“But that’s not how—”
“I know,” he said, nodding quickly. “I know it wasn’t like that, but I’m just saying I can see why he’d be so quick to react given his past. I like the guy.” He shrugged, but it made her smile. “He’s a good guy, has a solid future, and he comes from good people, but most importantly, I like how crazy he is about my little sister. Ultimately, it’s up to you. You say you won’t allow yourself to. I say you might consider making an exception for him like he did with you.”
Olivia could feel the corners of her lips lift slowly until she wore a full smile. She hugged her brother tightly then let go, bringing her attention to her phone. She clicked on the text from Lorenzo and texted to ask if he was home. His response was an immediate yes, and if she weren’t still feeling so choked up, she might have been tempted to squeal, but she smiled even bigger, clutching her heart.
“Geez,” Isaiah said with a laugh, and she laughed now too as she texted Lorenzo that she’d be there in five.
“I gotta go,” she said, already rushing down the driveway to her car. “Don’t wait up.”
Isaiah muttered something about not driving crazily. Olivia couldn’t help laughing. As much as her brother claimed he liked Lorenzo, she knew him too well. The thought of why she didn’t plan on getting back early tonight if at all was not a pleasant one for her brother.
~~~
The moment Olivia was close enough she saw Lorenzo step down from his porch where he was already waiting to meet her as she drove up his driveway. As happy as she was to see him, she still got choked up when she got out of the car and their eyes met over the roof of her car.
“I meant it when I said I won’t sacrifice my dignity for any man ever again.”
“I know you won’t.” He started around the front of the car toward her. “I’d never ask you to.”
Before she could say another word, he wrapped his arms around her tightly, walking her backwards until she was against her car door. He brought his hands to her head, cupping her face in them, and kissed her again all over her face. “Thank God you’re okay,” he said between kisses then hugged her again, bringing her face to his chest as she clung onto him for dear life, choking back the tears.
She wanted to—needed to—stay strong so she could say everything she had to say to him.
He pulled back again to look at her face. “I’m so sorry, baby.”
Staring at his remorseful eyes, she took a deep breath and began. “The only way I’d ever beg you to forgive me,” she said as inwardly she cursed the hot tears she could already feel filling her eyes, “is if I ever willingly hurt you, so I’m telling you right now that’ll never happen.”
“If you ever willingly did, I’d never forgive you, no matter how much you begged,” he said without flinching, and before she could retort, he added, “I made a mistake and I’m so sorry, but I wasn’t trying to hurt you.” He brought his hands to either side of her face and cradled it. “I let my anger nearly destroy what we have, but I promise you I’ll try harder the next time it happens. I’m telling you right now I will always snap when it comes to this stuff. I won’t bother trying to pretend or promise that I won’t. I can’t help how insane the thought of sharing you with anyone else in any way makes me, but I’ve had a taste of what my life would be like without you, and I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure I never have to live through that again.”
He kissed the tears that escaped her eyes, and she punched his chest suddenly, pulling away. “You better never do that to me again!” she said then pushed him again. “Dismiss what we have—discard me like that! You have no idea what that did to me.”
“But I do,” he said, reaching out for her and pulling her to him again, then brought his lips to hers but didn’t kiss her. Instead, he spoke against her lips. “It nearly killed me, Liv. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep. I could barely function. The thought that maybe you still had feelings for him made me believe it was really over.”
Olivia tried pulling away from him again, but he brought his arm around her waist and shifted his knee between her legs so he had her pinned against her car.
“How could you even think—?”
“Don’t make me think about it, please,” he urged against her ear as he hugged her tightly and inhaled deeply. “I’ve done that enough. I can barely handle the fact that he got to spend any time around you, Liv. It drove me fucking nuts for days. I don’t wanna go back to that. Just promise me I’ll never have to deal with that again.”
“You won’t,” she whispered. “He’s moving to Miami. He gets it now. Anything between him and me is completely out of the question. He’s finally accepted it.”
Feeling him go taut suddenly, Olivia decided to stick with her initial decision to keep to herself Jay’s newest tattoo: the letter O written in calligraphy with a crown tilted just off the top, on the inside of his wrist. It was big enough that she’d noticed it before he told her about it. Jay explained that no matter what Olivia would always be his queen.
Lorenzo pulled away slowly, staring at her with those hardened dark eyes that could go either way, turn her to mush or make her quiver with anxiety. At the moment, her body wasn’t sure which way to react, so she waited.
“How do I know he really has accepted it this time?”
She swallowed hard, not wanting to go into detail because she didn’t want to tell him how she’d agreed to let Jay show her his collection of exclusive tattoo designs he’d been putting together for over a year.
“He’s had an open offer for over a year now to leave Dallas and move to Miami. His cousin owns a highly successful tattoo shop out there,” she explained. “He’d be part owner because he’s saved up enough to buy in. Only he hadn’t left because he was holding out hope all this time that he and I could work something out. I let him know that it wasn’t happening even before I met you and it certainly wasn’t going to now that I’ve fallen so hopelessly in love with you. He asked me one last time before I left if I really meant it, because once I was gone he would be too. Even though at the time I had no idea how things would work out between you and me, I assured him I absolutely meant it. Margie told me just the other day he’s already gone.”
