“You never finished telling us about yourself, Tessa,” Ace pointed out as he unfolded a paper napkin onto his lap.
Oliver bent over the table next to Whitney, doing something with his own napkin.
It distracted me for a moment before I addressed Ace. “If I remember, I didn’t really start.”
He chuckled and unwrapped a disposable fork from its packaging. “You’re right. So? What’s your story?”
“That’s a complicated question.”
“It’s still valid,” he pointed out.
I shrugged. “I’m just me. I’m just a girl trying to live a normal life.”
Ace smiled and twisted his fork in his hand. “And what do you like to do for fun?”
I thought about it for a moment. “Well, I love to read.”
“She’s always reading,” Whitney piped in, her brown eyes still glued to whatever Oliver was doing with his napkin. He seemed to be folding it into a design.
“You don’t say,” Oliver muttered. “She had at least over a hundred on her bookshelf.”
“Ollie,” Ace said with a frown. “You really shouldn’t snoop through people’s belongings.”
“Or break into their homes,” I added.
“Yes, or break into their—wait, what?” Ace narrowed his eyes at Oliver across the table. He pointed his fork at his friend. “Ollie, you really should stop doing that.”
Oliver scowled. “I don’t do it often.”
“No, but you still do it enough for it to be notable.”
While they bickered, I brought my fork filled with chicken, rice, and veggies up to my mouth. I moaned in satisfaction as I ate the large bite, the sweet and tangy sauce a delicacy my taste buds weren’t used to but appreciated immensely. Though I ensured Whitney had a variety of healthy foods in the fridge and pantry, I usually bought myself the cheaper options to save on money. Bread, peanut butter, and ramen tended to get old after the fifth week in a row, and the unexpected explosion of flavors from the Asian cuisine was a welcome change to my taste buds.
“Dark chocolate peanut butter swirl,” Oliver grumbled under his breath, his green eyes darting to my lips and then away quickly. He grinned and held up the napkin, now folded into the shape of a heart. “Aha! Here you go, doll.”
Whitney squealed as she accepted the heart. “Ooh, I love it! I’ll keep it for forever.”
Ace and Oliver chuckled, sending Whitney adoring looks. Everyone was oblivious to the pit of despair that held me captive in its clutches while I stared unseeing at the unassuming origami heart.
Ace shook his head with a small grin and cut up a cinnamon pretzel. Stabbing a piece, he held up a bite. “Here, try this.”
I blinked, snapping out of my thoughts. Leaning forward, I ate the cinnamon bite, realizing a moment too late he actually meant for me to take the fork from his hand.
A warm blush heated my cheeks, partly from embarrassment and partly from the raging storm in Ace’s eyes. His normally cool gaze melted into concern the longer he stared into mine, and even though I wanted to look away, I couldn’t. It was like the first time I saw him, when his icy hold froze me in place. I was vulnerable, my heart open and bleeding in the space between us. And if the change in his expression was any indication, he knew it.
A cough broke our eye contact, and the moment shattered.
Whitney, having witnessed Ace feed me a bite, grinned mischievously. “Me too, me too.” Her eyes lit with humor before she shoved a heaping bite of fried fish into Ace’s mouth.
Chapter 9
“Hey, what’s up?” Oliver answered his phone as we reached the car, having finished our meal and left the now-busy mall behind us.
His green eyes were the same shade as the mint he always carried on his breath, and when he glanced my way, I found myself lost in their exposed depths. His lips puckered into a scowl while he listened to the person on the other end of the line, and I wondered what was going on.
“She is? Tell her hi. We should be heading back now and—” He waited while the person on the line spoke. “Yeah, fine,” he said, his tone curt with irritation. Still, his eyes never left mine.
Ace started the car. “What did they want?”
I hadn’t noticed Oliver had finished the phone call because I’d been too distracted.
“Well, I guess my aunt dropped by to see me and wanted to know when we’d be back.” Oliver tucked an ink-colored lock behind his ear, and I found myself staring at the silver rings running along the side. He also had a dark-green stud in each ear, and I smiled, realizing for the first time that green was probably his favorite color. “And then Chocolate Chunk said he wants us to bring food.”
