Distractions (The Rebound Series) (7 page)

And it was
adorable
.
 
Olivia had always preferred dogs over cats, but this little mass of fur absolutely melted her heart.
 
It was pure white with a small gray spot on its forehead and it had the bluest eyes she had ever seen on an animal.

Alex glanced over and saw it sitting there.
 
“Not my cat, remember?” he murmured to her.

Even though pets were a touchy subject for him, Olivia still responded.
 
“How can you say that?
 
Look how cute it is!
 
And you don’t even have a name for it,” she grumbled as she approached the door to get a closer look.

Alex shook his head, a small smile on his lips.
 
“I told you you could name it.”

“But you don’t even know if it’s a boy or a girl.”

“I’m not going to check, if that’s what you’re implying,” Alex responded and it was Olivia’s turn to pout.

“How can I pick a name if I don’t know whether it’s a boy or a girl?
 
I can’t call it…oh, I don’t know…Bubbles, for example, if it’s a boy,” she argued, crouching down at the door.

Silence.

“Bubbles?” Alex asked incredulously, forgetting the chicken on the stove.
 
“What the hell type of name is Bubbles?
 
You are
not
calling it that.”

“It was just an example.
 
Of course I wouldn’t call it Bubbles!” Olivia said, amused at the offended look on Alex’s face.
 
She turned back to examine the cat.
 
But now all Olivia could think about
was
calling it Bubbles…

“No,” Alex said suddenly.
 
Olivia looked back up at him with an innocent expression.
 
“I know what you’re thinking.
 
No.”

“All you have to do is check.
 
If it’s a boy, I won’t name him Bubbles.
 
So you have a fifty fifty shot,” Olivia said, smiling teasingly.

Alex blew out a breath, studying her.
 
Then he grumbled, “Get the cat food from the pantry.
 
You’ll have to distract it while I check.”

A few moments later, Olivia had managed to slowly lure the skittish cat into the kitchen with a fresh bowl of food while Alex crouched down behind it.
 
Olivia couldn’t help but laugh, which startled the cat before he settled back down.
 
This was by far the most ridiculous thing she had ever seen.

After gently lifting the cat’s tail, Alex searched for what seemed like minutes.
 
The longer he looked, the wider Olivia’s smile broadened.
 
Alex finally admitted defeat.
 
“Well, fuck me,” he muttered, dismayed.

“Bubbles, it is,” Olivia said brightly as Alex rose from his position.
 
The cat paused and looked up from her bowl warily, eyeing Alex, but then resumed eating a few seconds later.

Alex went to the sink to wash his hands before returning to check the chicken on the stove.
 
Olivia couldn’t help but smile as affection blossomed in her chest.
 
He turned to her as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

“Having an adorable cat named Bubbles gets you
major
brownie points with me, just so you know,” Olivia murmured, gazing up at him underneath her lashes.

Alex’s gaze turned heated in the blink of an eye.
 
“Willing to prove that later?”

“Of course,” Olivia whispered as Alex leaned down for a kiss.

“Bubbles, it is, then,” Alex caved with a long sigh.

“So, he was a big sports guy too, huh?” Olivia asked with her face pressed up against Alex’s bare chest.
 
Morning light filtered through the blinds, casting a natural spotlight on Alex’s dark wood floor.
 
Olivia watched as dust danced in its stream.

They were talking about Alex’s uncle, who he considered a second father…not that he ranked his real father very high up, sadly enough.

Alex had woken up humorously disoriented and mumbling something about football.
 
It had taken him a moment to realize his situation and Olivia had laughed softly until his eyes finally landed on her.

“Well, shit,” he had murmured.
 
“I thought it was Sunday and I missed football.”

Olivia had raised her brows and asked, “You’re one of those guys?”

“Damn straight.
 
My uncle taught me well.”

Which was how they got on the topic of sports within five minutes of waking up on Saturday morning.
 
When Alex realized he was not, in fact, missing any games, he had settled back down in bed, draping Olivia over him comfortably.

Olivia was learning to be incredibly comfortable with her nakedness around him.
 
Even though he looked the way he did with his perfectly chiseled and toned body, his obvious appreciation for her own washed away almost all of Olivia’s self-consciousness.
 
It was a good feeling…a freeing feeling.

“My uncle is a huge 49ers fan.
 
I spent my weekends there most of the time and I remember waking up every Sunday morning to him yelling and screaming at the TV.
 
It was actually really comforting, even though it wouldn’t seem like it,” Alex added, his fingertips running along her spine.

Suppressing pleasurably shivers, Olivia smiled at his relaxed tone.
 
“And you eventually started yelling and screaming along with him?”

She could hear the grin in his voice even if she couldn’t see it.
 
“Eventually, yeah.
 
It took me a good two seasons to really learn the game.
 
But I haven’t missed a season since.”

“Did you ever play in high school?” she asked curiously.

“Why?
 
Think I was the dumb jock?” he asked, his teasing tone making her laugh.

“Well, it wouldn’t be too hard to picture you having your entire school wrapped around your finger,” she replied honestly, glancing up at his expression.

He was quiet for a moment.
 
“Luke played, but I never did.
 
The only thing I had in common with the dumb jocks in high school was a low GPA.”

“Seriously?” Olivia asked in surprise, pushing herself onto her elbow to look at him.
 
He momentarily got distracted when the sheet slipped and revealed her naked breasts, but she tugged it back up before he could act on it.

His eyes slowly slid up to her eyes and he nodded, swallowing thickly.
 
