Page 44 of Tangled in Vows

Rejected twice in one night.

Enough is enough.

My pussy hasn’t gotten the shameful memo yet, and with the way it’s pulsing, I decide at least one of us deserves a happy ending tonight. Maybe some oxytocin will help clear this power Holden has over my body.

Without overthinking it, I reach for my bedside drawer and get my trusty bullet. I’m so worked up from all the small touches tonight that it doesn’t take long to push me over the edge.

Holden’s name leaves my lips in a forbidden moan, and I’m sure I only imagined the noise coming from outside my door.

Chapter 14

Holden

Day 387 without you: The walls close on me more each day. Your absence makes it hard to breathe.

Stormy has been shadowing me ever since Olivia’s neighbor dropped her off. I’m positive it’s the bacon smell in the air, but I enjoy having her around to care for either way. Plus, it’s been keeping her downstairs instead of heading to Olivia’s room and waking her up.

With the bacon sizzling in the pan and the scrambled eggs ready to be cooked, I grab a cutting board and the fruit I had delivered. I notice Olivia leaning against the wall when I’m halfway through cutting the strawberries. Although I already fed Stormy, she must be really desperate for more food because she hasn’t noticed Olivia yet. So I pretend I haven’t either.

Let her have her fill and enjoy the show. After all, I didn’t come out here in only my gray sweatpants for nothing.

For some unknown reason, this morning, I had the grand idea to test Evie’s belief that gray sweatpants are basically catnip to women. If she made that up, she’ll pay for it.

Don’t act like you haven’t been plotting how to explore Olivia’s interest since you danced with her yesterday.

Fair enough.

One thing is for sure though: I love having her gaze on me.

I did last night, and I very much do right now.

Until yesterday, I thought the next six months would be filled with Olivia avoiding me as much as possible while I try to become her friend again. Being around her has shown me how much I’ve missed her.

Just being her friend would have sucked, but it would have been enough.

But not anymore. Her undisguised jealousy at the club elevated my obsession with her to a whole new level, and there’s no way I can forget how she felt pressed against me or how she reacted so beautifully to my touch.

Refusing to kiss her was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. But I couldn’t take advantage of her when she wasn’t in her right mind.

And with the utmost certainty, I will never forget how Olivia made herself come after I left her room. With my name on her lips. I headed back to my guest room so painfully hard, it only took me two strokes to come all over the shower wall with a picture of her in my mind and her name floating in the air around me.

This woman has me bewitched all over again. But things are very different this time from how they were when I first met her. She’s not the same girl anymore, who ran away from the cult-like community her aunt pulled her into. She doesn’t need to worry about being married off to someone she doesn’t want. None of those issues are imminent anymore. Now, she also won’t think she owes me.

By leaving her, I practically forced her to harden up, to draw up walls around her. She doesn’t know Tom and Archer helpedfrom behind the scenes to ensure she never had to worry about anything monetary and would always be safe. It was too risky to tell her. My disappearance and her having to navigate her life on her own were unavoidable and something I deeply regret. Yet, it was still better than the alternative, which I’ve had to harbor for my sanity.

I don’t know if we have a future, but I know something is between us. Something I want to explore badly but know I probably shouldn’t. Knowing Olivia, she’ll demand answers from me before I’m allowed to touch her. Which would be more than fair and something she deserves. However, that would also mean the end of us before there was ever a chance of there being an us.

Once she knows the truth, her opinion of me will change. Will there be fear in her eyes? Or even disgust?

Maybe that kiss last night was my only chance to know what she tastes like, and I should have taken that opportunity after all.

That sobering thought is enough to dampen my good mood. But Olivia can’t know something is wrong, so I push those thoughts out of my head, glance at her over my shoulder, and smile. “Hey, sleepyhead.”

Her eyes widen at being caught, her cheeks turning a pretty shade of pink. She lifts her hand in an awkward wave and says, “Hey.”

Stormy is already off to the rescue, running over to Olivia, who promptly hides her flaming face in her fur.

Little cheat. I love her flushed look. It makes me wonder if she was just as flushed when she came last night.

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