Always With You: Part One

ALWAYS WITH YOU

Part One

A BAD BOYS Serial Novel

by

M. Leighton

Copyright 2015, M. Leighton

Cover photo by 
Prometeus

http://www.depositphotos.com

All rights reserved.  Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the author.

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only.  This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people.  If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person.  If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy.  Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This book is a work of fiction.  Any resemblance to any person, living or dead, any place, events or occurrences, is purely coincidental.  The characters and storylines are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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Love didn’t come easy for Cash and Olivia.  Forever will come even harder.  But true love doesn’t give up, not even when dreams are crushed and reality isn’t quite the fairy tale you expected it to be.

When Olivia married Cash Davenport, it was her dream come true.  Cash was everything she wanted 
and 
everything she needed, all wrapped up in jet-black eyes and an irresistible smile.  She thought since she’d finally found the ideal man, their life would play out like a fairy tale.  And, for a while, it did.

Until she found out that another woman, a woman from Cash’s past, has given him the one thing that Olivia can’t—a child.

For Cash, seeing their baby growing inside his wife would only make a perfect marriage more perfect, but all he really needs for true happiness is the love of his life—Olivia.  She wants to give him a child, though, and when she can’t conceive, it puts a strain on her that Cash can’t seem to alleviate.  That strain explodes when Sophie Marks, Cash’s old flame, shows up at their door with a little girl in tow.  A little girl she claims belongs to Cash.

After all this time, can Sophie be trusted?  Or has she returned with the sole intent of destroying the only real happiness Cash has ever known

CHAPTER ONE

Olivia

I
curl
my fingers into the neck of my shirt as I slide down the back of the closed bathroom door.  My brain is running in circles trying to make sense of what just happened, but it seems to be the slowest of my organs.  My heart is pounding, my lungs are heaving and every muscle and nerve in my entire body is trembling, I think.

I close my eyes and fight back tears.  When a soft knock thuds on the door behind me, I don’t even move. It’s all I can do to get my voice back online.

“Just a minute,” I say in as normal a tone as I can muster.

“It’s me, babe. Can I come in?”

My chest squeezes painfully, protectively around my aching heart.  “C-can you give me just a minute?”

“Yes, I’ll give you a minute.  I’d give you the world if you asked me for it. You know that, right?”

My eyes burn like fire.  “Yes, I know that,” I force out, even though I feel doubtful and betrayed at the moment.

There’s a pause, during which I hear nothing on the other side of the door. I know Cash is still there.  Not only have I not heard him walk off, but I can
feel
him through the wooden barrier, like heat beckoning my cold soul toward it. 

And then I hear his quiet words.  “I love you, Olivia Davenport. You’re the most important person in my life.  Now.  Always.”

Tears spill from between my tightly-closed lids.  “I-I love you, too.”

“Please let me in.  I want to hold you.  I
need
to hold you.”

I’m just starting to push to my feet when I hear another familiar voice.  I smile through my tears.

“Move it, sweetie. This is best friend territory.  I’ll come get you when it’s all clear.”  Cash makes no response, but I can imagine him glaring at Ginger.  I hear a soft rustling sound followed by Ginger’s hushed, “God, what are you made of?  Lead?”

She’s probably trying to push him out of her way, which wouldn’t be easy.  Not even for a large man would that be an easy task.  Cash is still a six foot-five inch wall of broad chest, thick arms, strong legs and lean muscle.

“I’m not leaving until she lets me in,” Cash says, determination hardening his voice.

“Just let me talk to her first.  Trust me. It’s better this way. Now out of my way, Thor.”

I hear a grunt and then the doorknob rattles.  “Liv, let me in.  I’ve got something very important to tell you,” Ginger says.  I know it’s a ruse, but honestly, I’d rather talk to her for a minute before I see Cash anyway.  Somebody needs to talk me down off this ledge of insecurity.

I reach up and twist the lock, leaning away from the door just enough that Ginger can open it a crack and squeeze through.  She immediately closes and locks it, then slides down to sit on the floor beside me.

“Phew!  Got my workout trying to move the barbarian out of the way.  He was
not
to keen on letting me in here first.”

“Yeah, I heard.”

She turns to look at me. “He’s over the moon for you, you realize that, right?”

I nod hesitantly.

“I mean, the guy doesn’t even look at my ass when I walk by. He’s definitely off the market.”

I smile a little.  “Is that the true test of a man’s level of taken-ness?”

She frowns as though my question is absurd.  “Of course. What hot-blooded man wouldn’t at least take a peek at a world class ass as it goes by?”

“Blind ones?”

“Exactly!” she replies emphatically.  “Blind ones or extremely taken ones.  Hell, even gay men look at my ass.  I mean, have you
seen
my ass?”

“As a matter of fact I have.  It’s quite dazzling.”

“See?  And you’re a straight,
taken
woman.  It’s irresistible.”  She shrugs.  “Just the way it is.”

“Is that what you had to tell me that’s so important?”

“No, I was pretty sure you already knew that.”

I nod.  When she doesn’t continue, I prompt.  “Well?”

“Oh, I just wanted to tell you that Sophie is a conniving whore and we can’t trust her.”

Although I
love
Ginger’s assessment of her, I wonder what makes her feel that way, other than womanly solidarity.

“What makes you say that?”

She shrugs again. “Intuition I suppose.  Something about her…those eyes maybe.  I can tell she’s up to something.  Something
not good.”

“But what?”

“I can’t be sure yet, but the most obvious thing would be that she wants your man.”

My heart stutters in my chest.  “And do you think that’s possible?”

Please say no! Please say no!

