Inside the room, Nolan backed her against the wall, his hands eagerly loosening the buttons on the shirt while his mouth went to her neck. His tongue drove her wild, kneading and lapping at her throat, sending shivers of pleasure rippling across her skin. Perhaps it was something to do with the couple of years of abstinence—she wasn’t sure—but Nolan’s tongue heated her body in an instant, triggering a desperate need for pleasure, every cell reacting to him until she was writhing in his arms with her thoughts scattered and her core pulsing in anticipation. In barely a week, Nolan had figured out what made her tick and knew more about her body than she did.
He lifted her, hiking her legs around his waist, the tip of his hot shaft nudging at her opening, teasing her so much that she began to beg. “Please, Nolan.”
“Hush, I got you.”
And he had, too. Tantalizingly slowly, he filled her, his strong arms holding her firmly against the wall. His fingers pressed into the flesh of her thighs while his tongue continued to lap at her heated skin. She arched her back to meet him, wanting him deeper… harder—and, with each thrust, he did just that until his balls slapped against her butt cheeks and she could hold back no longer.
“Let go, baby.” He ground his hips against her. “Give me everything.”
As the last wave of her climax rippled through her, she felt his orgasm explode inside her and the wet heat sent her over the edge for a second time.
When Nolan placed her back on her feet, she clung to him. Her legs were like jelly and her heart rate had soared so high she thought it might never come back down.
“Fuck, I love the sound you make when you come.” Nolan led her to the bed, and climbed in beside her. Tugging the covers over their exhausted bodies, he spooned her as she drifted off to sleep.
It was almost noon when they woke again. Half the day was gone and they still hadn’t tackled the mountain of boxes in the living room. Still, the distraction had been a delicious one and she was reluctant to leave the warmth of the bed.
He opened his eyes and winked at her. “I can’t get used to finding you in my arms when I wake up.” Nolan leaned across and kissed her. Sighing, he sat up. “Come on, we should get to work.”
While she showered, Nolan vanished into the lounge and she could hear him moving stuff. Finishing up quickly, she threw on some jeans and a tee and went to join him. Although settling on the couch and coffee table had been easy, it soon became obvious that they had doubled up on virtually everything else in the apartment and not all the decisions were that cut and dry.
“Jeez, do we have enough kitchen stuff? What are we going to do with all this?” Olivia stared at three toasters of varying sizes. There was Nolan’s huge four slicer all shiny chrome and needing a manual to operate it—if there was one thing to be said about the guy, he liked to buy high-end stuff that was stylish, even if it was overpriced. Next to it was her dinky little retro style one that was the first thing she bought when she had her own place, and lastly was the crappy monster Lenny had brought with him when they had combined their lives. The latter was an obvious candidate to go as it had little toasting ability and sparked when you plugged it in.
“So, mine makes most sense, don’t you think? Does this one even work?” Nolan picked up Lenny’s.
She snatched it from his hands. “But, it was Lenny’s and…”
Nolan took it from her, kissing her on the nose. “It’s just a toaster, Livi, let’s toss this, donate yours, and keep mine.”
She glanced over at the small pile of items already set aside to go. There was Lenny’s football shaped lamp that she’d always hated but he had been determined to keep for his man cave—should they ever get a place big enough to have one. There was also a rug they’d picked out together that had a stain from when Lenny had dropped a bowl of salsa on it at their house warming. It was all trash, but letting it go was hard.
Olivia’s phone rang and she hunted for it under a box of picture frames she’d just set aside for storing in Nolan’s spare room. Her face paled as she saw Shona’s number. “Hey, how’s things?”
“Where are you?” Shona barked. “I’m outside your apartment and the place is empty.”
Ah, shit. Olivia was hoping to tell Shona about her move in her own time. “Um, I’m at Nolan’s. I had some problems with the apartment and decided to find a new place. Only, um, well it’s been harder than I thought trying to find somewhere I can afford, so me and my boxes are squatting here.”
