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Olive leaned back and looked over at Oliver and Stone and Liam with a soft smile. “Sorry, Eva, but based on the way he can’t stop looking over here, I’d say you’re the one winning here.”
Maybe so, but this was too much. All the questions and the curious looks, the weight of the promise I’d just made to Sophie. The longing I felt for things I couldn’t have at the moment—it was all too much. “I’ll be right back, I just need to check on… something.” Two sets of eyes, big brown ones and clear green ones, looked at me with understanding and sympathy, and they let me go.
“I’ll go see if Mirabelle needs anything,” Olive said and walked off with a bounce in her step.
“And I’ll go whip up something stronger than lemonade for you,” Soph offered with a smile. “Good luck.”
“Thanks, Sophie.”
“That’s what friends are for, to kick your ass when you need it. Go,” she said gently, and I made my escape.
The downstairs bathroom wasn’t far enough away, so I climbed the steps and locked myself in the master bath to wash my face, rinse my mouth and take a deep breath. Or twenty.
Maybe forty.
Eventually, my mind settled. It stopped racing, because it didn’t matter what the whole town thought—what mattered was that I knew the truth. Those looks were nice, they meant something, but they didn’t mean what they should and I couldn’t let myself believe otherwise. I wouldn’t.
A knock sounded on the door, scaring me out of my thoughts. My heart raced and I knew, before he spoke, that it was Oliver. “Everything okay, Eva?”
I nodded even though he couldn’t see me, searching for another exit even though I knew there were none. Unless climbing out the window was an option.
“Eva?”
“I’m fine, Oliver.”
“Then you won’t have a problem opening up so I can see for myself.” His tone was so confident, so self-assured. I really, really disliked that tone.
“Fine.” I would go out there and give him the proof he wanted, but not until I was good and ready. Ready to face him and the questioning glances all around my house. “See? I’m fine.”
His blue eyes darted down to meet my gaze, sizing me up with a searing heat that threatened to pull me closer. I gripped the wall to make sure I stayed right where I was. With distance between us. “You are fine, Eva. Fine as hell.” The words came out on a growl and then Oliver’s hands were on my hips, skimming up and down so his fingertips brushed against the swell of my breasts, the curve of my ass. “So damn fine. Especially in this sexy little dress.”
I rolled my eyes. “Now I know you’re full of it. It’s a plain dress.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Eva. No dress, especially this vibrant yellow, could ever be described as plain. It’s too mundane a word. The color is show-stopping but the way it clings to your curves…” He bit down on his lip. “It’s part of why I followed you up here.”
“Yeah?” I swallowed and leaned in against my better judgment, licking my suddenly dry lips.
“Oh, yeah,” he said and then his lips brushed against mine—slowly, at first, but the moment our tongues touched, his hands gripped my hips harder and pulled me close enough to feel just how much he meant that oh, yeah. Oliver kissed me like he hadn’t seen me in a year, like it was a long-awaited reunion full of fire and a promise of more.
It wasn’t.
But it could be. That voice came on its own and I tried to shake it off, but it was hard when Oliver’s tongue danced with mine as his hands roamed freely around my body, sparking fires everywhere he touched.
My hands fisted in his T-shirt, hanging on for dear life when he grabbed my ass, lifting me in the air like a proper caveman, and slammed my back against the wall with a wicked smile. “I love kissing you.” The words came out breathless and then his mouth was on mine again, kissing me deeply. Holding me close.
Transporting me to another dimension, with the way he kissed me and his body ground against me, right where I ached for him. Bringing me to the brink. A moan sounded deep in my throat and he held me tighter, kissed me harder. Ground his hips more insistently against me. “I could just slide your panties to the side right now and slip inside you, just to hear the little cries you make when you come.”
“Yes,” I moaned on a shudder and nipped his earlobe.
“Wicked woman,” he growled and stepped back, but I clung to him. “Eva.”
“Oliver,” I teased. “You came up here for a reason?”
“Besides that dress?” His gaze was unfocused for a moment, but he blinked and licked his lips. “The questions driving you crazy, too?”
