by Jill Shalvis
“Your father taught you how to walk away from a fight.” Elvira took Olivia’s hands in hers. “He also taught you manners, which you’ve clearly forgotten. I’m Amelia,” she said. “And you are?”
“Olivia Bentley.”
“You own that lovely boutique. It’s wonderful to meet you. I love your costume.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re certainly giving Jack Sparrow some class tonight.”
Cole laughed. “I think it’s fair to say she can outclass me on any night, Mom.” Again he slipped an arm around Olivia.
Did she look like she needed the support? Olivia wondered. She’d thought she was managing the terror pretty well. To be on the safe side, she flashed him the small, bullshit I’m-fine smile that had worked on every single person she’d ever let into her life.
But Cole wasn’t buying what she was selling, which she realized when he gently squeezed her waist like he was offering her comfort on top of support. She turned to Mrs. Donovan. “This house is beautiful. Is it yours?”
“Yes, and call me Amelia. It was built in 1905, and you wouldn’t believe how cranky it can get.” She patted Cole on the shoulder, which she had to reach up to do. “Cole helps me keep it fixed up. I don’t know what I’d do without him, especially since his dad died last year. He’s my rock.”
Thing Two was back, holding a two-year-old dressed up as the Lorax. “I want Ariel to tell us about when she knocked Cole into the ocean.”
Cole swore beneath his breath, and got smacked upside the head for it. “Watch your mouth,” Elvira said.
Cole straightened his dreads and bandana and slid his mom a look.
The toddler started fussing as a stunningly beautiful woman came up to them. She wore a long white column dress and dazzling bling. “Wait for me, I want to hear about the chick who got the best of Cole, too!”
“Cara,” Cole said to Olivia before turning back to his sister. “And who are you supposed to be?”
“One of the Real Housewives of Lucky Harbor.”
“But you’re not married,” Thing Two said.
Cara shrugged. “Details.” She smiled at Olivia. “Normally Cole counts on us to take him down a peg or two, so we appreciate the assist.”
“Maybe you should’ve dressed as the family comedienne,” Cole said.
There was something here, Olivia thought, a different dynamic between these two than the others. Tension, for one.
And a lingering anger and resentment that surprised Olivia.
Thing Two shoved her fussy, drooling two-year-old into Cole’s arms. “Mom’s kitchen sink isn’t draining again. Can you fix it?”
Cole bounced the Lorax up and down in his arms, making the toddler give a full belly giggle and drool some more. Olivia was having a similar reaction watching him easily handle and charm the baby.
“Grannie’s sink isn’t draining ’cause she keeps putting food into it,” Cole told the little guy, lifting him high in the air, “even though she’s still on a septic tank and not the sewer system.”
The boy gave another belly laugh that was utterly contagious, and Cole brought him in for a smacking kiss that had the toddler’s legs kicking in sheer joy.
Something deep within Olivia quivered.
“Why does he always stop crying for you?” Cindy demanded, and took the Lorax back.
The baby lifted his hands back out to Cole. “Mine! Mine Cole!”
Cole grinned at him. “You and me later, dude. We’ve got ‘nap’ written all over us.”
The baby cooed.
Cindy was staring at Olivia, head cocked. “You know,” she said. “You look really familiar. I feel like I’ve seen you before, somewhere.”
“Her shop,” Cole said while Olivia’s pulse kicked, knowing where that somewhere had been.
“No, not her shop,” Cindy said. “Somewhere else.”
“Cara, offer our guest something to drink,” Elvira said.
“What’s your poison?” Cara asked Olivia.
Olivia looked around and saw that everyone was drinking wine or beer. “I’ll have a beer, thank you.”
Clare pointed at Cole. “Keep her,” she said.
Cindy was still staring at Olivia. “You look familiar,” she said.
“I have that kind of a face,” Olivia said.
Cindy let the subject drop, though her gaze never left Olivia. She was close to figuring it out. On borrowed time, Olivia thought…
The party engulfed them then. There was a pool table, and some fierce games were going on there, and also on the two dartboards. Turned out the Donovans took their competition extremely seriously. That was okay, because so did she.
In college, she’d kept to herself, but had been drawn to both pool and darts. They’d appealed to her competitive nature, and also were games she could play without being on a team. She was good.