Hearing his name, Nolan looked over at her and frowned. He raised an eyebrow and mouthed “Squatting?”
She waved him away and wandered to the window so she could concentrate on Shona.
“You’re at Nolan’s? I’d have put you up, you didn’t need to involve him.”
“I didn’t involve him, he offered. He’s my friend, Shona.”
“Yeah, but we’re family.”
Olivia shoved her hands in her pockets, she could feel the tension growing in her shoulders. “I know, but his place is three blocks from work so it’s convenient, um, while I look for somewhere else.”
The conversation moved on and Olivia hoped that Shona didn’t suspect anything was going on between her and Nolan. She couldn’t handle that drama yet. When she finally put down the phone and turned back to the boxes Nolan was staring at her, his hands on his hips.
“Is that right, you’re still looking for somewhere?”
She shrugged. “Just keeping my eye on what is coming on the market, just in case…”
He went to her, putting his hands to her waist. “In case of what?”
“Um, if this doesn’t work out.”
“It’s working out, baby. I’m not fooling around here. I’d never do that to you. I thought you wanted this too?”
“I do.”
“Then don’t keep looking for somewhere else, and don’t lie to Shona. We need to tell her and Mama Tessa.”
Olivia shook her head. “Soon. I have to get this all straight in my head, Nolan. I can’t lay this on Lenny’s mom and sister until I’m sure. Until we both know this is…” Her voice trailed off as she searched for the correct words. She knew Nolan was serious and she believed him when he said he wanted this to be permanent but it had been just a couple of weeks since the dynamics between them had shifted and she was still coming to terms with this herself.
He cradled her in his arms. “Okay. Just know I am going nowhere, Livi. I love this and I love you. I know you have a way to go yet, what you and Lenny had was special—it always will be—and I don’t expect to ever take his place. I just want us to find our own place, be happy together in our own way.”
She reached up and kissed him. “Thank you, Nol. I don’t deserve anyone as nice or as patient as you.”
He laughed. “I think I told you already that you don’t deserve nice but that you need a spectacular guy and, while I may not be all that, I have been told I’m good looking and I do have a big…”
“And there you have to go and ruin it!”
‘Mmm, but I’m right though, aren’t I?”
She stared at him trying to keep her expression stern but she couldn’t manage it. As usual, Nolan had a way of lightening her mood whenever she became too melancholy. “No… actually, you’re wrong. As well as the obvious attributes, you were kind enough to point out, I think you are in fact, an incredibly spectacular guy.”
Chapter 11
Nolan
A Week Later…
“So, what are you gonna do today?” Nolan pulled on his Under Armour T-shirt and snatched up his keys. He was going to be late, but he was still finding it hard to leave Olivia. If it wasn’t for the fact he’d already called in a few favors, he’d see if he could dump his shift on Raul.
“Mmm.” She stretched up to kiss him, hindering his enthusiasm for work even more. When they broke the kiss, she stretched out in the bed. “I’m gonna meet Tamika for lunch and get some girl time in.”
“Don’t you two get enough of each other at work?”
>
“Yeah, but at work all we talk about is work. Besides, tomorrow is the start of Christmas vacation and we are free for a whole two weeks so we need to make plans on how we are gonna use all our free time.”
“Damn, I miss school holidays. Well, have a good time. You wanna go out for dinner later?”
“Ooh, spoiling me on a weekday?”
“I wanna spoil you every day, Livi. I’ll book Chantelle’s Bistro. How about seven-thirty? It’ll give me time for a quick shower after work.”
Nolan headed to the door and Olivia followed him, wearing just her panties and one of his long tank tops. Jeez he’d never get tired of seeing her in his clothes.
As she passed him his gym bag, she nodded. “Sounds perfect. I’ll try to empty some more boxes today. I think I can see light at the end of our box tunnel. Well, it’s either that or I uncovered the window again.”
“Dork.” He kissed her nose. Seriously, he wanted to play hooky. Mmm and as he was the boss…
Back in the bedroom, her phone rang.
