Garrett(69)

I take off running, and before she can even make it to the next intersection, I’ve caught up with her. Grabbing her hand, I give it a tug and say, “Whoa. Where are you going?”

“Home,” she says tersely, and tries to pull her hand free. She won’t even look at me.

“Wait,” I say, pulling at her…stopping her in her tracks. She still won’t turn and face me, so I take a step around her and lean down to put my face in her line of sight. “Don’t go. Please don’t be mad about that.”

“I’m not mad,” she says, and her voice is tinged with sadness and fatigue. That makes me feel worse than receiving her anger.

“Then why are you leaving…without me? Without at least saying goodbye?”

Olivia takes a deep breath and shoots a glance back at Houlihan’s before she looks back at me. Her chin raises and her eyes are firm. “I’m not sure I’m cut out to handle that kind of stuff.”

“A woman exposing herself to me?” I hazard a damn good guess.

“Yeah…I can’t say as I’ve ever been in a relationship with someone where a woman would so boldly hit on my boyfriend,” she grits out. “I can’t say as it feels very good.”

“It’s nothing,” I assure her. “I wouldn’t have done that. I was just about to tell her no.”

Olivia sighs with frustration. “But see, Garrett…that doesn’t matter. What bugs me is that this is a part of your life. You’re constantly going to be faced with that, and I’m constantly going to be insecure about it. I just don’t think I have it in me to deal with that. Not at this point in my life.”

“So what?” I ask with a bit of resentment. “A woman exposes her breast to me, and you’re ready to cut and run?”

“Yes,” she shouts at me, but then lowers her eyes. “I mean…no. Hell, I don’t know. This isn’t something I’ve ever had to deal with.”

I release my hold on Olivia’s hand and cup her face. Her eyes are murky, shadowed heavily by the streetlight behind me. I lean in to peer at her closer. “What you saw in there…that woman coming on to me? Yeah…that happens sometimes. And before I met you, I’m not going to lie…I would have probably fucked her.”

Olivia tenses up and she tries to pull her face away, but I hold tight. I wait for her to succumb and give me her full attention.

“But since I met you, that stuff means nothing to me. That is a pale representation of a shallow life…a meaningless fuck. Compared to you…it’s all so trite and unfulfilling.”

Olivia takes in a stuttering breath and lets it out slowly. Her shoulders sag a bit, and I can feel her relax marginally.

“Nothing…no woman…no piece of ass or fake boob thrust in my face will ever turn my eye away from you. Nothing and no one will ever come close to making me feel the way I do just when I’m holding your hand, or listening to you breathe at night. Nothing compares.”

She blinks at me, her eyes wide and confused. I give her head a slight shake with my hands. “Do you understand me, Olivia? Nothing compares to you.”

My last words are punctuated, and I’m relieved when I see understanding filter into her gaze. “You really mean that, don’t you?” she asks in wonder.

“I’m dead fucking serious,” I tell her adamantly. “I can’t see anything but you.”

Olivia’s lips curl upward into a brilliant smile and she raises her own hands to grasp tightly onto my wrists. “I guess maybe now would be a good time to kiss me, then.”

“Fuckin’ A,” I agree, and I pull her mouth to mine in a swift and desperate kiss of affirmation. She sighs into me, and when I pull back, I see her eyes closed in pleasure and a peaceful smile on her full lips.

“Are you okay?” I ask her, and her eyes pop open.

She nods, her smile still in place. But then her brow creases in worry, and she says, “Did I make a terrible fool of myself back there?”

I pull her into my body and wrap my arms around her. Resting my chin on her head, I assure her, “No one even saw you leave. It’s cool.”

“My first reaction was to slap the hell out of that bitch,” Olivia says, and I jerk in surprise.

Pulling back, I look down at her in wonder. “You’d really have done that?”

She shrugs daintily, but there’s still fire in her eyes. “I wanted to, but who knows?”

“That’s kind of hot,” I tell her with a grin. “You protecting my virtue and all that.”

Then I hear my favorite sound in the world. Olivia tilts her head back and laughs…full-throated and raspy…sexy as fuck. She presses her body in closer to mine and levels her gaze at me. “Well, I have no intention of protecting your virtue when you take me home tonight. In fact, I’m thinking about ruining it.”