Chapter 18

eighteen

Tav

It’s almost cute how unsure she is about making a move. Everyone has been here for a couple hours already, and she’s tried more than once to initiate contact. She’s awkward and clumsy about it, and I can’t help but find her innocence adorable. Addictive, even. Knowing just how inexperienced she really is, I can’t accuse her of playing coy to play me.

What I don’t understand, however, is how the girl can be inexperienced to begin with. It doesn’t make sense, not after knowing her sister as intimately as I had. Ophelia had never been innocent. Even before we’d fucked, she’d been a strategic tease. As an inexperienced boy, it’d been one of the things to draw me to her. All part of her allure. She’d been exciting, and so beautiful. As a man who knew the bitter taste of betrayal, being in the presence of a tease isn’t alluring at all.

Before Ian hacked into the doctor’s report, I’d thought Olympia was a tease. I thought her morning yoga routine, in those sinfully tight leggings—or worse, the little spandex shorts—was all part of her tease Tav routine. After the report, I’ve started to suspect that might not be the case.

Only last night, Ian sent me another report. This one had been the result of rogue digging. I hadn’t asked him for a background check on Olympia. I hadn’t asked him to dig into her friends—apparently of which she had only one. Charlie Santorini—another uncovered truth I’d refused to believe. If his report wasn’t mistaking, and I knew it wasn’t, Olympia also never went out with Charlie. Their relationship was exclusive to school, and their communication outside school was primarily through text messages with the odd phone call.

Unlike Ophelia, who had lived a rule free life, Olympia, from Ian’s report, had not lived at all.

Where Ophelia knew and used her sex appeal to acquire the things she wanted, Olympia seemed almost entirely unaware of how attractive she really was.

That report, short as it was, because Olympia simply did not to appear to have lived much of life at all, rubbed me wrong.

From everything Ian had reported to me, it was becoming more and more clear that Olympia had yet to lie to me. Still, I couldn’t shake the disbelief I felt at some of the things she’d claimed true. I’d grown up with the Laurier family. Remira had always been a distant, borderline uncaring parent, but to sell her daughter to my brother for money? I just couldn’t see that. And to punish Olympia? Remira never cared about what her daughters did, so long as she wasn’t being humiliated in the process. Based on the report from Ian, I couldn’t imagine Olympia ever did anything to embarrass Remira.

The last and final page from Ian’s report had been a copy of an email conversation between Remira and Darius. I’d been disgusted and fucking shocked to read the conversation between the two, because even though I still struggled to believe it, it’d been there in black and white. The deal they’d made. Olympia in exchange for monetary support. The caveat—Olympia must be pure and untouched. And no matter what Darius did to Olympia, Remira would not interfere in their marriage once Olympia was officially his, or all supports would be cut off.

Remira had agreed.

The puzzle was coming together piece by piece, and I was really starting to dislike the picture I was seeing. Because it appeared that the little woman who’d invaded my life might not be so scheming after all. It seemed a possibility, in fact, that I really had been her last desperate attempt at freedom. And I’d done nothing but make it shamefully hard for her.

Still, I wanted to push her. I wanted to make her squirm, crack her open so all the secrets she contained inside spilled into the chaos so I could finish the fucking puzzle, and decide what I was really going to do with her after the final piece was placed.

Taking a pull from my beer, I study the woman pretending to be mine. She’s sitting at the edge of the pool, dangling her feet in the water as she sips a drink Candace made her. Because Candace made it, it’s something with gin. She’s finally stopped fluttering around, refilling nachos and dips as she plays the perfect hostess. She finally looks like she’s enjoying herself.

Now that the sun has mostly set, the string of incandescent patio lights are on, and the party has really started. Cash is the only sober one, and he’ll be driving the rest home. When Nevaeh drops down on the chair beside me, it takes effort to pull my gaze from Olympia to give her my attention. When I do, I find hers is locked on the woman I’ve been staring at, studying, all night.

“I like her, Tav.”

“Yeah?” I feel a brow climb, my interest piqued. Nevaeh’s been trying to set me up with my forever chick since she got it in her head, I’m lonely. Only problem, in her eyes, no one is ever good enough for me. “Why?”

“She’s sweet. And I think she really, really likes you.”

“Why do you say that?” Why is my heart starting to slam in my chest?

Nevaeh shrugs. “It’s a gut feeling.” I scowl and she laughs. She’s got a great laugh. Pure light. It’s probably why Kane calls her sunshine.

“A gut feeling?”

“Don’t look at me like that.” She swats a hand at my chest. It lands with a wet slap that draws Olympia’s eyes. I pretend I don’t notice the way her attention holds on us. “I’ve got a great gut.”

I grunt.

Nevaeh’s mouth drops. “Hey! I do.”

“Didn’t say you didn’t.”

She glares. “I’m serious, though. I know there’s history with—well, you know who.”