“So, in other words, the others want to meet Tessa,” Ace said with a smirk on his full lips.
He drove out of the mall parking lot, and I wondered if I was going to go home now.
“Yes,” Oliver said. “Well, Park does anyway. Hunt was in the shower, but I’m sure he’d like to officially meet her. I think Park was serious about the food, though.”
Ace eyed me in the rearview mirror. “Are you okay with stopping by our place first? We still have several hours to kill before the concert.”
Whitney dozed on my shoulder, a soft snore escaping her. “That should be fine. We didn’t have any plans.”
Ace nodded, pulling into a fast food drive thru. “We should get something simple like McDonald’s.”
Oliver smiled. “Hunt’s not going to be happy. He’s on a diet.”
“Hence why he’s never happy,” Ace pointed out as he stopped in front of the drive-thru menu.
He ordered a little bit of everything off of the menu, though we didn’t get anything for ourselves considering we’d just eaten. The price was a ridiculous number for the small amount of food they’d ordered. However, neither Ace nor Oliver seemed overly concerned with the bill.
I shut my mouth tightly, deciding against saying this wasn’t the way to spend money. Instead, I asked, “Just to be sure, Hunter’s the lumberjack?”
Ace’s mouth twitched. “The lumberjack?”
“Yeah, the one I spilled food on?”
Ace chuckled and nodded as he pulled up to the window to pay for the food.
“Can we just, like, not see him?” My face grew uncomfortably warm. My teeth worried my lower lip as I remembered how the food had dripped down his clothes.
Oliver reached backward and lightly flicked my chin, narrowing his eyes on my mouth. “Hey, none of that.”
I looked at him questioningly but stopped biting my lip.
“Tessa,” Ace began, accepting the carriers full of drinks and four bags filled with food from the McDonald’s workers. Once he had everything, he took off in the direction of the freeway. “It was an accident. They happen.”
Oliver laughed in the backseat. “It was the best accident ever.”
I sighed in my seat, hoping Hunter found the incident as funny as his friends had.
No more than fifteen minutes later, Ace entered an access code into a gated community’s security pad. Once inside, we pulled up to a large home with a bronze knocker on its front door.
“I thought you guys were just here on business?” I said, though it came out more like a question.
“We are, but we use Airbnb whenever we can instead of hotels. It makes traveling a little more bearable,” Ace answered, parking in the driveway of the two-story home, and I gazed at the dark-blue shutters framing the house’s windows.
“How long are you guys in town for business?” I asked them.
“Just this next week.” Oliver responded, glancing thoughtfully at Whitney. His attention was on the scar poking out from the top of her shirt, the lines of the old wound angry and red.
I hid my frown and shifted her blouse to cover her battle scar. “Oh, so not very long, then.”
Oliver shook his head. “Unfortunately, no. But it’s long enough that we like to have a kitchen to cook some fresh meals in.”
I nodded as if it mad
e sense, which it did in a way, but it still seemed like an expense I wouldn’t be willing to pay for.
Ace was at my door in moments, opening it for me. Whitney still slept soundly, so Oliver gently reached in to take her into his arms. Her shirt had shifted enough to see hints of her scars, and Oliver’s gaze froze on them for a moment before glancing up at me with concern.
My lips pursed. I knew he was curious, but now wasn’t the time to talk about it. As if reading my mind, he swallowed and carried Whitney toward the house.
Ace and I split the bags of food and the drinks between the two of us to haul.
We followed Oliver up to the front door. He paused, eyeing the doorknob, then Whitney, with a sigh.
“Beautiful, can you reach into my back pocket and grab the key, please?”
“Oh, um.” I shifted the items in my arms while I avoided his eyes. “Sure thing.”
I felt around in the back pocket of his jeans until I found the small, silver key. I inserted it into the lock for him since his arms were occupied with precious cargo and let him into the house.
