“I didn’t donate the money for public reaction. I did it because it’s a worthy cause.”
“You really don’t you want any recognition at all?”
“No,” he answered without hesitation. “I like your family, Olivia, and I appreciate how they’ve welcomed me into your home. I don’t want their lives turned into a circus and that’s exactly what will happen if the wrong people think they can profit from their association with the Grant name.”
“You mean people like Alice Jackson?”
“Alice is harmless. Believe me, there are a lot worse out there.” He tried to put it in terms that were easier for someone who hadn’t been born into that life to understand. “It’s sort of like finding out one of your neighbors won the lottery. The reaction isn’t always positive. Money can bring out the worst in people.”
Bucky lifted his head and gave Cole’s hand a lick.
Olivia’s eyes widened. “I think you just got the official Ramsey seal of approval.”
“That or I missed a bit of pig slop.”
They both laughed, causing Bucky to lift his head once more. This time he let out a small yelp.
“I think we’re disturbing his evening nap,” Cole said.
“Aww, are we bugging you, big guy?” Olivia stroked the dog’s fur as she hummed along to the music that wafted through the open kitchen widow.
“They’ve done that as long as I can remember,” she said, nodding toward the house. Through the gingham curtains, Cole could she her parents dancing in front of the sink. “He helps her clean and they end up kitchen dancing.”
“They really do love each other,” Cole said. It was more of a statement than a question.
“Amazing, huh? Quite the contrast to their daughter and her sham of a marriage.” She cut her eyes at Cole. “No offense.”
“None taken.” He gave a small laugh then grew more serious. “Is that how you pictured it being?”
Olivia shrugged. “I never really thought too much about getting married. Not the way some girls do, dressing up their Barbies and marching them down an aisle they made out of toilet paper on their bedroom floor.”
Cole raised a skeptical brow. “For someone who never gave it much thought, that’s an awfully specific doll reference.”
“Oh no, that was all stolen from Cassie’s childhood.” Olivia laughed. “Trust me, I was not into playing the Mattel version of Bridezilla.”
“Were your Barbies too busy staging sit-ins and peaceful protests?”
She elbowed him in the ribs. “Funny.”
“I didn’t know Rebecca when she was that age, but I’m sure she had playroom ceremonies as well.” He smirked. “Catered no doubt.”
“We should introduce her to Cassie. She once admitted she even made tiny cakes when she played dress-up bride.”
“So you never even thought about it?”
“Getting married? Not really.”
To Cole’s surprise, he realized what he really wanted to ask was if she ever thought of marrying Derek the Wonder Doc. But he let it go for fear he would sound like a crazy jealous husband which couldn’t have been further from the truth.
“But I always thought if I ever did get married it would be for love, that I would have what they have . . .”
“You will,” he said, “some day.” An image of Olivia living in a house like that one, surrounded by a menagerie of children and animals, flashed through Cole’s mind. The image itself wasn’t surprising, but the twinge he felt in his gut sure as hell was.
Chapter Eighteen
Olivia tried her best not to gawk. Cole had changed into his pajama bottoms but wore no shirt. And even though it made sense given the lack of air conditioning, the overall effect was wreaking havoc on her senses. From the ripple of his abs to the deep V of his hips to the trail of dark hair that lead to his . . .
She turned, feigning interest in something on her desk—a note pad, a paperclip, a book—anything she could find to focus on besides the sex god behind her.
“Excuse me,” he said, squeezing by her to where the comforter lay stretched out on the floor. As he passed, his bare chest brushed against her back, sending a rush of goose bumps across her skin.
She waited until he was settled before scurrying to her bed. But as she lay on the soft mattress, nestled among plump pillows, it wasn’t sexual frustration or even fatigue that overwhelmed her. It was guilt. Cole had been a trooper all day. She’d seen another side of him, one she’d only glimpsed that night at his sister’s apartment. From the way he’d handled her pushy neighbor’s breakfast ambush, to the effort he’d made to win over her dad, to their conversation on the swing, all of it was far from the Coleman Grant she thought she knew. And when he fell into the trough . . .
