Page 88

The rest of that day and night felt like the best date ever. For brief pockets of time, it was like I had amnesia to the fact that I was being paid to be there or that we were anything other than young lovers getting to know each other.
After a quick call to her folks to check on Elizabeth, who was having a great time being spoiled by the grandparents, I tried my hand at KP duty. Olivia laughed at my attempts to cook lunch for her while her sauce simmered on the stove, but we survived my hot ham and cheese sandwiches.
“Did you want to go do anything today?” I asked.
“Like what?”
I shrugged. “What would you normally do with a day to yourself without Elizabeth?”
“Honestly? I’ve never really had one that wasn’t because I already had something planned like an event for the studio.” She sat back with smiling eyes. “I kind of like the idea of doing a whole lot of nothing.”
“Nothing?”
Her cheeks blossomed pink. “Well, maybe not nothing. But nothing outside of the house.” She lifted her foot to my thigh, giving me an enticing view of her long ivory leg. “You know... eat, sleep, shower, watch movies, other stuff...”
“Other stuff,” I echoed. “Hopefully that doesn’t involve you in clothes?”
She giggled. “None of that has to involve clothes, if you think about it.”
I barked out a laugh. “True. I think I like your idea.”
“Yeah?”
I leaned over until my lips were an inch from hers. “Yeah.” I brushed a kiss to her mouth, loving how naturally she responded to me. “Let’s do it.”
“Let’s do it,” she whispered back between kisses.
Twenty-Two
Olivia
I had no idea what had brought about the 180-degree turnaround in Justin, but I was not going to complain. This open side of him that held all of my deepest pain in the palm of his hand while conversely bending me over a table and fucking me until I forgot my own name... he was the stuff of wish upon a star fairy tales that I’d long ago given up on. I couldn’t get enough. I’d never felt safer, yet still so petrified of being hurt. Not physically. No, I knew he’d do anything to protect me physically. But it was my heart I was worried about at this point, because as intrigued as I was by the man who stonewalled me at every turn in the name of professionalism, I was nothing short of smitten over this new, open, flirty banter and soft caresses guy.
“What are you thinking about so hard over there?” he asked, wiggling our interlaced hands as we sat cuddled on the couch watching a movie that afternoon.
“You,” I admitted.
“What about me?”
I reached over and turned down the volume to focus on him. “Just how much you’ve changed.”
“Changed good or changed bad?”
“Good. It’s definitely good. It’s just...” I glanced down at our hands, my stomach doing a nervous flip. “I’m just scared to trust it.”
“You’re scared to trust me?” He sounded gutted and when I met his gaze, I saw devastation staring back at me. “Are you serious?”
“No! It’s not that!” I yanked his hand to try and bring him closer, but it was like moving a boulder. “I trust you more than almost anyone. I’m not talking about my safety, Justin. I’m talking about trusting this...” I waved a hand between us. “You talk about wanting me and being possessive and not sharing, which I agreed to because I don’t want to share either, but the switch up has been a bit fast and...”
“And what?” he gritted out. When I didn’t respond, he gently tipped my chin up with a finger. “What? Tell me.”
“I want more,” I breathed out, relieved that I let the words free. When his brows dipped in confusion, I cupped a palm over the back of his hand. “I haven’t let a man in since Christoph. I’ve been too afraid to go there, and I have to protect Elizabeth. But you...” I closed my eyes and inhaled. “But here I am with these big feelings for you—even though you fought me for a while—and it’s scary because I want to feel so much more than possessed. I want to feel...” I shrugged.
“Cherished.”
My eyes slid open at his unexpectedly emotional word choice. “Yes.”
He ran the back of his knuckle down my cheek. “I know.”