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I nodded. I’d seen a movie where a girl had been murdered, and she could run through the streets of her town, see her family but not communicate with them.
“But you saw me.” He stared into my eyes for a second, placed a sweet kiss on my mouth and then straightened. “Even when you hated me, you saw me.”
“I didn’t hate you. You were just having a personality failure when we first met.”
He grinned. “Let’s go inside,” hesaid. He led me from the pool and retrieved my clothes and then scooped up his own.
I grabbed a towel from a nearby chair and followed him inside, feeling shy and awkward in the soft light. When I was dry, I pulled my dress back over my head. It had been easier to be honest in the darkness by the pool.
“Are you tired, duchess?” he asked.
“I am, actually.” I glanced at the clock. Somehow it was already after ten.
“We’ll have to eat all these avocados in the morning, then,” he said, putting the one I’d dropped on the bar top back into the bowl.
Oliver took my hand and led me through the house, stopping to grab my bag where it sat next to the door. I followed him obediently, too tired and satisfied to do anything else. At the end of the hall, he passed the double doors that I would have assumed opened to the master bedroom, and walked me into a small room with a queen-sized bed against one wall and trophies lining the bookshelves. Posters of Olympians covered the closet door, and the desk held an ancient desktop computer.
I couldn’t help but gape as I looked around me. “We’ve gone back in time,” I said. “To Oliver Cody’s high school bedroom.” I turned my stare to him, questions spinning through my mind.
“They left me the house. But I can’t sleep in the master. Nothing in here has changed since I went away to college, and I haven’t had the energy to do anything about it. There are a couple guest rooms, but I guess . . .” He rubbed a handacross the back of his neck, shrugging and dropping my gaze. “Like I said, I’ve been a little out of it.”
Oliver looked exhausted suddenly, bruised circles appearing beneath the dark eyes. I took his hands and stepped close. “Did you ever fuck anyone in your high school bedroom, Oliver?”
The sadness and pain in his eyes cleared a bit and something else sparked there in their place. I took his mouth with mine and pulled him toward the bed.
CHAPTER 17
Oliver
Iwoke to the sight of Holland’s milky back at my chin, and all that dark red hair splayed over my pillow. For the first time in months, my first thoughts weren’t dark and painful. The erection I had as a result of her sweet soft ass pressed up against my dick was another story, but my heart felt light for a change. Holland had stayed all weekend, and we’d acknowledged our first Valentine’s Day together by staying in bed and watching eighties movies in between bouts of some pretty athletic sex. It had been the best weekend I could remember—neither of us spoke about work or the potential complications that might face us there. I’d just spent an entire weekend reveling in the light Holland brought into my world.
Being inside Holland was like visiting another dimension, and after months of feeling nothing at all, it was like waking up. And as much as I loved being inside her—hell, if Icould figure out a way to live there, with my dick hard in her forever, I’d probably do it—there was so much more to Holland than the sex. And the sex . . . well.
This beautiful girl was tough and ferocious, and as smart as anyone I’d ever met. In fact, I realized as I twirled a long lock of her dark hair around my finger, she reminded me of Adam. That biting wit, her sharp intellect, and her ability to see things others didn’t. Not to mention her passion for Cody Tech. Adam had been that way too—insightful and kind.
I realized I’d just had the first purely pleasant memory of Adam I’d had since finding out about my adoption. Of course as soon as I realized it, the darkness and anger pressed in on me again. It was almost a habit now, being angry. But with my beautiful duchess in my arms, I didn’t want to be angry. I didn’t want to hurt anymore. I wanted to focus on her, on making her smile the way she did when she fell apart in my arms during sex. I wanted to make her laugh, to see those crystal eyes dance. When Holland laughed—really laughed—she did it unself-consciously, like a little kid. Her head back, her mouth wide and her eyes squinted up.
I squeezed Holland gently, tightening the arm draped over her middle, and dropped a line of kisses along the back of her neck. She smelled incredible, and for a long moment, I kept my face pressed against her sleeping form. She smelled like citrus and salt, and like sex.
I kissed her once more and then slipped out of bed, pulling on a pair of boxers. My cock was still hopeful, but itwould just have to wait. We had work today, and I wanted to make Holland breakfast first.
In the kitchen I brewed coffee and made omelets with avocado, tomato, and cheese.
As the smells wafted down the hallway, I heard Holland stirring between my bedroom and the bathroom, and a surge of something I could only deem joy washed through me. The house had been so empty for so long. The master bedroom at the end of the hall was practically a mausoleum, holding whatever secrets my parents had left there before they had died that day. I still couldn’t go in there. Having Holland here with me, though, made me feel less empty than I had in months. The house felt warm and full. And, I realized with something like shock, so did my heart.
I stood over the pan of bacon I was frying and stared out the back windows over the pool for a long moment, prodding at the feelings that had grown in me so quickly.
I’d vowed not to need anyone else. Ever.
But as I heard Holland’s feet moving toward me through the house, slipping softly against the tile, I realized I needed her. I’d let my guard down and let her inside, and stranger than that—I was happy about it.
“Morning, duchess,” I said, turning to watch her approach.
She threw a shy smile at me. Her hair was pulled back into a long ponytail and a tank top and shorts were pulled over her curves. She sniffed the air and her eyes widened. “Oh my God, I’m starving. Coffee? Bacon? I thinkI’m in heaven.” She came to me and planted a kiss on my chest as I flipped bacon, turning to embrace her with my free arm.
Stepping back, she glanced around. “This is amazing, Oliver, but I do have to get to work today. Big new job and all,” she said.
“We’ll eat, and then we’ll go.”
