Going for Four: Counting on Love, Book 4 (30 page)

“Oh, for God’s sake,” Cody said, obviously exasperated. “I know none of
you
can mind your own fucking business.”

He stepped back.

As flashing lights made everyone turn.

A police car pulled up at the curb.

“Seriously?” Shane Kelley asked as he got out and stepped up on the sidewalk with them. “
You’re
the ones disturbing the peace? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Someone said we were disturbing the peace?” Gabby asked.

“Someone called and said there were a bunch of people gathered outside, yelling and punching each other.” Shane eyed Conner’s face, where there was a red bump swelling on his chin.

“Well, it’s us,” Ryan said. “Now what?”

“You disperse and go home or I start handing out tickets,” Shane said with a sigh.

“Sounds good to me.” Ryan grabbed Olivia’s hand and started down the sidewalk.

She followed for a few steps, then paused, trying to look back.

“Don’t,” Ryan said, continuing to walk.

“But—”

Ryan pulled her around the corner of the building, laughing. “Seriously? You punched Conner and told Cody to fuck off and now you’re worried about them?”

“Well…” She thought about that. “Yeah.”

“They’ll be okay.” He pushed the Unlock button for his car on his key fob and opened the door for her.

He shut her inside, then jogged around the front of the car.

Olivia put a hand to her head. Oh, god. Had she really said all of those things? Had she really hit her brother?

Ryan got in behind the wheel and started the car, then glanced at her. “Hey.”

She met his gaze.

“For the record, they both deserved it.”

She took a deep breath.

Yeah, they did.

“Thanks.”

Ryan shifted into drive and pulled the car into traffic. “You okay?”

“A little shocked at myself, I guess. And feeling a little…sore.” It was emotional pain versus physical, of course, but she ached.

She wanted to be with Cody. She really thought she was meant to be with Cody. But she loved romance and wanted all the sweet, crazy, remember-the-rest-of-my-life gestures, too. Was it really so wrong to want him to
show
her how he felt? He’d said it, but he’d also spent months purposely
not
showing her.

“Hey,” Ryan said, giving her a smile. “Falling off of such a high pedestal is bound to smart a little.”

“A pedestal?”

Ryan nodded. “The pedestal that Conner and Cody put you on a long time ago.”

That didn’t sound as strange as it maybe should have. “And I fell off tonight?”

“You were at a sex club, you punched your brother and you told Cody off. Yeah, I’d say so.”

“Oh.” She thought about that. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” Being up on a pedestal meant they thought a lot of her. But it was also unrealistic. Like she was untouchable or something.

“Yes, it’s a very good thing,” Ryan assured her. “Now you’re even better than perfect…now you’re someone they have to deal with.”

She smiled and settled back into the seat. Then she thought about his words. “Wait, is
that
a good thing or a bad thing?”

Ryan laughed. “From my perspective? A very good thing. Anyone who keeps Cody Madsen and Conner Dixon on their toes, who makes their lives a little less easy, is someone I really like.”

Olivia thought about that. Keeping them on their toes? Yeah, that sounded like a good thing to her too.

And even better than Cody knowing she wasn’t so easy after all was
her
knowing that she deserved some effort.

Yes, that was a very good thing.

Chapter Ten

Cody knocked softly at first. Then harder and louder when there was no answer. Then he rang the doorbell. Repeatedly. But Olivia wasn’t answering.

So he used his key.

He’d initially tried to give her the chance to open the door to him. It was after midnight and she was pissed at him. Maybe more at Conner, but at him too.

If she’d thought about it for three seconds, she would have expected him to show up at Frigid
once he found out she was there. But she had been riled up and a little tipsy, so her thinking wasn’t going to be deep and rational.

He’d hoped by the time Ryan drove her home, she would have calmed down a little. But he had to be honest—seeing her riled up had been hot…and a huge relief.

Olivia had stood up to him. She’d shown that she wasn’t going to let him call the shots and walk over her feelings. If he pissed her off or hurt her, he could trust her to tell him. And maybe even smack him upside the head if needed.

Her refusal to answer the door, however, said that he might get an earful, or the smack, sooner rather than later.

Well, he wasn’t going home.

“Liv?” he called as he stepped into the house.

The light next to her couch glowed softly, as did the light over the sink in the kitchen. Otherwise the house was dark. Had she gone to bed?

That would work fine for his purposes here. He headed in that direction.

He flipped on the light in the hallway leading to her bedroom as the bathroom door swung open and Olivia stepped out.

With a towel wrapped around her hair—and nothing else on—she started to scream, then realized who he was.

The sense of déjà vu nearly knocked him on his ass.

Unlike the first day, when his brain and mouth disconnected and he’d stood staring, now his brain, heart and cock definitely connected.

He stepped close, looking down at her without a word. She lifted her chin so she could meet his gaze. She didn’t try to cover herself this time. She didn’t act shocked that he was there. The heat and hunger in her eyes matched everything that was swirling through him.

He lifted a hand and pulled on the towel, releasing her hair, the wet mass falling to her shoulders. He combed his fingers through the strands, looking into her eyes.

“I wanted you,” he said, softly but firmly. “I wanted you so damned bad, I didn’t know what to do. The other women, every single one, were about trying to find someone who could help me forget you. It never worked.” Her hair wrapped around his fingers as he slid his hand up the nape of her neck and against her skull, cupping the back of her head. He applied only the slightest pressure, but she stepped forward, up against him. “Because
you’re
mine. And I’ll be fucking possessive of you whether you like it or not.”