My gut tells me that Cash is mine—heart and soul, always and forever.  Like I am his.  But this whole thing with being unable to get pregnant has my emotions in such turmoil, my heart isn’t as certain as it once was.  I feel so insecure.  So inadequate.  Like I’ve disappointed him, even though he’s told me a thousand and one times that his life will be perfect, with or without a baby.

But thinking about the look on his face when he saw Sophie…when he saw the little girl, Isabella…

My stomach rolls over in a bout of nausea.

Ginger sits up and grabs my arm.  “Hell. No.  That boy is so in love with you, I’m envious.  Me!  The girl of no-strings-attached, hot sex.  What you two have makes
me
want it, too.  And I wouldn’t want it if it wasn’t extraordinary.”  She settles back against the door before she continues. “I mean, do you think I’d take
this
off the market for anything less than the true, deep, everlasting kind of love?  I couldn’t do that to humanity and feel good about it.”

She says this with a straight face.  Totally Ginger. I have to laugh, even though my heart doesn’t feel better yet.

“I realize that’s a big deal and I really hope you can find it one day.  It’s only fair that
you
feel this kind of misery as well.”

Ginger sighs.  “I don’t know if I’ll ever find what you have.”

“Why don’t you just ask him out for God’s sake?”

“Who?”

I give her a withering look.  “Don’t even pretend that we’re not
both
talking about Gavin.”

“He’s not interested, Liv, I’m telling ya.”  My best friend has tried to blow off her interest in Gavin, but I can tell by her expression that it hurts her. I’ve thought all along that she really likes Gavin.  Like, more than just a fling.  Nothing has ever happened, though.

“I think you’re wrong.  That pat on the ass he gave you earlier was anything but disinterested.  What does he have to do, take you into a dark corner and rip your clothes off?”

“Preferably.”

“I think you should go for it. What do you have to lose?”

Ginger closes her eyes and leans her head back against the thick wood of the door.  “My heart.  I…I don’t think I want just a fling with him.”

This admission is hard for my friend, which is why she isn’t looking at me.  She’s unaccustomed to tenderness or unexpected weakness. She’s always been in charge, in complete control, and I’m sure this is a foreign feeling for her.

“Maybe he doesn’t either, but there’s only one way to find out.”

“And if it’s a bust?” she asks, her voice low and somber.

“I’ve survived broken hearts. You will, too.  They’re all worth it when you find the real thing. The right one.”

She opens her eyes and pins me with her stare. “Like what you have with Cash?”

My stomach flips over. “Yes, like what I have with Cash.”

“You realize that nothing will ever come between you two unless you let it, right?”

I look into my friend’s wise blue eyes.  “So don’t let it, is that what you’re saying?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.  He loves you, Liv.  And you love him.  This is just a bump in the road.  Don’t make it into something it’s not.  He didn’t marry her. He married
you.”

“But they have a child together,” I remind her, my throat closing over the words even as I utter them.

“They
might
have a child together. I still don’t believe it,” she says stubbornly.

“Did you see her eyes?  Those are Davenport eyes.”

“I hate to be the one to tell you, Liv, but there are other men in the world with dark brown eyes.”

“But they’re almost black. Just like Cash’s.”

“And there are other almost-black eyes in the world, too.  Don’t jump to conclusions.  And even if it is, so what?  So he has a kid with someone else. That changes nothing unless you let it.  You can still have babies with him. Little black-eyed babies that he’ll get to hold when they’re born and watch grow up.  This woman has nothing on you, Liv. Not one damn thing.”

“If you could just convince my heart of that.”

“That’s not my job. That’s your husband’s.  And he’s already trying to do that. You just have to let him.”

“What do you mean?”

“He made her leave right after you excused yourself.”

“He did?” 

“He did.  Said he’d talk to her later, that he needed to check on you.”

Even though it’s rude and inconsiderate to ask her to leave when she’s really done nothing wrong (not technically), it makes me feel good that Cash did that for me. 

“And don’t you dare say that was rude of him, Miss Southern Hospitality.”

My mouth drops open.  “I wasn’t… I didn’t…”  She knows me far too well.

“You were gonna.  But it
wasn’t
rude.  She interrupted.  Dropped by unannounced.  To drop the mother of all bombs.  At Christmas, no less.  Sweet baby Jesus, who does that?”  When I don’t answer, Ginger shakes her head.  “No decent person.  Which means she’s obviously dumb as a box of hair.  Makes me wonder if the little girl is that stupid.  If she is, I feel even sorrier for Cash. I mean, who wants an idiot for a daughter?”

I smile again.  Ginger is good for me. 

I throw in with her. Not because it’s right, but because it just makes me feel better.

“Right?  And what if she won’t work when she grows up?  What if she’s really lazy and she just wants to live in the basement of the new house until she’s fifty?”

“A basement-dwelling fifty year old—every father’s dream.  Hell, she might even be toothless by that point. They look like two women who are prone to dental hygiene problems, don’t you think?”

At this, I laugh outright.  Both Sophie and Isabella look clean and neat and nowhere near the vicinity of having bad dental hygiene, but I love the picture Ginger paints. Although completely unrealistic, it somehow soothes me to think of them this way.  At least for a few minutes. Until my poor heart can recover from being devastated by the two beautiful interlopers.

“I love you, Ginger,” I tell my friend.

“I love you, too, Livie.  And if you want to become lesbians and run away from this mess, I’ll consider it, but only after I’ve had a run at Gavin.  Deal?”

“Deal.”

She leans over to kiss my cheek before she stands and practically pushes me across the floor when she opens the door. 

“Your turn, Thor!” she calls out.  She glances back at me long enough to wink before she disappears and the door closes again.

I’m ready for Cash to come to me now.  I’m ready to feel his arms around me.  I’m ready to feel his lips brush my temple. I’m ready to hear him tell me he loves me and that I’m the only one.  I’m ready to hear that more than anything.