Connections (15 page)

His fingers dug into her hips and she arched into him, reveling in his ferocity.
 
She didn’t want to be treated like glass.
 
She wanted to feel well-loved.
 
“Yes, Alex,” she whispered, encouraging him.
 
He tugged her towards him and went up to his knees.
 
She let her legs fall wide for him and moaned when he slid home a second later.

They didn’t stop after that.

Everything they felt for one another, everything they had felt tonight emerged when they joined together.
 
Alex thrust into her wildly, ruthlessly pounding into her, and Olivia met him with the same vigor.
 
It wasn’t delicate or soft or sweet.
 
It was loud, and sweaty, and passionate, and
real
.

It was exactly what she needed.

And afterwards, once she had an earth-shattering orgasm that left her throat raw from screaming, she felt him come deep inside her for the first time.
 
Hot spurts of his seed coated her walls deliciously and Alex stayed inside her until he naturally softened from her body.

And right before Olivia passed out from exhaustion, she thought that yes, she was truly well-loved.

* * * * *

The rest of the week passed by quickly.
 
After the attack at her shop, Olivia had spent most of the time on the phone, since literally everyone she knew had somehow found out, whether it had been spread among family or friends.
 
She thought it was a bit ridiculous when an old high-school classmate had contacted her, who she hadn’t spoken to in years.
 
But after repeating the story of what happened over and over again, there came a point when Olivia just got annoyed and fielded all future calls to her mother.

Alex had still been walking on eggshells around her the morning after the attack, despite the mind-boggling sex they’d had the night before.
 
So, relaxing on the couch, when he asked her for the fifth time the next morning how she was doing, she snapped at him to shut up and then promptly proceeded to climb on top of him for a bout of angry, annoyed sex.

He got the hint.
 
Now he only asked her when he wanted to get laid, which was still quite often, admittedly.
 
But at least it was less than before.

Christie had been the real hysterical one.
 
She’d been in tears when she called up Olivia, both angry that she had to hear it from her mother and horrified that it had even happened in the first place.
 
It had taken Olivia almost a half hour to get Christie to stop crying and another half hour to convince her that she was fine.

So by Friday, all Olivia wanted to do was curl up with Alex and sleep.
 
Both Alice and Sarah had been helping with closing the shop every night since the attack—something that Olivia was both relieved and grateful for—so cleaning up had flown by.
 
And after they finished, she drove straight to Alex’s house, since she’d been staying there for the past couple nights while everything was sorted out.

Alex was just climbing out of his car when she pulled up.
 
He tucked his hands in his pockets and waited for her to park before he opened her door.

“Perfect timing,” she said, smiling up at him.
 
She gathered her purse from the passenger seat and climbed out, stretching up on her toes to kiss him.

“Mmm,” he hummed.
 
“I missed you today, darling.”

“Did you, Mr. Sales Director?” she teased, shutting her car door behind her and locking it.
 
They made their way up the pathway and headed into the house.

“I did.
 
I thought inappropriate things about you while I was in meetings all day, so don’t expect to get much sleep tonight,” he informed her casually, as though he was commenting on the weather.

She laughed, but her stomach was already fluttering because she knew that when it came to Alex, he was all talk
and
all action.
 
So she should probably take his threat seriously.
 
“Can I at least eat first?” she asked.

“Oh, I insist.
 
We wouldn’t want you passing out.”

She blushed and walked down the hallway, towards the kitchen.
 
Alex stopped in his office first to deposit the work he’d brought home and she pulled open the fridge, trying to decide what they’d have for dinner.

And then she laughed, because she saw something she hadn’t seen this morning.

Alex reappeared behind her shortly.
 
“What?” he asked, pressing himself close.

“You actually got the Coffee-mate Pumpkin creamer for me?”
 
And he had.
 
It was wedged neatly between a carton of Greek yogurt and a bag of kale.
 
She couldn’t contain her smile.
 
It just looked so ridiculous in his fridge.

“Ah fuck.
 
Don’t tell Luke, okay?
 
He’d never let me live it down.”

“I think he’ll find out eventually.
 
I can only take so much creamer in my coffee, you know.
 
And that bottle is huge.”

“Drink more coffee then,” Alex advised her and she laughed.

“He’s right you know,” she teased.
 
“You
are
whipped.”

“No, I’m
pussy
whipped, darling.
 
There’s a difference,” Alex clarified, smirking, his eyes heating.
 
The smile slowly faded from her face when she recognized that look.
 
The look that told her she’d be naked and panting in the next few minutes.

“I’m hungry,” she squeaked out and Alex sighed, backing up.

“Fine.
 
But you’re all mine later.”

After a simple dinner of grilled chicken, brown rice, and salad, they were cleaning up in the kitchen when Alex suddenly said, “Oh, I wanted to show you something.”
 
She finished wiping down the counter and looked up to find Alex searching through his jacket pocket.
 
“I had lunch with Beth today.
 
She gave me this.
 
Apparently they finally got the prints back from the photographer and she spotted this one in the bunch.”

Alex handed her a photo and Olivia set down her damp dish towel so she could look at it better.

Her heart fluttered in her chest when she realized it was a candid picture of her and Alex at Beth’s engagement party.
 
Alex was leaning down to whisper something in her ear and she was laughing.
 
She remembered the moment.
 
He’d told her about a family party years ago when his grandmother of all people had gotten a little tipsy off the punch because she hadn’t known one of the cousins had spiked it.

She grinned and looked up at Alex.
 
“I hate to be cheesy, but do you realize that this is our first picture together?”

“Then it should go somewhere special,” he concluded, his eyes twinkling with amusement.

“The refrigerator?” Olivia guessed, excitedly.

