Come Alive (14 page)

“It’s okay, no big deal,” I said with a
reassuring smile.

“Uncle David!”

David bolted upright, knocking his knee on the
table and cursing. He shot us a quick look before jogging over to the boy.
Brian shifted uneasily. After a moment, he mumbled an excuse and took off after
David.

“Well this is uncomfortable,”
Jessa
said.

“Not even, don’t worry. I’m sure it’s hard to
keep track of all his girlfriends.”

She cocked her head at me, and my hand flew to
my mouth. “I’m sorry, I didn’t meant to imply anything. Just that he’s so
charming, I’m sure he’s had many girlfriends.”

Jessa
released a
fluid, heartfelt laugh. “Don’t worry, I know David’s something of a ladies’
man. But ‘girlfriends’ is the wrong word.” I waited for her to continue, but
she just popped a grape in her mouth and looked over to the grass.

“Is that your son?”

“Alex – sorry I didn’t introduce you.”

“It’s okay, he’s busy. How old is he?”

“Just turned ten.”

I nodded and watched as David scooped him up
effortlessly and spun him around until Alex started screaming. As soon as he
released him, the kid stumbled sideways and fell to the ground laughing. David
leaned his hands on his knees and said something to Brian, who burst into
laughter. David’s head swung in our direction then, a carefree smile plastered
on his face. He really was blindingly beautiful when he smiled, especially when
it was directed right at me.

“I’m surprised.”

“I’m sorry?” I asked, reluctantly breaking from my
adulation.

“That you’re married. You and David seem to have
a connection. I certainly haven’t seen him look at someone like that . . .
ever
.”

My breath rushed from my lungs. I fingered the
hem of my spandex tank top, trying unsuccessfully to avoid her stare.

“Brian has the idea that your being here today
is a coincidence. Is it?” Her eyes were alive with questions, and I was afraid
of the answers she might read in mine. I felt scarily close to confessing
everything to her; she seemed so warm and understanding and disconnected from
my life. I grasped at words, opening and closing my mouth like a goldfish.

Judy appeared suddenly, rescuing me from any
spontaneous confessions. “Hot dog or burger, girls?”

“Burger for me,”
Jessa
chimed.

I nodded my agreement.

“Two burgers,” Judy called to her husband, and
she climbed onto the bench. She sat up straight, brushing dark hair off her
shoulder and flashing a colossal ring that dominated her slender fingers. “So,
Olivia, where are you from?”

“I grew up in Dallas, but I moved here after
college.”

“Oh? You don’t strike me as Southern girl.”

“I get that a lot,” I said with a laugh.

“Where’d you go to school?”

“Notre Dame. Your husband went there, right?” I
recalled my conversation with David the last time we’d had burgers. “My dad too.”

“How funny!” she exclaimed. “
Ger
,
Olivia here went to Notre Dame.”

Gerard brightened visibly and called, “A fellow
Leprechaun! That’s my girl!”

I couldn’t help but smile back at his
enthusiasm.

“We tried to get David to go there, but for some
reason he chose Yale instead,” she said, laughing.

“You must be so proud of him. He’s done very
well for himself.”

“We are, but we never had any doubt he would
succeed. David has always excelled at the things he puts his mind to. He’s
always been very motivated, sometimes to a fault.”

“It’s true,”
Jessa
said. “When we were in elementary school, he cried when he found out he could
only receive the Student of the Month award once.”

I giggled into my hand just as the three boys
descended on the table. Alex climbed up between
me and
Jessa
,
as David and Brian sat across from us.

“Who are you?” Alex asked.

“I’m Olivia.” I smiled down at him. “Nice to,
um, meet you,” I said, wondering if I should offer my hand.

He made a sputtering noise with his lips,
sending spittle onto my top.

“Alex,”
Jessa
scolded.
“That’s not polite.”

“It’s fine,” I said, waving him off. “He can’t
possibly get more saliva on me than
Sofie
already
has.”

Alex gave me a narrow-eyed look before grasping an
iPad
from the table and diving into it.
What was that for?

