Chapter Nineteen

Cormac

I was back at the bar where Olive was singing the previous night. I didn’t want to be around my brother or our friends tonight either. I just wanted to drink and forget, although the place I’d chosen to try and forget Olive was reminding me of her even more. This was a bad idea.

I sat in the darkness at a small table in the back of the room. There was live music at the place again, and I tried to concentrate on the music. However, it was only Olive’s voice that kept playing in my head. The words of her song had resonated with me. I too wished that we could meet in a different life to play out our love story. I wished that she’d stayed, given me a chance to bring Pierce around.

I was convinced that in time, Pierce would have seen that I had no intention of hurting his sister, that I meant every word I’d said to him. But it was too late now. Olive was gone and there was no way for me to find her. Pierce had won, and in my anger and disappointment, I resolved to never see his face again.

I was on my third drink when I noticed her weaving through the crowd and walking towards me. She was a tall, blonde, full-figured woman, wearing a glittering silvery dress. Instinctively, my eyes drifted over her body, her long legs, and the way her ass moved in that dress. When I looked at her face and was reminded that she wasn’t Olive, I looked away from her and back at my drink.

She wasn’t Olive. Nobody else was Olive, and every woman I laid my eyes on now reminded me of her. It made my heart sick just thinking about her. How I was never going to experience feeling as weak or that helpless around another woman again. I hadn’t even gotten the chance to get to know her before she was gone from my life.

“You shouldn’t be drinking alone,” a voice said, and I snapped my head up to look at the woman. She’d walked over to me, and I didn’t know why. I’d made no invitation—I probably looked like a complete mess with my one-day-old stubble, tousled hair, and a suit that looked crumpled now.

“Why not?” I blurted out, feeling a little dazed and confused. The woman smiled and then pulled out a chair beside me and sat down. She was leaning far enough toward me for my gaze to drift momentarily to her full cleavage. She was gorgeous—of course she was, but tonight, I wasn’t interested. I couldn’t remember the last time I wasn’t interested in a woman who was so openly throwing herself at me.

“Because you look lonely and now I have questions,” the girl purred seductively, and I clenched my jaws before I shot back the remaining whisky in my glass.

“I know who you are. You’re Rhett Larkin’s brother, Cormac?” she suggested, and when I looked back at her, her blue eyes were glittering with excitement. Everyone in this city knew the C Scape men by now.

“That’s me,” I replied and held up a finger at the bartender for a repeat of my drink. The woman was following me with her eyes.

“Word on the street is that Cormac Larkin is never lonely,” she continued, and I breathed in deeply.

“Well, it’s your lucky day, then,” I said and looked over at the stage, imagining Olive there instead of the band that was performing.

“I think it is,” I heard the woman say, and then I felt her hand on my arm. She was trailing her long fingers along my shirt, and on any other night, that would have been all it took to get me going. Tonight, I pulled my arm away from her.

“I don’t know what you want,” I snapped at her, but she didn’t seem offended. She continued smiling and threw some of her luscious blonde hair over her shoulders. She had slender delicate shoulders, just the kind I would have liked to sink my teeth into. I couldn’t even picture her naked anymore, because every time I allowed my mind to wander, it settled on Olive’s face.

“I want to make you feel less lonely tonight, Cormac Larkin,” she suggested, then laughed at her own suggestion. The bartender brought me my next drink, and I handed him cash before I took a large sip.

I toyed with the glass of whisky while I could sense the woman still looking at me.

“Oh c’mon, don’t be such a buzzkill, Cormac. I’ve heard how much you like to party, and I like to party as well. In fact, I came here tonight hoping that I might bump into you,” she continued, tugging at my arm.

I fixed my eyes on her. She had a slim pale face, bright red lipstick, and a long delicate neck. She, the woman whose name I didn’t know yet, was definitely beautiful, and if a beautiful young thing like her couldn’t help me forget Olive, what else could?

“What do you say? You want to get out of here? Get a drink somewhere else more quiet?” she said, and I stared at her.

It would be an easy fix, for tonight at least. Being with her would help me get through tonight at the very least. And tomorrow, I could deal with the memory of Olive in a different way.

“Cormac?” she said. I blinked at her blindly.

“What did you say your name was?” I asked.She smiled at me, pleased at my response.

“Selina. My name is Selina, and I can assure you that we’ll have a lot of fun together,” she declared.