Mistaken Identity (8 page)

“I was just telling my parents about how well the business is doing and mom thought it would be great to book you now for all of the holiday parties,” he said, his grip firm around her waist, his hand gently caressing her hip.

Olivia didn’t want to be rude but she clearly did not want to have his hands on her – and not just because Daniel was in the room.  Carefully, she stepped from his embrace and
told Judith to call her the following week so that they could set up an appointment to discuss what she had in mind.  Olivia excused herself and went back into the kitchen.

“You are serving dinner,” she hissed at Tina.

“What?  Why?”

“I am not going back in there.  David is acting all weird and he keeps touching me and it’s freaking me out!”

“David is?  Really?” she asked.  “Wasn’t that what you wanted?”

“Have you had some sort of head trauma that I don’t know about?” Olivia asked. 

“Who has head trauma?” David asked, walking toward them, empty plate in hand.

“No one,” Olivia mumbled and then groaned inwardly when David put his plate down and came to stand beside her, his arm instantly snaking around her waist.

“Everything is wonderful so far, ladies,” he said.  “I just wanted to come in and see if we could have a little bit of a break between the appetizer and the main course.”

“Certainly,” Tina said.  “That won’t be a problem at all.  I haven’t put the pasta on yet.  I’ll wait fifteen minutes and then do it so we’ll plan on dinner in thirty.  Will that work?”

David agreed and Olivia hoped that he would leave, but he didn’t.  Instead he stayed close and talked to Tina about a corporate lunch he was hosting the following week, all the while keeping Olivia close.  She did her best to move away but he kept pulling her back until finally she heard the door slam open.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Daniel barked.

David let go of Olivia and turned.  “What are you talking about?  I’m talking to Tina and Olivia about the luncheon for next week.”

“And you feel the need to maul Olivia while you’re doing that?” he snarled.

David rolled his eyes.  “I wasn’t mauling her,” he said.

“Like hell you weren’t,” Daniel snapped and began to stalk toward his brother.  “You haven’t kept your hands off of her all night.”

“She doesn’t seem to mind,” David said lightly and Olivia gasped with outrage. 

Daniel looked to Olivia for confirmation but noticed the distress on her face.  “Every time you touched her she tried to move away and you wouldn’t let go.”

“I don’t see what business it is of yours.  Right now, she’s just a friend and the hired help who I’m talking to about future work.  If you have a problem with it, then deal with it.”

Olivia looked around for something to stab David in the face with to make him stop talking.  She had never been more offended and could not believe that this was a man that she
had not only crushed on but had admired.  He was a royal prick and she really wouldn’t care if she never saw him again.

She was just about to say something to that effect when he reached out and put his arm around her again and resumed their conversation about the luncheon.  Olivia roughly stepped from his grasp.  “That’s enough, David,” she said.

“Excuse me?”

“I said that’s enough.  I don’t know what’s going on here but I’ve had enough.  I don’t want you touching me so basically,
yes; I do mind you manhandling me.  And if I was really your friend, you would never have referred to me as the hired help.”  Tina made to interrupt her but Olivia held up a hand to silence her.  “We are here to do a job for you and believe me, I would like nothing more than to tell you to take your dinner and shove it up your ass.  But I’m a professional and I’ll finish what we came here for but from this point on, I’d appreciate it if you hired someone else for any of your catering needs.”

Without looking back, Olivia stalked from the kitchen and out the back door and out onto the deck overlooking the lake.  Her heart was racing and she knew that she was going to have to answer to Tina for costing them what could have been a potentially huge account but right now she didn’t care.

Olivia had no idea how long she stayed out there staring at the water but when she finally went back inside, the kitchen was spotless and Tina was packing up.  “Is dinner over already?”

“Pretty much,” Tina said but there wasn’t a hint of animosity in her voice.  “I’m just going to load these things into the van and then we’re good to go.  If you don’t mind, please just wipe down the counters.  I’ll meet you outside.” 

Olivia agreed and when she was done with task, she found her purse and was heading toward the swinging door to the dining room when Daniel walked in.  Her breath caught in her throat; she had hoped to avoid seeing anyone and to just simply escape.  With as much dignity as she could muster, she faced him and said, “I’m sorry for my outburst and for ruining your family’s dinner.”

Hands in his pockets, he simply looked at her with a small smile and replied, “You didn’t ruin anything.  Dinner with my family is never without its share of drama.”

