More, Please(13)

I told Kimberly the whole story, from his fears, to Blaire, to his strange indifference this last week. “I don’t know what’s going on and I’m afraid to ask. I know he doesn’t think he can love, but we’re so close. Closer than he’s been with anyone in a really long time. I just don’t understand how he could just shut it off.”

Kimberly settled on the bed next to me and gave me a firm hug. “You didn’t say the L-word, right?”

“No way! Are you kidding? He’d run away screaming. And plus I don’t…” I let that thought trail away as I analyzed the deep and intense feeling deep in my gut. I thought of how much I liked talking to him, and how lonely I’d been this past week without him.

My stomach flip-flopped. Oh crap.

“What?” Kimberly asked, watching my face.

“Nothing.” I was not going to admit the extent of my feelings. Not until I had a better grip on them.

“He’s probably just busy and stressed out, like you are.” Kimberly rubbed my back with a supportive smile. “Seriously, Livy, the way he acts with you—that man can never have taken a woman home. Not ever. And he’s taken you home twice. That means something. Just give him time.”

I massaged my shoulder, working at the tension knots in the muscles. “I’m just worried that if I give him too much space, he’ll forget what it’s like being with me, and be okay giving me the boot.”

“That’s because you’re a woman, and we’re hardwired to think into things too much. Guys don’t spend their lives thinking about this stuff. Trust me.”

“And then there’s his crazy fiancée to worry about… That chick is cracked.”

“She sounds…” Kimberly hesitated.

“Bat-shit crazy.” I nodded. “She is. She’s crazy. But she sounds like a scorned woman. I might end up like her.”

“No you will not!”

I laughed at her indignant reaction. “I think she likes Hunter, but he doesn’t give her the time of day.”

“Can you blame him? I mean, she signed a contract to marry him. From what you just said, he wasn’t shy about his lack of regard for the situation. She was deluding herself.”

“Aren’t I, though?”

Kimberly gave me a hard stare. It was the “I am running out of patience for this” stare. “He didn’t make you sign a contract, he has taken you home, and he asked you to meet his mom, Olivia! He likes you. What more proof do you need?”

“Ugh!” I flopped back on my bed. “I know. I know. But it’s just weird that he didn’t want anything to do with me this week.”

“He probably thinks it’s weird that you didn’t want anything to do with him this week. Goes both ways.”

“Stop making sense. It’s ruining my mope.”

Kimberly laughed and lightly slapped my thigh. “Let’s pick you out something to wear so you’ll look fabulous. Looking good always cheers me up.”

She started swishing through the clothing in my closet. She paused on a dress as she said, “But the Blaire situation…I’d be worried about that.”

“I am. She has a bunch of money. She can pay people to…I don’t know. I’d say slash my tires, but I don’t have a car.”

“Just watch your back, Olivia. I’ll see what I can find out about her.”

I did not like that Kimberly was telling me to watch my back. It meant a lot of my fears were probably true.





Chapter Five





“You look good. No—stop messing with it!”

Kimberly swatted my hand away from my hair, a sort of half updo with curls and hair spray and bobby pins. It was so firm and riddled with hair spray that it felt like a wig, yet somehow it still managed to look loose and natural. Kimberly had a gift.

Regardless of how it looked, though, I felt like I was going to prom. All I needed was a gaudy bracelet of flowers and I was all set.

“When’s he supposed to be—”

A knock sounded at the door, cutting Kimberly off. She gave me an excited smile and followed me into the living room.

“That for you?” Jane was in the kitchen, making herself something to eat. She looked me up and down.

“Yeah, I got it.” I opened the door to Hunter. He stood with a black button-up shirt hugging his delectable body. His gray pants showed off his trim waste. His hair was in that contained messy style he did so well, and his face was shaved clean.

My heart started pounding as I looked at his handsome face. “Hi,” I said in a breathy voice.

“Ready?” That hooded, smoldering gaze, reminding me of our sweaty bodies entwined in ecstasy. It had my knees going weak and warm tingles spreading through my body.