Olivia’s POV:He’s driving, strangely closed off, and I wonder if he’s contemplating his reactions. He automatically places his hand in my lap, moving to curve around my thigh, which means his fingers end up nestled between my legs sensually, just above my knee while keeping his eyes on the road. I look down at the way his hand is connected to my naked skin, in a gesture that I wouldn’t expect from him, more something I would expect to see Eli do to Lea and glance his way. He’s looking out the window, completely oblivious, and I don’t know whether to relax and accept this as innocent or enjoy the tingles and heat his possessive hold is giving me. Torn that this might be deliberate and disappointed he didn’t aim higher. It’s another little clue that his head is not thinking platonic where I’m concerned tonight, and I wonder if this is going to go anywhere, with a sense of excited nerves. I don’t want to get my hopes up, but he’s giving me different vibes tonight.I give thanks to my ch
Olivia’s POV:The club was private and even if Brandon and I work in the same industry, this is my first time in a club like this. Everyone reeked of money. We find his group fast and enveloped into handshakes and hugs, and I even recognize a couple of familiar faces of people I have met through business with over the years. As we reacquaint, I’m passed from person to person, and Brandon is caught in the throes of welcomes and backslaps. He’s always been a sociable and friendly guy.The club is pretty cool and it’s obvious the door fee is higher than most places by the type of people milling around. It screams trendy, upmarket, and stinks of money. I’m surprised that he comes here. I know they usually opt for classier places, but normally he likes more middle-ground clubs. Affordable for his friends who are not born into money, and this is not one of those. Knowing him, he probably paid the door and bar tab in advance for whoever’s birthday this is. That’s what he’s like.“You look am
Olivia’s POV:I regret pushing her. She was not joking. Alice cannot dance; it’s so bad, it’s painful, but she seems to embrace it like a champ, and we end up giggling ridiculously. I try showing her how to shimmy, but she just can’t, how to sexy wiggle, which is worse than bad, and even for the life of me, I try showing her how to sway side to side and fake a dance, but every attempt is just hopeless.I have never known a woman have such little fluidity to her movements as her, and she seems so prim and proper out there that I have to rescue her before this starts to become embarrassing. I shake my head when it’s clear the new faster beat to the next song is beyond her capabilities and drag her back to the bar above, back into the fold of Brandon’s friends in a happier mood, strangely light and forgetting everything else for a minute.When we get back up the stairs, I notice he’s standing at the bank of windows with Ego and a couple of other men. They’ve been watching the floor below
Brandon’s POV:Now that they we out of Olivia’s earshot and secluded from Ego and my other friends, I showed her I’m not finding her impromptu plans. She sat there looking so fragile and delicate. Even her choice of clothing was very un-Alice. When Olivia asked her to dance, she pretended to have two left legs with awful coordination when she’s a good dancer.Alice studied ballet until she was in middle school and dance was her strongest points. I told Olivia I’d find her as soon as I’m done talking to Alice and I intend to do that. I had no idea she’s going to ruin this night for me. Sometimes, I wish I don’t have to tell her everything.I sat in front her, it annoys me that she’s still in character. “Drop it, Alice, it’s just me now.”I saw her check if Olivia was still there before she exhaled and the over confident Alice I know came into view. “I came here to help you.”“Help me, with what?”“You’re too slow. The past few days are dragging, honey. We need to up the ante.” She urge
Olivia’s POV:“Liv?” His face softens, his jaw slackens, his pupils dilate, and then he’s all over me. Hands around my face and throat, pulling me nose to nose and breathing against me like he has lost all control. That broad chest heaving with the effort. “Tell me you’re okay; tell me he didn’t hurt you.”He seems overwhelmed, emotions going crazy as he keeps pulling my face to his, too close for this to be innocent. His forehead against mine, his hands in my hair and around my throat gently, checking me for wounds, checking that I’m breathing. He’s uncontrolled, losing all normal restraint, and still wired. It’s a fight to try and rein him in, hands on me and how he keeps bringing my mouth close to his to share air, his nose pressed into my face as though he needs my face against his to calm down. His hands bury themselves in the underside of my hair over my ears, crouching slightly, so I’m between his thighs. Pelvis to pelvis, so he’s at my height as he assures himself that I’m no
Olivia’s POV:I tie the robe around me when I’m dry, the shower has made me feel a hundred times better, and I throw everything I was wearing in the bathroom trash can. Underwear, shoes, and all. I never want to lay eyes on any of it again, and if I didn’t think it would set off all fire detectors and cause a huge scene, then I would burn it all. The thought of that creep in the club all over it makes me want to gag.The idea of being friends with Millie was wrong on all levels.I venture out into the living area slowly on shaky legs. I need a glass of water, then I’m going to bed to forget this night ever happened, and I’ll deal with the emotional fallout tomorrow. I stop short when I spot Brandon sitting on the couch, nursing a coffee, still dressed, seemingly a lot more normal and sober but in complete torment. He looks wrecked, more with it, and just emotional for once. I figured he would have gone to bed by now and not be still sitting in the low lights.“I thought we agreed to g
