Page 125 of That First Flight

Oliver’s eyes scan my body for the millionth time tonight. “It doesn’t hold a candle to how you look tonight.”

My cheeks heat up at his compliment. “That was smooth.”

“It’s easy when you look like that.”

I tuck a curtain of hair behind my ear and offer him a soft smile. I wonder if there will ever be a time that I don’t smile uncontrollably when he’s around. Probably not.

“So I have a question for you,” I say as I bring my elbows to the table and rest them under my chin.

“Shoot.”

“Can you tell me about this bear that Mackenzie can’t stop talking about. His name is Bert?” I lightly laugh.

“She likes that old thing, huh?”

I nod. “She insisted on bringing it to Peyton’s for the weekend saying that she can’t sleep without it.”

Oliver clears his throat and adjusts himself in his seat before taking a sip of his water. I immediately regret asking him about it because I can tell he’s nervous to talk about it.

“You don’t—”

“No,” he cuts me off. “I want to tell you all about it. I want to tell you everything about me.”

I swallow past the lump in my throat and all of a sudden my stomach churns with nerves myself. Fear creeps into every one of my senses because things have been going so well for us. I’m terrified that something he’s about to tell me will change that.

“I got that bear from my dad when I was a kid,” he starts. “I think I told you that he passed.”

I nod, remembering the conversation we had on the flight when we met.

“I’m the man I am today because of his guidance and everything he’s taught me. But I didn’t want to follow all of his footsteps. He was a big wig investor and I watched it slowly kill him. Stress and work wasn’t what killed him, but all of his underlying stress didn’t help him recover from the pneumonia that took him.” Oliver pauses to take another sip of water. “Our last conversation we had in the hospital room was him telling me “Live life to the fullest. Fuck the money and everything else that doesn’t matter. You are what matters. Travel the world and don’t ever settle.” And I lived by that. Every single day. Seeing what money did to my dad, is the reason I can’t stand my bank account.”

“You’ve built an amazing life for yourself.”

“I thought so too,” he says without missing a beat.

I don’t answer because I don’t know what he means by that. I’m not entirely sure Iwantto know. I pick up my water glass and nervously take a sip of my own.

“I want to be an open book with you, Macey,” he starts. “I’m not too proud of my past.”

I keep my eyes locked on him, waiting for the ball to drop.

“Because I slept with a lot of women. Most of them I never called the next day.” He scoffs at himself and the corner of his mouth curves up. “That’s a lie. I never called anyone the next day. I treated women like they were expendable and I didn’t care. Truth be told, they didn’t care either.”

I release a long drawn out sigh because I knew this already. The girls told me that Oliver was sort of a playboy in the past. They were shocked to hear that he hadn’t been with anyone since I showed up.

“But you’re different,” he says.

“Oliver,” I say before he can continue. “You don’t have to explain any of this to me. Thank you for sharing a piece of yourself with me, sharing your past with me. I hope you know it doesn’t change how I see you.”

“It doesn’t?”

I shake my head and smile. “Do you really think I would judge you for your past when mine isn’t any better? Mine just has a little less females.” I wink.

Oliver laughs at that and his smile grows wider.

I reach across the small table, taking his hands in mine. “You’re a good man, Oliver Ford.”

He lifts my hands that are in his and presses a kiss to my knuckles.

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