The large home offered an open floor plan with tall walls painted a muted mint. As we walked along the hardwood floors, I surveyed the beach art hanging on the walls. The kitchen had white cupboards and gray marble countertops with the occasional empty chip bag on their surface.
Sam waved hello as we entered, relaxing on a gray sectional with a home and gardening magazine poised in her hands, but remained silent when she noticed Whitney sleeping.
Ace and I dumped the food and drinks on a table while Oliver set Whitney down on the couch beside his aunt. Whit snored softly, sound asleep, which wasn’t surprising since her heart usually tuckered her out.
Grabbing a knitted blanket from the arm of the couch, Oliver placed it over her sleeping form. As he stepped away, stomping came from down the hall.
“Oliver!” an angry voice bellowed. “What have you done with all of my boxers?”
Hunter stormed in, his large, fit form wrapped loosely in a towel.
Just a towel.
He held a pair of pink boxer shorts up with the word “sassy” written on them in sparkly gold letters. I balked at the lumberjack. If I had known he wore something like those under his clothes, I wouldn’t have found him nearly as terrifying.
The V-dip of his tan hips caught my eye. His broad chest and shoulders were muscular and fit, and little water droplets trickled down his bare torso. A trail of dark hair snaked from his belly button down to his towel-covered lower half... It had been so long since I’d seen a naked man, and the hunger that had been sleeping dormant in my belly purred as she woke.
A choking sound snapped me back to the here and now, and my eyes slid up to meet a pair of hazel ones, eyes that burned with mortification. Hunter seized a couch cushion and held it protectively over his front.
“Oliver!” Hunter boomed, his voice echoing around the room. Noticing Sam blushing on the couch and Whitney’s sleeping form, he slid his predatory eyes to Ollie. “I’m going to strangle you!” he hissed more softly, so as to not wake Whitney.
Without a word, Oliver snatched my hand. I gasped at the warm, almost-fuzzy sensation that coated my skin, but he didn’t seem to hear my intake of breath. He laughed as we dodged around a very angry-looking Hunter, still holding up the pink boxers, and ran to a room at the end of the hall. Oliver slammed the door shut and locked it, a wide smile on his face as he peered down at me.
Banging occurred as Hunter beat his fists on the wooden door.
“I swear,” Hunter fumed, his loud voice not the least bit muffled by the barrier the door created. “Once I get my hands on you, Oliver, you’re not going to be able to sit for a week.”
When his noisy footsteps retreated down the hall, I snuck a peek up at Oliver. He watched me meditatively, like he was trying to figure something out.
“Did you really hide all his underwear?” I pretended not to be nervous being alone with him. But that was a lie.
Fidgeting with my T-shirt, I dodged Oliver’s thoughtful gaze. The room we were in had rumpled clothing scattered across the floor in shades of blacks and greens. We must have been in Oliver’s room.
“Nah, I think that was Kai. I was just the one nice enough to leave him something to wear.”
I started shaking my head, but Oliver stopped me with a single touch of his finger to my lips. A male’s words feathered over my mind with whispered softness.
I need your love, your kiss, your touch...
To end the pain, I’m in so much...
Oliver sucked in a sharp breath, his green eyes curious. Without a chance to breathe, two strong arms caged me carefully, but firmly, between Oliver and the door.
He leaned forward until his ear rested against my heart, listening to its frantic beating in my chest. The sudden shift shocked me silent. In the words of Oliver, What in the cookies and cream?
When he glanced up again, it was the brightest smile I’d ever seen on his face. It lit up like he’d been told the greatest secret. “Found you.”
Chapter 10
Found me?
“Tessa,” Oliver whispered, his minty breath stirring the air. “Beautiful, don’t you feel it?”
I raised my eyebrows in disbelief. So, he felt the tingles, too? I wasn’t delusional? Just to make sure we were on the same page, I asked, “Do you mean the tingly feeling?”
His shoulders sagged in relief, and he chuckled softly. “Yes, the tingly feeling.” He reached forward, tucking a lock of blond hair behind my ear.
