**Edited by krisgee**

“The Rented Husband”


2011 Copyright All Rights Reserved

Chapter 16

                Olivia glared at her father.  Narrowing her eyes on the man that had raised her from birth, she threw her hands on her hips and blurted, “What did you do that for?” 

                Ted rubbed the hand that he had just used to punch the vagrant while staring back at his baby girl.  “Because,” he retorted petulantly.  The numb nut took advantage of my baby girl.  He not only married her without my permission but he impregnated her and now… well now I’m stuck with him and there’s nothing that I can do about it.  

                Keeping his thoughts to himself, Ted looked elsewhere.  “He deserved it,” he said flatly.

                She had to work hard to reign in her anger.  If the aging man in front of her had not been her father she would have knocked him one herself.  “That’s not a reason Daddy.”

                 “It is,” he insisted, turning back to his daughter.  His eyes dropped to her abdomen as the words that the gigolo said reverberated in his mind.  ‘She’s having my baby.’  His baby was having a baby.

                 “Dad,” Olivia alleged, “You’re being unreasonable.”

                He started shaking his head, ready to argue with her and Olivia held up her hand to stop him.  “No Daddy, you listen to me.  You, Mama, and everyone else in this family has tried to set me up with every Joe Blow that they thought was supposed to be the right one for me.”  She crooked her fingers as an added annotation when she mentioned ’the right one’.  

                “Obviously, none of them was the right one.  Brody, well,” she shrugged and smiled as she remembered how silly he looked in his sponge bob boxers while standing in her kitchen cooking her breakfast a week ago.  “I like him.”

                “You…like him,” Ted dragged out the phrase that seemed to stick in his throat.  

                “Yes,” she confirmed.  “I really like him.”

                Ted frowned, once again staring at his daughter’s stomach.  “Girl, your mama and I raised you better than that.”

                “What?” she asked, confused.

                He sighed.  “You don’t marry a guy because you like him or,” he stopped, his frown deepening, waving his hand at her belly. “Or just because you’re having his baby.  You marry a man for love Livy.  For better or worse.”

                “Dad, I do love him,” she said, not believing how easy the lie rolled off of her tongue.  She read the suspicion all over her father’s face and persisted, “I doooo.”

                 “Uh huh.  Livy, two people don’t just fall in love - not the kind of love that I’m talking about.  The two of you may lust for each other and you may think its love, but it’s not.  I mean, look at Ashley and Seth; their love is strong and true.  It can weather the storms that come with marriage.  Now look at you and….and…him,” he settled on saying, not verbalizing aloud what he really wanted to call him. Prick.  “You saw for yourself, the first sign of discord and he said he was done.  Is that love to you?”

                Olivia was having a hell of a time holding onto her temper, a temper that rivaled her father’s.  He had some gall to sit here and lecture her on love and compare her relationship, albeit a fake one to her sisters.  

                “You punched him Daddy,” she fiercely whispered.  “Not once, but twice.  You punched my husband twice.  What do you expect him to do - kiss your ass?”

                Yes.

                “No,” he brooded and breathed out heavily.  “Can’t you see Livy?  He’s not good enough for you.  Look, just let him go, divorce him and we‘ll figure out the rest in due time,” he said, looking pointedly at her stomach.

                Olivia’s eyes widened to the size of two extra large pizzas.  “You have got to be kidding me,” she started, shaking her head slowly back and forth.  “You did not just say what I think you said Daddy.”

                 “What?  Divorce him?  Yup, I sure did and I’ll say it again.  You‘re too good for him baby, and as your father I feel that I should tell you the truth.”

                Olivia rubbed at her now throbbing temples.  What she had planned to be an easy going vacation was quickly turning out to be a National Lampoon’s re-run.  “Do me a favor Daddy,” she told him with her eyes closed.  “Keep your opinions to yourself.”  

                Turning, she dropped her head and walked away from her father.  She had heard enough.

                 “Olivia, don’t you dare walk away from me,” he called out to her retreating back.   To his utter disbelief, she kept walking.  “Olivia,” he called again, “We aren’t done with this discussion young lady.  You wait ‘til I tell your Mama.”  Olivia turned the corner and was gone. 

                He swiveled around at the bar and brought his fist down on the counter.  “Damn it,” he swore.  It’s not supposed to be like this, not with Olivia, not with his baby girl.

                The bar tender placed a glass of golden liquid in front of him.  “Female problems?” he asked congenially.

                Ted snorted and picked up the glass, tossing it back and draining it in one deft swallow.  Looking back at the bartender, he thumped the now empty glass back on the bar.  “That’s an understatement.”

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                She knew he was a hard ass, sometimes a pain in the ass but she never pegged her father as a jackass until today.  Today, he made a fool of himself and for the first time in her life she was embarrassed to call him her father.