“Watch this,” David said. “Alex.”

“Huh,” Alex snorted, his fingers gliding across the
screen expertly.

“How old are you?”

“Huh.”

“Where do you go to school?”

“Huh.”

“Alex.”

“Huh.”

“Do you have a girlfriend?”

He jerked his head up. “No way, yuck,” he
exclaimed before returning his eyes to the screen.

We laughed. David was a good
uncle,
that
much was obvious. It hit me that perhaps he liked children and wanted
some of his own one day.

“Come and get it,” Gerard said, indicating to
the barbeque.

I went to stand, but David waved me down. “Burger?”
he asked, and I nodded. He left the table, clapped his dad on the back and
loaded our burgers onto two plates.

Brian fixed his twinkling eyes on me just as
David set my plate down. “Ah, the question of the hour. What
does
the mysterious Olivia Germaine take
on her burger? Can I guess?”

With all eyes on me, I nodded. He rubbed his
hands together.

“Ketchup,” he said, moving the bottle in front
of me. “Because red is the color of love.” He paused, and David rolled his eyes
before taking off almost half his burger in one bite.

“Not onions,” Brian murmured, “for that would
make her lovely eyes cry.” I blushed furiously as
Jessa
giggled. “And sauerkraut is much too sour for such a sweet creature.” He hummed
to himself as he looked over the offerings. “Yes to relish, because I know she
has a naughty side.” He winked at me. David was openly glaring at Brian now,
and
Jessa
watched her brother intently. “To top it
off, lettuce, extra crispy, and a touch of mayo. How’d I do?”

I was about to respond when David swallowed his
food and cut me off. “Wrong. Ketchup, mustard, pickles, tomatoes.”

“Yep.” I smiled and emptied some ketchup onto my
patty.
He remembered.
“David wins.”

“Bummer.”

“Dude,” David said, “what the fuck is naughty
about relish?”

Brian looked thoughtful. “Haven’t you ever
relished a lady?”

“Boys,” Judy admonished, gesturing at Alex.

“You just pulled that out of your ass,” David
mumbled and Brian grinned, seemingly pleased with his quick wit.

I sighed happily. I couldn’t remember the last
time I’d been to a family barbeque, and I was enjoying the warmth of the
Dylans
’ bubble. When it came time for me to go, I was
reluctant. I thanked them for their hospitality while David brought
Sofie
and Canyon over.

“I’ll walk you,” he said, fisting both leashes.

I nodded and turned to wave once more at the
group.

“He’s gorgeous,” I said, stooping to run a hand
along Canyon’s black and tan fur. “I wanted a German Shepherd when I was
younger.”

“I’d get one of my own if I could.”

“I’ve never had a dog,” I said wistfully. “My
dad didn’t have the time or patience to take care of one. But I love them.” I
sighed.

“Everything all right?” he asked.

“Yes. You’re great with Alex.”

David shifted the leashes from one hand to the
other. “He makes it easy.”

“I like your family.”

“They like you too.”

“You don’t know that,” I teased, bumping him
with my shoulder and then withdrawing, embarrassed by the contact rush.

“Of course I do. I never would’ve invited you if
I didn’t think they would.”

“Okay,” I accepted, because I desperately wanted
it to be true. That this lovely family might think I was a good person meant a
great deal to me. When David’s and my naked and entangled bodies flashed before
my eyes, the blood drained from my face.
Good
people don’t cheat on their husbands
, I reminded myself. I held my hand out
for the leash. “I have to go.”

“Thank you for coming. I’m glad you did.”

I held up my open hand before turning and retreating
down the path.

I was also glad that I’d gone. There was an
element of the afternoon that had been long missing in my life. Any time spent
with David seemed to emphasize the things that hadn’t been there before.
Simplicity. Effortlessness.
And on the other end of the
spectrum, passion.
I’d learned today that the passion between us didn’t
only live between the sheets. It was a different kind of passion, but it was
there.
The desire to be around him, to feed off his energy.
When he wasn’t next to me, I longed for him. I thought about it all the way
home with a smile.