Finally, she saw a break in that hardened expression as the corners of his lips rose slowly; then he kissed her—softly, beautifully—just as he’d done from the beginning.
“I love you,” he whispered between kisses. “Please be patient with me, baby.” She nodded as he continued to kiss her deeply. “I know you’re not that weak person you think you were once,” he said, stopping long enough to look her in the eyes. “I know you won’t be putting up with my shit, and believe me I’ve had a lot of time to think about this. Dwell on it all fucking night some nights. Every time I think about that phone call . . . When I heard that bike, and I knew . . .”
He squeezed his eyes shut, shaking his head as if the very thought put him in that awful place again.
“Note taken. Trust me,” she said, touching his face. “That’ll never happen again.”
“It’s not even that. What I’m saying,” he said, touching her hand on his face and spoke almost a bit panicked. “Even after everything that’s happened, I can’t change who I am. I can’t promise that I won’t react harshly. I’ve never been an insecure person—”
“Because you have no reason to be,” she said, squeezing his arm with her other hand.
“But I am when it comes to you, Liv. I’ll always be. I’ve learned my lesson about overreacting, but I’m telling you right now I’ll always react pretty strongly. I’m just asking for patience. I can’t help it. It’s what you do to me.”
Olivia stared into those tortured eyes and decided to let him in on something that might not be the smartest, but he looked so tormented she wanted to.
“I like—” She caught herself and shook her head. “No, I love your intensity, Lorenzo. I think it’s sexy as hell.” She smiled. “It was one of the first things about you that took my
breath away. I’d never ask you to change. I just need assurance that no matter how upset you are about something, just as I’d give it to you, I’ll always be given the opportunity to explain myself. That you’ll never put me through what you did.”
“I promise,” he said quickly.
“Then I promise too. I’ll be patient.”
He leaned in, and she brought her hands up over his, around her face, and surrendered to his long intense kisses, feeling instantly aroused. He pressed his body to her, already hard against her upper thigh.
“God, I missed your lips,” he whispered then nipped her bottom lip before diving in and kissing her even more profoundly. “I missed the taste of your mouth,” he said and breathlessly continued to kiss her, sucking her tongue, making the sudden warmth between her legs even hotter.
Lorenzo groaned against her mouth, pulling her slightly away from the car, and brought his hands behind her. Olivia loved the feel of his big hands all over her ass—loved when he squeezed hard then ran his fingers up and down the middle over her pants but pressed in with enough force that, even over the material of her pants, she could feel her ass spread. Shamelessly, she arched her back so she’d spread for him even further, and that was it. He groaned even louder then took her hand and pulled her with him.
“Let’s go inside.” He turned back to her as they rushed to his front door. “You’re spending the night, right?”
“Yes,” she said, biting her bottom lip and already anticipating everything they’d be doing tonight.
“Good,” he said, practically running up the stairs of his porch. “We have a lot of catching up to do.”
Epilogue
Lorenzo
Spooning Olivia would never be the same after today. Lorenzo had never doubted they were meant to be together, not even when he’d experienced the most blinding fury of his life. Deep in his heart, that fact was the only thing that got him through it. Despite how angry he’d been, those days without her had only further confirmed what he’d already begun to believe. He couldn’t live without her. And now he refused.
But this still felt too good to be true. Even as he slipped in and out of her from behind and she arched her back, welcoming him in deeper, this was just too damn good to be true.
Her tests regarding any sexual battery had all come back negative. The authorities had found frightening evidence of what the sick obsessed bastard had been planning on doing to her for over a year. Turned out Olivia’s first impression of his creepy ass had been spot on. Elton was a deeply disturbed individual who’d written endless entries in his journal about his darling Olivia. Their trip to his cabin was only the first stop in his plans. He wanted to first gain her love before taking her on a trip around the world on his yacht.
Fortunately, they’d tracked her down before he’d gotten to any of the other sick things he’d planned on doing to gain said love for him. The emotional scars she’d carry forever from the whole ordeal were the most damage the psycho had done. But Liv assured Lorenzo she was fine now—more than fine.
Everything else was great. Elton was in a mental institute now and would likely spend the rest of his life there. His lawyers had since mailed Liv the title papers to her van, and she was now free and clear of any debt to Elton. As promised, Liv hadn’t had any contact with Jay since she left Dallas that fateful night. She and King now lived with Lorenzo, and while there’d been some talk about marriage, for now they’d concentrate on getting used to this new big change in their lives—enjoy it. One of the first things they’d done after Liv moved in with him because she’d always been big on having a family portrait in their front room was go out and get one. They now had a 16 x 20 portrait of the two of them and King on the front-room wall. Life couldn’t be better.