I scowl. “I never should have told you about her.”

Her glare softens. “Tav.” When she calls my name, I can’t help but really look at her. Since Kane claimed her as his, I’ve come to care for the woman, like I imagine I’d care for a sister. I can tell right now that she’s being sincere, and this means something to her. “I want you to be happy. I think if you let her, she’d make you happy.”

“You don’t think I’m letting her?” Well, fuck, it appears I’m the one losing the bet after all.

Nevaeh studies me, a little wrinkle between her brows. “I can’t tell. But something is off. You’re—I don’t know. I think you’re holding yourself back. And I think she’s—I think she might not know how to push.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean you’re a hard nut to crack. And she’s soft.” She steals a quick peek at Olympia, who’s gone back to talking with Candace about med school. “If you don’t open up for her, she has no hope of ever getting inside.”

“Then maybe she shouldn’t be inside at all.”

Nevaeh frowns at me. It’s sad, like she’s hurting for me. I don’t like it. “I’m pretty sure she’s in love with you, so if you decide not to let her in, you’re going to hurt her. And if you hurt her—” Her eyes hold mine. “I think she’s the kind of soft that builds walls. The kind of walls you won’t be able to break down or climb. I think—I think she’s been hurt before—” Her voice drops. “Like me.”

My blood cools. My pitch drops. “Like you?”

She nods slowly. “Maybe not quite as intensely—as physically—but someone has hurt her. Someone has scared her. I can tell by the way she tenses when she’s touched. Even by you. She doesn’t know—” She rolls her lips in thought. “I don’t think she knows who she can trust. I don’t think she can differentiate between someone who just says they’ll care for her, and someone who means it when they say it. That comes from experience, and I don’t think she has that experience.”

When I say nothing, because my tongue is dry where it sits stuck to the roof of my mouth, Nevaeh gives my arm a squeeze before she pushes up from the chair. Having said what she needed to say, she walks away.

It takes me a solid minute to un-stick my tongue. With a pull on my beer, I rise from my chair to close the distance between me and my—what the fuck is she to me? A bet? An inconvenience from my past? My fake girlfriend? Or something else? Something more? Something I’ve yet to discover…

Pushing the thoughts from my mind, I decide to let that uncover itself as it does.

Without the final piece of the puzzle, there’s no deciding anything.

As I lower myself to the edge of the pool behind Olympia, my legs spread wide around her hips, my hand sliding around the small of her waist to rest on her belly, she tenses. It’s not a lot, but after Nevaeh’s words, I note it. I don’t like it.

Tugging her back into my front, I drop my chin to her shoulder, reveling in the way she shivers when my scruff scrapes against soft bare skin as I tip my head to the side to murmur gently in her ear, “Relax, Princess.”

“I am,” she lies. I grin, because her voice couldn’t be pitched higher.

“You’re not.” I let my thumb drift over her belly, noting the sound of her breath hitching.

“Tav.” My name is a protest I ignore as I run my lips down the side of her neck.

“Your skin is so soft.” Goosebumps rise on her flesh. I love how responsive she is to even the most simple of touches. My voice pitches low, husky. Hungry. “You smell so damn good.”

I’m not sure she’s breathing now as she twists in my arms to glance over her shoulder at me. Her eyes seem to ask if my words are for her or for the audience we have. To answer her question, I let my hand drift from her belly to her jaw. Angling her head, I hold her blue eyes for a long moment before I take her mouth. I kiss her softly, gently, and, I realize, just for her.

I break the kiss as Kane splashes us, kicking a wave back at him in response. Then I go back to holding Olympia as Candace leans back against Ian’s chest, gliding her feet in the water as she says, “So, when are you starting class again, Pippa?”

“September. I couldn’t get in earlier, or I would have. I plan to work at Laurier Lines in the city as soon as I have a car.”

“You need a car?” Kane asks, and I don’t miss the way he smirks at me. “Why didn’t you say?”

“Um…” Olympia shrugs. “Why would I?”

Kane holds Nevaeh close as he swims closer. “We’re friends. Friends help each other out.” I can feel Olympia tensing in my arms. “I’ve got a spare car you could borrow until you get one, if you want to get yourself free of your big bad boyfriend to go work.”

She straightens, wiggling against me as she does. “You’d really let me borrow your car?”

I growl. It’s an animal sound that surprises even me. “If she needs a car, she can use one of mine.”

“Oh.” Kane’s gonna get himself a knock upside the head if he keeps this shit up. “I just figured that was off the table considering she’s been trapped here with no way to escape your sorry ass.”

Alright, that’s enough. I start to stand, but Olympia’s hands on my thighs make me pause. She twists to face me again, and I’m not sure what she sees in my eyes, but whatever it is has her turning to Kane.

