A Beautiful Mess (17 page)

“Ouch, Miss Adler. Using my words against me,” he said in mock shock.

“I know. How very unfair of me, isn’t it. I should be punished.” She laughed and looked into his eyes. They immediately became hooded as desire flooded through them, making her entire body tingle. Alexander could think of some ways to punish her and they would both enjoy every minute of it.

“Okay. I’ll spend the night.” His heart warmed when he saw Olivia smile at his words. “I’d do anything to keep that smile on your face.”

She turned to unlock the door. “Just knowing you’re in the world makes me smile.”

He pulled her into an embrace and sang a line from Elton John’s
Your Song
in her ear. Her eyes glossed over, his voice and those lyrics stirring a memory that lay deep within her subconscious. She turned to get away from Alexander so that she could clear her foggy head. She stumbled across the doorframe, tripping on her own feet and falling to the ground, most likely due to all the alcohol she had consumed throughout the evening.

“Are you okay, Olivia?” She turned to look at Alexander who stood in the doorframe, looking down on her as she sat on the hardwood floor.

She laughed. “I’m drunk.” All thoughts of that memory were now gone.

“We need to get you in bed before you do any more damage to that beautiful body of yours.” He closed the door and locked it. “Just to remind you, my company will be here tomorrow to install your security system.”

“Oh, I love it when you talk dirty to me.” She giggled again. She couldn’t stop.

He bent down and picked her up in his arms. “Where is your bedroom?”

Olivia leaned into his chest, enjoying the closeness of him. “Up the stairs. First door on the left.” She was suddenly getting sleepy. He carried her up the stairs into her bedroom and gently placed her on the bed. She was so tired that she didn’t think she could even muster the strength to find something to sleep in.

“Where are your pajamas?”

“Top drawer,” Olivia mumbled, raising her arm to point in the direction of the dresser.

He opened the top drawer. “Now, this is hot, but if you wear this, I don’t know how much sleeping you’ll do.” He winked as he held up a little black sleep slip. Olivia smiled.

He continued rummaging through her pajama drawer and found a black tank top with pink boy shorts. He walked over to the bed and helped her change into her pajamas, steadying her as she stood and lifting her shirt over her head.

“Like what you see, Mr. Burnham?” Olivia asked, raising an eyebrow as he gawked at the pink lace bra she had on underneath her shirt.

His eyes bore into her and his breathing became erratic when she slowly removed her bra, letting it drop to the ground.

“Fuck…” he exhaled, staring at her perfect breasts.

Olivia grabbed his hand, pulling him closer to her, and pressed it against her breast. He began to knead, tugging gently on her nipple. Olivia threw her head back, moaning, as Alexander leaned down, burying his head in her neck. He groaned loudly before reaching on the bed behind him and grabbing the tank top he had found for her to sleep in.

“Please, you need to put this on, Olivia,” he pled softly, handing her the top. “I want you so fucking bad right now, but you’re drunk and I don’t want our first time to be like this.” He leaned down and trailed feather kisses against her neck. “I want you to remember every single moment that I’m inside you, filling you,” he whispered, his warm breath against her skin sending waves of desire throughout Olivia’s body. “Okay?”

Olivia remained speechless, shocked at his words. She loved how sensual and sweet he could be. She simply nodded as Alexander lowered the tank top over her head, helping her balance as she finished getting ready for bed. After helping her out of her jeans, he laid her down in her bed before stepping back to take off his clothes.

Olivia eyed him as he slowly unbuttoned his blue button-down shirt, keeping his eyes connected with hers. She didn’t want to look away from his eyes but couldn’t help glancing down at his body when he slipped off his shirt. She had been wanting to see what he looked like with no shirt on since the night they met and she was not disappointed. His wide shoulders led down to a well defined chest and perfect wash-board abs. Olivia wondered how much he worked out to maintain that physique. Then she noticed a faint trail of dark hair leading from his belly button down into his pants. Alexander’s hands followed Olivia’s eyes as he unbuttoned his pants, removing them and his socks quickly. He stood in front of her, wearing only a pair of boxer briefs. Olivia couldn’t believe how lucky she was to share a bed with a man as beautiful as Alexander. She desperately wanted to see where that trail of hair led to, but knew it would have to wait. She was exhausted.