“I feel it,” I said hesitantly.
He was so close I almost had to look at him cross-eyed. Instead, I stared over his shoulder at the scattered clothes on the floor. My heart beat in overdrive while I wondered if the tingly feeling meant Oliver was my soul mate, if he thought so, too.
He placed a finger under my chin, forcing me to look up at him again. “Do you know what that means?”
His warm eyes darted down to my lips and back up again. My mouth went dry at the look, and I shook my head, unable to speak. I had guesses, but if he could spell it out for me, that would make my life so much easier.
He took a step forward, even though barely any space separated us to begin with, trapping me in the corner by the door. It had been so long since I’d been this close to a man, and the embarrassing burn of a blush stained the crests of my cheeks. His eyes roamed over the flush of my face, the rapid movement of my chest, the goose bumps covering my bare arms. Leaning forward, he placed his forehead against mine, closing his eyes.
“It means, beautiful...” he whispered, his breath fanning lightly over my face. He smelled sweet and fresh, like mint. My nerves were in a frenzy at his nearness, and I struggled to think clearly as he continued. “You’re my other half. Always have been. Forever will be.”
My heart lurched forward in my chest at his words, relief and confusion working in tandem. This man was mine? But then why did I feel the same tingly feeling with his friends? Confusion settled over me like a blanket, drowning out the tingles. That shouldn’t be the case, right? Was he sure?
“How do we know for sure?” My voice displayed my hesitancy.
Opening his eyes, he smiled, his lips only inches from my own.
“They told me to just be myself...” he sang softly, lightly brushing his fingertips up my arms and leaving a trail of heat in their wake. “To take my heart from off its shelf... But cruelty is my heart’s keeper... Alone and bruised, it hid deeper...”
I couldn’t look away, my heart racing to the tender tone of his voice. I couldn’t believe this was happening right now. For so long, I had imagined this moment, wondering if it would ever happen for me.
“What do I have to offer you... This naive boy who has no clue...” he continued, his fingers finding the ponytail holder in my hair. “About what love is meant to be... ‘Cause love has always escaped me...”
He slid it off slowly and rolled it down around his wrist. My heart ached for me to do somet
hing, but I didn’t know what. This was all too confusing and new to me, but his words resonated with me on a personal level. I had felt so alone, let down and crushed by my family situation; I had hidden my heart so no one would be able to hurt it again. Oliver understood that.
His tone became stronger, and he tangled his fingers into my loose long hair. Shutting his eyes, he continued to sing to me, his words sugar-sweet. “So, can you look me in my eyes... Tell me that you won’t say goodbye... And promise you won’t leave me be... Because you love the me you see...”
Oliver ghosted his lips across my forehead, the barest trace of heat left behind as he moved his lips to my ear. I closed my eyes at his touch. It had been so long since anyone had kissed me so sweetly.
“I’ll coax my heart from off the shelf... And give you it, my pain, myself... Please tell me, then, what do I do...” He held out the last note, his rich voice strong and dripping with honey sweetness. “When being me means losing, too...” His teeth grazed the edge of my ear, catching me off guard, and I gasped.
Before I could do anything, Oliver stole my hand and spun me in a circle in the direction of his bed. His movements were fluid and smooth as he continued his song, the tempo faster now than when he first began.
“I’m tired of being alone...” he sang with a wistful smile. “I want someone to call my own...” Grabbing both of my hands in his, he pulled me flush against him, swaying us to the rhythm of his song. “To kiss me true and hold me tight... And sing to me a lullaby...”
He stopped swaying and stared at me with the softest eyes. His voice was just above a whisper now. Pleading, aching. “So, can you look me in my eyes... Tell me that you won’t say goodbye...”
He cupped my cheeks in his hands, his gaze searching mine. “And promise you won’t leave me be... Because you love the me you see...”
My chest was warm, my heart beating wildly, as if it was trying to jump right out of it. I was awestruck by the man in front of me. I had felt it, though. As clear as day, my heart and soul ached to connect with his.
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