Before she could speak, he coaxed her onto tiptoe and covered her mouth with his. He didn’t need any words from her right now. Right now he needed to claim her. Needed to make sure that he truly did possess her. Make sure she knew that
she
possessed
him
.

The kiss was hungry, as always when he got his mouth on her. He stroked deep and firm with his tongue, tasting her thoroughly, before walking her backward into the bathroom. The bedroom was only a few feet away, but he should have done exactly this in her bathroom the first time he’d found her naked. He wanted a do-over.

Olivia didn’t protest. In fact, she threw her arms around him and plastered herself against him. He reached between them, popped the button on his jeans and unzipped, then cupped her ass and lifted her against the wall.

She wrapped her legs around his waist and he reached between them.

“Gotta make you ready,” he muttered against her lips as he slid over her clit and into her.

“So ready,” she panted, squirming against his hand.

“You’re going to come hard,” he promised. God he wanted that. He wanted her screaming his name.
His
name.

“Yes. I’m already close.”

She was hot and wet moving against his hand, and he wanted, no,
needed
to feel her muscles clamping onto him as if she’d never let him go.

“You were at Frigid,” he said. “Somebody there get you worked up?” Dammit. He’d still take her, still make her come hard, calling his name, but…dammit.

“No,” she said, shaking her head.

“You didn’t meet anyone?” Bullshit. He knew all about Frigid
.
No way had Olivia gone unnoticed.

“I danced.”

“And?” He curled his fingers in her, flicking his thumb over her clit.

She gasped and clutched at his shoulders. “Nothing.”

“Tell me, Liv. What else?”

Her head fell back against the wall behind her. “A kiss.”

Cody felt the possessiveness that absolutely, no question about it, ran clear to his soul, rear up ferociously. “And?” he growled, lifting her and dipping his head to take her nipple into his mouth.

She cried out, then panted, “Nothing. It felt good. I wanted it to feel good. But I could only think about you.”

The wave of jealousy abated only slightly. “What about me?”

“How I wanted it all to be you. How I’ve always wanted it all to be you. How I want to get naked with you all the time but how it’s so much more than that. How I want you absolutely fucking crazy about me, Cody.” Her thighs tightened around him as she gripped his shoulders harder. “I want to make you beg, I want to be the only one you ever touch, I want to be the one you can’t live without.”

“Liv, you’re—”
All of that. Everything.

But he didn’t have a chance to tell her because she wiggled against him again and he could tell she was trying to get her feet on the floor.

He let her slide down the length of his body, but if she thought there was going to be even an inch of space between them…

She dropped to her knees.

Well, maybe an inch or two wouldn’t be so bad for a little while.

She wrapped both hands around his length, squeezing and stroking before leaning in and dragging her tongue from his balls to his tip. Three times.

He tangled his fingers in her hair again. The wet heat from her mouth, the sight of her kneeling before him, the fact that she’d been thinking about him while she’d been at Frigid, presumably trying out a plethora of other desserts, all combined, and he knew he wasn’t going to last.

Then she sucked on him.

His entire body went tight. “
Fuck
,” he hissed. He withstood the exquisite suction for about twenty seconds. Then he tugged on her hair, tipping her head back. “You’re mine,” he said, looking directly into her eyes. “All mine.”

She licked her lips slowly. “Show me.”

He stared at her, the two words vibrating through him.

Oh, he’d show her. He’d show her all night.

He pulled her to her feet, slipped on a condom, lifted her against the wall again and thrust deep.

“Cody!”

Yes, that’s what he wanted. All day. Every time.

He pulled out and thrust again, watching her face, memorizing every detail of being buried deep in her body, connected with her far beyond anything he’d ever experienced.

“Mine,” he said fiercely. “You belong with me.”

She was panting, trying to move her hips against his but lacking leverage in her position against the wall.

“This body, your heart, everything—I want it all,” he told her.

He felt her muscles tightening around him.

“And I’m yours. All yours,” he promised. “Whatever you want of me.”

Her muscles tightened again and she made a sweet noise, a cross between a sob and a gasp.

“Everything we’ve always had,” he promised her. “And everything we’ve always wanted.”

Her muscles clamped down and she cried out loudly, his name bouncing off the tile in the bathroom.

He pumped into her as her orgasm ripped through her, watching and feeling it go on and on. Then his body had to answer, and his climax seemed to start in the soles of his feet and streak through to the top of his head. He pulsed into her, emptying himself completely, giving her everything he had—physically and in every other way he knew how to give.

“I’m so
easy
for him.” Olivia covered her eyes with her hands so she couldn’t see her sisters’ faces around the table at Trudy’s. “Even after Frigid, when I was so mad at him, I still let him in and gave him a blow job and let him stay the night.”

She didn’t hear any response from the women in the booth with her. She was safely tucked into the corner, and while the noise in Trudy’s was typically loud for a Saturday night, she knew that she’d be able to hear them clearly. If they were talking.

She spread her fingers and peered out at them. Amanda looked concerned, Isabelle looked thoughtful and Emma looked amused.

Olivia dropped her hands and sat up straighter. “Really? You’ve got nothing?”

“How’s the orgasm thing going?” Emma asked.

Emma was across the table, next to Isabelle.

“Really good,” Olivia told her. “Really, really good.”

“That’s why you’re letting him in even when you’re pissed,” Emma said. “You liked him before he was even getting naked with you, and you liked him when he wasn’t able to get you off every time. Now that he can, of course you’re letting him in.” She sucked on the straw in her ginger ale.