Come Together (22 page)

He groaned, and his eyes opened. “Hey,” he grated, and I quieted him with a kiss. Without disconnecting our mouths, I shifted to straddle him, and he immediately flipped onto his back.

He went to speak, but I cut him off. “I want you to fuck it all out of me, David,” I whispered and deepened the kiss.

He didn’t ask. His big hands just went straight to my hips to squeeze me against him. I moaned because he was hard, and after days without him, I didn’t think I’d last two seconds. He hiked up my dress, pulled it over my head and removed my bra with surprising swiftness. I straightened up, and his hands went straight to my breasts. I reached between us, freed him of his underwear, shifted my thong and sank onto him.

I was prepared to ride him in his half-asleep state, but suddenly he was fucking me hard. He was fucking it all out of me like I’d asked, giving me the gift of temporary oblivion. I bounced forward with his furious upward thrusts, and his hands jumped to my waist, pushing me down to meet him faster. I came quicker than I ever had. He kept his pace until he was gushing into me, growling from his chest. His hold remained strong as his head dropped back to the pillow, and his hips slowed to a gradual stop.

When he finally let go, I collapsed next to him on the bed. He pulled my back close against his front.

“David – ” I whispered.

“Sleep,” he grunted in my ear, and his breathing evened, so I did as he said.

CHAPTER 15

A CHICAGO DOG was the perfect antidote for my mild hangover and tasted even more delicious because of my late night workout.

“Liv,” Jenny sang from her reception desk when Serena and I returned from lunch. “You got a delivery!” On her desk sat a long, rectangular box with a perfect red ribbon fastened to the top.

Serena immediately scurried over to investigate, but I just looked at the box from across the room. Both pairs of eyes were on me when Serena asked, “Well, are you going to open it, or are you just going to stare at it?”

I went to Jenny’s desk and tugged one end of the ribbon before hesitantly lifting the lid. Inside were twelve perfectly formed, long-stemmed roses. The best roses, I was sure, in the whole city of Chicago, because their sender wouldn’t accept otherwise.

“What’s the card say?” Jenny prodded.

“Looking forward to our date tonight.”
Love, David.

That morning, I’d woken up to a note on David’s pillow. It explained that he’d left early for a full day and that he was taking me out for dinner to talk. He’d ‘pick me up’ at his apartment later, like he’d promised.

Jenny’s confused voice brought me back to the moment. “I didn’t realize Bill was so romantic,” she said.

I was tired of pretending, and I didn’t want to anymore. In that moment, my chest swelled with love for David, and he was all I cared about. I shrugged. “They’re not from Bill.” I picked up the box and left them gaping behind me.

In my office, I set them on my desk, close to me as I worked.

“Thought you might need this,” Serena said from the doorway a few minutes later.

I glanced up. “Thanks,” I said, taking the vase full of water from her. I set to filling it with the flowers as she watched.

“They’re beautiful,” she commented. I looked her up and down as I worked, waiting for her question. “Who are they from?”

I laughed. “You are so not subtle.”

“We’re, like,
dying
to know! What’s going on?” She lowered her voice and inclined her head at me. “Are you having an affair?”

“Do you think I would tell you guys if I was? Blabbermouths,” I muttered.

“Come on,” she urged.

“I’m not ready to talk about it, but when I am, Serena, you will be the first to know. Can you gather me some assignments for the plane ride to Dallas tomorrow?”

“Sure thing,
Miss
Germaine,” she said, smiling to herself.

~

Luckily for me, Gretchen was always prepared for a last-minute date. Since the shopping I’d done with David was mostly for work attire, I stopped by her place to borrow a dress. I was in the mood to wear something sexy, and there wasn’t more exciting news to Gretchen. Her little black dress collection rivaled any starlet’s.

Back at David’s apartment, I held the dress up to myself in the mirror. It had a sweetheart neckline and the upper back was made up of just three vertical straps. It was tight and somewhat revealing. Perfect for a first official date. Even though we were far beyond that, my nerves buzzed. And as always when I thought of David, excitement sparked between my legs.

I fixed my hair into a soft chignon, leaving some pieces free to frame my face. Gretchen had teased that I should distract him by wearing red lipstick, even though I’d told her I needed his full attention. I was unprepared, unsure of how our conversation would go, but certain that David would lead it as always. I took Gretchen’s advice anyway, and was just gliding on the lipstick when I heard the front door. I grabbed my clutch and threw my coat over my arm, a black cashmere wrap with leather trim.

The bedroom was at one end of a hallway that opened into the living room. The living room bled into the kitchen, separated by a marble countertop that doubled as a breakfast bar. From where I stood at the mouth of the hallway, I could see David leaning his hips forward against the bar, facing the living room, a sweating beer bottle in one hand.

He was as imposing as always when confined by walls and distinguished and sexy in a black suit. He scrubbed the beginnings of his five o’clock shadow, and his hair was disheveled, begging for my fingers to play in it.

He hadn’t noticed me yet; he looked deep in thought between pulls of his beer. I took in the grim expression that only amplified his dark, severe features. It made him even more devastatingly handsome. I wouldn’t expect anything less, though. I’d been a fool to believe that time away from him might give me any clarity when just looking at him made me breathless. I was suddenly nervous. It was a moment before I built up the courage to step into the room, and his head snapped in my direction.

He took a deep breath and stared at me as I advanced. “Olivia,” he said, letting my name roll off his tongue the way I loved. Only, it was different now that I had tasted that tongue and inhaled my own name from his mouth. Or maybe it was something on his end that made it sound different, an acknowledgement of our time together. It was sweeter.

Though my instinct was to touch him, there was an air about him that dissuaded me, so I stopped some feet away. His eyes never left me for a moment.

