“Is it still raining?”
I turned to Olivia’s throaty voice, soft and groggy with sleep. Her hair fell over her forehead in chocolate waves, and I had to fist my hand at my side not to brush it away.
We were different now, but I wasn’t sure what to call us. We weren’t enemies anymore, but despite last night, we weren’t lovers either, even if the image of Olivia’s naked body was branded into my brain. My eyes were glued to her while she stirred under the sheet, hoping to catch just one more glimpse.
“No, it’s nice and clear.” Unlike my head right now as it took a long minute to answer her question.
“I guess we should get going, see what the damage is like at home.” She leaned over the side of the bed, keeping the sheet over her as she plucked her dress and underwear from the floor. “No sense in lingering, right?”
“Right,” I replied with a husky rasp, imagining what it would’ve been like if we’d woken up tangled up in each other instead of looking for the quickest escape. I had the confusing inclination to both leave as quickly as possible and to say the hell with it and fuck Olivia until they made us leave.
When she closed the bathroom door behind her, I stood from the bed, laughing to myself at all the times I couldn’t wait to get away from her compared to the pang in my chest now at the thought of taking her home.
I pulled on my boxers and suit pants and was buttoning my shirt when the door creaked open.
“This doesn’t look like a walk of shame at all, does it?” Olivia shot me a sleepy grin as she dipped her head, motioning to her dress from last night. “I’ll look completely ridiculous in the lobby, but I guess a lot of wedding guests didn’t plan on staying.” She lifted her gaze to mine, the side of her mouth curving up. “I know we didn’t.”
She’d washed the makeup off her face and her hair was tied into a messy bun, but she was every bit as breathtaking as she was last night. And as my father had pointed out at our table, I was still drooling over her.
“You still look beautiful. I mean…” I trailed off, rubbing the back of my neck. “You’re fine—we’re all walking out in our clothes from last night.”
She nodded as she scooped her shoes off the floor. The one thing Olivia and I never had was a loss for words for each other, and now the air crackled between us, charged with things unsaid and unfinished.
“Think it’s early enough that I can walk barefoot into the lobby?” she asked, dangling her shoes at me. “My feet usually need a day to recover from these.”
“I think so. I can call ahead so the car is waiting for us.”
Her eyes bored into mine, dark and wide. The pull to her was so strong, I had to lean against the wall to prevent myself from closing the distance between us. The real light of day wouldn’t show until we got out of this room, which I both couldn’t wait to do and dreaded at the same time.
The silent walk to the elevator unnerved me even more. We were alone as we descended the three floors down. I tore my eyes away from the graceful slope of her neck and tried like hell not to fixate on what her curves were like under that wrinkled dress or how much I wanted to tear it off her again.
We still said nothing as we waited for the keys to my truck at the front counter, but Amy’s voice came across loud and clear behind us.
“Thirty minutes? You can’t get our car faster than that?”
Jayden tried to shush her in a loud whisper, but she groaned in response. I didn’t turn around and didn’t need to. I no longer cared if they were miserable or what they’d done. If not for them, I would have come to this wedding alone and probably gone back to the same miserable life today. I had the weird urge to thank them. So many things felt clearer, lighter, other than what to do about the beautiful woman I felt more than saw standing next to me.
“Hey, sorry about that.” I recognized Donnie’s voice. “Thanks to the wedding and the storm, they were at capacity last night. The garage is across the street.”
“It’s fine,” Amy replied with a loud huff.
Was she always this petulant? I honestly couldn’t remember. I turned to nod good morning at my cousin.
“Oh, hey, guys. I guess you’re waiting a long time too. Sorry about that,” he sighed, shaking his head. “Last night was supposed to be an easy wedding.”
“No apologies needed,” Olivia said next to me. “We had a great time.”
“I know,” Amy scowled at the both of us, looking Olivia over with a laughable level of disdain. “We were in room three twenty-four.”
The valet handed Jayden a key, and he held it up to Amy, giving us all a quick wave as he pressed his hand against her lower back to guide her toward the entrance.
Olivia’s eyes danced when I cut her a look. Sex between us last night was loud, destructive, and unforgettable. We had been too into each other to notice the room damage or think of who could hear us. I was sure we gave our neighbors on the other side of us a good show too.
“Sorry,” Olivia said in a loud whisper, sliding her arm into the crook of my elbow and cuddling into my side. “And after you guys were so quiet too.”
Amy leveled us with one last glare and headed out the glass entrance doors.
I gazed down at Olivia, both of us stifling a smile. “Couldn’t resist?”
