Page 88 of Cabin Fever

TWENTY-EIGHT

Carter

OLIVIA SLID HER TONGUEover her red glistening lips and moaned, "Oh, my goodness, but that will make me come."

That made two of us. If she kept up groaning and giving her I'm-about-to-come face, the whole restaurant was going to think we weren't just eating dessert.

"You like the lemon mousse?" I asked with a bit of a chuckle.

"It's the best in the world. Here, you try it."

Before I could respond, she shoved a spoonful of mousse between my lips. There was a tangy, creamy explosion in my mouth.

"Mmm. That is amazing," I mumbled as I let the flavor linger on my tongue.

"This whole dinner has been wonderful, Carter. Thank you for taking me."

It was Saturday night, and I realized yesterday I had never taken her out on a date. The woman I loved, and I hadn't done the most basic date thing there was, taking someone out for dinner.

"When I saw the dress your sister gave you, I thought there should be a reason for you to wear it."

And a reason for me to peel it off, too.

Her cheeks turned crimson, which the dark blue of the dress seemed to emphasize. She was stunning. I planned to tell her how I felt tonight. That I love her and would do anything to make her happy. I knew there was a chance she didn't feel the same, but I didn't care. After the past week, I realized how incredibly lucky I was to have her.

After what happened at the bank, she tried to convince me to change my mind a few times but eventually gave up Friday night. Which surprised me. I thought she would never stop talking about all the good things I could do with that money.

Perhaps, since she was used to money, and it didn't seem that big of a deal to be given that much. I had no idea how much her family had, but maybe ten billion wasn't a lot to her. Maybe her father had a hundred billion, and walking away from ten billion wasn't the worst thing in the world.

I couldn't imagine thinking like that, but I didn't grow up in her world. I almost did, but my father took me away from that just in time—before it desensitized me to what really mattered in life. But, not soon enough to save my mother and sister.

"What's going on in that sheep farmer brain of yours?"

"I was thinking what if I never left DC when I was little. Maybe if my mom and sister hadn't been killed, if we would have met? Maybe at school or something like that."

"I think so. I went to your elementary school. You would be a few grades above me, but I'm sure we would have seen each other in the halls and on the playground. Who knows, you could have been one of the ones that called me Green Olive."

"They called you a green olive? But why?"

She reached up and covered her forehead as if there was a bright light overhead. "I got sick once in second grade. It was lunch, so the cafeteria was filled with most of the grades. I think I had some stomach bug but felt fine enough to go to school. By lunch, it was bad. I knew I was going to throw up, but I didn't make it to the bathroom or even a trash can in time. I threw up in the middle of the cafeteria. The kids laughed and pointed and began to chantGreen Olive. Since then, I was Green Olive."

I reached across the table and clasped her hand. "Did it bother you?"

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