Connections (10 page)

She’d always been good at giving massages.
 
Her family members complimented her good thumbs and growing up, her mother frequently asked her for a massage after a long day at work.
 
Olivia supposed she’d had a lot of practice kneading dough with her grandfather and it was really no different…massages just required a little bit more pressure.

Alex groaned and Olivia bit her lip at the deep, delicious sound.
 
She wanted to clench her thighs around him, but she thought her desire would be too obvious.

Olivia found a knot to the right of his spine and she worked it over until she felt the tension release.
 
She searched for another and did the same.
 
He was impossibly hot…but maybe that was just her.
 
The heat in the room had sky rocketed in the last couple minutes.

Suddenly, his strong hand found her left calf.
 
He gripped it, gently yet firmly, kneading the flesh with his fingers.
 
At the same time, he pressed himself more forcefully into her hands.
 
“Mmm, darling.
 
That feels so good,” he grunted, sounding relaxed and oh so sexy.

Olivia almost gasped at the effect his words had on her.
 
Her hands shook as she caressed his skin, gentling her touch.
 
Her sex was dripping wet already.
 
She wouldn’t be surprised if Alex could feel her on his already damp skin.

He stroked his way down to the top of her foot and nudged his back against her center once again.
 
“Harder,” he commanded in a rough voice.
 
Her mind immediately went to sex.
 
She imagined herself on her knees in front of him, his cock slipping between her lips as she stroked his base.
 
He’d say the same command from above her and she’d obey, pumping him harder with her fist.

Her nipples were impossibly tight in her bra and they rubbed up against the thick material with every flex of her arms.
 
Damn
.
 
She really was turning into a wanton.

She gasped when his back hit her core again.
 
She leaned forward, thinking she’d had enough of this madness.
 
“You’re making me crazy,” she whispered in his ear, before she boldly dragged her lips across the back of his neck.
 
God, he smelled amazing.

He gave an anguished groan.
 
“You’ve been driving me crazy since I first saw you.”

Her ears started ringing, but then Alex cursed and she realized it was actually the ringing of his cell phone.
 
He ignored it, but the sound cut through Olivia’s desire for a brief moment, allowing her to think.

He noticed her hesitation and he said gruffly, “Go to the bathroom before I rip your fucking clothes off.”

She needed time to think without him being there to distract her.
 
She swung her legs around his head carefully before walking a bit unsteadily to the guest bathroom at the end of the hallway.

Was she ready to have sex with him again?

Her body certainly thought so.

But the whole point of
not
having sex was so they could both work through what they wanted from this relationship without the added complication.

But who was she kidding?
 
It had been less than a week since she’d tacked that little amendment on and she could barely contain herself.
 
Her attraction to him was too potent.
 
All she wanted was to rip
his
clothes off and take him into her body.

Take it slow
, she reminded herself.
 
Ease back into it
.

Easier said than done.

Alex groaned, rising from his position on the floor once Olivia shut herself safely behind the bathroom door.

Fuck
.

He adjusted himself in his slacks and grabbed his shirt off the arm of the couch.
 
Shrugging it back on, he began buttoning it back up.

Any tension that Olivia had kneaded out of him returned in full force.
 
He felt like he was slowly losing his mind.
 
He closed his eyes, remembering the way her fingers danced over his skin.
 
How she gasped when he ground himself into her pussy.

You’re making me crazy
, she’d whispered.

He knew the feeling all too well.

Alex inhaled a few deep breaths in an attempt to gain control of his body.
 
After his eighth one, he felt a little better.

Olivia’s phone beeped.
 
And then it beeped again a few seconds later.
 
And then again.

Thinking it was Christie calling, Alex decided he’d pick up and apologize for missing dinner with her and Olivia last Wednesday evening.
 
He already had a date in mind for another dinner and he figured it was a perfect time to run it past her.

He flipped open the phone and pressed the ‘accept’ button.

Except it wasn’t a call.

They were text messages.
 
Three new text messages.
 
And they definitely weren’t from Christie.

Frowning, Alex saw the first one, from a blocked number.

I thought you were mine, Olivia.
 
I thought you were different.

His brow furrowing, Alex briefly wondered if they were from Miles in a desperate attempt to win Olivia back.
 
He couldn’t help but scroll to the next one.

Do you like it when he touches you?
 
How could you do this to me?!
 
To us?!
 
Whore!

The next one read:
We’ll be together.
 
I promise.

Alex’s breath came short, his heart beating rapidly in his chest.
 
No.
 
Olivia couldn’t be seeing someone else.
 
Jealousy threatened to overwhelm him at the thought of another man touching her.
 
But then anger came through, bright and hot.
 
Memories of Julia rose.

Olivia’s voice sounded from behind the couch.
 
“Alex, what are you doing?”

He turned to face her, a scowl on his face.
 
“What the fuck are these, Liv?
 
Who are these from?”

Her face paled when she saw her phone open in his hand.
 
But instead of answering his question, she angrily demanded, “What right do you have to go through my phone?”

“I thought it was Christie,” he burst out, frustrated.
 
“Olivia, you need to tell me what these are.
 
Are they from Miles?
 
Are you seeing someone else?”
 
He choked out the last sentence, his blood rushing loudly in his ears.

She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.
 
“How could you possibly even think that?”

“‘We’ll be together.
 
I promise,’” he quoted from the last text message, before throwing her phone on the couch angrily.
 
