Bad to the Bone (Wicked Reads) (4 page)

“What do you want me to say, Liv? That I
can’t live without you? That I want to settle down?”

“No, I—” Her cheeks reddened. Then he watched
her face take on the façade of a woman taking charge of her life.
“I don’t want anything from you. Not now, not ever.”

He reached out to touch her cheek. He didn’t
want to hurt her, and he could see the hurt all over her.

She slapped his hand away. “Go.”

He stood for a long time staring at her,
wanting to give her what she wanted but knowing he didn’t have it
in him. He was broken inside. If she knew that, she wouldn’t want
him. He turned and walked out of her life.

Chapter Three

Olivia pressed her fingers to the bridge of
her nose, and closed her eyes. Her head pounded with each shrill
scream that echoed in her classroom like a cannonball blast. She
hadn’t been able to concentrate all day, and the kids took full
advantage of that fact.

She looked at her aide Sally and motioned for
her to take over. “I need to go home,” Olivia said as she grabbed
her purse and hurried from the classroom. Olivia nearly ran to her
car. Once inside, she sat for long minutes staring at the
dashboard. Her emotions were a jumble of contradictions. Vaden
spearheaded each and every one of them. Her yearning for him was
more than physical. Her chest ached. Her heart hurt more than her
libido. He was a drug and she, an unsuspecting junkie, was hooked
hard and fast. The hardest part was, she didn’t want to kick the
habit but knew she had no choice. Vaden had made it clear: he was
part of her past.

She rested her forehead on the steering wheel
and slowly banged it. Why did addictions feel so good when they
were so bad for you?

Sitting back, she exhaled, then turned the
key in the ignition and slowly drove home, wondering what the next
step in her life would be. She could quit her job and travel. There
was enough insurance money from Tommy’s premature death from a
brain hemorrhage to last her five lifetimes. She could start her
own business. Or maybe go back to school and get her law degree.
She’d secretly dreamed of being a shark prosecutor. Tommy had
laughed when she’d told him her secret, and he’d said she didn’t
have the temperament for it. So, she’d gone for a teaching
credential like he’d suggested and now hung out with six-year-olds
all day.

Her ire rose. She had a backbone. She was
smart. Maybe she
was
cut out to be a crackerjack prosecutor.
And maybe she’d find out.

As soon as she put the key into the door,
Olivia knew something was wrong. She pushed it open and swore up a
storm. From where she stood at the end of the small hallway, she
could see that her kitchen was a shambles. The rest of the house
probably was as well. She knew enough not to go inside. She closed
the door, got back into her car and called the cops.

“Olivia,” Detective Josiah Ames said, leading
her to a foldout chair in the garage. “With nothing missing, this
screams of an act of vengeance. Any idea who would do this?”

Olivia shivered. She had no clue. She looked
up at Jos and, despite the fact someone had trashed her house in a
fit of anger, she gave him her full attention. He had a Robert
Redford-in-his-heyday quality. That rugged, blond, Harvard look.
There was a time when Jos had made her feel like she was the only
girl on the planet. For a two-timing-son-of-a-bitch, he’d aged
well. He had the good grace to blush under her narrowed glare.
“Howz the wife and kid?” she asked a little more harshly than she
meant.

Josiah looked down at the floor, then
answered. “Ann and I have been separated for three years.” His dark
brown eyes rose to hers. “The divorce will be final next week.”

Served him right. “So much for knocking up
your fiancée’s best friend on prom night, then having to marry her,
huh?”

He had the grace to wince.

And she had the grace not to rub in what had
been the most humiliating and painful incident of her life. It had
been classic high school drama. Just two months before she was
going to marry her knight in shining armor, he’d fucked her best
friend. A wave of guilt washed across her conscience. Tommy had
been her rebound relationship. She’d married him to spite Josiah.
Tommy was no fool. He’d known, but loved her anyway. And for that,
she was grateful. Their love wasn’t one of those epic romances, but
it worked for them. Now Tommy was dead, Josiah was getting a
divorce, and the one man she wanted most couldn’t commit to a damn
doctor’s appointment much less a relationship.

Josiah touched her hand. “Liv,” he softly
said. With nothing left to lose, and her anger suddenly gone,
Olivia looked at him. “I’m so sorry.” His eyes told her the truth.
It took him eleven years to tell her, but he was as sorry as a man
could be.

