by Leeah Taylor
“Rest easy.”
He drew Riley close, turning away from the blaze, and started toward his jeep.
“Like I said,” Riley snuggled to his chest. “Damn good man.”
“Well, this damn good man is about to dirty you up all night.”
She stared up at him under hooded eyes. Looking too delicious. “Are you now?”
“That’s right,” he dipped down to capture her bottom lip. “Tell me no, Sweets.”
“Now why would I ever tell you no.”
“Dangerous, sweetheart, entirely dangerous.” He pecked her lips. “Come on, let’s go home.”
“Which home would that be?”
He smiled. “The one where you are. Now come on, before I get disrespectful of the dead and have you up against that tree.”
She giggled. “I get the sneaky suspicion Drew would encourage it.”
“He would actually,” He opened the passenger door with a nod at Xavier where he stood at his truck. “But I’m not fond of Xavier watching in the shadows and I plan on making you scream.”
“Plan on making me wait too?”
“Perhaps with that sassy mouth, I will.”
Epilogue
“You know I have maybe an hour left on my shift, right?” Ivy whined.
Ollie nodded and kept pushing her toward the door. “Yep, and you’ll be paid for it. But I need you gone.”
She arched her brow. “What are you up to?”
“Dirty, delicious, devious things.” He pushed the door open and pointed. “And I need you take the rest of the night off.”
She giggled and walked out the door. “She’s a good look on you. You know that too, right?”
Ollie tossed a glance over his shoulder at his Sweets waiting for him. A cute smile on her lips despite nibbling on her bottom lip.
“Oh, I know, Ivy. Trust me, nobody has ever looked so good on me.”
“I’ve really missed this Ollie.”
“What do you mean?”
Ivy looked passed him. “The all consumed happy you. I’ve missed it.” She backed away from him. “Have fun.”
“I plan on it.”
He closed the door and smiled as he locked it. Ivy had never given him any sign he’d been any other way than he’d always been. She went on as if nothing changed in the last twenty years. He assumed it hadn’t, aside from Juliette missing.
But now he had his Doll back home where she belonged and entirely consumed with her own love. Damien was proving to make up for all of it and seeing them happy, finally, was more than enough.
And he had his Sweets. All mine.
He snatched up a chair on his way across the room and set it down in the center of the dance floor.
“Now,” he turned slowly and pointed at Riley. “You. Come here.”
“What are you doing?” She asked.
“Don’t worry about it.” He gestured with a finger. “Come here, Sweets.”
Riley giggled, pushing off the bar and closing the gap. “Does this involve a lap dance and strip tease?”
“Be a good girl, it just might.”
She bit down on her bottom lip and took his hand when he offered it to her. He promised her something the first time they met, and he was a man of his word. Riley smirked up at him when he planted her in the chair.
“Stay there.”
“Or what?”
“Or you know damn well what,” he chuckled. “Though I’m not sure you’re too bothered by it.”
She wasn’t. In a few short weeks, he learned where she drew the line, and it went further than he expected. Little adventurous vixen switch he had on his hands. She easily submitted to him as she dominated him, and he couldn’t get enough.
“Stay.”
Riley crossed her legs and folder her hands in her lap like she had any chance of pulling off a good girl look. He knew better. She was naughty in every decadent way.
Shaking his head, Ollie went to the back and over to the bed. He eyed the instrument and his fingers had been twitching for weeks to get lost in the feel of the strings. With things settling down, he could and only for her.
He grabbed it and went back to the bar. Loving the way her eyes lit up when she saw the guitar.
“Remember what I said to you when we met?”
She nodded, and her joy warmed down in his heart and soul. “If I stuck around, you might just show me.”
“That’s right.” He sat on the edge of the stage across from her. “And, if I’m honest, I don’t like playing to an audience.”
“Why not?”
He shrugged, adjusting his grip. “Even the charming sex king is shy.”
“I don’t believe it.”
“Lucky for you, Sweets, not the least bit shy for you.”
Hard to be shy with her after the things he’d done in a bed with her. And on the bar. And the kitchen counters. The list was extensive, and he was only getting started with all the places he wanted her.
Music had a way of healing the soul. Maybe not all of it, but it was always a good start. And when his fingers strummed the strings, it only proved how soul healing it was. The weeks following Ramsey hadn’t been easy.
Sure, Damien and Juliette were on the mend and living in the loft now. And Lucien hated it because they didn’t know a time in over two centuries when they didn’t live under one roof.