A smile curved her lips, just as it had every time she pictured him covered with mud and slop. The man who rode in the back of her father’s pick-up was nothing like the CEO she’d lobbied for months. And after a day like that, he certainly didn’t deserve to sleep on the floor.
Olivia scooted across the mattress and leaned over the edge. “I guess it wouldn’t be a big deal if you slept on the bed. Just stay on your own side.”
“Want me to put the pillow between us?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
Cole chuckled. “Olivia, everything about this weekend has been ridiculous.” The mattress dipped as he climbed under the covers. Even from the other side of the bed Olivia could feel the heat radiating off his skin, and despite the temperature in her room, she had to fight the urge to curl against him.
Could she really pull this off? Restless nights sleeping under the smoldering stares of Justin or the Jo-Bros was one thing, but a night spent in the same bed with a man who had pleasured her like no other was quite possibly more than she could bear.
They’d only been settled for a few minutes when Cole let out an exasperated breath. “I’m roasting. Do you mind?” He nodded to his drawstring pants.
“Um sure,” Olivia mumbled. But all she kept thinking was, “Please God, don’t let him be commando.” She should have turned away, or simply closed her eyes, but instead she lay on the pillow shamelessly ogling her husband as he took off his pajamas. To her relief, or maybe a tiny bit to her disappointment, he wasn’t naked underneath. Not that it helped much. Coleman Grant really was too handsome for his own good. And certainly too handsome to be lying next to her in a bed wearing nothing but a pair of boxer briefs.
A long, anticipation-filled silence stretched between them before Cole finally broke the tension with a joke.
He nodded his chin toward the map on the wall. “Did you lie here plotting how you were going to take down corporate America once you moved to the big city?”
Olivia rolled her eyes but at the same time breathed a sigh of relief. This was much better. This was the Cole she was used to, the one she knew how to handle. “Believe it or not, I was just a normal kid, well except for the fact that I had about six different pets at any given time.”
“All dogs?”
“Hardly. We had Bucky of course, but also two cats, a parakeet, three guinea pigs, a lop-eared bunny, a spider monkey—but he was just here while my dad cared for him—oh, and Wilbur.”
“Wilbur?”
“The runt of a litter my dad helped deliver a few years back.” A thought occurred to her, and a giggle escaped her lips. “You’ve met him actually.”
“I have?”
She waited for the light bulb to turn on, and within a few seconds it did.
Cole’s eyes grew wide. “The beast that attacked me? That was little Wilbur?”
She nodded.
“Jesus. Any other family pets I need to fear?”
She narrowed her eyes as she ran through the list in her head. “Tommy the Turtle, but he stays down by the pond mostly.” She gave him a teasing smile. “And I’m fairly sure you could outrun him.”
“You forgot Rex.”
Olivia laughed. “Rex isn’t a pet. He’s more of a drill sergeant.” She
rolled to her side. “How about you, did you have any pets?”
“I had a fish once.”
“Just one? I would have figured nothing less than a mini oceanarium for the Grant household.”
Cole’s voice grew quieter. “It was just a goldfish, the kind they give away at carnivals in clear plastic bags. My mom brought him home for me one day. I think they gave him to her at some school visit she’d made on behalf of the foundation.”
Once again Olivia noted the sad affection in Cole’s voice when he spoke of his mother. From the few memories he’d shared, and the photos she’d seen on the web, she could tell there’d been a time when they’d had a deep connection. She wondered what had happened to estrange them. Could it really just have been his wild ways or was there more to the story? Whatever it was, they obviously hadn’t resolved it before his parents died or Olivia wouldn’t have been lying in her childhood bed with an eight-carat diamond on her hand.
