Chapter 22

Olivia

"Un-fucking-believable," I whispered and handed him the phone back. I wasn't good enough for the town hero years ago and wasn't good enough for the town dick now.

"Olivia." He reached over and squeezed my shoulder as I turned toward the window and pulled my legs into the seat with me.

"Leave me alone. Please." I pressed my chin to my arms and watched the darkness make way for the various lights of downtown Houston. Nostalgia rolled over me, and I wanted to see my mother. Maybe staying in the hotel with Caden wasn't a good idea. I could get a cab to take me over to momma’s or even call her and she would come.

"Guess what I got." His calm demeanor and soft tone forced me to look over at him.

I wasn't willing to cry a single tear for Luke Taylor. Fuck him for using me. I'd be packing up my shit and leaving him and his firm when I got back to New York. And then... I was leaving the Big Apple too.

"What did you get?"

He glanced over at me. "A bike."

"You trying to get healthy?" I didn't feel at all like talking, but the very fact that he had changed the subject and was trying left me with little to no choice.

He chuckled. "No, silly. I got a Harley. I'm taking you for a ride out to the prettier parts of New York when we get back."

"Maybe." I turned and watched other cars move by as my heart ached in my chest. "I hate him."

"I do too." He rubbed his hand over my arm. "I didn't tell you so that we could get back together."

"Why did you tell me?" I turned my head a little so I could watch him from the corner of my eye.

"Because you deserve to know. I would want to know."

"Would you?" I unbuckled and got out of the car with my shoes dangling from my finger as soon as we pulled up to the hotel.

"I would. Trusting the wrong person with your heart can lead to intense amounts of pain." He followed me into the elevator and stopped in front of me as I pressed my back to the bar behind me and forced myself to look up at him.

"What do you want from me, Caden? I'm glad we cleared up the past, but I'm not her anymore. I'm not sure who I am." I shrugged, feeling so incredibly empty all of a sudden. My glass house didn't sustain the rock that was launched at it. I could feel it shattering around me.

"I don't need you to be her. I need you to be you." The door opened, and he reached out and picked me up, carrying me like a newlywed bride.

"Put me down." I sunk down into his arms and rested my head on his chest. "Or don't actually."

He kissed the top of my head and stopped outside the door. "How about just for a minute?"

"Yeah, okay." I gripped his neck and slid down the front of his body. "Why am I not enough?"

Anger burned through me as tears filled my eyes.

"You are so much more than enough, and you know it. That bastard has no clue of what he has because you've tucked the real you behind the same icy cage that I've tucked myself in." He reached around me and opened the door. "Come in here and we can share a bottle of wine and scream 'fuck the world' like we used to when we were kids."

I walked in numbly behind him before stopping at the couch and turning over my shoulder to have him watching me.

"Why do you still love me?"

"Why do you not love me anymore?" He moved up behind me and reached up, tugging the zipper to my dress down slowly.

I closed my eyes and let out a soft sigh as his finger pushed the soft silk off my shoulders, letting it hit the ground beneath us.

"Who says I don't?" I turned and reached up to work on his shirt, unbuttoning it as he reached out and brushed his fingers down my stomach and over my hips.

"You sure you want this?" He pulled me in tight as I pushed his shirt over the thick muscles of his shoulders and leaned in to kiss his tattoo.

"I can't remember ever wanting anything more." I groaned as his hands slid over the curve of my ass and gripped tightly.

"Jump and let me carry you to the bedroom." He held on tightly as I did as he asked and wrapped my legs around him. "This is fucking..."

"No." I rolled my hips and ground against his erection. I wanted his slacks off, but it would have to wait. "I wanna fuck."

"It's not the same with you, Olivia. It can't be." He pulled me down for a long kiss that left me dizzy with need. He slipped his hand into my panties and cupped my ass again only to dive a little lower and brush his finger over my wetness.

"I just want us to be together. Even if tomorrow ends it." I moaned and tightened my arms around his neck. "Just tonight at least."

"Stop talking like that. We have so much to-"

"Tonight." I pressed my lips to his and tightened my thighs around him as he laid me back on the bed.

"Whatever you want. I'm all yours." He tugged my panties over my hips and chucked them behind him before dragging his eyes up to mine. "Take your bra off. I wanna touch every part of you, taste every inch."

I groaned again and worked on my bra before tossing it aside and laying back.

His strong hands roamed over my body, squeezing and tugging, gripping and scratching as he moved onto his knees near the bottom of the bed. "I've wanted to do this more than I care to ever admit.”

"Then do it. Do anything you want."

"I wanna do whatever you want tonight." He ran his tongue up the center of me, lapping a few times as the world melted around me. He was the only man I'd ever wanted between my legs. To have him there again stirred up too many emotions.

"Fuck me," I whispered and lifted my legs as he worked me far better than anyone I'd been with before. I couldn't help but glance down at him to see if he was enjoying himself. The soft grunts leaving him combined with the expression of ecstasy on his face as he licked and sucked at my skin drove a spike of carnality through my center.

"So close," I whispered and arched my hips.

"Here baby. Come for me." He pressed two fingers deep inside of me and sucked my clit into his mouth as his tongue rolled over it faster and faster.

I screamed his name as I came up off the bed and gripped the sheets. He wouldn't stop, and the orgasm turned into two as I shook beneath him.

"Please. Caden. Stop." I moved up on the bed, breaking the seal of his mouth on my skin.

"I want more." He stood up and licked his lips. "You taste so fucking good. I knew you would."

"No more." I rolled onto my side and panted as I tried to move past how hard it was to keep from crying during the event. As much as I wanted him, I was scared like hell to let myself love him again - truly, unabashed love. The kind that didn't need to hide for protection, but could scream from the rooftops.

He tugged off his slacks and looked around. "Shit. I don't have a condom."

"I'll just suck then." I moved up to my hands and knees and crawled toward him.

"Fuck no. I wanna feel you wrapped around me, Olivia. I need to, baby. Let me go get some." He gripped my shoulder and pulled me up to press his chest against mine as he stood at the edge of the bed. "Just wait five minutes and I'll be back."

"No. I want you now." I licked at his mouth and slid my hands into his briefs. His ass was perfect, squeezable to the point of me wanting to put my teeth on it just to leave a few marks.

"I'll be careful. I'll pull out." He leaned down and kissed me roughly a few times.

"I trust you." And I did. No one else in my life would have been given the opportunity. But I trusted him completely, though it was almost unmerited.

"You sure?" He tugged at his underwear and moved back, pulling them off and standing back up with worry on his face.

"My purse." I got up and stopped in front of him, taking him in. The thick muscles of his stomach and chest were only more accentuated as if the gym had become a second home. He had the type of body I would find myself worshiping if I wasn't careful.

I slid my hand down his shaft, gripping him tightly and pressing my chest against his as I licked at his mouth. "This has gotten a lot fucking bigger."

"Wait until you see what it can do." He gripped the back of my head and kissed me hard as I stroked him again.

Excitement raced through me at how good it was going to feel to lose myself on top of him, beneath him, bent over for him.

"So hot," I whispered and glanced down again.

He gripped my chin. "Get the condom. Now."