Ollie had Riley, and he loved everything blossoming between them. It was natural.
But grief didn’t vanish, and he still grieved Drew in his way because death hurt. Ramsey lived and too comfortable in the apartment above the warehouses and it only pissed him off more.
He had to dig deep, latching on to family always mattered, to keep from killing him once and for all. But then he took Riley in, eyes lit up with wonder when he opened his mouth and sang, and knew he owed Ramsey for bringing her to him.
He spent the last week trying to figure out what song to sing to her. It shouldn’t have been hard and yet it was, but Juliette did what she did and gave him the perfect one. And it fit because his beautiful, wily sweet girl stood by him when she could have walked away. She was fierce with a strength that easily carried him at his worst, and he loved her for it.
“Just as long as you stand, stand by me…”
He could have sworn she looked ready to break for him. She hadn’t yet. Not with only a look. Proving, she was as tough as he knew she was. But she looked close, with glassy eyes and tears brimming.
The delight shined brighter though when he finished, and she smiled bigger than he’d ever seen.
“You were wrong,” she said. “About Damien being the most romantic.”
Ollie chuckled. “I guess we all are, in our own ways.”
“You didn’t tell me you sing too and that you’re good.”
“Well, Sweets.” He set the guitar down and went to her. “We all have secrets.”
She took his hand when he offered it and he pulled her up to his chest, pecking her lips. Hesitation creased in her brow. Like she might spill her secrets for him but wasn’t ready.
Ollie dug in his pocket and pulled out a remote. He pointed it toward the back of the stage, and soft music filled the room.
“Dance with me?”
“Like I’d ever turn you down.”
“Ya know.” He curled an arm around her back, holding her close. “I told you, keep your secrets. I’ll never ask you for them because they aren’t mine to have. Just as I have secrets and they’re mine to share.”
“That seems unfair. To both of us.”
“I can promise you my secrets will never change what we have. They do not, and will not, ever alter how I love you. But like you, I’m not ready to share them and I may never be.”
She fell into his lead but looked away.
“I… My…”
He hooked a finger under her chin, making her look up at him. Once again, she looked on the brink of breaking but not qui
te there.
“I can’t fully promise the same,” she admitted. “I… Perhaps my secrets are more complicated, but they’d never change how I feel about you. How I love you.”
“How about this,” he kissed her. “You keep yours. I’ll keep mine. And everything before us is the past. Me and you, Sweets, began the moment we met and nothing before matters. Hmm?”
“You’re okay with that?”
He smiled. “Riley, I have everything I could ever want right here in the now. I don’t care about the past. And the future, well, I’ll worry about it when it’s the now.”
Life was that simple. It’s the only way he survived it. By living in the now. The past couldn’t be changed. The future hadn’t happened yet. Why live in either when the now was right in front of him looking beautiful?
She nodded. “I like right now.”
“Yeah?” He picked her up with a squeeze to her ass. Gonna be my ass tonight. “Kinda like you in my bed now then.”
She giggled. “And what do you plan on doing to me tonight?”
“Oh, Sweets.” He caught her bottom lip between his teeth with a tug, and she whimpered. “Only the most torrid, depraved things.”
“Promise?”
He laid her on the bed, hovering over her. So many ways he planned on having her. Showing her every way she could get lost in blissful pleasure. But only if she let him.
“Depends, how much do you trust me?”
His favorite sound vibrated in her chest and he got harder. “Completely.”
He hung his head. “You are entirely too dangerous.”
“Do whatever you want to me Oliver Frost, but remember, I give as good as I get.”
“Oh baby, you better promise because you’re about to have it better than you ever have.”
Her eyes sparkled up at him with everything he’d wanted for a long time. An entire universe with her. He kissed her hard, and she tasted like watermelon and whiskey. Sweet as can be. Made for him.
“God, I love you,” he rasped. “Staying is the best gift you’ll ever give me.”
“I love you too but I’m gonna need you to show me how much, all night if that’s what it takes.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, standing up and pulling his shirt over his head before hauling her up further onto the bed. “It’ll probably take all night. Maybe part of the morning, too.”
“You better get started then.”
He freed the button to her shorts with his lips buried in her neck. The second-best taste in the world and begging to be consumed.
“Tell me no, Sweets.”
“God, yes.”
THE END… for now…
Thank you for reading!
This is only the beginning for Ollie and Riley. The first half of their story. What happens when Riley’s secrets finally show up to drag her back to the life she ran away from?
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