When I got back to the apartment, I wiped the
arrogant grin off my face. Bill glanced up to greet me before turning back to
his paperwork. Remembering the other night in his office, it occurred to me
that Bill and I didn’t have a very passionate relationship. It was loving and stable.
But Bill wasn’t the type to get passionate about much, except maybe sports. And
even then, it was passive in its own way.

I had seen what passion could do to a
relationship. My mother had been irrational, senseless when it came to my
father. She let her emotions dictate her life, and that had ultimately driven
their marriage into the ground.

I’d never questioned which way was the right way
before. I’d always known I would choose reliability and stability over the
alternative. The alternative meant a lifetime of mess
;
fights, pain, insecurity. I tried not to picture that kind of life with David
as I watched Bill at the kitchen table. Could David even be faithful to one
person? Did the spark between us come from him, because it was the type of
person he was? And did that mean everyone felt it in his presence?

Sure, for two people with as much heat as we
had, there was bound to be mess. It was inevitable. But there’d also be
intensity, craving,
impatience
. There would be
passion.

CHAPTER
13

IN
HER BABY BLUE PARTY DRESS, Gretchen twirled when I called her name. “I’m so
glad you’re here,” she said, as I approached the hotel entrance. “I need another
drink.”

“Don’t you have to work the door?”

“No, not my client,” she said, crooking her
elbow in mine. She guided me inside with a quick step. “And don’t try to tell
me you didn’t know this was David’s project. Sneaky bitch.”

I bit my lip and considered feigning innocence,
but I knew she’d see through it. We were at the soft opening for David’s hotel,
Revelin
Resort. I’d been
there
once before with David, when it was under construction, and the exterior alone
had had me envisioning sultry black sand beaches. That concept was even more
prevalent now as I scanned the interior. The hotel had onyx-colored marble
floors veined with pearly silver. Large aquariums with unnaturally blue water
flanked the lobby. Even the fish matched the interior.

Someone dressed in head-to-toe black directed us
toward a doorway situated between aquariums. We passed under the glass bottom
into a sultry lounge. It was darker than the lobby, with
low-hanging
glass chandeliers that gave the space an ethereal glow. Red velvet seating
lined the room, inviting and attractive against shadowy walls.

“I love sexy
Liv
, by
the way,” Gretchen said, raising her eyebrows at my outfit and waving down a
bartender.

I smiled triumphantly. With heavy eyeliner and
glossy pink lips, I was channeling my inner-retro. My black strapless jumpsuit
was skin-tight and proudly displayed my slight but full cleavage.

When Gretchen handed me a drink, we clinked
glasses. “Where’s Bill?” she asked after she’d taken a sip.

“He went north with some friends for the
weekend.”

“He fucking loves fishing, doesn’t he?”

I laughed. “He loves getting out of the city and
yes, fishing too.”

“You’d think he grew up in the country or
something.” She checked her phone. “Wait here. I have to get Greg at the door.”

I drifted over to the aquarium that separated
the lounge from the lobby, drawn in by the comforting blue glow. I sipped my
Belvedere and cranberry while gazing at the aimless fish.

Something about Gretchen’s comment stuck with me.
Bill had actually grown up on a small farm an hour outside the city where his
very Catholic parents still lived. He worked hard now because they’d instilled
that in him as a child. His weekends were spent with his parents, tending to
things around the farm. During the week, his parents had him booked solid with
all sorts of lessons, tutoring and a part-time job.

He’d had one long-term relationship before we
met. He didn’t talk about her often, but I knew that he hadn’t been the one to
end it. In the beginning of our relationship, he’d given me the impression that
he’d intended to marry her. I sometimes wondered how things would be different
if she hadn’t broken it off.

I started when I felt a presence behind me, cursing
when I spilled alcohol down my cleavage.

“Olivia,” David greeted, drawing up next to me.

“How do you that?” I mumbled, accepting a napkin
from him and mopping the fabric with it.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, his voice
frayed with annoyance.

