Ethan clears his throat and wipes the moisture from his eyes. “Oh. Umm…we were trying to figure out how to get the arbor back to my parent’s house without taking it all apart.”
Olivia looks around at the beautiful Irish countryside. “We could just leave it here.”
“In the middle of nowhere?” Shannon asks.
“Maybe we’ll start a new tradition and people will come from all over Ireland to stand here and marry their soul mates,” Olivia says, holding on to romantic notions.
“I don’t think that’s going to be convenient,” Ethan says amused.
“Oh?”
John joins them and hands Ethan a flat parcel, wrapped in pink paper with white ribbon. “I have a wedding gift for you as well.”
She narrows her eyes and unties the ribbon. She stares down at the wooden real estate sign. “Sold?” She asks, confused for a moment. “We own this land?”
“As of today, Mrs. O’Connell,” he says proudly. “Turn it over.”
Olivia flips the wooden sign and holds her breath. “Oh, Ethan.”
“It’s a picture of the original house, ninety years ago.”
“It’s exactly like…” She gets all choked up; the words get stuck in her throat.
“The birdhouse. I know.” He grunts as she jumps into his arms and wraps her body around him. “I take it that means you like your gift?”
“I love it!” she squeals as he sets her down.
“Good.” He takes her hand and begins walking back to the car. “We need to pick the design for the home we want. They’re coming to clear the land next week.”
She stops, looking disappointed. “Clear the land? Like as in, take it all away?
“Yes, that’s the idea. They’ll clear the rubble and prepare to build our new home.”
“Do they have to disturb it? Couldn’t they just build us a home in a different spot?”
Ethan opens the door to the Zagato. “We can ask, I suppose, if it means that much to you.”
“I felt it the last time we were here. Somehow, that pile of rubble just feels like it’s…part of me. I really don’t want to discard it or disturb the energy.”
“Okay,” he agrees. “I’ll talk to the construction company tomorrow. Get in the car, it’s getting cold.”
“One more thing?” she asks, batting her eyes.
“Anything for you, Beautiful.”
“Can I drive?”
“Anything but that,” he laughs. “Get in the car.”
Ethan gets into the driver seat and closes the door. “No pouting.”
She makes a face at him and crosses her arms. “One day, I’m going to get my hands on your stick.”
“You can get your hands on my stick anytime you want. But you’re not driving my Zagato.”
Thrumming with emotion and energy, Olivia has a hard time sitting still on the long drive back to their Dublin flat. They quickly lose daylight, and Ethan adjusts to a slower, more cautious drive on the winding country roads. With no scenery to look at, Olivia becomes bored. She pushes buttons on the radio but finds nothing that suits her mood. Frustrated, she syncs the stereo system to the playlist on her phone. She bops her head and sways to the music.
“Are you okay?”
“Yup, I’m getting my groove on.”
“I see,” he says amused. “Just making sure you weren’t having a seizure or something.”
“Ha! Very funny.” Not knowing exactly what it is she’s looking for yet, she skips through songs faster than a blink of an eye.
Ethan reaches over and pinches her chin. “How do you expect to find what you’re looking for, if you don’t listen to more than two seconds of the song? Pick a playlist and let it play.”
“Okay, then.” She scrolls down her music folders. “Got it! We’re kicking it old school the rest of the way home.”
“Brilliant.”
Feeling content, they sing together, making up the words they don’t know as they go along. Ethan has such a smooth and sensual tone to his voice, even when he’s singing more up-beat songs; it’s incredibly sexy. With the next song on the playlist, the music switches from funky to spunky.
“Stop the car,” Olivia requests.
“Why?”
“It’s TLC!”
“Who”
“Red Light Special !”
“What?” he asks confused, ignoring her request and continuing to drive.
“It’s the name of the song! RED LIGHT SPECIAL!”
“I don’t think I know that one.”
“It’s about to become a song you’ll never forget. Just pull over and stop the car.”
