Chapter 172
ROMAN-
I held her while she slept.
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Olivia was naked in my passenger seat, red hair across my chest, the Mustang still smelling like us.
I knew I had to take her home. I did not want to let go. We had just had sex for the third time and I felt like making it a fourth.
I could not get enough of her. Being inside her felt like I was out of this fucking universe/Nothing compared to that. Not a win. Not any version of control I had spent years pretending I still had.
I watched her breathe. The mark on her throat. The way her hand stayed fisted in my hair even asleep, like she did not trust the universe not to take the last few hours back.
I had almost lost her. Nico did not want the marriage. I still knew Olivia. She would have won him over eventually, the same way she had somehow gotten Luca the playboy to fall for her.
Her soft mouth. Also sharp mouth. That laugh. The way she looked at people like they were already better than they had decided to be. I was glad she was willing to give me another chance.
I was never going to mess it up again.
Loving her was not new. Saying it had been.
Keeping her was the part I had been too much of a coward to try. Sitting in a parked car with her weight on me, I understood how stupid every fence had been.
Eden. Ethan. The rule. All of it had been me trying not to want the only thing that made the rest of my life feel like a fucked up schedule.
She woke slowly. Bright blue eyes stared up at me.
I looked at the mark on her neck I had put there with my teeth.
“Good sleep?” I whispered.
She blushed and buried her face against my neck. “The best sleep ever.”
I chuckled, “good.”
She dressed in the small space of the car and I watched her like I had no manners left. We knew if we took any longer, her family would start to worry.
I drove her home with one hand on her thigh because I could, because the alternative was pulling over again, because I had already told her I loved her and my body had not gotten the message that we were supposed to be done for the night.
Ethan was on the steps when we pulled up to their house. He smiled when he saw us getting out.
“Thanks for picking her up and bringing her home,” he said.
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The Mockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
Guilt hit, just like it always did.
That would not change until Ethan knew the truth about us.
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I nodded. It was only a matter of time before I came clean to him. Not on these steps. Not with her still warm from my passenger seat and my bite on her throat. I wanted more alone time with her before I confessed to my best friend that I was in love with his sister.
Then Ethan started talking about the wedding, not knowing how much it pissed me off. How could he
know?
“Dad wants them seen this week,” he said. “Dinner. Then a lot of pictures posted everywhere. Announcements after that. End of the month is still the date unless Grayson pulls off a miracle, which- have you met my father? Giving up on something he wants is not what he’s used to around here. But since Grayson fell in love with Blair in such a short time, I believe Nico can fall for Olivia. It’s not all bad.”
I tried to keep my expression calm. I failed. It was difficult standing here and listening to him talk about his sister marrying Nico. Fuck. It was torture,
“You think she’ll go through with it?” I asked, and hated that I had to make conversation. Olivia was removing something from the car, not exactly listening to us.
Ethan shrugged. “She says no. Dad says yes. That is usually how this family works until someone gets tired. Nico is not thrilled. Blair is angry. I just want Olivia out of another scandal. If Nico is the solution, dad will not let it go.”
Jealousy took over my face before I could stop it.
The thought of Nico Shaw holding a chair for her in public. Taking photos together. Him too close. Her name next to his because I had been too late and too quiet and too good at being a friend.
Well, I wasn’t exactly the best friend. I just had Olivia in all different positions in my Mustang. I tried not to smile at that memory.
Olivia saw. She got Ethan inside with some excuse about mom and bags, a hand on his arm, and then she came back down the last step when she succeeded.
“Your jealousy is showing all over your face,” she said, laughing.
I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close, forehead almost to hers.
“You’re mine.”
She laughed but I could sense that she was nervous. “Let go before my brother catches us.”
“I’m never letting go again.”
I did let go. Because the door was open. Because Ethan’s voice was still in the hall talking about a wedding that was not going to happen if I had anything to do with it.
I got back in the car with her taste still in my mouth and her scent all over my car.
I wasn’t a great friend right now. But at least I was finally acting like the man that Olivia deserved. Not fully there yet but I was working on it.
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The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
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The Mockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
Dex Morgan
Dex works to elevate each story with clean writing, emotional balance, and thoughtful flow for readers.