I balled up the napkin and tucked some hair
behind my ear. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

I sighed and snuck a glance up at him. “Gretchen
invited us.”

His expression was unreadable as his gaze
followed the fish intently. He blinked down, letting his eyes leer over my
outfit. They swooped up to my face, and he took a measured sip from his glass.
“Well, you never fail to impress, Olivia. Never.”

I didn’t know how to take the wryness in his
voice. He remained impassive with one hand deep in his pocket and the other
curled tightly around his glass.

“Um,” I said, trying not to sound intimidated.
“The hotel turned out wonderfully. You must be so pleased.”

He snorted and nodded to my near-empty glass.
“What are you having?”

“Trying to get me drunk, are you?” I teased. “That’s
not very gentlemanly.”

“Who gave you this idea that I’m such a
gentleman?” He leaned in closely and whispered, “Because they were entirely
mistaken.”

I inhaled deeply at his liquor-spicy breath on
my skin. A wolfish grin before he strolled away let me know he had noticed my
reaction. This wasn’t the same restrained David I had been dealing with lately.
This was the David in Lucy’s doorway, who was growing impatient. David from the
cold stairwell, who took what he wanted.

I followed him to the bar, lured by his words,
hooked by his trailing scent. “How’s that view at night?” I ventured.

He cleared his throat and looked over my head. “Where’s
your husband?”

“Fishing,” I said flatly. His brown eyes dropped
to mine, and he surveyed me like a predator would – with a tense jaw and
a lusty, narrow-eyed stare. His maleness was in full force, and I wavered
slightly in the fog of his virility. The thrill he inspired in me held as much
fear as it did excitement. He scoffed and uttered something to himself.

“What?” I asked.

He only handed me my drink and turned to tip the
bartender.

“Hey, you must be Bill,” Greg said from behind
us. David just stared at Greg’s hand as it hung between them. “Incredible,” he
continued. “You are exactly as I pictured.”

“That is most definitely
not
Bill,” Gretchen muttered as she walked up.

I introduced them, and David finally shook his
hand with a firm pump and a curt nod. His mood was noticeably dark and edgy, as
if he might explode any moment. It made
me
feel edgy and slightly out of control; I wanted to know exactly what it would
take to make him snap – and what would happen when he did.

“Great, what’s he doing here?” Gretchen’s voice
wormed its way into my thoughts. I followed her glare to Brian Ayers, who escorted
a pretty girl our way. He adjusted his patterned bowtie and pushed a hand
through his blond locks.

“What happened between you two, anyway?” I asked
quietly.

“Absolutely nothing. I only needed one date to
see that he was just another self-absorbed artist trying to cram his shitty
photos down everyone’s throats.”

“Whoa. You saw his photography?” I asked with an
arched eyebrow.

“I didn’t have to.”

“So nothing happened at all? Not even a teeny-tiny
kiss?”

“No,” she insisted, but she fidgeted with her
purse. “Give me some credit. Like I said, he’s a prick.”

When I looked again, Brian was at my side with a
scowl that told me he’d heard her last comment.

“Hello, lovely Olivia.” He kissed me on both
cheeks. His mouth drooped. “Gretchen,” he acknowledged before looking away.

“Isn’t there some fabulous art exhibit you
should be at?” she asked, batting her eyelashes with exaggeration.

“Yes. This is my work.” He motioned to a series
of black and white photographs displayed on the walls. They were entirely
different from the ones I’d seen in his apartment. In the one nearest to me, a
nude woman leaned against a doorframe, her body curved like
an
‘S’
, and her head resting against her raised arm. She stared at us with
all-knowing eyes, amusement dancing on her parted lips.

“You took those?” Gretchen asked skeptically.

He nodded. “Sure did, princess.” She responded
to his endearment with a frown. “David recommended my work,” he continued, “being
the good friend that he is.”

“
It’s
just business,”
David replied stoically.

“Well, you certainly are a lovely crowd this
evening, but if you’ll excuse us,” Brian said, winking at me again.