The lust is unmistakable in the tone of her voice. Intrigued, Ethan slows down and comes to a stop on the dimly lit side road. Olivia restarts the intro and cranks it to top volume. Undoing her seatbelt, she opens the door and starts to get out. Alarmed, Ethan grabs her arm. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to dance.” She shrugs her arm out of his grasp and gets out on the road.
Ethan sits, car running and headlights on, unsure of what’s going on.
Olivia wanders to the front of the car and finds the perfect spot in the headlight beams. Ethan watches, dumbfounded, from the driver’s seat as she begins to move to the music. This is no ordinary dance; it’s sensual, sexy and very, very naughty. His temperature starts to rise, and so does his cock, as she undulates her hips in a seductive manner, while sliding her hands across her breasts and down the length of her body.
Ethan gets out of the car to get some fresh air and a much better seat for the show. “Damn, where did you learn to dance like that?”
She holds out her hand for him to join her, but he turns her down. He’d much rather observe. He leans back against the hood of the car and crosses his legs at the ankle, as she performs a little dirty dance for him in the glow of the headlights. Lifting the bottom of her dress, she reveals her thighs and sashays her way over to him, swaying with the music. Straddling his legs, she caresses her hands across his chest then moves in closer to grind her body against him.
She spins around and glances over her shoulder at him with a provocative, teasing look. Ethan grabs her waist, stopping her from moving away. When he pulls her back against his chest, she rolls her hips to the beat of the extremely seductive music, rubbing her ass against him and making him harder.
“You’re being a very naughty girl,” he growls in her ear.
Suddenly flashing lights flicker on beside them.
“Oh, oh…busted,” she muses, as car doors swing open and they’re joined on the side of the road by the Guard.
Olivia gasps, “Griffin is a cop?”
“Oh great.” Ethan adjusts his position, pulling her in front of him to hide his still hard cock. “Yes, they’re all members of the Guard.”
“All of them?”
“Yup. Griff, Mac, Slug and Shooter.”
“I thought they were musicians.”
“That’s just a hobby. Griffin, Mac.” Ethan nods, as they approach
“Ethan,” Mac acknowledges. “Hello, Olivia.”
“Hi, Trevor.”
“Congratulations, I heard you got married today.” He opens the door to the Zagato and turns off the music.
“Married?” Griffin asks, looking miffed.
“Yes, that’s true.”
The muscles in Griffin’s jaw tense. “Congratulations.” He extends his hand to Ethan, but can do little to hide his venomous sneer.
“Did your car break down?” Mac asks.
“No,” Ethan answers, trying not to divulge too much information.
“Why are you stopped out here then?”
“Well, my wife needed to…umm…err.”
“Dance,” Olivia answers unashamed.
“Dance?” Mac asks, narrowing his eyes.
“Yes.” She grins. “Sometimes a girl just needs to pull over and dance.”
Ethan scratches his neck, looking uncomfortable as Mac pauses for a moment,
clearly thinking over what he’s about to say. Reaching in through the open cruiser window, he picks up the radio. “Dispatch, this is Mac. We’ve come across a dead animal blocking the road on route M4. We’re gonna close off the road for a few minutes and get it cleaned up.” He grins, ignoring Griffin’s barbed expression. “Our wedding gift to you, beautiful lady.” We’ll block the intersection and detour westbound traffic. Not much traffic will come from the east at this time of the night.” He looks down at his watch. “You’ve got twenty minutes to finish your dance.”
Griffin gets in the cruiser and slams the door without saying a word.
“Thank you, Trevor.” Olivia smiles, blushing slightly.
“Just make good use of your time,” he advises.
When the cruiser comes to a stop in the distance and turns on the flashing lights, Ethan looks down at his watch. “Eighteen minutes, you better get to that dance.” Getting into the passenger side of the Zagato, he turns the music back on and looks up through the window to see a mischievous grin slide across her lips. That dirty smile alone makes his still semi-hard erection spring back to full life. She places her palms on the hood of the car; she leans forward, exposing her breasts. Ethan takes a long appreciative look before she turns and takes a few steps back into the headlight glow. She runs her hands up her legs to her thighs, slowly lifting her dress to show him what treasure she has beneath. Ethan feels his chest tighten when she reveals her garter belt and stockings.