                Stepping off of the elevator, she strode down the hall towards the room that she and Brody shared.  True, this was all just a big ruse but it was the presumptuous and overbearing attitude that her father had that really set her mood afire.  

                Pulling the key card from her back pocket, she swiped it in the slot and pushed open the door.  Walking in the room, she saw Brody roughly tossing his belongings back into the suitcase that he had just unpacked no more than an hour earlier.

                Hearing the door open, Brody didn’t even stop to see who it was; he knew just like he always knew when she entered a room.  It was Olivia.  She carried an aura about her that was so powerful, even he couldn’t resist it.

                 “I’m sorry,” Olivia breathed out.  She leaned her shoulder up against the doorway and stared at his back.

                Brody stopped packing at the sound of her voice.  An apology from her was the last thing that he was expecting.  Straightening up, he dropped the shirt that he held in his hand on top of the rest of the heap in his suit case and sighed.  “You don’t have anything to be sorry for Liv.  This wasn’t your fault,” he told her, not daring to turn around and look at her.

                 “Yes, it was,” she said calmly.  “It was my idea to bring you out here and my father that punched you.  It’s my fault and I’m sorry.”

                This time Brody turned and met Olivia’s gaze.  He was taken aback by how striking she looked in her breezy sundress and minimal make up.  She wore her hear down so that the soft tendrils curled up at the nape of her neck and the way that she stood in the door way, she looked like an angel, an ethereal angel sent down from heaven.

                Brody crossed the room and set his hands on her shoulders.  “Liv, I agreed to this plan and if I remember correctly, I was the one that came up with the brilliant idea of telling everyone you were prego.  It’s partially my fault.  But your father,” he said curling up his nose, “Is a piece of work.  I was willing to overlook that first punch but that second one, well, that was the last straw.”

                Olivia looked down at her feet.  His eye was already swelling and turning a brightly purplish grey color and she couldn’t blame him for backing out of their deal now. “So, I guess you’re leaving,” she said demurely.

                Brody glanced back at his suitcase then turned back to Olivia.  “I was thinking about it.”

                She gulped and nodded.  “Alright, let me grab my Blackberry and I’ll find you a flight back home.  I’ll take care of everything and....and I’m sorry to have taken up your time.”  She kept her gaze adverted, not wanting him to see her true feelings.  She didn't want him to go but she couldn't blame him for wanting to leave either.

                Brody cocked his head to the side and just watched Olivia.  She was a puzzle to him.  One minute she was fiery hot, the next she was as cold as ice and extremely intelligent; almost too intelligent for her own good.  Noticing how she was trying to inconspicuously avoid him he said, “Liv, I told you there is nothing to be sorry about so quit apologizing.”

                She just held up her right hand while she thumbed intently through her Blackberry.  “The next flight leaves at six tonight.  You’ll have a layover in LA for an hour but you should be back home in Raleigh by morning.”

                She kept her head down while she continued to tap out a few more things on the phone.  “That’s the best I can get.”

                 “Liv,” Brody called out.

                “Wait, here’s another one.”

                “Liv,” Brody interrupted her again.  

                Her head still down, she was so engrossed in her task that she didn‘t hear him talking to her.  “This one leaves at four but that only gives us a little less than an hour to get you to the airport.  It would be tight, but I think we can make it."

                 “Olivia O’Connor,” Brody snapped.  “Look at me.”

                She jerked her head up and blinked; once, twice.  “Did you say something?”

                He was enthralled.  Those deep lashes fluttering like a butterfly, portraying an innocence that only Olivia could pull off.  Her lips slightly parted, begging to be kissed.  “Yeah,” he said gruffly and crossed the room, pulling her into his arms.  

                “Mrs. O’Connor,” he said, his eyes boring into hers, “Shut up.”

                Before she could protest, he leaned in and smashed his lips to hers. She gasped at the sudden intrusion and he pressed his advantage, thrusting his tongue into her mouth.  She drove him crazy, she drove him wild and for once, he wanted her as off balance as he was when she was any where near. 

                She didn't back down.  Surprising him, she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave back the best she had.  All the built up tension from the past week had led to this.  This one hot, passionate kiss and she couldn't get enough of it.  One of his hands caressed her back while the other threaded in her hair.  Their mouths worked against each other, sharing breath and tasting pleasure.  She was lost to everything but the man that held her in his arms.

                Brody was the one to regrettably pull back.  Lifting his head, he looked down at Olivia who was just standing there, dazed and breathless.  He ran his thumb lightly over her kissed, swollen lips and grinned.  "I'm in Hawaii, cupcake, with a beautiful lady and for one week I get to pretend that she is my wife; I ain't going anywhere."