Chapter 23
**Edited by krisgee**
"The Rented Husband"
2012 Copyright All Rights Reserved
Chapter 23
“Good evening ladies.” Olivia stiffened at the sound of the charmingly familiar voice. She shot a quick glance over at Ashley then looked to her youngest sister Caley, begging for assistance.
Ashley looked away from her sister and peered up at Brody with a wicked grin. “Hello there stranger. Where have you been hiding all my life?”
He let out a lusty chuckle that affected Olivia in the most adverse manner. The sound seeped deep into her senses, covering her like a blanket. He was standing behind her but she could feel him everywhere; in her skin, in her blood, even in her bones.
The disconcerting feeling was too much for her to bear. Lifting her cup to her mouth, she drained it dry and sat it back on the table with thump. “Whew,” she fanned herself, looking everywhere but at the man that has seemed to turn her world completely upside down. “Is it hot in here or what?” she exclaimed.
Seth appeared on the other side of the table. “It’s just you Liv,” he answered her question. Placing his arms on his wife’s shoulders, he gave them a gentle squeeze. “And Mrs. Wells, what do you mean by asking Brody here and I quote, ‘Where have you been hiding all my life’?”
Ashley’s grin widened as she relaxed underneath his hands. “Just being friendly to my handsome new brother in law,” she replied, her words taking on a slight slurry quality. “Someone in this family has to be nice to him after the way Daddy treated him.”
Seth leaned down so that his warm breath blew across her cheek. “Now I have heard of being nice Ash, and I’ve heard of flirting. You my dear wife, are flirting.”
She let out a bubbly laugh that sang to the heavens. “Why Seth, are you jealous ?”
He snorted a manly grunt; his golden eyes, peering up in Brody‘s direction. “Me jealous of him? Not likely. And you my dear,” he said, firmly placing a wet kiss on her cheek, “Are well and drunk.”
She giggled, “Yeah, I am, aren’t I?”
“Upsy daisy.” Seth placed his hands under her arms and pulled her up into a standing position. “Are you going to be able to walk to the room?”
Another girlish giggle escaped her lips. “As long as you have your guns wrapped around me, I’ll get there just fine.”
Seth shook his head. “Boy, you’re going to be feeling this one in the morning and you know that the first rehearsal is scheduled for eleven, right?”
Ashley twirled her finger listlessly in the air. “Eleven? Rehearsal?” Her head lolled over to the side.
“Yup, you are definitely going to feel this one baby.” In one smooth move, Seth lifted her off her feet and into his arms. “Let’s get some coffee in you to try and sober you up a bit.” She only giggled in response.
He turned to Caley. “Why don’t you come with us and I’ll drop you off at your room on the way.”
Caley looked as if she was about half asleep. She had her head in her hands, propped up on the table. “Okaaay,” she drawled.
He glanced up at Brody. “I assume you can take care of that one,” he said looking pointedly down at Olivia who was staring at her empty glass.
“Yeah, I’ll take care of her,” Brody assured him. “Come on muffin cakes; let’s get you upstairs and into bed.” Taking her by the elbow, he lifted her up and seeing that she was unbalanced, he wrapped an arm around her shoulder, tucking her into his side.
Seth stood there for a moment waiting for Caley to stand. When it was apparent that she wasn’t moving, he nudged her with his elbow, “Come on Caley, before you fall asleep at the table.”
The youngest of the sisters stared up at him with a blank expression. “Huh?”
Seth dropped his head again. “It’s time to go Caley. I’m sure that Devin is still up and waiting for you to return.”
“Oh,” she said, her mouth forming a perfectly shaped ‘O’ in the process. She lazily glanced around her to see that all the seats had been vacated and sluggishly stood up. “Whoa, the room is spinning like crazy,” she exclaimed, placing a hand to each of her temples.
“No,” Seth told her, shifting Ashley in his arms so that he could hold on to Caley. “You just drank too much. Way too much.”
She smiled up at him. “Maybe just a little,” she told him, making an effort to show him by holding up her thumb and her forefinger, bringing them close together. “Just a little,” she repeated.
“Just a little my ass,” he commented under his breath, earning a hefty laugh from Brody. “Come on louse, time to take you to Devin and let him take care of you. I have my own wife to attend to.”
With a nod to Brody, Seth took hold of Caley’s arm and gently led her out of the lounge. Brody stood there in his place and watched the trio leave, smothering his own laughter when Caley attempted to sit down at the door.
When they were good and gone, he turned Olivia around to face him and suddenly got serious. The whole time that they had been apart, he had been going mad with worry. Concerned by what set her off in the first place, worry that the stalker might get to her and then topping it off by not knowing what in the hell to do about it. He would have gone into a full scale panic attack if it hadn’t been for him running into Seth. “Exactly how much did you guys drink?” he finally asked.
Olivia stared hard at his chest, taking notice of the marbleized buttons that held his blue and white striped shirt together, not daring to meet his eyes. “I don’t know,” she shrugged her shoulders. “I quit counting at five.”
“Geez, Liv,“ he tossed his hand up in the air and groaned. All of that pent up worry coming to the forefront. “What in the hell were ya’ll thinking? No,” he slapped his hand at his side. “That’s the thing - none of you were thinking. You know that there is someone after you and yet you let your guard down like this? All three of you were stone drunk, sitting in here like ducks in water. What if the creepy guy decided to make a move then? Huh?” He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her, wanting to do nothing more than shake some common sense into her. “What would have happened then? Answer me Liv, what would you have done?”