She stole a peek at him. His eyes were closed, and a crease marred his brow. A dull ache pressed heavy on her chest. Not only did Cole carry the burden of his parent’s doubt, but the need to marry, and therefore her very existence in his life, served as a constant reminder of that fact.
Still, it hadn’t always been that way. Maybe if he focused on the good times . . .
“Sounds like the two of you were very close,” she said.
Cole ran a hand back through his hair. “In the early years,” he said. “Although even then I spent as much time with Magda as I did with Evaline.”
She assumed Magda was a nanny or maybe a housekeeper. The fact that Cole had spent a significant part of his childhood with a paid caregiver wasn’t a surprise. She’d assumed as much based on the photos she’d seen of his parents traveling the far corners of the word. But what really gave Olivia pause was the way he referred to his mother by her first name.
He was quiet for several moments, causing her to think the conversation was over. But then he surprised her by saying more. “It wasn’t her fault really. I didn’t know it when I was younger, but she battled depression her entire life.” His body tensed. “And my Dad’s lifestyle didn’t help that much.”
“He worked long hours, I take it?”
Cole have a harsh laugh. “More that he worked them with a secretary or two in his lap.”
Oh. Once again, a silence stretched between them. Olivia found herself wanting to ask questions, but at the same time, she couldn’t imagine how difficult this was for him. So instead she waited, letting Cole reveal what he wanted at his own pace.
“Rebecca is the daughter of one of the women who used to work in the kitchen,” he said as if reading her mind. “She was fired long before she began to show, so I don’t think my mother even knew. But my father did.” Cole cleared his throat. “The bastard never even acknowledged her, let alone paid for a anything. His own flesh and blood.”
He gave her a sideways glance. “You must think we’re quite the cliché, huh? The depressed socialite self-medicating with vodka while her husband screws half his office and most of the household staff. And let’s not forget their son the fuck up, shipped off to boarding school for wrapping his new car around a tree.”
“Nobody’s family is perfect,” she offered.
Cole turned to face her full on. “Yours seems pretty damn close, Olivia.”
She took a deep breath and in a moment of impulsive clarity, decided to tell Cole something not even Cassie knew. “My mom went to rehab when I was in middle school. Twice.”
The words were harder to say than she’d expected. And as much as she wanted to put them back in her mouth, she’d waded into the deep water; there was no choice now but to swim.
“Kids that age can be cruel as it is, but when your mom is missing your basketball games because she relapsed . . .” A lump formed in Olivia’s throat. “It was a rough time.” She cleared her throat to find a more solid voice. “I certainly didn’t help matters, but that’s a story for another night.”
Cole’s expression was one of surprise, but it was laced with compassion. “I had no idea,” he said, the tone of his voice making it seem like he somehow should have.
“Not exactly something we talk about over dinner. At least not anymore.”
“Wait, last night your mom—”
“Served wine?
He nodded.
“Her glass had grape juice in it.”
“But didn’t she make the wine?”
“It was something she did with her father back in the day. I guess it’s her way of taking control. She can still make the wine but doesn’t feel the need to drink it.”
“I see.” He stared at her for long moments, his gaze searching her face until she nearly squirmed beneath the intensity. “Thank you,” he finally said.
“For what, telling you that you’re not the only one with skeletons tap dancing in the closet?”
He chuckled. “Something like that.”
“You’re welcome.” To her surprise, Olivia didn’t feel the shame she usually associated with that time in her life. Instead, what she felt was a strange sense of relief. Confiding in Cole had seemed like the right thing to do given the brutal honesty he’d shown in sharing his family’s dark past. She’d expected understanding, maybe a bit of shock although certainly no judgment, but what she hadn’t expected was her own cathartic release. The emotions were overwhelming, and for the first time in ages Olivia felt herself fighting back tears.
Time to change the subject. Fast. “So, what was his name?”
Utter confusion filled Cole’s face. “Whose name?”
“Your fish.”
Panic flashed across his eyes. “I don’t remember.”