“I was never good at school.
 
I hated reading, I wasn’t a great writer.
 
The only things I did well were presentations and debates.”
 
Her surprise dimmed her desire.
 
She had imagined he would have been an excellent student, especially since he had
textbooks
, of all things, in his bookshelf.
 
“In college, I did better once my general education requirements were out of the way.
 
But I still had to do a lot of peer tutoring.”

“Wow,” she said softly, but her mind was elsewhere.
 
She was wondering how his father must have acted when he saw his son’s grades.
 
She didn’t want to ask, in fear that he would shut down on her again, but she was always curious about this man.

“You were probably a good student,” Alex guessed, smiling.

Olivia nodded, “I liked school.
 
I was thinking about going back for my M.B.A.
 
I had all my recommendations sorted and my applications filled out.”

“What happened?” Alex asked, shifting slightly to face her more fully.
 
His tanned skin flashed in the sun.

“My shop did,” she replied simply, shrugging a shoulder as happy and sad memories rose within her.
 
“My grandpa used to run his bakery out of that shop.
 
He had been at that spot for as long as I can remember.
 
I even worked for him during high school and when I returned home after college.
 
But he died about four years ago and left it all to my family.
 
My parents knew how much I loved it though, so they let me decide what happened to it.”

She paused and looked down at Alex’s dark sheets.
 
A fierce sadness still rushed through her whenever she thought of her grandpa.
 
Time still hadn’t completely healed the ache brought on by his sudden death.

She continued, “I had the choice to either sell it or run it.
 
And, of course, I couldn’t sell it, no matter how much I needed money for tuition.
 
My grandpa loved that shop.
 
I learned everything about baking from him, and even though I could never get his bread recipe just right, I practically grew up in that back kitchen.
 
So I kept it and converted it to suit my own needs.”

Alex was quiet for a moment as he studied her.
 
“You miss him.”
 
It wasn’t a question, but the lingering emotion on her face told Alex the truth.
 
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you sad,” he said softly.

“I’ll always be a little sad.
 
It’s okay if I am,” she whispered, her throat tight.

Something in his expression changed, but Olivia couldn’t put her finger on what.
 
It was almost like looking at the physical manifestation of longing as she gazed into his eyes, but she couldn’t figure out why he would feel that way.

But then she remembered what he had told her about his father a week ago in this very bed.
 
About his father telling him that no son of his would cry.
 
That he never wanted to see Alex cry again because it made him look weak.

Alex was raised believing that showing sadness was the ultimate weakness and that he would be punished if he did.

The revelation made Olivia ache until she was truly tearing up.

His kiss was sudden yet gentle and it absolutely devastated her because she felt his own sadness in that kiss.

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered against her lips, his voice more ragged than she had ever heard it.
 
She opened her eyes to find him watching her and he brought his lips back to hers.

Something changed between them in that moment, as though that last elusive puzzle piece finally clicked into place, revealing the beautiful picture it had always been underneath.
 
Olivia felt it in the way he kissed her and in the way she kissed him.

When he moved over her, Olivia spread her legs for him so he settled down comfortably.
 
She locked her arms tightly around his broad, smooth back, never wanting him to move away from her.
 
It didn’t take long for her body to warm and by the time he reached for a condom, she was as ready as he was.

They didn’t have sex.

It was love making, pure and beautiful.

The intensity between them was still there as it always had been, but it felt different.
 
It was charged on a deeper level and when Olivia came, it was soft and so wonderful that she wanted to cry.

Alex felt a little nervous, if he was being honest.

He gripped the steering wheel harder and tried to concentrate on anything but Olivia’s soft touch.
 
She was tracing patterns on his right hand from the passenger seat of his car.
 
And it was seriously turning him on even though he doubted she even realized what she was doing.
 
She was distracted and quiet as she gazed out her window at the passing scenery.
 
But regardless, he caught her fingers in his hand to make her stop.
 
The last thing he needed was showing up to meet her family with a huge hard on.

That would go over well
, he thought sarcastically.

“Everything okay, darling?” he asked quietly as he zoomed down the highway.
 
Her parents lived about an hour away and Alex figured it would only be about twenty minutes tops before they arrived.

Olivia glanced over at him and then down at her trapped fingers in his hand.
 
She smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes.
 
Frowning, he wondered if him coming to this party was putting more strain on her than he realized.
 
He was just about to ask her when she opened her mouth and said, “I just don’t want to see Miles.”
 
She returned her gaze out the window.
 
“And I definitely don’t want to see my parents with him.”

Alex’s frown deepened, “Why would your parents still talk to him?”

Olivia sighed and faced forward again, biting her lip.
 
“I never…I didn’t tell them why Miles and I broke up.
 
They think the relationship just sort of died…which
is
true.
 
But they don’t know about the whole cheating part.”

“And you’re worried he might let something slip…or I might,” he guessed, his voice gruff.
 
Olivia’s silence confirmed his suspicions.
 
“Look, I promise I’ll be nothing but civil to him, okay?”

“I know you will,” she said softly.
 
Then she sent him a brighter smile, attempting to shake off her somber mood.
 
“It will be okay.
 
I’m just worrying too much.”

“Did you tell your parents about me?” Alex asked a few moments later, pressing on the accelerator a bit rougher than he intended.
 
Why did it bother him so much that she might still think of him as ‘the guy she was having sex with?’

After this morning when the two of them had laid in bed and after Olivia had told him about her grandfather, something changed between them.
 
Before, he had known that their connection was strong.
 
But now…