Alex nodded in mock seriousness.
 
“The refrigerator.”

Olivia burst out laughing but happily went to tack the picture on with a spare magnet, next to the other two pictures on his fridge.
 
Stepping back, she felt Alex’s arm come around her waist from behind.
 
“You better watch out, Mr. Matlock,” she started.
 
“At this rate, you’ll have four whole pictures on your refrigerator by the end of the year.”

“I’m counting on it, darling,” he whispered in her ear before his hands started to wander.

“Alex,” she gasped softly, when he lightly bit her ear.

“It’s after dinner, Liv.
 
And I think we both know what that means.”

“That I’m all yours?” she guessed, already breathless.

“Yes,” he murmured, turning her around so he could catch her lips.
 
“All mine.”

Two Months Later…

“Bubbles, no!” Olivia yelled, watching with frustration as the little white ball of fur scurried out the open front door.
 
Again.
 
“Crap, I just got her back inside!”

“What’s wrong, Liv?” Alex called from the living room.
 
He appeared a moment later, looking deliciously sweaty despite the cold January weather.

“Bubbles ran out the door again.
 
I think she’s scared.
 
I should just lock her in the guest bedroom next time,” Olivia grumbled.

Luke and Adam struggled through the front door just then, carrying Olivia’s bookcase.
 
She’d inherited it from her grandmother, so it really was as heavy as it looked.
 
It was the only piece of furniture she cared to keep from her apartment.

She almost felt bad for the two men, but they
had
offered their moving services.
 
And she’d already whipped them up a batch of cupcakes as payment.

Adorable Adam, as Olivia liked to call him, said, “Okay, down, down down!
 
My grip is slipping.”

“Stop being a fucking pansy, man,” Luke responded, even though his face was bright pink with exertion.
 
And he probably had a good fifty pounds on Adam.

“I’m not kidding, asshole!” Adam yelled angrily.
 
Well, as angrily as Adam could possibly sound.
 
Alex joined in and took over for Adam while he repositioned his hands and then the three of them manhandled her bookshelf into the master bedroom.
 
Olivia enjoyed the sight while she could.
 
It wasn’t every day three hot men moved stuff for you.

Alex and Olivia had both decided that it made sense for her to move in.
 
After the incident at her shop a couple months back, Olivia’s apartment had acted more and more like a storage locker…somewhere to keep her extra stuff but a place she rarely visited.
 
She’d spent her mornings, and nights, and weekends at Alex’s house.
 
She slept there, ate there, showered there, relaxed there.
 
It had become her home too and Alex had wanted to share it with her.

Except, he refused to let her help pay for the expenses.
 
They’d gotten into a big argument over it because Olivia had simply suggested that she take her apartment expenses that she’d be paying
anyway
and put it towards payments, utilities, up keep, freaking dish towels,
anything
.
 
Alex had always been weird when it came to her paying for something, like taking
him
out to dinner for a change.
 
So she’d expected his hesitance, knowing it stemmed from how he was raised.

In the end, through significantly dirtier methods that involved her and lingerie and fuzzy handcuffs, she finally got him to agree to let her pay for groceries.
 
And Bubbles’ cat food.
 
Nothing else.
 
She took it, figuring it was the best she was going to get.
 
But she still sometimes came home to a full refrigerator because Alex had ‘just picked up a few things.’

She’d break him of the habit eventually.

But it didn’t change the fact that she was ridiculously happy.
 
The only dampener on her mood in the past two months had been due to Mr. Miller’s court hearings.
 
She and Alex both had to testify against him, which meant that she’d had to see him one more time.
 
In the end, while his penalty fine was high, he’d only received six months of jail time.
 
He
was
receiving psychiatric help, however, and the knowledge comforted Olivia.
 
At least a little bit.

“That’s it,” called Luke from the master bedroom.
 
The three men reappeared in the hallway, brushing their hands on their jeans.

“Impressive,” Olivia said.
 
It had taken them less than a half hour to move in all her boxes and her bookcase.
 
And, admittedly, while her apartment had been small, she’d had at least twenty boxes of stuff.
 
Half of those boxes actually made the cut to move and the rest she stored in her parents’ spare garage.

“Yep, now pay up,” Luke commanded.
 
“I’m starving.”

Alex shook his head while Adam logically cautioned, “Maybe you shouldn’t have cupcakes if you’re
starving
.
 
That’s a lot of sugar.”

“Yeah, and my abs love sugar,” Luke responded.
 
“So fuck off.”

Olivia bit back a smile.
 
She genuinely loved these guys.
 
Except she had yet to crack Caleb, who Alex described as a ‘woman-hater.’
 
Which didn’t make sense because Alex had also alluded to certain nighttime activities that Caleb participated in.

Oh well.
 
Eventually, she hoped they could get along better.

Luke suddenly looked down at his watch.
 
“Ah shit, I gotta run.”

Alex smirked, “Who’s whipped now?”

Luke shot him a withering glare.
 
Yet, he stayed silent.
 
Which was odd for him.

Regardless, Olivia sent the two men off with tupperware of cupcakes.
 
Chocolate for Luke and lemon for Adam, since those were their favorite flavors.

Once she waved them off, Olivia went in search for another box to unpack, but Alex caught her around the waist and swooped in for a kiss.
 
“Enough for today, darling,” he mumbled against her lips.

“But the mess, Alex,” she protested, knowing how much Alex liked a place for everything.
 
He hated clutter.
 
But one thing was certain.
 
There’d definitely be more picture frames and candles around than this house had ever seen before.
 
Alex affectionately referred to them as ‘her girly shit,’ but Olivia knew he secretly liked seeing her stuff lying around.