“Oh, well…” she cleared her throat.  “I just feel bad for your parents.  I didn’t mean to make a scene in front of them.”

“They’re fine, Liv.  Really, it’s no big deal.”

“Okay, well, good night, Daniel.”

“How are you getting home?” he asked.

“I drove here with Tina.”

“Tina just left.”

“
What
?” she cried.  This night just kept getting worse and worse.  When she finally got caught up with Tina she was going to strangle her.  “Are you kidding me?”  When Daniel shook his head she cursed under her breath.  “Well, I guess I’m calling a cab.”

“That won’t be necessary.  I’ll get you home.”

“No,
that
won’t be necessary.  I’d really rather call a cab.”

“Liv,” he said, exasperation lacing his voice.  “Look, I told Tina to go.  It was my idea.”

“Why?  Why would you do that?  I don’t want to be here; I certainly don’t want to see your brother again.”

“He went home, too.”

“Home?” she asked, confused.  “Isn’t this his home?”

“No,” he said, “I live here.”  And then it hit him; he’d never invited her to his home, or into his world.  In their time together it had been about seeing her on his terms, when he wanted and that meant showing up when he felt like it and leaving when he was done.  The reality of it hit him hard.
 

He spent so much time being envious of David for so many things and when he finally had the one thing that David didn’t, he didn’t appreciate it; he didn’t cherish it.  He’d simply been too insecure to take hold with both hands and not let go.

Olivia.

She stared at him, eyes wide.  “This is your house?”  Daniel nodded.  “Why?  Why would you tell Tina to leave?”

“Because I needed to see you alone, Liv.”

All of the fight went out of her.  She’d missed him too much and if all he was willing to give her was his body then she’d learn to be okay with it.  Olivia dropped her purse to the floor and then walked back into the center of the kitchen and then turned and faced him again.  “Okay,” she said and took her apron off.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“I get it,” she said, placing the apron on the counter top and then reaching for the buttons on her blouse.  “I’m taking you up on your offer.”

“What offer?” he asked and then all words dried up in his throat when she peeled back her blouse and revealed the skimpy hot pink bra.

“The last time we were together you wanted us to go back in time, to before our argument and to just have sex.  I should have just agreed with you back then and saved us the time apart.”  Her blouse followed the path of the apron and she stood before him in nothing but the racy bra, tight black skirt and heels.

“I’m guessing that you sent everyone home because you want the same thing; I’m not going to fight with you,” she said, reaching behind her to unzip the skirt and let it fall to the floor.  “I’m just putting us back to that moment.”  Olivia hopped up on the cool granite counter top and waited.

She didn’t wait long.  Soon Daniel was standing between her legs and ravaging her mouth with his.  “That isn’t why I…” he began but Olivia cut off his words.

“No talking, remember?  We said no talking.”  She stroked his tongue with her own and wrapped her legs around his waist to pull him in for closer contact.  She felt his thickening erection and knew that she was in no mood for foreplay.  She needed him.  Now.

Reaching between them, she undid his belt and the button on his pants and did her best to push them out of the way.

“Liv,” he whispered and was about to say more when she wrapped her hand around his cock and squeezed.

“
Sshh…” she said and released him long enough to move the crotch of her panties aside, exposing herself to him.  “Now, Daniel,” she panted.  “Take me now.”  She knew what those words would do to him and when he pushed forward and thrust inside until he was buried to the hilt she cried out with joy.  “Yes,” she sighed.  This was what she had been missing; this was what she had been dreaming about.

He may not love her; hell, he may still not even like her but his body wanted hers and Olivia was prepared to let that be enough.  As long as he could bring her this much pleasure, she’d be more than willing to let him use her.

Daniel pumped into her furiously.  “It wasn’t supposed to be like this,” he panted.

“Shut up,” she hissed.  “Just fuck me.”  He didn’t wait for her to
come; he simply let himself do it and filled her.

There’d been no time for a condom and
when his brain finally engaged to that fact, he pulled back and looked her in the face.  She knew what he was thinking.  “I don’t care,” she said softly. 

Without breaking contact, Daniel kicked off his shoes and socks and then his pants and boxers.  Wrapping Olivia’s legs more
securely around his waist, he lifted her and took her to his bedroom.

With an ample supply of condoms, he made up for lost time.