Alexander crawled into bed next to her after shutting off the lights. He pulled her to him, her back to his front. She could feel how turned on he was. “Sleep well, Love. I’ll see you in my dreams,” he said, his closeness causing her hair follicles to stand on end. Olivia drifted off to sleep, content to have a man sleeping next to her for the first time in her life.

O
LIVIA
sat in the back of her parents’ car. She clutched Mr. Bear in her little arms. She knew what was going to happen. She knew her dad would tell her he loved her and then a car would slam into them from behind, forcing their car through a guardrail and then into a tree.

The green-eyed boy came to save her, just like he had been doing all week in her dreams. He placed her in a different car, telling her nothing bad would happen to her again. Then she saw a man dressed all in black come up to the boy and smash his head with the handle of the gun he was holding in his hand. The green-eyed boy stared at her and then fell to the ground
.

“NOOOOOOO!” Olivia woke up screaming, covered in sweat.

The lights snapped on immediately as Alexander came rushing back to the bed, cradling her in his arms. “Olivia, Love. What is it?”

Her body convulsed from the aftereffects of her dream. Why was that dream becoming more and more vivid every day? She didn’t understand it.

“I’m sorry, Alexander. It was just a stupid dream,” Olivia trembled as he held her close, comforting her.

“Would you like a water?” he asked quietly.

“Yes, please.”

He planted a delicate kiss on her forehead before leaving the bedroom in search of water.

Olivia was so angry with herself for asking Alexander to stay over. She hated that he had seen her freak out after having a nightmare. That was not the way to win a guy’s heart.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Alexander asked when he returned with a bottle of water, sitting next to Olivia on the bed and wrapping his arms around her.

“It’s nothing.” She brought the bottle to her mouth, which proved difficult due to her shaking hand.

“Olivia, it is clearly not nothing. You’re shaking.” He looked at her, concern covering his face.

“I know. It’s just a dream I’ve been having ever since I can remember. It’s about my parents’ death. I still can’t believe it will be twenty-one years this Friday…”

Alexander’s face went pale. Olivia had been dreaming about the crash. If she was able to dream about the accident, maybe she was able to remember more than she had let on.

“What’s wrong?” Olivia asked. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, sorry. I just, well… I’m sorry you lost your parents.” He just couldn’t bring himself to tell her. Not yet. It was still too soon. He turned to look at Olivia. “What happens in the dream? If you don’t mind telling me.” He needed to know if she had dreamt about him.

“I was at our beach house and my mama was rushing me, wanting to leave quickly for some reason. I don’t think my mama felt well because she was asleep in the car. We sped through town before getting on the interstate. Finally, my father calmed down when we were far away from the beach house. I was in the back seat of the car holding Mr. Bear.” She smiled. “Mr. Bear was my favorite stuffed animal growing up. That much I can remember about my childhood.”

Alexander knew that bear well. Very well.

“My father looked back at me and told me how much he loved me, how much they both did. Out of nowhere, another car crashed into us from behind, pushing our car through a guardrail and into a tree. Usually that was where my dream would end, but recently it’s been different.”

Alexander remembered pulling up behind the DeLuca’s crashed car. He and his father had been following them when they saw a large black SUV pull out of a highway turnout and careen toward their car, pushing it over the side of the freeway. When his father saw the car, he thought they were dead. No one could have survived that crash. But Alexander saw movement in the back seat. He remembered rushing toward the car, searching for his best friend.

“How so?” Alexander asked, returning to the present.

“Well, last week, a little boy was in the dream and he’s been there every night since. And then I saw my uncle with a scared look on his face when he was trying to help my mama.”

“What was your uncle’s name?” Alexander asked quietly, almost as if he didn’t want to know the answer.

“Charles. Charles Wright.” She looked at Alexander.