“So where’s
Dani
tonight?” Gretchen asked loudly. She sipped her drink through a tiny straw,
avoiding my glare.

“Lucy’s sister?” Greg asked, turning to David.
“Are you two dating?”

“No.”

I raised my drink to hide the smile that was
forming.

“Oh. I was under the impression that you were.” Gretchen’s
statement pitched at the end, conveying her piqued curiosity.

He shrugged. “We’ve been out, but we’re not really
looking for the same thing.”

“Which is?” Gretchen prodded.

Irritation marked his face, though I knew better
than to think that would deter Gretchen. “She would prefer something more . . .
permanent.”

“Oh, hmm,” Gretchen said, nodding. “Well gosh, that’s
really too bad.
Dani
is a catch. She’s
definitely
worth becoming exclusive for.”

I fingered a piece of hair and bit my lip near
bloody as Gretchen threw me a hasty smirk.

“I agree completely,” David said. “She will make
someone very happy.”

“Someone else?” Gretchen ventured.

“Someone else,” he agreed. “I have yet to make
it official though, so I would appreciate your discretion.”

“Scout’s honor,” Gretchen said, holding up three
fingers. “So then where’s your date tonight?”

I gave her an exasperated look.

“If you’ll excuse me, this is Maria now,” he
said, pulling out his phone.

When he stepped away, I pinched her. “What are
you – ” I stopped to glance at Greg. “Greg, can you give us a minute?
What are you
doing
?” I asked when
he’d left.

“This is for your protection,
Liv
. I told you already, he’s bad news. I don’t know why
you’re still consorting with him.”

“We’re friends,” I said defensively.

“He can’t even stick with one girl for more than
a few dates.”

“I don’t care who he sticks with,” I retorted. “It’s
none of my business.”

“Then stop eye-fucking him, and get it together.
Anyone can see that you’re ready to jump each other’s bones.”

I gasped and covered my mouth. “I am doing no
such thing!”

“He doesn’t look very happy with Maria at the
moment,” she observed over my shoulder. I turned and noticed his drawn features
as he held the phone to his ear. He stood rigidly with one arm crossed over his
chest
as he appeared to be listening.

“Come on,” she said. “I have to break the seal.”

“I’m good,” I replied with a smug smile. I
picked a quiet spot amongst the velvety cushions to people watch and wait for
Gretchen. I was not alone long, for an attractive man of considerable height
was suddenly looming over me.

“May I?” he asked, motioning to the space next
to me.

“Sure,” I said, scooting aside.

“Are you part of the PR team?”

“No, just a guest. You?”

“We handle the advertising for this place.
Steve,” he said, offering his hand.

“Olivia.”

“So Olivia, what do you do?”

I told him, and he smiled genially, remarking on
how much he’d enjoyed an article the magazine had just published. He was
good-looking, I noticed as he spoke. I fleetingly thought that I should
introduce him to Gretchen before remembering that she was no longer available.
He laughed at one of my comments and touched my knee.

“She’s with me.”

We glanced up at the same moment, my eyes taking
a little longer to travel up David’s towering body.

“I’m sorry,” Steve said, making a show of
getting up. “Just being friendly,” he added.

David did not move aside. When Steve stood, the
men were almost
nose to nose
, except that David still
held a couple inches over his imaginary adversary.
And my David is infinitely more handsome
, I thought.
Wait
– my
David?
Steve shuffled around him and slinked away as David took
his place beside me.

“Is it necessary to remind you,” I started, “that
we are
not
together and that implying
so could give people the wrong idea?”

“He was bothering you.”

“He was being a perfect – we were just
chatting,” I squeaked. I inched closer to him, hoping to get a whiff of the
David cologne cocktail.

“Regardless, he should have checked your hand
before embarrassing himself by trying to pick you up.”

“Like you did?” I asked, pursing my lips.

“That’s different.”

“How?”

He leaned back against the cushion so that I had
to shift marginally to look at him. I was close enough that I wouldn’t have to
move much further before my lips would land on his. His eyes traveled down my
neck to my breasts before shooting back up to my face. “It just is.”