"And for your information, I do not tango." He specified, ignoring my statement.
I pulled my face away from his heated touch and glared hard at him. "It was a figure of speech."
"I assumed." His reply was clipped.
"I think you should go."
He nodded as he stood. I watched as he packed up his sparse belongings before moving to the door of the hospital room. He paused, turning to look back at me, and my heart ricocheted in its cage.
"You will see me again, Olivia." He promised. And then he turned, and walked from the room.
***
It had been a week since I'd walked from the hospital room, leaving Olivia to her own devices. I knew Trisha would be there to pick her up in the morning when she was discharged. I'd even had half a mind to send a car to pick them up, but I talked myself out of it after a long night and half a bottle of whisky. I was not a drinker. That was rare for me, but I had been, and still was, desperate for a release from her memory.
I thought after a few days, I would forget about her, but that had not yet happened. She was the first thing I thought of when I woke. And, the image of her face was the last image I saw when I closed my eyes at night. She plagued my dreams and haunted my days. I didn't know her, but I wanted her. I wanted her in ways I had never wanted anyone else. If only I could have her...if even for a short period of time, I could, surely get her out of my system and move on with my life.
Yes, that's what I had to do. I leaned back from my desk into the plush leather of my chair and nodded at the brilliance of my idea. I would only need a month with her to sate my preposterous infatuation. Only a month...and then, I could move on and forget about her existence.
Caleb had been right in saying I was not good for her. I was, undoubtedly, going to be her undoing, but at this point, I didn't give a shit. She had become my undoing and from my point of view, it was take or be taken from. I had always been a taker and she was not about to change that.
I would find a way to make her mine. I would find a way to break through her armor so I could possess her completely. I would own her, no matter the line I had to cross.
Chapter 3
"Eat." Trisha commanded. She pushed a bowl of oatmeal across the granite countertop of the island.
I shook my head. Eating was the last thing I wanted to do. My nerves had been a jumbled mess since the night I watched Jace walk from the hospital room, leaving me alone and confused. His promise lingered in my mind, demanding prominence over all other thoughts. As each day passed without him making good on his promise, I realized I wanted to see him again.
My mind knew he was wrong for me. Oh, I knew he was wrong for me...but I was past the point of caring. I wanted him to reappear in my life in all his godly splendor. If all I ever did was appreciate his body...well, that would be enough.
"You are eating whether you want to or not." She reached across the counter and plucked the spoon from the bowl, holding it as though she expected me to allow her to feed me. "I made it just the way you like it. Even though all that milk in there disgusts me. How you eat it like that, I will never know."
"Trisha, I'm not hungry."
"I don't care." She continued to hold the spoon. "You haven't eaten a full meal in four days."
"It's my nerves!" I exclaimed in a whine. "You know how I get when I'm nervous."
She nodded. "I do. That's why I'm going to force you to eat, because I know if you don't, you will starve."
I narrowed my eyes, glaring at her over the spoon. "I will not starve."
"You need to forget that Jace ever existed. I don't know what he was hanging around for anyway." She sighed, finally lowering the spoon. "It wasn't like it was survivors guilt or anything."
I had been waiting for this talk, and quite frankly, I was humiliated it had even come to this point. I'd spoken to the guy for a few hours. We exchanged awkward words and heated moments...well, they were heated on my part. Regardless, I had no excuse for my obsession of him. Trisha was right, I needed to move on and forget Jace and all his glory, ever existed.
"I'll eat." I mumbled. I didn't want to continue with this conversation. It was too much.
"You are beautiful and brilliant. A man like him would only dull your light, honey. You need someone who isn't so...haunted." She shivered as she thought of Jace and my heart sped up.
"Haunted?"
"Yeah, while you were in the hospital," she paused at the memory. "He just seemed like he needed you to live so he could live. It was weird. I didn't like him from the moment I met him."
"Oh,"
She continued and I took another bite of oatmeal in hopes she would continue talking if I continued eating. "It's obvious he is a man in power. I mean; no one called him Jace, but me. They all referred to him as Mr. Rush," she laughed. "And when I called him by his first name, people looked at me like I'd sprouted another head."