little girl. Well, here’s the kicker. When we were little, we used to play this game with her father. Olivia loved it. Treasure Map. Her father would take a box and bury it somewhere and would then draw a map with clues as to where it was hidden. But, that time, Olivia apparently grabbed the chest with all that evidence, saying she would hide it and, when she was finished, would draw him a map. Her father had locked the documents in a chest for safe-keeping. You remember the great room at their beach house? Olivia’s mother had it decorated in a nautical theme with lots of fake treasure chests? Olivia loved it. Anyway, her father didn’t realize she had grabbed that chest until it was too late, and then the accident happened.”
“So, the only person who knows where that evidence is hidden is Olivia.”
“Exactly, and Kiddish knows that.”
“Fuck.”
~~~~~~~~~~
AFTER SPEAKING FOR SEVERAL more minutes about what everything meant, Alexander hung up. He didn’t even know what it all meant yet, but he was determined to find out. When he re-entered the master bedroom, a smile crept across his face as he stared down at Olivia’s sleeping form.
Hearing the door creak open, Olivia stirred, turning her body to face Alexander’s frame in the doorway. “Come back to bed,” she said groggily.
He stood there, admiring her naked silhouette from afar. “You’re so cute in the morning when you’re all tired.”
She yawned. “You tired me out last night, Alex. You were like a machine.”
He strode over to the bed, getting back under the covers and wrapping his arms around her. “You have that effect on me, love. I just can’t get enough of you.”
She smiled, pushing him onto his back and slowly climbing on top of him. “Good,” she said breathlessly, leaning down and dragging her tongue across his chest. “Because I want you. Now.” She leaned back, gazing at the boy who saved her. Her hips circled his waist, waking up his erection. “There’s my boy…”
“Olivia,” he exhaled, pulling her toward him, their lips almost touching. “Don’t ever leave me again.” Carefully, he slid inside her.
She moaned out in pleasure, closing her eyes as she basked in the amazing sensation of him filling her. “Never, Alexander. Never again.”
“Good.” He gently moved inside her, slowly picking up his pace as he held her hips, guiding her on top of him. “Because I plan on spending the rest of my life fucking you senseless.”
“Fuck.” Olivia never thought she could come by hearing words alone, but she knew that with Alexander, anything was possible.
“I plan on putting lots of babies right in here,” he said, his breathing ragged as he gently caressed her stomach.
Olivia leaned down, pressing her lips to his as her movements became even more hurried, searching desperately for her release. Alexander lowered his hands, cupping her ass gently before bringing one palm back and spanking her cheek.
She screamed out in surprise.
“You like that, don’t you?”
She couldn’t put a coherent thought together, the sensation overwhelming her.
“Answer me, Olivia,” he growled.
“Yes!” she screamed.
“Yes, what?!” he shouted, spanking her again, harder.
“Yes, Mr. Burnham! YES!” she screamed out, coming undone. Waves of pleasure flooded through her body, her entire core shuddering from the intense feeling before she began spiraling down.
Alexander flipped her onto her back and hovered over her, rubbing his erection against her clit while she continued to spasm beneath him from the aftershocks of her orgasm.
She began panting, moaning out. “Alex. Please,” she begged. “Stop being a tease.”
He leaned down and took one of her nipples in his mouth, tugging it with his teeth. “Am I really a tease?” he asked coyly, his voice heavy with amusement.
“Of course you are, and you know it.” She grabbed his head, bringing it inches from her own. “Please, Alexander. I want you to come inside me.”
He groaned, slamming into her. His rhythm was fast and relentless. “I love when you talk like that, Olivia. It’s such a turn on.”
She closed her eyes, meeting his pace thrust for thrust. “I love you, Alexander,” she murmured.
He leaned down, pulling on her earlobe. “And I love you. Always,” he grunted before he emptied inside her, gently biting her neck and savoring the taste of her soft skin.
“I missed this,” Olivia said quietly as she ran her hands up and down his back. “My fingers just weren’t cutting it,” she joked.
“Lucky fingers.” Rolling onto his side, he pulled her into his arms.
She snuggled up against him, clutching his hand in her own, placing a chaste kiss on his knuckles before glancing over at the nightstand. “Holy crap. Is t
hat the time?!” she exclaimed, shooting up from the bed.
Alexander looked over at the clock. “I guess so.”
“Shit. I have to get back to the hospital. I can’t believe we stayed in bed until almost noon!” She jumped out of bed and ran into the shower.
He laughed, watching her beautiful naked body run into the bathroom, frantic. It was good to have Olivia back home…where she belonged.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
TRUST
“ARE YOU SURE YOU’LL be okay without me?” Alexander asked as he opened the front door of their apartment building.
“I’ll be fine,” she said, the irritation showing in her voice. “Mo needs me right now. I promise I’ll call you if anything comes up.”
He searched her eyes, nervous about letting her out of his sight.
“Alexander, please. It’s a hospital, for crying out loud. There’s security every two feet in there. What could possibly happen to me? I’ll be surrounded by everyone. Carter will be with me anyway.” She gestured with her head toward one of the two idling SUVs.
He sighed, not wanting to argue with her now that they had finally reconciled. “Okay, love. I’ll be at the office getting some work done if you need me. Remember, if you want to leave the hospital for any reason, Carter will accompany you. Or you can call me and I’ll come right away.”
“I will.” She cocked her head toward him and their lips met. “Oysters tonight?”
He grinned, loving the taste of Olivia’s lips. “And do we want to practice making babies before or after that?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
