Love In Moments (Love Distilled #2) - Scarlett Cole Page 0,12

around his neck, his mouth plundered hers. Her legs wrapped around his waist as he slid his hands beneath her ass to hold her in place, to open her to him so he could finally and fully slide all the way inside her.

They came together in a maelstrom of movement, of friction, of excitement. Anders’s thrusts, with her encouragement, came faster and harder. He slammed home against her, sheathing himself as deeply as he could. His balls began to tighten, a line of pure energy slammed down his spine. Sweat formed between them.

“Oh, yeah, Olivia.”

“Don’t stop,” she gasped. “Please. Don’t stop, I’m so close.”

The shock in her voice was everything he needed to refocus. This was about her. Not him. This was about the beautiful, lush woman beneath him realizing she was worth every effort. He thought briefly about the lineup for the previous match, with the youngster from the minors anxious to take his place. But it wasn’t enough.

“Olivia,” he commanded. “Let go. Let it take us both.”

Her eyes opened and her gaze landed on him. The intensity in them was more than he could deal with. Her mouth opened into an O of surprise, as her body clenched and bucked against his. His name fell from her lips as she tightened around him, and he felt his own orgasm barrel through him.

And as he gained his breath, his face pressed against the warmth of her neck, he lamented that, like a well-played hockey game, their time was running out.

3

Olivia sat back in her office chair and wondered how the heck it was the middle of February already. It had been dark when she’d dragged her butt out of bed to get an early start on the day, and it was still dark now. The distillery was silent. Jake, her older brother and master distiller, hadn’t yet made it in to start the first run of the day. And she hadn’t heard the playful early morning chatter of Emerson, their company CEO and eldest sibling, and Connor, her partner who was currently acting as a catchall for distribution and supply chain while building his own consulting business; Olivia could hear them each day when they came up the stairs to the offices on the mezzanine that overlooked the copper stills.

How much had happened in the seven months since her father had died from a heart attack in the office down the hallway?

Her mother dying so long ago, when Olivia had been eleven, had left a mix of memories of a woman who used to love dancing in the kitchen and decorating for Christmas in mid-November. But their father’s death had been so visceral, it had felt as though a piece of herself had died. She missed the smell of his dark roast coffee, and the way he whistled to songs on the radio rather than sing along.

Then there had been what followed.

There was a saying about everyone getting their fifteen minutes of fame. But Olivia was adamant that an amendment should be made. Everyone would get their fifteen minutes, but it was fifty-fifty odds as to whether you got fame or infamy.

Hers had been infamy.

Hers had been the face of Dyer’s Gin Distillery that had taken the fall.

And while she loved Jake and Emerson, she hated that they had remained reasonably unscathed while she had been left bedridden.

In what world was it fair that an act of God, an uncontrollable summer storm, could be held so viciously against her. She looked at the online ratings for the distillery.

Yup. Still two stars.

That was the metric that she wanted to increase. It was the first thing that popped up when anyone searched for the distillery.

And it had been trashed by one particular groom.

Robert Harding.

He’d rallied people online to spam all the review sites about them with terrible comments. Vile, horrible things that weren’t true. Trolls had gotten involved. It had shifted from the distillery to her. Deeply personal and graphic things that had bled onto her personal accounts.

The thought of the man’s name made her shiver.

When her father had called her at two in the morning to tell her that the events hall had been devastated, her first thought had been Robert and Gina’s wedding. The hall had been completely set up. All the flower arrangements that had been made by Gina’s aunt were in place, given the building would be cool overnight. All the tables were set. All the wedding favors placed upon each individual setting. The place cards that