“I don’t want to escape, Tav.” Something hot unravels in my chest. “I kinda like him. Besides, I’m getting a car in three weeks.” She smiles, and it’s filled with mischief I want to devour. “I just haven’t decided what I want yet.”

Kane hoots, because even though he knows damn well about the bet I’ve placed with Olympia, he does know better than to say anything about it. So, he just says, “You change your mind, you just say.”

“She won’t change her mind.” I dip my head again, this time nipping the lobe of her ear before I ask, “Will you, Princess?”

Only for me to hear, she confirms, “Nope.” Then, leaning into my chest with a confidence that surprises and arouses me, she adds, “I can’t decide if I’m getting an extreme sports car or something more luxurious.”

I just tighten my hold on her. This woman.

* * *

Fuck, my head is between my nineteen-year-old fake girlfriend’s thighs, and she’s gripping me tight, wiggling enough to make me hard as a rock even as she commands, “Don’t move!”

“I’m not the one moving,” I grit back, hands gripping her thighs as she leans over me to grab for Candace. But the girl is undefeated. Candace might be itty-bitty, but she’s a tank. It only takes one miscalculation on Olympia’s part for Candace to grab her wrist, shoving her from over my shoulders. The splash as Olympia falls from my shoulders into water, drenches me. Still, I’m grinning massively. Until now, I’ve never partook in this game, not having a partner to get up on my shoulders. I didn’t realize the fun I was missing.

Olympia surfaces, gasping as she wipes her hands down her face, pushing her hair back. “You’re a beast!” She accuses Candace, and Ian does a dance of victory with Candace hooting, arms raised to the sky.

“I’ll avenge you,” I promise Olympia as I dive deep, aiming for Ian’s feet. It’s not hard to pull them out from under him, what with the way he’s hopping around like he is. I’m already swimming back to Olympia as Candace falls with her own splash into the pool, a screech cut off by water.

“Oh, my goodness.” Horror paints Olympia’s eyes wide. “There will be retribution for that!”

I give her a devilish smirk as I stalk her through the water. “I’ll protect you.”

“Why don’t I believe you?” She makes to swim away from me, but I grab her by the ankle and tug. When she’s close enough, I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her back to me again. She lets out a little yelp that has the blood warming in my veins.

My voice pitches low, “Trying to run from me, Princess?”

“I wouldn’t dare.” She’s breathless. I like the sound. Fuck, no, I don’t like it. I love it.

“I’ll chase, you know?”

She shivers, her voice lowering. “I thought you wanted me to run. Far, far away.”

She’s talking about the terms of the bet. The terms I’ve been considering abolishing with the information Ian continues to feed me about the woman in my arms. The woman who sleeps every night under my roof.

The woman who, day after day, gets more and more under my skin.

She makes a quick escape, launching off my chest and swimming fast for the ledge of the pool, but I catch her just before she pulls herself up, slamming her back into my chest once again. She can’t miss the way my hard dick slides against the round swell of her ass.

“Told you I’d catch you.”

Her words get caught on the way out as she settles in my arms. Then, she moves. Her ass strokes against my dick again, and her breath tumbles on a shaky release. “I’m not sure you actually want to lose me.”

I grunt. She rubs against me again, her exploration just a bit more confident.

“Tav,” she breathes after a moment. “You’re hard.”

“I’ve told you before, Princess, you’ve got a great ass.”

She goes slightly stiff in my arms. “Is that all?”

Running my lips over the bend of her throat, I ask darkly, “What else is there?”

Fuck, why did I say that?

Every part of her limber body goes instantly tight. I don’t mean the words but can’t seem to make myself take them back. Why? Why can’t I retract? Why can’t I tell her that she’s got great tits, and a beautiful, interesting mind? A soul stroking smile. Why can’t I tell her that the sound of her voice is a balm after a bad day?

Because I still don’t know everything. With my mother’s will and her last name between us, I don’t trust her. Not really. There’s an ocean of murky water under our bridge, and I don’t trust the creatures who wait in the depths—the secrets ready to pull me under to my death.

“I’m gonna get a drink.” It’s an excuse. She’s been careful not to drink too much all night. The last few hours everyone has been here, she’s been nursing the same drink. I have a feeling that’s about to change now.

When she wiggles in my arms, mine pulse around her once before I release her. She swims the short distance to the ledge and pulls herself up. The short blue wrap she wears tied around her hips to make her showy bikini less showy, hides the ass I’d been hoping for a peek at.

I swim to the edge, resting my arms over the lip as I look up at her. Blue eyes meet mine, and something tightens in my chest.

I can’t fix what I said, but I can make her come back to me. “Bring me one, too.”

I say it loud enough for everyone to hear, and I know when her eyes sweep the crowd behind me before coming back to mine, a hidden glare in the deeps of those magnetic blues, that she knows what I’ve done.

I almost think she’s going to reject me. Instead, she smiles and says sweetly, “Sure.”