After everything she’d gone through, Lorenzo had decided there were plenty of other ways he could enjoy her body without pushing for the kink. Lorenzo had steered clear of what they’d been beginning to experiment with before everything with Elton went down. He’d been afraid somehow anything even the slightest bit uncomfortable or out of the ordinary might trigger something. So he’d been content to never go there again. Then she’d brought it up, and now here they were. Since getting past the initial discomfort of it, she was actually enjoying it far more than he’d ever imagined.
“How the fuck did I get so lucky?” he whispered gruffly against her ear as he slipped in as deeply as he could, and she moaned loudly.
Olivia arched her back, moving to the rhythm of his thrusts as he began speeding up. “I’m not gonna last,” he grunted as the impending explosion built fast. “This is gonna be bigger and messier than usual,” he warned through his teeth.
That only made her arch her ass to him more, and he was done.
“Ugh!” It was everything he’d expected this to be and then some. “Jesus, that was unbelievable!”
He let his head fall down on the pillow as his heart nearly pounded through his chest. Lorenzo had only begun to catch his breath when he felt her sit up, and he opened his eyes, prepared to reach for her. He wasn’t ready for her to leave the bed.
“Where you going?” he said as he reached his hand out.
“To be continued in the shower.” She smiled wickedly. “We have a game to go to, remember?”
AJ’s big league game. Lorenzo had forgotten all about it. But how could he not? He’d woken up to Liv rubbing that beautiful naked ass against his erection and handing him lubricant. When it became clear what she had in mind, she could’ve asked him his name and he wouldn’t have remembered.
“We can’t be late,” she said with a giggle as he grunted when she helped him out of bed. “Isaiah wants us all there when AJ’s introduced in the starting lineup. Everyone’s gonna be there.”
Lorenzo couldn’t help but smile when he saw her smile so big, and he pulled her to him, kissing her. “I think he’s in for good,” he said as they started toward the bathroom.
She glanced at him, squeezing his hand. “Nathan said the same thing.” She smiled this time, chewing her lower lip. “As long as that temper—”
“He’ll be fine,” Lorenzo squeezed her hand back.
“He will,” she agreed quickly.
They hadn’t been in the shower for a few minutes when Lorenzo’s hands were already all over her wet slippery body. “Your turn, baby,” he whispered against her lips as he lowered his fingers between her legs and felt her gasp at his touch.
He smiled against her mouth when he felt her body begin to tremble. The thought that this was forever now, was still surreal to him. He slid two fingers inside her, kissing her even deeper as she moaned in his mouth. Yep, life couldn’t get better than this.
~~~
Okay maybe it could get better. After finally finding a parking spot in the huge stadium’s lot, Lorenzo decided to just do what he’d been wanting to for weeks and kept chickening out. He’d originally thought he wanted to do it in front of the entire family, but now he was having second thoughts.
Lorenzo respected the fact that she’d said she wanted to get used to living together first before taking their relationship any further. It was a huge change for both of them. Linda had stayed with him often, but she’d had her own place the whole time. While they’d exchanged keys to each other’s places, she’d never actually lived with him. So this was a first for him too. But it had been a while since the subject of marriage or an engagement had been brought up. Olivia was the one who’d suggested they should wait. Any talk of babies, even after an entire day of watching Ruby and enjoying it immensely, was another thing she was adamant they should hold off on, though she never had very good reason for it. They were both exactly where they wanted to be in their careers. Mostly she just seemed scared.
It bothered him at first, but he’d since found a way to deal with it his way. He’d told her point blank they were getting married—maybe not today, maybe not this year, or even the next—but it was happening. If he’d learned anything from their brief break up it
was this: Lorenzo wouldn’t even entertain the idea of his future without her. And with their one year anniversary in less than a week, this felt right.
Wasting no time as soon as he came around the car, he pulled her to him, leaning his forehead against hers. “You’re marrying me, Livi.”
Her eyes brightened as they always did whenever he said this to her. But before she could throw one of her usual safe responses of, “Am I?” or even “You don’t say?” he lifted her hand and slipped the ring on.
Immediately, her other hand was over her mouth. “Oh my God.” She gasped then looked up at him, her eyes full of question.
“What is this?” she finally asked.
He smiled with a shrug, trying not to let on just how nervous this made him. “We’ll be together a year this week. I figured now was as good a time as any to get a ring on your finger. We both know what this is, babe. But if it makes you feel better, until you’re ready, you can call it an anniversary ring.”
She glanced down at the three-carat rock on her finger. Who was he kidding? That was an engagement ring if anyone had ever seen one. It felt like forever, and he literally held his breath until she looked up at him again and smiled big then brought her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. “Thank you. It’s beautiful,” she whispered. “Happy anniversary, Enzo. I love you.”
He closed his eyes as the slight disappointment seeped in, but he refused to show it. “Happy anniversary, baby,” he said, kissing the side of her face. “I love you too.”
The whole walk into the stadium and even as they made their way through the crowds inside she kept lifting her hand up in front of her to admire the ring, smiling big and giddily. At least it made her happy regardless of what the ring represented.