Chapter Nine

Olivia woke with a start.  She was tired and disoriented and it took a moment for her to realize where she was.  She spotted the digital clock on the bedside table and saw that it was after eight in the morning and that there was a man pressed snuggly against her back.

They had spent the entire night together. 

They had only done that one other time before and that was at the beach.  Knowing that Daniel didn’t like the whole night scenario, she went to rise from the bed in hopes of getting dressed and calling a cab before he woke.  At her first move away from him Daniel’s arm banded around her, pulling her fully against his naked body. 

“Going somewhere?”

Olivia was nervous.  She couldn’t read his tone.  Was he angry that she was still there?  They had made love countless times throughout the night.  With the lights off.  Not once did he make a demand that had to do with who he was and Olivia had orgasmed more than she thought humanly possible. 

With his hands, his mouth and his cock, he had pleasured her until she’d wept.
  Never in her life had she thought it possible to feel so much with one person but with Daniel, it was everything.

“I was um…going to get up and call a cab.  I didn’t want to wake you,” she said softly.

He turned her over so that she was facing him.  “Why?”

“Well, it’s morning and well…you never stay until morning so I just assumed…”

“Don’t assume, Liv.  You’re here because I want you here.  I didn’t expect you to leave in the middle of the night and I certainly don’t expect you to sneak out now.”

“I just thought…”

Daniel settled more comfortably against the pillows and pulled her in tight next to him and simply sighed with how right it felt.  “I think it’s time you and I talked.”

“Okay.”

“I missed you,” he said simply.  “Everything you said to me that night at your place was right.  I was scared to let go of the anger and the animosity I felt.  It was what I was used to; it made me feel safe and in control.  We started out in a very unconventional way, Liv, but I want you to know that I’m not sorry about it.  I want you; I’ve always wanted you and it pissed me off that you were always so indifferent to me.”

“I misjudged you and for that I’m sorry,” she said and placed a gentle kiss on his chest. 

“In all fairness I didn’t make things easy for you.  But now?  I don’t just want you; I’m in love with you.  I want to be with you and not just in bed – although that is still incredible.  I want to spend time with you and get to know you; have a future with you.  Do you think that you could possibly forgive me and give me a chance?”

Olivia sat up and looked at him, tears welling in her eyes.  “Do you have any idea how wonderful that all sounds?  I’m in love with you, too!  That’s why it hurt so much when you didn’t trust me.”

“I do trust you, Liv.  When I saw you that night at the club dancing with David, you looked so uncomfortable and then last night, every time he touched you, you cringed and I wanted to reach across the table and kill him.”

“I wish you would have.  I can’t believe how I
misjudged him too!  He’s just a dog!”

Daniel chuckled.  “He can be but if it weren’t for him behaving like such an ass, I might not have realized all that I was missing.  I was too afraid to reach out to you.  He got you here and for that, I can only thank him.”

“Well, I guess I can thank him, too, but I just wish he could have done it with a little less hands-on action.”  Olivia leaned forward and kissed him.  “The only hands I want on me are yours.”

Daniel smiled and teased her lips with his tongue.  “Baby, I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”

****

“I can’t believe that it actually worked.”

“I told you, I am a master at manipulating a situation.”

“That really isn’t a good quality.”

“It worked, didn’t it?”

Tina sat drinking her coffee sitting across from David.  “I thought Olivia was going to kill me.  There is going to be hell to pay when she finally resurfaces from Daniel’s bed.

“By the time that happens, she’ll have forgotten all about it and be thanking you.”

“One can only hope.”

David took a sip of his drink and smiled.  “Olivia’s lucky to have a friend like you.”

Tina smiled back.  “Thanks.  I have to admit that I didn’t think you’d be the one to get them back together.  From what I hear, you’re quite the lying bastard.”

He laughed out loud.  “Wow, you certainly say what’s on your mind, don’t you?”  Tina nodded.  “Well, it wasn’t until their whole relationship came to light that I realized just how poorly I had been behaving.  I really want my brother to be happy and it was hard to deny that Olivia made him happy.”

“I never would have guessed it.”

“Neither did they.”

Tina took a sip of her own beverage and sighed. 
“Think they’ll last?”

David nodded.  “Absolutely.  The lucky bastards.”

Now it was her turn to laugh and then she held up her mug for a toast.  “To the lucky bastards.”

He touched his mug to hers.  “Who are probably on their fourth or fifth round of sex.”

Tina sighed again.  “Yeah…lucky bastards.”