Ah, maybe not. He should lead by example. “You go answer that, I’d better scoot.”
Nolan was almost at work when he felt the need to tell Olivia he loved her. Boy, he had this thing bad! He only left her fifteen minutes ago and was missing her already. He reached in his pocket for his phone and groaned. Damn, he’d left it at home. He grinned. Well, at least that would give him an excuse to pop back for it later and, if Olivia was in the mood…
He looked at his watch, it was almost nine and his first client would already be warming up. Nolan put his head down and jogged the rest of the way to the gym.
The first person he came across inside was Raul playing tonsil hockey with that red-headed yoga instructor, Ronnie.
“Hey guys, this is a professional establishment. Take it somewhere else, will you?”
Ronnie giggled as Raul saluted him, “Boss.”
Sweeping up his schedule off the reception desk, he looked around for his longtime client, Moira.
“Ah, there you are. Ready to break some world records?” The seventy-year-old woman looked up from her magazine and struggled to stand. Rubbing her knees, she grinned back at him. “You know I only come here to ogle the body builders.”
Nolan laughed and gave his arm for her to lean on. “Those knees giving you trouble today, Moira?”
“Aye. They changed my meds but I’m not liking them.”
He led her through to the assisted weights section. “In that case, maybe we should do upper body today. You don’t want to put too much strain on those joints, do you?”
She patted his hand and gave him a wicked smile. “Damn. There I was, so looking forward to doing squats!”
“Here, take a seat, you old fart.” Nolan helped her onto the bicep curl machine and adjusted the seat back. Slipping the weights down to the lowest setting, he winked at her. “Come on then, give me three sets of twelve. If you’re a good girl, we’ll finish with some balance work in the studio. Raul and Erik are training in there so you can give your eyes a workout, too.”
She reached up and patted his cheek. “I knew there was a reason I keep paying my membership fee.”
After the bicep curls, Nolan led Moira around the various machines working her triceps, chest, and shoulders. Clients like Moira brightened his day. Her joie de vivre was infectious and he enjoyed her constant chatter.
After he’d finished with Moira, he found his next client was a no-show so he grabbed the opportunity to squeeze in his run. After lunch, he’d do his weight routine, as he had a gap between his three and four o’clock appointments.
With a towel draped around his neck and his water bottle filled, he ramped up the running machine’s incline and slipped in his earbuds. Selecting his workout playlist, he set off at a brisk pace. It never took Nolan long to get in the zone. There was something hypnotic about running on the treadmill, as opposed to outside, that allowed him to move into an automatic pilot type of state. The constant whir of the belt and the thud, thud, thud allowed his brain to shut down and, for thirty minutes, he found his Zen.
When the machine finally slowed, he only had the time on the display panel to confirm that he had run flat out for half an hour. As he slowed to a walk, he ran the towel across his chest and neck removing the sheen of sweat from his skin. Ending the session, he picked up his shirt and pulled it back over his head and headed into the foyer, just in time to meet his new client that had arrived for an assessment.
It was almost noon before Nolan even made it up to his office to check his emails. As he walked in the door, the light on his desk phone was blinking. Seven missed calls, all from the same number. Sheesh, someone wanted him badly. Well, they could wait, as he was in need of some caffeine.
While he waited for his coffee to brew, Nolan opened a few pieces of mail, filing them into his various in-trays as he scanned through them and dropped the junk mail into the trash can. Picking up his cup, he went to the window and stood looking out over the city. His gym was set high up on one of San Francisco’s many hills and from there, if the weather was clear of fog, he had a great view down to the ocean.
Now fully caffeinated, he decided to tackle at least one of the in-trays before his schedule put him back on the floor. Grabbing the one with all the bills in, he pulled out his checkbook and took the first off of the pile. Jesus, his electricity bill was off the charts. He should seriously look at some alternate power. Maybe he could hook his clients up to the national grid, rig the treadmills so they charged a generator. Hmm, maybe someone should invent a machine that could do that—he’d fucking buy it!