Now he knew that his father had used one of his alternate identities in order to protect this girl. He had found the paperwork on that alias when he was going through some of his father’s things after his death. His father’s real name was Thomas.

“What was the boy doing in the dream? Are you okay talking about it?” he asked, grasping her hand in his.

“Yes. I’m fine.” She took a deep breath before continuing her story. “He pulled me out of the car. He ran me over to another car telling me that he would always protect me from then on. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a man dressed in black knocked him out with the butt of his gun. That’s when I woke up.”

Alexander started to rub the back of his head almost in the same place where the boy had been hit in the dream, recalling that moment like it was yesterday. He remembered the darkness, knowing that he could no longer protect his little Olivia.

Alexander got up and went to turn out the light. Climbing back into bed, he pulled Olivia close. “Go to sleep, angel, and forget about that dream. It was just a dream, like you said.” He didn’t sound too convinced. He knew it wasn’t a dream. But he didn’t want Olivia to know that. Not yet. Not until he had all the answers. Alexander had a feeling that he already had the answers in his possession, but he had just been too selfish to look.

~~~~~~~~~~

The early morning sun awoke Olivia as it began to seep into her bedroom. She looked at the clock on her nightstand and saw that it was not yet six in the morning. It had only been a few hours since she woke up screaming, waking Alexander. She rolled over, hoping to snuggle with him, but he wasn’t there. Olivia got out of bed and went downstairs, wondering if he was still in her house or if he left because he saw how clearly unstable she really was.

To her surprise, upon entering her living room, she saw Alexander sitting on the couch in his boxer briefs, a perplexed look on his face as he held an envelope in his hands.

“What’s that?” Olivia asked. He looked up quickly, a hard look on his face that immediately softened when he took in Olivia’s frame standing in the doorway.

“Hello, Love. I hope I didn’t wake you.” He smiled.

“No. You didn’t,” Olivia answered sleepily as she yawned. “The sun woke me up. I rolled over and you weren’t there.” Her face had a disappointed look on it. Alexander made a mental note of how beautiful she looked first thing in the morning, her hair slightly disheveled, rubbing her eyes.

Olivia walked over to the couch where Alexander sat with his elbows on his legs, holding the letter with both hands. Sitting down next to him, she noticed a brown leather messenger bag had somehow arrived during the night. He had files spread over the coffee table along with a nice journal with the year embossed on it in gold.
He keeps a journal
, she thought to herself. It warmed Olivia’s heart that he felt comfortable enough with her to make himself at home in her house.

“Is that
the
letter?” Olivia recalled Alexander mentioning a letter his father wrote him before he died that he still hadn’t opened.

“Yes, it is.” He looked conflicted.

“What is it you’re afraid of?” She was curious.

“I guess I’m afraid of what it says. I have a feeling I know what’s in that letter. I don’t know if I want my suspicions confirmed. That would mean that I had been letting my father down since he died. I guess I’m hoping to remain blissfully ignorant.” He laughed.

“Well, you need to do what you think is best. If you need more time, take it. If reading this letter will re-open old wounds, you’re better off being prepared to deal with that.” Olivia smiled.

He wanted to scream, “
It could mean that I’ve been letting you down! It could mean that I would have found you years ago! I could have saved you from your pain!!
”
But he didn’t. He just stared ahead, relishing in the closeness of Olivia.

“Come back to bed.” She stood up and extended her hand to him. He placed the letter on the coffee table before taking her small hand in his.

They crawled back into the bed, a nice glow in the room from the sunlight creeping in. Alexander wrapped his arms around Olivia, enjoying the feel of her soft skin. She turned toward him, noticing he had a distant expression on his face. He was clearly still thinking about that letter. She made it her mission that morning to help him take his mind off it.

Smiling, Olivia pushed Alexander on his back, pinning him down with her legs on either side of him. His eyes flung wide open for a moment before becoming dark with desire. He placed his hands just below her hip bones, feeling her muscular legs as she sat on top of him, unable to hide his erection. Leaning down, she brushed her lips softly along his jaw line. He moaned and a smile spread across Olivia’s face, knowing that she made him do that.