But Cole was better. He killed her at pool.
And then he had his ass handed to him at the dartboards.
By Olivia.
The crowd went nuts, and she was toasted by everyone in the family for keeping Cole humble.
Cole ignored them all and good-naturedly high-fived her, and then shocked her by dipping her low over his arm and kissing the hell out of her.
They were separated for a while after that. Cindy’s husband grabbed Cole for another game, and Olivia found herself at the bar with someone dressed up as an orc, helping restock. Afterward, she grabbed two more beers and went in search of Cole.
She didn’t find him in the living room or the courtyard, where people were milling and dancing. He wasn’t in the den, either, or in the large kitchen that was filled with every sort of kitchen appliance known to man, along with the personal signs of a big family. Family pictures decorated the fridge, and then there was stuff scattered over the counters, including a stack of mail, empty food containers, a cat sniffing around in the sink, and…
Cole and Cara’s voices, coming from…
The pantry?
“I said I would,” Cara was saying, sounding irritated. “Happy? You’ve finally worn me down. I’m telling Mom everything.”
“When?” came Cole’s voice. “When are you going to come clean with everyone?”
“Jesus, Cole, you’re like a dog with a bone.”
“Or a pissed-off, tired-of-keeping-your-fucking-secret brother?” he asked.
“Oh, get off your high horse,” Cara snapped. “You’re one to talk.”
“We’ve had this conversation. I’m not lying to everyone I care about.”
“No, of course not. You’re better than that, right? Your world is black and white, right and wrong. There’s a clear line drawn, and if someone crosses it, you’re done with them.”
“Jesus, dramatic much?” he asked. “Your costume’s fitting tonight.”
“Whatever.”
“Cara, look at me.”
“Aye, aye, Captain.”
“Shut up, smart-ass,” he said. “I’m here bitching you out. Does that seem like I’m done with you?”
Olivia shook herself, realized she was eavesdropping, and crossed the room to tell them she was standing right there, but by the time she poked her head into the pantry, they were hugging. She jerked back out of sight, leaving the kitchen to stand in the hallway, both uncomfortable at interfering and incredibly moved by their relationship, which seemed…real. More real than anything she’d ever had with her own sister.
Too late she realized Cara had stepped out of the pantry and was now right in front of her. Damn. Way too late to make it look like she was doing anything other than listening in on a private conversation. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop.”
“The more the merrier in this house of crazy,” Cara said. “You like him, right?”
Olivia shot a startled glance toward the pantry. “Oh. Well…I—”
Cara smiled. “Yeah. You do.” She started to pass by Olivia, but then stopped and met her gaze. “Thanks for coming with him,” she said
. “It’s nice to see him smiling.”
And then she was gone.
Olivia sucked in a breath and thought about how close the siblings were. About how the concept was both alien and yet something she yearned for with all her heart and soul.
She wasn’t used to this sort of group dynamic, hadn’t been for a long time. But suddenly she missed the feeling of being on a set, the family sense of the crew.
Because that’s what this felt like to her, one big, happy set.
Only this couldn’t be canceled when ratings tanked. This was Cole’s real life.
Which reminded her how different they were. She couldn’t even imagine what it would be like to be a part of a family like this, one that stuck, that stayed no matter what, whose members loved each other and all their individual faults.
Unconditionally.
They weren’t dependent on each other financially. They each had their own jobs and took care of themselves.
But they also took care of each other.
Willingly.
They loved each other.
A hand slipped into hers. Cole. He smiled and drew her back into the kitchen, where he pressed something in her hand.
A napkin.
Which was when she realized she had tears on her cheeks.
“Hey,” he said softly. “We overwhelming you with our obnoxiousness?”
She blew her nose. “No. I’ve got something in my eye is all.”
He smiled with such understanding that she nearly cried some more. “We’re harmless,” he promised. “Well, mostly.”
He was about as harmless as a python. “You’ve got a pretty great family,” she said. She was trying to wrap her head around that while reminding herself that this wasn’t her future, much as she might secretly love it to be.
Because she’d lied to him.
“Great?” Cole asked. “Or terrifying?”
“Great.”