“Jesus.” He rubs his hand over his hard-on, and then unbuckles his belt, trying to make himself more comfortable.
In this very impassioned moment, Olivia pushes aside her insecurities, determined to make this day one that’s memorable. As the music ramps up to a sensual rhythm, she drags the hem of her dress higher, exposing her waist.
Ethan takes in a nervous breath and looks around. They haven’t seen another car in over an hour, except for the Guard, and he can still see the faint flashing of their lights on the horizon. She won’t do it, he reasons with himself. It’s way out of her comfort level. He’s about to get out of the car and join her in the moonlight, but he can’t move. It’s as if gravity has pinned him to the seat, forcing him to watch. She turns her back to him and pulls her dress over her bottom, rolling her hips and teasing him. He undoes his trousers, releasing the pressure there.
She enjoys the look of astonishment on her husband’s face. She suspects she knows exactly where his hands are. The thought of that makes her feel warm. Really warm. Inspiration drives her motives and she firmly grips her dress and strips it off over her head.
Ethan feels the air leave his lungs. “Fuck.”
She swaggers toward the car, with an exaggerated sway of hips, and tosses her dress on the hood. He’s seen women in burlesque shows wearing more clothes that that. He struggles with how he feels about his wife, standing in the middle of the road, almost naked. It’s alarming. Troubling. A complete turn on. He turns down the music and moves the seat back as far as it can go. Sliding his pants down, he frees his twitching cock. He needs to put an end to this, right now. He swings open the car door and motions for her to join him.
She approaches him with an ablazed look of desire, and it makes him even harder. “Get in here before somebody sees you, Mrs. O’Connell.”
Chapter Sixteen
From that day on, everything changed. Ethan relaxed, no longer consumed by his desire to gain possession of her. He now possessed her completely, and nothing on heaven or earth could ever tear her way from him again. She finally realized that he was right, they were meant to be together. With him, her life finally made sense. She felt safe. She felt complete. She felt loved.
Surrendering her love made him so happy that his angry temper tantrums all but faded away, and those few times when frustration fizzled into anger, she was able to diffuse it rather quickly. She was becoming as accustomed to his habits and tendencies, as he was of hers. He was becoming a pro at knowing how to proactively squash her insecurities and proved that skill several times, much to her embarrassment.
She was reeling at how quickly their relationship came to the point where neither could envision their lives without the other. Even when they were apart for only a few hours, it felt like months, and the pain of not seeing each other was, for lack of a better word, unbearable. It was intense; it was exciting; it was very unhealthy. Little did they know that their fairytale world would, so quickly, be turned upside down. The universe was about to give them a dose of real life, and the romance was about to come to a crashing end.
Olivia: Happy two week anniversary! What time will you be home tomorrow night?
Ethan: I’m not sure yet.
Olivia: It’s Halloween, I’m planning something special.
Ethan: Then I’ll hurry home.
Olivia: That’s a good boy.
Ethan: Not funny.
Olivia: It must be cuz I laughed. Btw, this car sucks.
Ethan: LOL Yes, but at least I know you’re safe in Maddie’s Volkswagen.
Olivia: It still sucks. Where are you right now?
Ethan: I’m at the petrol station.
Olivia: I think I see you. I’m just about to drive past. Blow me a kiss.
Ethan: Excuse me? Tell me you’re not texting and driving.
Olivia: Ok. I’m not texting and driving.
Feeling agitated, Ethan gets into his car and watches as she passes. She waves, smiling mischievously. He pulls out of the station and quickly gets up to speed. When he has a clear opportunity, he passes, and then pulls in to the lane in front of her. He drops his speed, and then comes to a complete stop.
