Distractions (The Rebound Series) (10 page)

“Told you he’d try to get you drunk,” Olivia mumbled as she turned to him.

He grinned, “Then it’s a good thing that I do love my whiskey.”

Olivia rolled her eyes as she scrunched up her nose, “Ew, that’s gross.
 
You lose kissing privileges afterwards.”

He hovered over her, brushing his fingertips lightly up her sides and over her breasts.
 
“And what about when we get back home?
 
Do my privileges get reinstated then?” he asked, his voice husky.

Olivia gazed up at him and he saw desire start to bloom.
 
“Maybe,” she said.
 
“We’ll play it by ear.”

“Deal,” he murmured.
 
“I’d better take advantage now then,” he said before he leaned down and caught her lips with his own.

A few minutes later they finally made their way back down the stairs.
 
If anyone noticed Olivia’s flushed face or Alex’s smug smile, they didn’t comment.

But right before they reached the kitchen, Alex quite literally bumped into Olivia’s asshole of an ex, Miles.
 
Miles had turned the living room corner rather sharply with his blonde girlfriend trailing behind him and collided right into Alex’s chest.

“Sorry, man,” Alex said cooly, gazing down at the man in front of him.
 
Miles didn’t make eye contact but nodded his head in acknowledgement.

His eyes shifted to Olivia, who stood, suddenly stone-faced, next to Alex.
 
He observed their connected hands with narrowed eyes before he said, “Hi, Livy.
 
I’m glad you came.”
 
The way he said it irritated Alex.
 
But to be fair, Alex guessed that anything he said would irritate him.

Olivia simply nodded, but didn’t smile.
 
“Hi, Miles.”

The woman nudged him and for a moment he looked incredibly uncomfortable, as his gaze darted to Olivia and then to Alex.
 
“Um, this is Erica,” he introduced lamely, waving between them.

“Hello, I’m Olivia,” Olivia greeted politely.
 
“And this is Alex.”
 
Alex inclined his head in her direction.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Erica said, smiling.

Then, awkward silence descended on the group.
 
Alex lightly squeezed Olivia’s hand in reassurance, but for what he didn’t know.

Miles finally cleared his throat, “Well, we were just leaving.”

“So soon?” Olivia asked, but her tone was detached and icy.

Miles nodded but didn’t give an explanation as to why they were departing early.
 
Good riddance
, Alex thought.

“I hope you’re doing well, Livy,” Miles said, studying her closely.

Olivia raised a brow and brightly said, “I’ve never been better.”
 
Alex bit back a laugh at the look on Miles’ face.
 
God, Alex wanted to kiss her so badly for saying that to his face.

Miles and Erica departed quickly after, mumbling their goodbyes.
 
When they shut the front door behind them, Olivia turned to him with a small frown.
 
“We’re not even drinking, but
that
was a total buzz kill.”

Alex didn’t hold back his laugh this time.
 
“Well, we can change that.
 
I hear your dad has some Irish whiskey.”

Olivia woke up on Sunday morning naked and with a slight headache.
 
She immediately reached out to Alex’s side, searching for his warmth, but all her hand touched was the cool satin of the sheets.
 
Vaguely, she heard the sound of a lawn mower so she wondered if he was out doing yard work.

She sat up slowly as last night started to return to her foggy, sleepy mind.

Alex had somehow managed to convince her to drink some watered down whiskey and she had gotten a little drunk, embarrassingly enough.
 
She clearly remembered trying to have sex with Alex in his car once they left her parents’ house.
 
Alex had indulged her for a little bit and let her caress and kiss him, but he eventually buckled her in and told her to wait until they were back home.

She groaned at the memory, a mortified flush breaking out over her body.

But they didn’t have sex.

Alex had stripped her of her clothes when they finally made it to bed, but all he did was put her under the covers and wrap his arms around her from behind.
 
“Go to sleep, darling,” he had murmured softly in her ear, his hot breath making her squirm.

But she had obeyed.

Olivia climbed out of the warm comfort of Alex’s bed, intent on finding him.
 
And if he was out getting all sweaty from yard work, that was even better in her opinion.

Once she pulled up some pajama shorts and threw on one of Alex’s old t-shirts, she left the room and walked towards the kitchen.

Olivia spotted him outside the kitchen window, mowing his lawn.

With his shirt off.

Olivia’s brain short-circuited as she watched him and some sensible part of her wondered if he was cold.
 
It was Autumn, after all.
 
But the late morning sun was bright and there was no trace of a white cloud in the pure blue sky.

Olivia managed to pour a cup of still-warm coffee, despite her shaking hands and even though she never took her eyes off Alex for more than a few seconds.
 
And then she walked out, barefoot, onto the raised porch and leaned her elbows onto the wood railing.
 
From this view, she could look down over Alex’s yard and watch him work.

Alex hadn’t seen her yet and he was listening to music with headphones in to cut out the noise from the lawn mower.
 
So Olivia relaxed and let herself appreciate him.

His tanned skin shone with a thin gleam of sweat as he worked.
 
The way he pushed the mower brought Olivia’s gaze to the muscles bulging from his forearms and triceps.
 
A thin line of dark hair disappeared down into his low riding jeans, which cupped his backside to perfection.
 
Olivia wondered if he was even wearing anything underneath.

This was turning out to be a very good morning…

Olivia watched him for a little while longer and Alex finally spotted her once he turned off the lawn mower.

He pulled the earphones out as he walked up the steps of the porch.
 
“Good morning, darling,” he greeted lowly, kissing her as his scent enveloped her.
 
Oh my God, he smells so good
, her mind screamed.
 
“How long have you been standing there?”

Long enough to get really horny,
she wanted to say.
 