Olivia’s POV:My robe slides as his hand graze my collarbone and pushes it from my shoulder, exposing more than just my upper neck. I gasp, not even fazed that he’s stripping me to be nakedly on show. Urging him to keep going as his fingers slowly trail down over the curve of my breast. Igniting a sensual fire of longing between my thighs that makes me vibrate in need.“Damn it, Olivia. You’re so beautiful in every way. So fucking perfect.” He breathes against me, only parting enough to speak into my mouth, and then he captures my lips again, sucking and kissing me like he has no control.The robe slides further down my back, down my arms to my elbows as one of his hands moves behind my neck, under my hair at the back, to pull me in harder to his probing mouth. His fingers gently graze downwards across my naked skin as though tracing my spine lightly, igniting a million butterflies and goosebumps with his caress. My body missed this. I’ve been longing for this!My breath quickens, war
Olivia’s POV:It’s almost dawn, and I’m lying on my bed. I’ve barely slept, waiting for him to return, with a million thoughts running through my brain, tormenting me into oblivion. Thankfully, his phone is here, not smashed, despite hitting a marble floor. At some point, I regained enough sense to wander over and pick his things up, like a mute zombie trying to find something to do besides stare at a closed elevator. I left them on the kitchen counter. I paced like crazy, cried myself sick with heartbreak, disappointed in myself, then ended up in here hoping to try and sleep.I’m wretched and anxious, and I keep seeing that ragged, torn look on her face as though I had just slayed her entire family with a dirty spoon right before her eyes. I keep thinking about how he ran away and after her and the excruciating pain that causes me. To ponder what is even happening anymore. He chose to leave when the choice was thrown in his lap, and his instincts took over. His actions told me loud
Olivia’s POV:“Brandon!” The female voice startled us both and we turned to the direction where it came from.It was Alice. Standing in the open elevator. The woman always knows when to ruin a moment. For a moment, the idea of banning her from the hotel sounded like a good idea. For a bestie, she’s on Brandon’s a** most of the time. If she keeps this up, I might perform a cephalocaudal assessment on him every time we are together just to be sure she didn’t GPS tag him.I stare at Brandon, the man who just wholeheartedly professed his love for me and asked for one more chance to set things straight---like me, he was shocked to see her too. He looks back at me and shrugs his shoulder a little to let me know that he had no idea why his best friend popped in the middle of a heartfelt, almost life changing conversation.“A-alice?” He croaked. “W-what are you doing here?”Her attention was focused on him, to Alice I was nonexistent. “I need you…my mom…s-she had a terrible accident…” Alice b
Olivia’s POV:“Why would I do that?”“I want you. That’s all there is to it. I want to show you that you don’t have to fear me and maybe prove you can trust me.” He gets straight to the point, lifting my hand into his and slides his fingers between mine to hold me tenderly. I stare at our entwined digits, feeling his heat flow into my cold, smaller one and gaze at it, disconnected. The space around me is surreal, as though I’m dreaming. I should lie down. I’m verging on passing out at this rate.“I didn’t know what love was, maybe I did but I was in denial. What was staring me in the face.It's softening me to him a little. Aware that I’m weakening, I slide my hand away quickly to pull myself together. I’m not that feeble or stupid. I move away to get some breathing space, my body giving in from holding itself up. I exhale heavily. So many emotions are flooding me, and I’m exhausted. It’s too early for this, and I’ve had an emotional few hours prior. This all feels surreal and crazy
Olivia’s POV:He sounds how I feel. Like he knows that this is pointless, and the past is more than can be overcome. I just wish he could make me understand more. My instincts tell me that he’s not completely honest with me and that’s what I want to know.“So, what changed?” My voice cracks. I promised I wouldn’t but here I am.“I can’t lose you…that’s what I know, Liv.”His voice is wracked with strained emotion. I never knew a sentence could rip my heart to shreds, but that one does. Choking me with a lump in my throat, so I have to swallow hard and breathe through another sob. He impulsively reaches one hand towards me, retracts and shoves them both in his pockets as though he assumes it will make him less likely to invade my space. He shuffles on his feet uncomfortably, looking ashen, and I start to go numb as my body takes over to shield me from hurt. Tears are rolling down my face, but all that goes with them dulls. I’m so exhausted.“If that’s true, then why did you leave me th