She smiled, placed her hand over his, and
squeezed it. “No hard feelings if you can tell me who did this to
my house.”

He stood and looked over at the tech guys
coming out of the kitchen. “We lifted a few prints,” the lead tech
said, “We’ll see what comes up.”

Josiah turned back to her and said, “Look,
you can’t stay here tonight. Why don’t you come stay at my place? I
have a spare room with its own bathroom—”

Olivia was about to decline when she sensed a
presence behind her. She turned to see Vaden staring hotly at her
from the edge of the open garage. Her heart dropped to her feet,
and her belly buzzed as if a swarm of bees had been let loose
inside of her. He was dressed in street clothes. What was he doing
here, on his day off? Carefully, she kept her composure. “I
couldn’t impose like that, Jos—”

He squeezed her hand and flashed his
Hollywood smile. “No imposition at all. We have eleven years of
catching up to do.” He looked past her to Vaden, who was dressed in
snug fitting jeans, worn leather cowboy boots and a straining black
T-shirt. His predatory power oozed off him in waves. Jos wasn’t
unaffected. She felt tension tighten his body. “What are you doing
here, Holbrook?”

Vaden ignored him and looked directly at
Olivia. “Are you okay?”

She swallowed, not trusting her voice. His
green eyes shimmered in controlled fury. His gaze dropped to
Josiah’s hand holding hers. Her instinct was to shake it off, but
the woman scorned in her stepped up to the plate. “I’m fine.”
Olivia’s gaze held Vaden’s, challenging him to throw down the
gauntlet. His only tell was a slight twitch in his jaw.

He nodded, turned, and left them.

Dejected, Olivia exhaled. Josiah’s fingers
tightened around hers and he pulled her close to his chest. “Hey,”
he said softly, nudging her chin up. “Why don’t you grab a few
things and let’s get out of here. I grill a mean steak and I have a
nice cab to go with it.”

She wanted to. Badly. She needed to. To feel
whole, wanted, womanly. Could she find what she sought in this
man’s arms? Did she want to try? He bent her arm back around her
waist just like he used to do in high school, and pulled her hard
against his chest. He worked out. She could feel the hard planes of
his muscles through his suit. His breath was warm. His touch gentle
yet confident. As a girl, she had fantasized about the two of them
making love. Had yearned for it, but Olivia Grace DeMateo was a
good girl. And in her world, good girls didn’t do it until they got
married. Her body warmed at the thought of tossing Josiah onto her
bed and having her way with him. Would he make her feel like Vaden
had? Suddenly, she wanted to know.

“Let me make up for those lost years, Liv. I
promise I won’t let you down again.”

His lips brushed against hers. Her body
responded and, as she opened up for him, she realized, never, not
once, had Vaden kissed her. She stiffened as anger, frustration and
sorrow commingled in her chest. How tragic was that? They had
shared everything except the simple intimacy of a kiss.

“Jos,” she said, pulling away from him. “I
want to get my place cleaned up. I have a grill. Maybe you could do
your chef thing here tonight?”

He smiled and smoothed a stray lock of hair
from her cheek. “It’s your call, princess.”

She smiled. Princess. The endearment brought
back so many memories. But his betrayal clouded the feelings.

He read her thoughts. “Look, Olivia. I was
young, stupid, drunk off my ass, and pissed off at you. Ann was
offering what you were holding back. I have regretted touching her
every damn day of my life.” His fingers dug into her arms. “In the
eleven years we were married, each time I touched her I imagined
she was you.”

She doubted that. It must have shown on her
face.

“It’s true, Liv.” He grimaced. “Each time I
looked at her, I saw you and what I threw away. I got tired of
pretending, and I wasn’t doing my son any favors either. So I left.
We were separated for two years before she filed for divorce.”
Josiah let go of her arms and stepped away from her. “I never
stopped loving you, Liv.”

“Tommy has been gone for a year, why didn’t
you contact me after he died?”

“I was afraid you’d tell me to go to
hell.”

She nodded. “I would have. You broke my
heart, Josiah Ames.”

“If I could take it all back, I would.”

“Jos, I— don’t know what to say, I—”

He put his fingers to her lips. “Don’t say
anything. Let’s take it one step at a time, okay?”