Fifteen minutes later and with his bank account fifteen thousand dollars lighter, he returned the empty tray to the rack. He glanced at the clock and realized he still had time before his next client. Multitasking, he pressed return call on the still flashing number and put the phone on speaker while he scanned his emails on the desk top.
It rang twice. “Nolan? God where have you been?”
“Tamika? At work. Look if this is about Raul, he is seeing someone at the moment and…”
“Have you spoken to Olivia?”
“Not since I left the apartment this morning.”
“Shit, Nolan. The American Consulate in Bali phoned. They found Lenny.”
Nolan slumped into his chair, lost for words. After all this time, he didn’t quite know how to react to this news. He took a deep breath, trying to take it all in. In the beginning, he’d jumped at every phone ring expecting this call but as the months went on, he became more resigned to them never hearing. Hell, it had been almost a full year since they had any contact with the embassy or any of the associations involved in the disaster. Most of the debris had been cleared in the area and rebuilding had begun. Life had moved on for the people in Bali and so, had his and Olivia’s.
God, Olivia! What must she be going through? He got up abruptly, his chair falling to the floor behind him.
“Nolan? Are you still there?”
“Yeah, I’m here. Shit, I never thought they’d find his body, it’s been so long. Is Olivia with you? Please, tell me she’s not alone.”
“No, I don’t know where she is. She called me and was hysterical. As I tried to calm her down the call dropped. I haven’t been able to get hold of her since. I’m really worried about her, Nolan. This is such a shock and…”
“Did she say where she was? I’m heading out now to find her.” He grabbed his keys from his desk and shoved them in his pocket.
“I think she was at home,” Tamika’s voice cracked.
“Hey, it’s okay, I’ll go over there now.” He tugged on his sweatshirt and began to close down the computer. Nolan focused back on Tamika. “Olivia will be fine. It’s just the shock. I think both of us had resigned ourselves to never getting Lenny’s body back.”
“Um, but that’s the thing, Nolan… they haven’t found a body.”
Nolan slumped back into his chair. “What do you mean?”
“They fo
und Lenny… he’s not dead.”
Nolan’s jaw dropped as he digested Tamika’s words. Lenny was alive? In a daze, he became conscious of Tamika still talking and focused again. Cutting her off, he said, “I gotta find Livi. I’ll call you when I get to the apartment. Text me a list of where you think she might go.”
He ended the call and, on auto pilot, took off out of the office. Taking the stairs two at a time, he stampeded through reception and called over his shoulder to Raul who was chatting to the receptionist. “Emergency, can you reschedule all my clients.”
“What? Huh, sure boss.”
“Excuse me.” All he could feel were his footsteps pounding on the street and his heart thumping against his ribs. “Sorry.” He looked back over his shoulder at the guy he’d just clipped then flipped his head around so he could dodge another group of pedestrians.
It might have been the fastest run he’d ever done, but Nolan had no idea how long it took him to get back to his apartment. Bursting through the door he yelled, “Livi?” But was greeted with silence. On the floor by the sofa he saw her phone and snatched it up. Even though she hadn’t answered his call, he had to be sure she wasn’t here. He tore through to the bedroom still shouting her name and pushed open the bathroom door to find that empty, too. A quick glance in the spare bedroom and its private bathroom confirmed Olivia wasn’t there either.
On his way to the door, he snatched up his phone from the kitchen counter and lifted the phone to call Tamika back. “Livi isn’t here, are you in Greenbrae? Can you check on Livi’s old place?”
“I’m one step ahead of you, I just got there, one minute.” The pause did nothing for his heart rate and neither did the run down the stairs. He reached the bottom step as she came back to him. “The place is empty, Nolan. I’m going to go ask at the office if anyone has seen her, but I don’t think she came here.”
“Thanks, call me if you find anything.” He shoved his phone in his pocket and set off down the street.
After Hurricane Nina, Nolan's Resolution (Hot Hunks-Steamy Romance Collection Book 2) Page 8
