Intractable Souls : Book 1 of the Bound for Ireland Series (67 page)

Olivia frowns. “I didn’t know I was the
reason you two had drifted apart.”

“You aren’t. You were just a convenient
excuse. Now go home and get some sleep.”

A few hours later Olivia pulls the mustang
into the parking lot of her old favorite restaurant that’s soon to
be re-opened as “Ireland’s.” She loves it, loves that it’s the
nickname that she had given him after Rachel’s messed up drunken
introduction. Love him. Thank God, she was able to get a few hours
sleep when she got home.

She’s just getting out of the car when Ethan
pulls up in the Challenger and screeches to a halt in the spot
reserved for him. When he gets out of the car, he watches her make
her way across the parking lot. His stomach squeezes and he feels
the air around him charge with energy as she approaches him. Lord
have mercy! Her smile could stop traffic. It’s safe to say that he
has it bad for Olivia James and he doesn’t think that feeling will
ever go away. Love her.

“You look well rested. Got some sleep did
you?” Smiling, he leans down to brush his lips on her cheek in
greeting.

“Yes, did you?”

“A little, not very well without you beside
me.” He admits as he reaches down to grasp her hand.

“Aw, you missed me?”

“I did. Even though you didn’t let me do
much sleeping last night.”

“Complaining? Am I too much for you?” She
flashes him a challenging grin.

“Nope. Maybe bragging a little.” His lips
start to curl into a cheeky smile as he opens the door for her.
“John and Shannon are already here.”

As they walk towards the table, Shannon
greets Olivia with a big hug and a huge smile. “I’m so glad you
came.” John and Ethan glance at each other quickly and acknowledge
the instant friendship between the girls. Although it’s not
anything they have ever discussed, it’s just known at this moment
that their lives will be a lot less stressful if there is harmony
between the two women who will be their companions.

Sliding into the booth, they fall easily
into comfortable conversation. Ethan holds Olivia’s hand the entire
time, tracing soothing patterns on the back of it with his thumb.
She steals a few sideways glances at him, enjoying his attention
and the sparkle in his eyes when he laughs. Such a contrast from
last night.

When the waitress arrives at the table and
refills the water glass, Ethan picks his up and quickly chugs it
down. Olivia raises her brows at him and smiles. “A bit dehydrated,
baby?”

“Just a tad.” He says, putting down his
glass so she can refill it. “We’re ready to order.” He says to
Cindy, the cute head waitress with the ponytail. Olivia is the last
to order, she’s gone over the menu several times with close
scrutiny. Closing it and handing it to the waitress, she finally
makes a choice. “I’ll have a small chef salad, dressing on the side
please.”

Ethan gets the servers attention. “No
tomatoes in that salad, Cindy.”

She makes a note. “Sure Mr. O’Connell, I’ll
let them know.”

Olivia looks at him impressed. “What?” He
asks. “I pay attention sometimes.”

“You’re only having a plain salad for
dinner? That’s not very much food. Aren’t you going to be
starving?” Shannon asks.

Olivia responds in a manner that’s very
matter of fact, but she gives Ethan the devils smile. “No, I’ll be
fine. I had enough protein this morning to hold me over… for
days.”

With his water glass pressed to his lips,
he’s stunned at her comment and swallows the water too quickly,
choking as it goes down the wrong way.

“Are you okay?” She asks She asks concerned
at how red his face as she gently pats him on the back until he
stops coughing.

“Yes I’m fine.” He says shaking his head and
dabbing at his mouth with his napkin. Nobody else at the table is
any the wiser, but Ethan shakes his head and tries to hide his
smile.

Shannon has a thought. “Ethan, did you tell
Olivia about the Bramtech deal?”

Remembering that they ditched Stacey with
Carter, without even saying good-bye, Olivia gets a little
nervous.

“What about it?” She asks curiously.

He squeezes her hand. “They came by the
office this afternoon and signed the papers.”

Olivia is surprised. “Really? I thought they
had until next week to decide?”

“They did, but they came in today and said
they had made a decision and were ready to sign.”

“Ethan, that’s great news!” She’s so glad
that it’s done with and he can stop stressing. “So…. was Stacey
there? How was she?”