He looked at her for a beat and then backed her into the pantry, pressed in close, and shut the door at his back. “You look like you need a moment.” He leaned against a shelving unit filled to the gills with cans and bins and spices. His pose was relaxed, his smile easy, his eyes appreciative.
“We can’t be in here,” she said. “Your mother—”
“Knows her son is an adult.”
She stared at him. “But…”
“I’m the youngest,” he said. “Do you really think there’s anything I can do to shock her that one of my sisters hasn’t already done? And besides, she’s the consummate pro. She’d never get mad at a guest. And you’re a pro at this social thing, too,” he said. “You really know how to charm a guy’s family.”
Olivia sucked in a breath and tried to look like she deserved credit for that, but Cole went still, and then cocked his head. “Tell me you’ve done this before, met a guy’s mom.”
Actually, no. No, she hadn’t. Not once.
“Olivia? Am I the first guy who’s ever brought you home?”
Her throat was tight again. Damn it. She decided to ignore the embarrassing and far too revealing fact that yeah, he was her first…whatever he was. “What’s important here is that I think your mother actually likes me. I’m not going to get caught in the pantry with her favorite son and jeopardize that.”
“I’m her only son,” he said. “But you’re right, she does like you.”
The knowledge made Olivia glow a little bit, even as she squirmed with…discomfort. His family cared about each other, and it was genuine. Even the thing between Cole and his sister wasn’t dysfunctional. They didn’t throw booze bottles at each other, light each other’s bedrooms on fire, sleep with each other’s boyfriends, steal money…
Instead, they fought. And then hugged and made up.
“I like you, too,” he said, and this only served to give her more warm fuzzies. And more terror.
“Olivia,” Cole said, voice low.
Kind.
Warm.
She met his gaze and he crooked a finger at her, the universal sign for come here.
And though she wanted to resist, wanted to walk away, her feet took over, bringing her right to him.
Chapter 22
Cole had wondered if Olivia would relax enough to have a good time. When he’d caught a glimpse of her tears, his heart had stopped. But he’d quickly realized that she’d been deeply touched by his family, and possibly missing hers. “Come here, little mermaid,” he murmured, wrapping her in his arms when she stepped into him.
“You going to pillage and plunder?” she asked softly.
“Yeah.” Actually, what he was going to do was his damnedest to erase the sorrow from her eyes. Spreading his legs, he pulled her into the V until they were snug against each other.
“Your sisters are—”
“Crazy?” he asked. “Yeah. I know.”
“I was going to say nice,” she said.
“Huh.” He laughed a little. “That’s a word I haven’t heard associated with them before.”
Smiling, she shook her head. “You love them. You’re close.”
He blew out a sigh. “For better or worse. That surprises you.” He held her gaze, trying to see inside her, to the secrets she held so close to her heart. “Tell me about your family, Olivia.”
She pressed her face into his throat. He could feel her lips on him. Since this threatened to derail his thought process, he urged her head up so that he could see her face again.
Her eyes remained on where she’d nipped him on the Adam’s apple. “Olivia,” he called.
She pressed her hips to his, rocking the softest part of her against what was now the hardest part of him. With a groan, he tightened his grip on her, holding her still. “Were you close to your family?” he asked.
“It’s been a long time.”
He heard the pain in her voice and he softened his hold, cuddling her into him. “Kiss me, Supergirl.”
She didn’t hesitate, lifting her mouth to his, opening when he gently nipped her lower lip, sucking her tongue into his mouth with a soft moan that had him insta-hard.
And that’s when the door opened.
A three-and-a-half-foot-tall minion stood there. Jonathan, Clare’s mini-me, stared at them, taking in the way Cole was gripping Olivia close with one hand, his other cupped the nape of her neck. “Uncle Cole?”
“Yeah, buddy,” Cole said, hearing the residual huskiness in his voice.
“Why were you swallowing the Little Mermaid’s tongue?”
“I wasn’t,” Cole said. “I was…” You were what, genius? “Checking her tonsils.”
Jonathan turned his gaze on Olivia, awe in his eyes. “When I get to be big like you,” he said to Cole, “I wanna check the Little Mermaid’s tonsils, too.” And then he slammed the pantry door shut, the sound of his little feet running out of the kitchen echoing around them.
Cole grinned and pulled Olivia back in. “Where were we?”