is pinned on top, and it trembles madly as she shakes her head. “You’re going to get yourself arrested!”
“I’m sorry,” I deadpan.
“That is the weakest apology I’ve ever heard.”
“I had to do it. The lousy prick won’t notice it’s gone. He’s in jail for the night.”
Swearing to herself, she opens the passenger door and slides inside. Then she twists her torso around, doing such a great impression of a pissed off wife that I have to call her out on it.
“Is this something you’re doing because you feel emasculated and you’re trying to compensate?”
“He shut me down, Olivia. I can’t let that go.”
“He’s in jail!”
“Only for one night. And you know the charges will be dropped.” She doesn’t understand how much the place means to me. “I needed to do this.”
“What are the neighbors going to think when they see you driving his car?”
“They’ll probably berate me for not stealing it sooner.”
She sits back into her seat, shaking her head. Then I put the car into reverse and glide out of the driveway.
“What exactly are you planning to do? Take a joy ride?”
I smile to myself. “We’re going to christen Mark’s new car.”
Her eyes narrow at me. “Oh God.”
“I’m not returning it until we’ve fucked inside it in every imaginable position.” I reach over, grabbing her thigh, and then slowly inch my way up.
Her nails dig into the back of my hand. “I am not going to be used for revenge.”
The car turns into the road leading up to the church. I drive past it, winding around the hill. “I’m not using you.”
“It sounds like you are.”
“Can’t you just accept that I want to fuck you in a nice car that just so happens to belong to your ex, who is trying to make our lives hell?”
A smile breaks her thin-lipped disapproval.
I stop over the hill that’s actually a hiking trail, and cut the engine, leaving only the lights in the car on. She sucks her bottom lip, cheeks stung red with the cold night. Olivia looks out at the sleeping town, the couple hundred or so twinkling lights.
“I’m worried.”
“I told you not to worry.”
“You just lost your job, and I’m on the verge of losing mine. I just can’t help but wonder if I’m making a huge mistake.” Her voice is tight.
I reach over, touching the back of her delicate neck as protectiveness rises inside me. Not just against Mark, but anyone who’d hurt her. It’s not something I thought I’d ever feel for a woman—ever again. And then I open my mouth to tell her what I’ve kept locked inside for years.
“I was engaged to someone, once.”
She turns her head, but I stare straight again.
“Her name was Kara. I was twenty-five, and I was in love. She was the kind of girl I thought I’d never end up with. High-maintenance. She needed a constant stream of gifts, jewelry, and trips to Mexico. Anything less made her feel…less. But I loved her, so I spent the money and worked my damn ass off to give her what she deserved. Everyone was going to fly out to meet Kara. I paid for the tickets.”
It burns a hole in my chest even now.
“And then my dad got sick—really sick. I flew here with Kara, right away, to help with the business, and she took one look at the place I grew up and her eyes got real wide. I don’t think she ever saw me for who I was: a mechanic from a small town. That’s when she realized I was never going to be a suit on Wall Street. Fuck, I was broke from busting my ass to pay for college and a demanding fiancée. She demanded to leave, knowing I’d be here for a year at least. I never saw her again.”
I look at her, searching for the same wide-eyed horror I saw in Kara when she stepped out the rental car and saw Fair Oaks for the first time.
“I know what I want, Olivia. Do you?”
She parts her lips, hesitating. Then she touches my thigh, drawing a tight breath as her fingers caress the outline of my cock. “I want you. Beyond that, I don’t know.”
I let out a gust of laughter as blood rapidly rushes to my groin. “I can’t believe this.”
She snatches her hand back. “What?”
“I’m trying to tell you a personal story, and you respond by grabbing my cock. That’s just typical city rudeness.”
“Oh my God,” she exclaims in a stage whisper. “Who’s the one