But she didn’t think she had to.
 
Olivia was sure Alex saw the blatant desire in her eyes because he smirked down at her with that smug look of his.
 
“About ten minutes,” she settled on, her voice hoarse.
 
She buried her face into Alex’s bare chest and breathed in deeply as his arms came around her.
 
“God, you smell amazing,” she murmured, almost to herself.
 
She felt like a freaking kitten and Alex was her catnip.
 
It was driving her crazy.
 
“Can we go inside?” she asked, looking up at him from beneath her lashes so there would be no room for misinterpretation of what she desired.

His gaze darkened, “Keep looking at me like that and you can have whatever the hell you want.”

Olivia smiled slowly and tugged him inside.
 
But they didn’t make it back to the bedroom.
 
Instead, Alex took her on his kitchen floor as Olivia’s breathy moans echoed through his house.

Olivia didn’t notice anything wrong until Alex cursed loudly, pulling out from her quickly mid-thrust.
 
They had forgotten a condom.

* * * * *

“So, apparently, you’ve received a rave review from my parents,” Olivia informed Alex, as she plopped down on the couch next to him.
 
His arm automatically came around her shoulders as she settled against him.
 
He was watching a football game he had taped earlier this morning.

She had just gotten off the phone with her mom, who gushed about how polite Alex was and how much her father enjoyed his company.
 
The relief Olivia felt was immense, but she had always known that they would like him.

“I always do,” he said arrogantly, grinning down at her.
 
Olivia pushed her chest as she rolled her eyes.

“You’re ridiculous,” she murmured.
 
“No 49ers?” she asked when she noticed the colors of the teams playing.

“No, they play Monday night,” he responded, his chest vibrating with the deepness of his voice.

And then they fell silent and Olivia watched the TV screen without really processing the game.
 
Olivia wondered if Alex was doing the same because this morning had certainly put things into perspective for them.

“I’m so fucking stupid,” Alex murmured, as he ran a hand through his hair.

“Alex, don’t say that,” Olivia said, her voice hard.
 
She hated when he said things like that.
 
“I forgot too.”

“Shit, Liv,” he cursed, leaning back against a lower kitchen cabinet, still half-hard since he hadn’t finished.
 
They were still on the floor of his kitchen, half-naked for that matter.
 
“I can’t believe I just did that.”

“Don’t worry, Alex” Olivia tried, stroking his arm.
 
He locked his gaze on her as she reasoned, “It’s not the right time for me.
 
I’m due to start my period any day.”

He blew out a breath of relief as he leaned his head back, looking up at this kitchen ceiling, exposing the column of his neck.
 
“Thank God,” he murmured.
 
Even though Olivia herself felt great comfort that there was no way she could have conceived right now, something about the way he acted set her on edge.

It was completely irrational, but she felt a little hurt.

“I already made an appointment for birth control, so we won’t even have to worry about it soon,” she said, looking away from him as she frowned.

She heard him sigh and then ask, “Liv, what’s wrong?”

“You’re acting like it would be the end of the world,” she found herself saying.
 
“So, yeah, it’s a little weird for me.”

He reached out and turned her face to him.
 
“It’s not you, darling.
 
At all.
 
It’s just that I’ve never wanted to be a father.”

She looked at him with both surprise and, if she was being honest with herself, dismay.
 
“You don’t want children?”

He didn’t answer with a yes or a no.
 
He simply looked at her and confessed, “I don’t think I’d make a good one, that’s all.”

Olivia fell quiet after that and Alex got up to take a shower.
 
A cold shower presumably.
 
And once they finished breakfast, Olivia had run out to her shop for a few solid hours before returning to Alex’s, giving her time to think over what he said.

Because the truth was that Olivia wanted a lot of kids.
 
She wanted a big family.
 
And even though her and Alex’s relationship was only beginning, she already felt too deeply for him.
 
And for some reason, it scared her that he didn’t want children.

A touchdown brought Olivia out of her thoughts and she watched with amusement as the player victoriously danced in the end zone.

“Mother fucker,” Alex mumbled.
 
She shifted to look at him.
 
“He used to be a 49er, but does he do that when he plays for them?
 
No, of course not,” he ranted.

Olivia bit back a smile.
 
Alex was definitely one of those football guys and it made affection bloom in her chest as she closely observed his peeved expression.
 
The game broke off into a commercial so they were quiet as Alex settled down.

Olivia glanced out his kitchen window, since she could see it from the living room.
 
Even though it was only six o’clock in the evening, it was already dark outside.

Alex reached out to grab the remote from his coffee table and hit the mute button to silence the TV.
 
“Olivia,” he said to get her attention.
 
“I wanted to explain something to you.”

Olivia’s brows raised in surprise at the seriousness in his tone.
 
“Okay,” she murmured, wondering what he wanted to talk about.
 
But she could have guessed.

“About this morning…” he started, halting to find the right words.
 
“I know you were upset about what I said about not wanting to be a father.”
 
Olivia bit her lip but waited for him to continue.
 
“It’s not that I don’t want children.
 
I do, but you have to understand that it’s something that I never thought would happen for me.”

“Why don’t you think you’d make a good father?” she asked, remembering his words from this morning.

“Because I never, in a million years, want to turn out to be like mine.
 
And in the back of my mind, I have always had this fear that I will be.
 
That he somehow messed me up so much that I’m ruined for my own children,” he said, his voice tight and strained.
 
Olivia could hear how hard his heart was beating in his chest.

“Oh, Alex,” she whispered, her heart aching.
 
She turned around towards him and knelt on the couch as she gazed at him.
 
Running a hand through his soft hair, she said, “You know that’s not true.”