Olivia’s POV:The hotel’s top floor was a presidential suite. The most expensive suite in the hotel and it’s reserved for a Moroccan prince two days from today. While my faith to my hotel staff was strong---I make it a point to personally inspect premium rooms. Before he showed up in my office, it was already in my to-do lists. Maybe that’s why I chose to flee here.If he isn’t lying, if he means what he says, it explains a lot from the past few weeks about his change. I don’t understand why, though. Nothing happened that made him suddenly grow feelings for me. I left, he found me; we carried on. Nothing at all to sway how he saw me. I had to support my body from falling, I was so confused I didn’t hear the elevator open again.“You just can’t take a hint, do you?” I snarled.“I’m not good at this.” He blurts it out in an almost painful rush of words as I glance at him again. That broad set of shoulders on that powerfully large body sagging slightly, the drop of his chin as he looks
Olivia’s POV:“Liv, I love you.”I let out a painful laughter. At this point, I no longer care what people are going to say. “I’m supposed to believe you now because you decided to stop playing with my emotions? Am I supposed to swoon at your feet and forget it all because … Oh, my Lord … Brandon Pembroke actually loves me?” I spit it at him, tears clouding my vision from the sheer force of everything coming out. Voice breaking, but I don’t care. He has me stripped naked and raw in all my painful glory, and now he can suffer the consequences of that.It’s nothing but a game to him, I don’t need a book to tell me that. I repeat this to myself like a mantra and try to block out how his eyes are devouring me.“It wasn’t like that. It was … complicated.” He looks around him uncomfortably, uneasy at his lack of control of the outcomes, but I don’t care. I want him to feel awkward and uneasy. He has no clue what it’s like not to be the man moving the chess pieces. The one in control. It’s n
Olivia’s POV:“You lying son of a b*tch.” I hate him for even trying.“I’m not lying. Why do you think I have spent weeks trying to show you that things are different? I knew you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. I knew this would be the reaction if I came out and said it. I needed you to have a reason to believe me first, so I had to prove it to you. I knew you would run otherwise because you had no reason to trust me.”He moves towards me suddenly, but I recoil and sink slightly into my weak position, shifting to the corner of the lift in a half-crouched fetal position. Still so afraid of this man’s ability. He pauses, seeing my apparent fear as it envelops me, and holds still. Raising his palms a little to indicate he won’t come any closer, he has to grab the door as it starts to close again quickly. Keeping his hands locked firmly on the sides of this box-like prison.I’m no fool. I’m vulnerable and unable to hold my own against him. He proved that so many times in the past. He d
Olivia’s POV:I thought I’d feel better after getting my revenge. I do not. He refused to leave my office. He was standing there for what seemed an eternity. So, I have to leave. I rose from my chair and left my office in haste. My destination? The top floor. It’s empty now.“Where are you going?”“What is it to you?”“I’m not done talking to you.”“Well, I am!” I shouted as I made my way to the elevator, ignoring guests and hotel staff throwing suspicious glances our way.The elevator is just a few feet away. The universe is in my favor because it’s empty. Only a few steps left. Three steps, two, one. Close. Wait. It’s supposed to close! “What?” Everything in me halts to some weird frozen moment, I know it was him.Brandon is standing in the there facing me while he holds the doors wide, only feet apart and so close to escaping. My body stills. I openly stare at him in complete shock. Brain stuttering on his words and unable to react whilst in a state of disbelief.“Liv, I love you.
Brandon’s POV:Two days have passed by since I left Olivia in that devastating scenario. I took the time off work because I couldn’t bear to see her. When I arrived at my office, all my stuff were gone. As if no one existed in that room. Not a speck, not a pin. It seemed brand new, repainted judging from the fresh white walls. My office walls used to be gray.“Joe?” I called for my assistant who was so punctual, he’s ten minutes early before employees clock in. His desk was empty. “Where’s Joe? What happened to my office?”A hotel employee who was passing by approached me. Her eyes gleamed with amusement. Obviously, there’s something she knows that I do not. “Hi, what are you doing here sir?”“W-what am I doing here?” I sputtered out of disbelief. “I work here! Now, I want to know where my assistant is and what happened to my office?”I looked around, assuming this was a prank but my guts tell me something is going down. I secretly hate myself for preferring to work at home than the o
Olivia’s POV:It’s almost dawn, and I’m lying on my bed. I’ve barely slept, waiting for him to return, with a million thoughts running through my brain, tormenting me into oblivion. Thankfully, his phone is here, not smashed, despite hitting a marble floor. At some point, I regained enough sense to wander over and pick his things up, like a mute zombie trying to find something to do besides stare at a closed elevator. I left them on the kitchen counter. I paced like crazy, cried myself sick with heartbreak, disappointed in myself, then ended up in here hoping to try and sleep.I’m wretched and anxious, and I keep seeing that ragged, torn look on her face as though I had just slayed her entire family with a dirty spoon right before her eyes. I keep thinking about how he ran away and after her and the excruciating pain that causes me. To ponder what is even happening anymore. He chose to leave when the choice was thrown in his lap, and his instincts took over. His actions told me loud