She quickly glances at Shannon who is trying
to hide a smile.

Ethan makes a face, trying to figure out
what’s going on between the two girls. “Yes she was there. She was
in a really good mood actually. She looked…” There is a pregnant
pause as he thinks of the right word.

“Satisfied?” Shannon adds, not able to hold
back her grin any longer.

“Yeah! She did. Didn’t she?” Ethan agrees
looking at John to see if he also concurs.

Shannon and Olivia start to snicker and
Ethan looks between them both and then back over to John who
shrugs. Shannon puts her hand over her mouth trying to stop her
laughter. Olivia can’t even look at her as she tries to regain her
composure. Ethan tilts his head and waits, looking for an
explanation. “What did I miss?” He finally asks.

“Wow, you really did have a lot to drink
didn’t you?” Shannon asks.

“Shannon.” John warns, trying to steer her
away from that conversation.

“Well it does get a bit fuzzy after we ended
up at Euphoria.” Ethan admits. Looking confused and wondering what
the hell happened.

Olivia looks over at him still trying to
pull herself together. “Let’s just say that you need to give Carter
a big raise, and leave it at that.”

“Carter?” He looks at her as if she has
three heads and then turns to John. “Come to think of it, where was
Carter today? I didn’t see him.”

“He sent a message and said he wouldn’t be
in today. He didn’t say why.” John replies, hoping that Ethan will
drop it.

“He probably needed time to recover.” Olivia
adds still struggling to hold back her laughter.

“Really? What did he get into last night?”
Ethan asks, thinking she meant recovering from drinking too much
alcohol.

“Stacey.” Olivia says under her breath.
Shannon snorts, breaking into a fit of uncontrollable laughter and
Olivia follows holding her stomach. The boys look at each other,
completely in the dark.

“Huh?” He asks, not quite catching what she
said. Completely frustrated, he looks over at John. “Do you have
any idea what they’re laughing at?”

“No clue.” John lies, deciding that it’s one
of those details that Ethan just doesn’t need to know. If Carter
wants to tell him, he’ll leave it up to him.

“Well what’s your excuse then? I was
pissed.”

“I don’t have one, but I think it’s pretty
clear that we should keep these two away from each other.”

Ethan watches Olivia wipe the tears from her
eyes as she pulls herself together. “No kidding.” He shakes his
head, tired of trying to figure them out.

After dinner, they order coffee and relax,
listening to the live band that Ethan had booked for the evening.
Starting to feel really tired, Olivia yawns and then leans slightly
towards him, resting her head on his shoulder. Leaning his head in
towards her, he rests his cheek on the top of her head.

“I like these guys. They’re pretty good.”
She nods her head to the beat of the music.

“I agree.” Shannon says. “So what plans do
you have for the grand opening Ethan? John won’t tell me a
thing.”

Olivia grins. “Good luck, he won’t tell me a
thing either. It’s a giant secret apparently.”

Ethan laughs. “I thought women loved
surprises?”

“NOOOOO!” Both girls say in unison.

Ethan looks at John. “They’re starting to
frighten me now.” John nods his head in agreement.

“Well, I have a few bands scheduled to play
live. Ones you may know. And my friends are coming from Ireland.
They have a band and play mostly local pubs. I thought I’d like to
incorporate a little bit of home.

“That sounds really nice.” Olivia says. “I
am looking forward to meeting your friends.”

This time both John and Ethan laugh. “Trust
me. If I can find a way to keep you away from these guys, I
definitely will. Although, I’m not sure if there’s any point, since
you’ll just ignore me anyways.”

Olivia leans back to look up at him with her
brows lowered. “Well now I’m just more curious why meeting these
guys has kicked your ICF into overdrive.”

“ICF?” Shannon asks curiously.

“Inner Control Freak.” Knowing that he’s not
going to like her sharing that with Shannon, she looks up to meet
his scowl. Grinning, she offers up her lips for a kiss and he
hesitates for a bit, still a little annoyed. Finally he sighs and
then lowers his lips to hers, brushing them with a brief kiss, and
then quickly moves away. But Olivia’s not having that, she raises
her hand and reaches for the back of his neck, firmly pulling him
forward for a longer, sizzling lip lock. Trailing her hand down his
chest and across his stomach, she reaches down to brush along his
thigh, making his muscles tighten and the front of his pants start
to bulge.