She nodded, not knowing how she felt. All
this time, he’d still loved her? While she’d resented him? Could
she ever really forgive him? Did it matter?

He smiled. “I’ll be back in a few hours to
help you clean up, then we’ll have some dinner and catch up,
okay?”

“Okay.”

Several hours and the removal of multi-layers
of print dust later, Olivia had restored order and cleanliness to
most of her home. Only her guest bedroom and office needed
restoration. Tomorrow. She’d called her principal earlier to let
her know what had happened and that she would need a few days.
She’d also told her she wouldn’t be coming back in the fall.
Olivia’s mind was made up. She was going to law school. And no one
was going to stop her.

When the doorbell rang, Olivia jumped. Even
though it was a sultry night, she’d locked every door and window.
As much as she tried not to feel as if the vandal was still inside
her home, she could not shake the feeling she wasn’t alone.

“Olivia? It’s Josiah.”

She flung off the uneasiness and hurried to
the door. She slid the chain free, then unlocked the deadbolt and
knob lock.

“Hi,” she said brightly, pulling him into the
house. Her hands shook as she turned the deadbolt.

Josiah placed his hand over hers and
squeezed. “It’s okay, Liv. I’m here. You’re safe.”

She exhaled loudly and felt like a helpless
female when, in reality, she wasn’t. She had a gun—two in fact—and
knew how to use both. Tommy had been adamant that she learn to
shoot. She was a better shot than him. She was always vigilant. And
she never took chances. But just the same, she felt safer with
Josiah in the house.

Olivia brushed back her unruly hair, and
realized she was a disheveled mess. She’d been cleaning like a
fiend for hours. It had served two purposes: it kept her mind off
Vaden and she removed all vestiges of the vandal.

Josiah smiled down at her. “You look good
enough to eat.”

A warm flush spattered across her skin. “Come
in. I got to most of the house. I’m going to tackle the rest
tomorrow.”

“I came ready to clean, Liv. Put me to work.”
He held up a stuffed brown bag of groceries. “But first let’s crack
open this bottle of cab and have some dinner. I haven’t eaten since
a lousy bagel and coffee this morning.”

Her stomach growled. She hadn’t eaten since
her bowl of Cheerios before work. And even that she didn’t finish.
She had sat there miserably drowning Cheerios as she thought of
Vaden. She’d tried pushing him from her thoughts all day. And even
now, with a hunk like Josiah standing in front of her, Vaden
invaded her mind. It had taken her years to stop thinking of
Josiah; she refused to be held hostage again by unrequited
feelings. She was no longer a heartbroken schoolgirl. She was a
mature woman who had a mind of her own and would live life on her
terms. Even if that meant she stepped out of the narrow lines of
propriety that had been drilled into her head since the day she was
born. Lord knows she had with Vaden. She could with Jos. She was
done being safe. For crying out loud, she bored herself. How could
she expect Vaden or any man to find her fascinating if she thought
of herself as exciting as a brown paper bag?

She smiled a Cheshire cat smile. Oh, but she
had let the cat out of the bag with Vaden. Their trysts had been
throw-down, dirty, epic sex sessions. Last night proved to her she
could not only be naughty but that it was okay. No one got hurt.
Well, except her heart, but that didn’t count. She needed to be
more careful. Sex for the sake of sex could be good. She cocked her
head and looked at Jos who stood watching her with a fascination he
had never regarded her with before.

“What’s going on in that head of yours,
Liv?”

She laughed, feeling flirty and carefree.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

He set the bag of groceries down on the
granite counter. “Very much.”

“Hah! You’ll just have to use that
imagination of yours.”

He pulled the bottle of wine out of the bag
along with a corkscrew. Expertly, he uncorked the bottle, never
once taking his gaze off her. Olivia warmed to their flirting. She
liked the power of it. With Vaden, there had been no courting. They
had jumped right into the fire and never once looked back. Her
nipples puckered when she wondered how it would be to be courted by
a man like Vaden? Did he even
know
the meaning of the
term?

“I know what you’re thinking now,” Josiah
said, as he handed her a full glass of wine. His gaze dipped to her
breasts. Her nipples poked at the thin fabric of her shirt. He
brushed his knuckles softly across her left nipple. Sensation
rippled through her. Olivia caught her breath. “I was thinking the
same thing.” His lips lowered and brushed across hers. Her nipples
tingled and tightened.