He ran a hand through his hair, feeling like he was on the edge of another panic attack.

Her lips parted and she reached for her phone.
 
Alex watched as she scrolled through her messages, her face becoming paler by the second.

Then it hit him.

No.
 
Something was wrong.
 
Olivia wouldn’t do something like this behind his back.
 
She wasn’t Julia.

He rounded the couch quickly and touched her arm.
 
“Liv, what’s going on?” he asked urgently, beginning to worry.

She raised her eyes to meet his.
 
All the anger drained out of the both of them.
 
“I didn’t want to tell you because I knew you’d be angry,” she said softly.

“Liv, tell me.”

“I don’t know who they’re from,” she answered.

“How long have you been getting them?” he asked, a lump rising in his throat.

“Since last Saturday.”

“At Beth’s engagement party?”

“No, the Saturday before.
 
It was the morning you left my apartment early.
 
I got the first text message shortly after I got off the phone with you,” Olivia admitted, shying away from his eyes.

Shit
, he thought, feeling like scum.
 
It had been the morning after he’d shown up drunk at her apartment and then left without so much as a note before she woke up.
 
He felt like an asshole.
 
He hadn’t been there to support her after she’d received the first message.

“How many have you gotten since then?” he asked gruffly.

“A few last week after that first one.
 
And then I received two when we were at the engagement party.
 
And now these three,” she finished, raising her phone slightly.
 
He caught her hand when he saw it trembling.

“Show me the others,” he demanded.
 
And she did.
 
The muscle in his jaw began to twitch as he read them over.
 
Twice this guy had called her a whore.
 
That pissed Alex off to no end.
 
But what worried him the most was how this guy knew about him and Olivia.
 
Unless he’d been following her.

He clenched his fists.
 
He had to find out who this guy was before he became more than a threat.
 
Adam could probably help trace the blocked number somehow; the guy was a computer whiz and there was a good reason why he was one of the youngest software engineers at their company.
 
But they’d have to do it quickly before this guy did something serious.

Suddenly, a memory arose.
 
They might not need Adam’s help after all.

“Wait, do you think these are from that guy that comes into your shop all the time?”

“What guy?” Olivia asked, frowning.

“The man who walked in on us kissing that one night.”
 
The more Alex thought about it, the more it made sense.
 
He knew about Alex because he’d seen them together.
 
And Alex didn’t like the way he’d been watching Olivia.

“Mr. Miller?” Olivia asked, then understanding dawned on her face and she glanced at him.
 
She bit her lip, her brow furrowing.
 
“I don’t know.
 
He’s never done anything like this before and he’s been coming in for years.
 
He’s harmless.”

Alex wasn’t so sure.

“Regardless, I’ll get you a new phone tomorrow,” Alex said firmly.
 
“New number.
 
Is this one listed on your business cards?”

Olivia shook her head, “No, not on my new ones.”

Alex nodded and then exhaled, reaching up to cradle her face between his palms.
 
“Don’t keep something like this from me again, Liv.
 
Okay?
 
What if something had happened?”

“I’m sorry, Alex.
 
But I didn’t want you to worry if it was nothing.
 
I threatened to get the police involved last time he contacted me, so I figured he’d just stop,” she explained.
 
She sighed, “But obviously he didn’t.”

He stroked her cheek, softening his voice, “It’s okay, darling.
 
We’ll figure it out.
 
I’ll swing by on your lunch break with the new phone, but let me take yours into work tomorrow to see if my friend can get anything off it.”

She nodded, but said, “Can you come with me to my cell phone provider?
 
I don’t know how to change the phone to my plan.”

Alex laughed softly and shook his head.
 
“Don’t worry about that, Liv.
 
I have an extra line on mine.”

“But Alex—,” he cut her off.

“It’ll cost me nothing,” he assured her, knowing she didn’t like him paying for her all the time.
 
“I’ll help you cancel your plan tomorrow.”

“And the phone?” she asked.
 
“Please let me pay you for that.”

He shrugged, “It’s free.”
 
Not entirely true, but it was discounted.
 
“Perks of the job, remember?”

Olivia closed her eyes, looking relieved.
 
“You make everything so easy, Alex.”

“I’m supposed to,” he murmured, leaning down to capture her lips.
 
“For you.”

Their kiss started out soft, just the lightest touch of their lips against one another, but it quickly became heated.
 
The jealousy, anger, frustration, worry, and relief all poured out of him into her and Alex could feel Olivia tremble at the intensity.

They drew away for breath and Alex trailed his lips down to suckle on the sensitive spot behind her ear.
 
She gasped and arched into him, her hands coming to rest on his chest.
 
He hadn’t been able to button his shirt all the way up, so he reveled in her bare touch.
 
A moment later, she pressed hot little kisses to the skin there.

Fuck, this isn’t working
, Alex thought silently, completely torn.
 
He remembered his promise to her, that they wouldn’t have sex until she was ready for it again.
 
And while she
seemed
ready for it, Alex wasn’t so sure.

But Jesus, he wouldn’t be able to get through this night with her if he didn’t get some kind of relief.
 
His cock had been throbbing all evening and it was starting to border on pain.

He broke away from her and took a step back, placing his hands low on his hips while he attempted to regain his breath.
 
He’d go into the bathroom, jerk off, and then he could think with a clear head.
 
It wouldn’t take him long judging by how fucking hard he was.