Pulling away, she smiles, then lightly
presses her mouth to his ear and whispers. “I think there might be
something we need to discuss in your office, Mr. O’Connell.”

For the next few days, everybody is
extremely busy. Shannon has her team interviewing the witnesses who
saw Jessica at the bar and trying to get a judge to sign an order
preventing her from contacting Ethan’s friends and family as well
as the media. John is up to his ears in grand opening arrangements.
Rachel and Scott are busy rekindling their romance. Ethan and
Carter spend hours behind locked boardroom doors hammering out a
business plan for Australia. And Olivia? Well, she has taken on a
very difficult client at work.

The events of the past week are starting to
wear her down. Her current client is difficult beyond all
reasonable measures and for the first time ever, she feels like
throwing her hands up in defeat. Then there are the nightmares.
They happen every time she closes her eyes since the psychic in the
underground parking warned her about Sam. It’s hard to cope with
difficult days at the best of times, but damn near impossible when
you don’t get any sleep. It wouldn’t take much to push her over the
edge into that anxiety attack that’s been threatening all week.

Ethan calls her late in the afternoon. “Hey,
beautiful.”

“Hey.”She smiles for the first time
today.

“I’ve missed you the past couple of
days.”

“You’ve talked to me every day, Ethan.” She
laughs.

“I know, but I want to see you. Join us for
dinner tonight.”

She thinks about it for a minute. “I don’t
think so. I really wouldn’t be good company.”

“What’s wrong?” He asks concerned.

“I’m just really stressed.” She’s on the
edge of tears and fighting it.

“Well, then I won’t go to dinner. I’ll come
to your place and we can talk.”

“No!” She pulls herself together. “You go to
dinner. I just need to go home and try to get some sleep. If you
come over that won’t happen.”

“I’m more than capable of exercising self
control, Olivia.” He’s annoyed at her refusal.

“Yeah, but I’m not and I have a bruise on my
stomach from Tuesday night to prove it.”

Ethan groans. Why did she have to mention
Tuesday night? He still has a lot of work to do today and he can’t
afford to be distracted. Despite the efforts to stay focused, his
mind now wanders to what happened behind locked doors in the
restaurant office, the sight of her bent over the edge of his desk,
the feel of her body underneath him as he slid into her from
behind.

“You’d be impressed.” She says with a half
giggle. “It’s in the perfect shape of your stapler.”

He frowns. “Why didn’t you say something if
you were uncomfortable?”

She laughs. “Because at the time I didn’t
care, I just needed you deep inside me.”

He quietly curses. “Do you know what it does
to me when you say things like that?” He whispers into the
phone.

“I think I might have an idea.” She teases.
“Seriously though, you go to dinner. I need some downtime.”

“Olivia I want to see you tonight.” He’s not
prepared to give in this time.

“Ethan, please stop.”

“No. I want to see you.”

She sighs. “You’ll live.”

“Are you sure? I haven’t seen you in so long
it feels like I might die.”

“It’s been two days! You’ll be fine. Since
when are you such a drama king?”

“Since I haven’t been able to kiss you or
touch you for two days.” He says with a low raspy growl in his
voice. “You’re all I can think about.”

Ugh, this man knows the meaning of
perseverance and he drives her crazy with it. Two hours of emails
and several sad face texts later, Olivia gives in and dials his
cell phone.

“OK, Ireland I give up! I’ll come by on my
way home and say Hi.”

His mood lightens. “Really?”

She can’t believe she even suggested it. She
knows that if she stops by he won’t let her leave. That was a
really stupid move. “Really. But I’m not staying for dinner, and no
funny stuff from you. Got it?”

“Promise.” He says, a happier tone returning
to his voice.

When Ethan sees her walking towards the
table, he gets to his feet and reaches her in a few quick strides.
Throwing his arms around her, he lifts her into the air and
squeezes her before letting her slide slowly down his body. When
her feet touch the floor, his mouth swoops down for a kiss. And
then another. When he lets her up for air, her face is red and she
feels extremely warm.