“Thank you for the beautiful roses,” I said.

“I bet that got the girls talking.”

“It did,” I said with a shy smile, “but I don’t care. I loved them anyway.”

“Good.”

“Are you ready, or – ”

“I’m ready.”

“Okay.” I tucked some hair behind my ear and waited for him to move.

He turned his body to me and stepped forward, reaching out to run his thumb over my cheek. “You’re absolutely stunning,” he said. “But you’ll freeze.”

“You’ll keep me warm. Won’t you?”

He smiled slightly and nodded. He left the bottle on the counter to take my coat from me. I let him wrap me in it, and I tied it closed as we made our way out of the apartment.

In the car, the mood was off, and I wanted desperately to cut through the silence. “Have you had a nice week?” I asked.

“Not particularly.”

I didn’t want to stare at him as he drove in the dark so I focused my gaze ahead of us. “Mine was interesting. Four girls makes for an intense few days.”

“How so?”

“We gossiped, went out, drank, you know. It’s been a long time since I did all that without someone by my side.”

“Someone meaning a man.”

“I guess so. It wasn’t better, just different.”

“I can’t begrudge you having fun with your girlfriends.”

“It wasn’t that fun though. I missed you.”

“Can’t say that doesn’t make me a little happy to hear.”

I smiled. “I saw Brian, too. Just so you know.”

“Brian?” he repeated quickly.

“Um, Ayers,” I added.

He shifted in his seat but didn’t respond. “How are Greg and Gretchen getting on?”

“Really well.” I smiled.

“Are they a good match?”

I furrowed my brow.
Yes. Does he not think so
? They definitely were in college, so I hadn’t really thought twice about it. “I think so,” I said.

“And what about us? Are we a good match?” he asked.

I was thankful that he couldn’t see my face. The tension in the car thickened as the question hung in the air. “Of course we are,” I said softly. I continued to look at anything but him, and he was staring out the windshield. He hadn’t looked at me once since the apartment. I was relieved when we arrived at the restaurant.

“Dylan, two,” he told the hostess and took my hand as she led us to our table. His hand over mine felt nice; warm and protective.

It was dark outside and dim in the restaurant. I was untying my coat when David’s hands rested on my shoulders from behind. His fingers brushed the back of my neck. I paused, waiting as he seemed to hesitate. He removed the coat, handed it to the hostess and pulled out my chair for me.

I watched him survey our surroundings as he rounded the table to his seat. Our spot was small and intimate, lit softly by a single candle. It was romantic, but my wayward mind could only think of the hard body underneath David’s suit.

“Everyone here is looking at you,” he remarked with a frown, scanning the room behind me.

I followed his gaze. I didn’t see anyone looking at me, but I did catch two pairs of big, bright female eyes focused on him. I pursed my lips and stared at one girl until she noticed and looked away sheepishly.

David ordered a bottle of something before I even noticed the waiter, something I didn’t catch because he’d said it in French. I chose not to comment but folded my hands in my lap instead. His unreadable eyes were fixed on me as he sat motionless.

If his intent was to make me uncomfortable, it was working. His stoicism since the moment I’d seen him was making me self-conscious and a little flustered. “Are you having second thoughts?” I asked finally.

“Me?”

I nodded hesitantly, put off by his clipped tone.

He responded by dropping his forehead in his hands and sighing irritably. “You’re the one hitting the brakes, Olivia.”

“You just seem . . . distant.”

“Can you blame me?”

The waiter appeared, and David gestured at me. The man poured me a taste from the bottle in his hands. Without removing my eyes from David, I swirled, sniffed and took an uninspired sip of red wine. When I nodded, he filled our glasses without a word and slunk away.

“I spoke to Andrew,” David said. “Apparently you and Dani had some kind of altercation last night?” I tried to keep composed, but I could feel heat creeping up my neck. “He wouldn’t tell me any more. Care to explain?”

I bit my lip. “Bill thinks I’m making a mistake. He said that both he and Andrew are concerned about your past. And that you’re using me. He thinks I made a rash decision, a wrong decision, a
huge
mistake, in fact. He wants me back.”

The angles of David’s long jaw sharpened as he gritted his teeth.

“He told me you slept with Dani and then never called her again.”

David suddenly looked as red as I felt, but it wasn’t because he was embarrassed like me. It was an anger that hit me hard, like the night of the masquerade ball, when he’d seen me dancing with Bill. Now that he was feet away though, it was more palpable.

When he didn’t speak, I continued. “Dani wouldn’t return my calls, so I went to see her in person.”

“You should have come to me,” he fumed.

“I surprised her at a bar in Near North,” I said. “I asked her if she’d slept with you. She told me that Bill had lied and asked her to corroborate his story. His reasoning was that it would be better for me in the long run if I realized who you are and broke things off now before I got hurt.”

“He lied?” David asked, dumbfounded. “And you believed him?”

“Not really, but I didn’t know what to think – ”

“Haven’t I told you repeatedly that I won’t lie to you? Under any circumstances? If I said I didn’t touch her, I didn’t. I don’t fucking like having to repeat myself.”

I nodded and shrank back in my chair. “Are you mad?”

“Yes,” he snapped. “I’m mad at that son of a bitch for lying and at you for believing him.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, looking back at my hands. “I didn’t believe it was true, but I wanted to hear it from her mouth.”

“Why can’t you trust me?”

“I do.”

“You don’t. It took all this for you to finally come to me? That’s bullshit, Olivia. I should be the first person you come to. This is a bullshit relationship.”

I felt my heart dropping fast and tears stung my eyes.

“What happened with Dani?” he asked.

“She said some things about you and – ”

“Such as?”