“Oh shit,” she says, stopping behind him.
Ethan gets out of his car and walks back to her car. She rolls the window down and leans her head out, taking in every inch of his delicious body in that designer suit.
“Hey, Babe,” she says, flirtatiously.
“Give me your phone,” he says unimpressed.
“Why?”
“You know why.” He holds out his hand, waiting. “Your phone,” he says impatiently, as cars behind them honk and yell as they pass around them.
She hesitates for a moment then reaches in to her purse to get it. Annoyed, she places it heavily into his hand.
“Thank you.” He switches it off and hands it back. “Don’t ever put yourself in that kind of danger ever again.”
“You’re overreacting, Ethan. I wasn’t in any danger.”
“Every moment your eyes are on that screen, means they aren’t on the road. We agreed that from now on, you’re going to keep yourself safe, right?”
“Yes,” she snaps, annoyed that he’s brought it up.
“Good, let’s start with no texting and driving.”
She begins to say something and he flashes her a look, making her rethink it. She tosses her phone back into her purse and then grips the steering wheel with both hands, staring straight ahead. Reaching through the window, he rakes his fingers through her soft brown, curly hair and then twists it around his hand. He grins, as he gives it a gentle tug, forcing her to look up at him.
“That’s no way to start our two week anniversary. Give me a kiss, I’m going to be late.” He chuckles at her child-like pucker as he kisses her goodbye. “I love you.”
She inhales the subtle smell of his cologne that lingers and exhales a frustrated breath. “I love you, too.”
“Off you go, then. Before someone gets really upset with us, for holding up traffic. Text me when you get to work.” Ethan makes his way back to the Zagato and pulls back into traffic. Olivia follows, waving farewell when she makes the turn that takes her into the O’Connell Industries complex in Dublin. When she parks and gets out of the car, she looks up and sees Ian. He opens the passenger side door and takes out her bags.
“That’s not necessary, Ian. I can manage.”
Ian laughs once. “You forget that I also married into the O’Connell family. Aiden holds me to the same standard as he does Ethan. He’d have my
ass if he saw you carrying your own stuff.”
“I’m sure he’s too busy to even notice. He’d never know.”
“Oh? Look up.”
Olivia glances up at the second story window to find Aiden O’Connell watching from his office.
“Jesus, that’s creepy.”
“Tell me about it,” Ian says, as he holds open the door to the foyer.”
“He’s like Santa Claus. He knows when you are sleeping. He knows when you’re awake.”
“He knows when you’ve been bad or good,” Olivia continues.
“So be good, for goodness sake,” Ian pleads.
Olivia laughs, “Okay, Ian. I’ll try.”
Ethan spends the morning with his nose to the grindstone at Aurora Technologies. His boss has set down some very difficult targets, but he’s determined not to fail.
“Message J.P. and tell him I want him to nail down the business plans and forecasts by the end of the week.”
John nods and picks up his phone.
“Have you heard from Olivia?” Ethan asks concerned.
“Not this morning, no. Is everything okay?”
“I suppose so. She was supposed to message me when she got to work.”
John nods and smiles. “So you pissed her off and she’s not talking to you.”
“No. Well… maybe.” Ethan dials her number but it goes straight to voicemail. “You call her and see if she answers.”
“I just did, it went straight to voicemail, as well. If she’s screening your calls, she’s not going to answer mine.”
“She can be the most frustrating woman some times.”
“I’m sure she’s fine. Let it go. We need to finish these reports.”
Hours pass and Ethan’s phone vibrates. “It’s about time.” He looks at his watch and then scowls at the name on the display. “Jessica?”
“Hi, Ethan.”
“Is everything okay?”
“I just wanted to say…” There’s a long drawn out pause. “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what, Jess?” He narrows his eyes, concerned. “Jess?”
Alarmed, he looks at John. “She hung up. You don’t think she’s done something stupid, do you?”
Indivisible Souls: Book 3 of the Bound4Ireland Series Page 16