Page 75 of His Greatest Treasure

Oliver moves quickly. I watch in the mirror, waiting for the moment the heat from his body caresses mine. I close my eyes and let my muscles go loose. There’s a soothing voice in my head that tells me I’m safe here. With him.

“What happened today?”

I can’t lie. “My car was hit outside the shop.”

Hot, strong hands close around my arms as he spins me, and I open my eyes, latching onto the ones waiting. Panic rips across his face before his hands drift down my arms and over my shoulders.

“Why didn’t you tell me that? I’d have been there in an instant. Fuck, are you okay? Hurt? Were you checked out?”

I shake my head once. “I wasn’t in the car.”

I’m tucked into his chest, and I don’t fight his hold. It relaxes me further, my legs melting into jelly.

“If anything like that happens again,I’mthe one who comes to you.Imake sure you’re taken care of. You can drive my SUV home and use it for as long as you need to.”

“I can get a rental, Oliver. I can take care of myself well enough. I’ve been doing it for a long time,” I whisper.

He exhales and threads his fingers through the hair at the base of my skull, using the grip to pull me closer. When he starts to massage my scalp, I wind my arms around his waist, breath steadying.

“I know you can. But I’m not going to stop asking you to let me help until you finally let me. You don’t have to let go of control, just let me in. Let me take some of it from your shoulders. At least let me ask my mom to drive you home tonight, and once I’m done with this shift, my SUV is yours to use.”

The idea of continuing to fight him on all of this isn’t appealing anymore. “Okay.”

“Okay?” he asks, his surprise evident.

“I’ll start letting you help take care of me and my problems, including using your car to get around, but under one condition.”

“Anything.”

I drift my hands up his back, exploring the feel of his strong lines of muscle beneath my fingers for the first time. My next exhale is shaky, liquid fire sizzling between my legs.

He moves his mouth to my ear, hot breath coating my skin. One hand still buried in my hair, he lowers the other to my hip, subtly shifting me closer.

“Whatever you want, Avery. Ask me for anything. Everything.”

Tipping my head back, I slide my eyes up the strong column of his throat, wide jaw, and parted pink lips.

“Kiss me, Oliver.”

25

OLIVER

It’sa moment I’ve thought about countlessly over the years.

Her taste, the touch of her lips on mine, how soft they’d be. Would she be gentle and follow or assertive and in control of every moment? Every lash of tongues and gasp of air from one mouth to another.

I was a kid when I first imagined holding her like this. I preened under her attention back then, even when there wasn’t much more than a timid, friendly smile tossed in my direction. She was completely unavailable to me, but that didn’t mean shit to an overeager teenage boy.

I still held out hope that once our age gap wasn’t so daunting, she would realize that she could be into me if she gave herself that chance. Obviously, that didn’t happen. My hopes crashed and burned, and I shut those feelings down hard immediately after. I was too young, too inexperienced and naïve, and she was mature and had better things to do than slum it with an underage guy. But I’d have still done anything for her. That’s only become more evident now.

I’m lost to her. A total fucking sucker for the woman in myarms who’s telling me to kiss her like she hasn’t just walked back into my life and shook it all up.

Fuck the pranks and the beating around the bush. I’m not losing her again. This is a redemption as obvious as ever. My second chance to seize the life I dreamed up ten years ago.

It’s a bit different than I imagined back then, but even wishing she’d never gotten with Chris doesn’t sit well. Not when he gave her Nova and, in turn, brought her into my life.

Blocking out thoughts of the man who got to spend the past few years with my Avery, I inhale another breath of her scent and slip my hand from her hair to hold her face.

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