Olivia said nothing. Through her drunken haze, she felt the guilt rising. He was so right; she hadn’t been thinking, at least about that. She was so caught up in her own disturbing feelings for him that she could think of nothing else. Keeping her face down, she continued to refuse to meet his penetrating gaze.
“When you ran off from me, that was all I could think about. What if he got to you before I did? What would I do if I came up and I was a second too late? How do you think that made me feel Liv? Really. How do you think I felt when I couldn‘t find you anywhere?”
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled, unable to say anything else.
“You bet your ass that you’re sorry, but sometimes sorry isn’t good enough.” He took his hands and framed her face, lifting it so that he could see into the depths of her jewel like eyes. “Sorry wouldn’t have helped if you got hurt. Sorry wouldn’t have helped if the madman got his hands on you. Sorry just doesn’t cut it Liv.”
Tears started to streak down her face. They were slow in coming but they were there, one watery droplet after another, making Brody feel like a complete jackass. She sobbed a bit, making a gurgling sound and then gave a very un-ladylike sniff.
Sighing, Brody released her face and brought her head against his chest. “Shh, Liv. I didn’t mean to upset you. I just wanted you to know how scared I was.” Another rather loud sob broke from her chest. “Shh,” he said again, rubbing his hand in circles along her back. “Please stop crying cheesecake. I can’t take it. You’re breaking my heart.”
Through the tears, she half chuckled.
“Is that the beginnings of a laugh that I hear?” he eased back to see her face and teased.
She smothered her face back into his chest. “No, it wasn’t.”
Brody looked down at the top of her head and breathed out a sigh of relief. At least she was safe and that was what mattered the most. Her safety. He had finally admitted to himself that he had fallen for this blond haired, witty woman and he didn’t know how he would react if something indeed had happened to her. He squeezed his arms a little tighter around her slender body, inhaling her flowery scent that he had learned to identify as unique to Olivia alone. “Just promise me that you’ll be more careful from now on,” he whispered above her head. “For my own sanity at least.”
This time she leaned her head back and looked up at him. Her eyes feeling swollen and her nose all stuffy. The moment that their eyes met, she felt a shift in her equilibrium. Something had changed. Something between the two of them had changed and for the first time, she wasn’t all that scared by it.
She actually welcomed it. His eyes darkened as they zeroed in on her lips. It was then that she knew that their relationship; the same one that was originally meant as a show, had become so much more. She cared for this man so much more than just a co-worker. Was it love? She wasn’t positive that she’d call it that yet but it was most definitely something more than just friendship and something that she desperately wanted to explore.
Lifting her hand, she cradled his cheek. Making a split second decision, she decided to use some of the liquid courage that she had ingested and take this a step further. One of them had to make the move or they would always be plagued with the ‘what if’s’ and ‘what could have’s’. “What’s happening between us Brody?”
Brody felt consumed. As he stared down at her, all he could think about was how much he wanted this woman - this one particular woman that had the means to destroy him in one fell swoop. Lifting his hand and taking a hold of her neck, he whispered, “I don’t know Liv, but I’m damn sure tired of fighting it.”
Unable to hold back any longer, he moved in, covering her mouth with his own. He refused to fight it any longer. One way or the other, he was going to prove to Olivia that they belonged together. Come hell or high water, he was going to find a way to win her heart.
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Seth stepped off of the elevator with both women in tow. Ashley was pretty much asleep in his arms and Caley was well on her way. He was basically dragging her behind him.
Reaching her room, he propped her up against the wall and knocked on the door. In seconds, it was opened and in front of him stood a youthful looking Devin, her soon to be husband.
“Drop off,” he said, waving in Caley’s direction.
Devin stepped out of the room to see his heavily inebriated fiancé. “What in the heck happened to her?” he asked, despite the obvious.
Seth let out a knowing laugh. “Girls night out,” he simply said. Devin looked back at him, his brows knitted up in confusion. The older brother in law only shook his head. “She’s all yours man, see you at the rehearsal tomorrow.”
With his good deeds done for the day, he turned and headed for his own room. He had his own wife to put to bed. He wasn’t kidding when he had mentioned that they would pay for the night of alcoholic foreplay come morning. Lucky for him, he come prepared; he brought the whole bottle of ibuprofen as well as the box of Goody Powders. He was set.
Slipping into his room, he used his foot to close the door behind him. Ashley’s soft snores were already reaching his ears. She was down for the count and probably wouldn’t budge again until the sun rose. He laid her in the bed and started to carefully strip off her shoes, following with her pants and shirt when a thought suddenly hit him.
Olivia was supposed to be pregnant. If she was indeed pregnant, then why was she getting herself smashed?
Seth pulled the covers up over his wife and pressed a kiss to her cheek, scrunching up his nose at the smell of her alcohol laden breath that almost made him sick to his stomach. Saying to himself yes, she is going to be feeling this in the morning.
Something just wasn’t right about the whole situation. He wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but he was almost positive that for whatever reason, she was faking a pregnancy. The Olivia that he knew would never be that careless and drink herself silly if she had, in fact, been with child. The Olivia Murray that he knew now as Olivia O’Connor wasn’t that type of person.
So if she wasn’t really pregnant, then why would she feel compelled to tell the family that she was? Was she lying to cover something for herself or was she lying to cover up something for that new husband of hers?
He didn’t have a clue as to which it could possibly be, but by God he was going to find out. If it was the last thing he did. He loved that young lady like a sister and if she needed help, then he would be there to help her, every step of the way, no questions asked.
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