Judging by Cole’s reaction, this was going to be good. “Bullshit.” She smiled across the pillows. “What was his name?”
Cole let out a resigned breath. “Mr. Peepers.”
Olivia erupted into a fit of giggles that shook the whole bed.
“He was so tiny, but he had these huge eyes and… oh, never mind.”
The look of annoyance on Cole’s face only made the whole thing that much funnier.
“Are you done?” he asked when she finally started to settle.
“Just about.”
“Let me know when you are so we can move on to the topic of Twilight.”
Olivia stilled. “Hey, don’t be messing with my Edward.”
“Why, will he sparkle me to death?” Cole chuckled, then narrowed his eyes. “There’s not an Edward Barbie doll under this bed is there? Cause if there is, I might need to move back to the floor.”
She gave his shoulder a shove then rolled onto her back. “Shows what you know about girls. The Barbie era was long before the Twilight years.”
A few minutes of silence passed before Olivia stole a peek at him. A slow, sexy grin played across his lips. “Do I even want to know what’s going on in that mind of yours?” she asked.
“I was thinking about sixteen-year-old Olivia laying here late at night.” His eyes cut to the Justin Timberlake poster hanging above the bed. “With visions of JT dancing in her head.”
Olivia felt a warm flush spread across her cheeks. The comment was no doubt meant as a lighthearted joke, but Cole had no idea how close to the truth he was.
“I was kidding,” he said. “But I’m right, aren’t I?”
“Something like that.”
He propped his head on one elbow. “So you’d say good night to Bucky and Wilbur and all the other animals of the ark, climb the stairs and crawl into bed to—”
“You forgot the stuffed animals.”
Cole smiled. “My bad. So you’d say good night to Bucky and Wilbur and all the other animals of the ark, climb the stairs, move all the stuffed animals off your bed, then crawl under the covers to fantasize about a four-way with the Jonas Brothers?”
She stuck her tongue out. “You’re a pig.”
“No, but I was almost attacked by one. As it was, I ended up in his food.”
>
Olivia crossed her arms over her chest. “I should have let him eat you.”
“Aww, c’mon, I’m only teasing.” He reached for her. She expected him to pry her arms apart, but instead he slipped his hand under the edge of her T-shirt, sliding it slowly across her stomach. “Did you ever touch yourself while you thought about the boys on your wall?”
Her breath caught at the seductive tone of his voice. “Maybe.”
His fingers skimmed the sensitive spot just above the waist of her cotton sleep shorts and a shiver rushed across her skin. “Like this?” He held her gaze, silently assessing her reaction as his hand moved lower. A low, sexy sound vibrated through his chest when his questing fingers encountered her slick flesh.
Her body jerked in response as he slid one finger inside her.
“Is this how you’d touch yourself?” he asked again.
“Slower,” she whispered.
He eased his hand back, letting his fingers swirl around the top of her sex in a steady unhurried rhythm that kept her on the edge. It wasn’t until her hips began to lift in a silent plea for more that he finally gave her what she wanted. Her mouth opened on a silent gasp as he pushed back into her, this time with two fingers. The sensation brought her to the brink, and in no time her body was clenching with need. She was so close. All it would take was just a few more skillful strokes . . .
But just as she was about to splinter apart, his movements slowed. “Such a greedy girl.”
She nearly whimpered as his fingers skirted her quivering opening.
His teeth grazed her jaw and then his lips were on her neck, sucking and nipping his way down her throat. “Did you ever sneak a boy up to your room?” he asked against her skin.
“Never had the guts,” she said on a stuttering breath. And it was true. Olivia had been the quintessential good girl. She would have never brought a boy up to her bedroom, much less let him touch her the way Cole was now. But being with him brought out a side of Olivia she never knew existed. No one could elicit a reaction from her body the way he could. With him she felt wild and wanton. With him she was the type of girl who wanted to be fucked in her childhood bed.
Black Tie Optional (Wild Wedding Series Book 1) Page 19