Page 49 of Five
“One hundred,” Oliver says. He’s exactly the same as he was in our interactions online—just in living color. He has this singular intensity about him, especially when he turns the full focus of those deep blue eyes on me, that makes my body flush with heat.
While I’m analyzing all of this, I reach for my drink. Oliver reaches for something at the same time, bumping my hand into one of the creamy tapers placed at intervals around the table.
Several droplets of melted wax splash and hit my skin, hardening almost instantly. Oliver visibly shivers and pulls away, his hand brushing against mine.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
He nods, his nostrils flaring the slightest bit.
“May I walk you home?” He asks a moment later.
I look around the table. We finished eating some time ago and have just been idly chatting. “Maybe I could help with the dishes?” I ask. I don’t want to leave Remi with all of this.
Remi shakes his head firmly. “Absolutely not. You’re our guest and we take turns, anyway. Tonight it’s Cope’s night.”
“In that case, then.” I smile at Oliver and rise. “Goodnight, everyone. Thank you, again, for having me. Remi, dinner was delicious. Thank you.”
Oliver extends an elbow in a courtly fashion, and I loop my hand around it, charmed. He leads me through the courtyard to a flagstone path beyond, which curls around the rear of the property and branches off to the different guest cottages.
“I bet this place was quite the destination when Remi’s parents operated it.” He murmurs an agreement.
The path is lined with footlights, glowing softly in the dusky evening. The familiar, safe feeling created and nourished during our chats online comes back as we walk. He’s sweet and he’s smart and those glasses he wears are so damn sexy…
…he almost doesn’t seem real.
After showing me around the cottages, he walks me back inside and to the door to my suite of rooms. He hesitates. “Neve…” I look up at him, the dim light softening the strong line of his jaw and casting him in relief. “I know this is bound to be overwhelming…all of us, all at once. It’s not the way I wanted things to go, but I just wanted you to know I’m very glad you’re here.”
With each word he leans a little closer into me, his voice deepening and turning husky. His gaze drops to my lips and lingers there. “I promised myself I’d give you time. But I’d really, really like to kiss you right now.”
I’m having trouble breathing, and I think it’s because I’d like that, too. I nod, the motion barely completed before his head dips, blotting out the backlight, and his lips cover mine.
Holy kiss, Batman.
For a slightly nerdy, studious-seeming introvert, Oliver can kiss. His lips move against mine with mobile precision, sipping and licking until mine part and he strokes assuredly inside. When he pulls away several minutes later, I’m braced against the door, the only thing holding me up his arms around me and his knee wedged between my legs.
“Damm,” I breathe.
He grins and drops another, much briefer, kiss upon my lips. “Yeah. Damn. Sweet dreams, Neve.”
Reaching behind me, he turns the knob and pushes the door open, then maneuvers me over the threshold.
“Night…” I murmur, only a little dazed, and watch as he backs slowly away.
I need to call Caroline, I think. I need to tell her Oliver kissed me.
And I liked it.
How much of the appeal, though, is wrapped up in the safety he represents…in the fact that for the first time in days, I’m going to sleep deeply and easily?
Frowning, I close the door and lean against its inside surface. It’s something to consider, before I get myself in any deeper with these men.
Along with the conundrum that is Jesse.
If I do want to move forward with any of them, his problem with me is something I’ll have to reckon with sooner rather than later.
Eleven
Oliver
