Page 41 of Learn For Me

The nap might be a bone of contention.

But she was keenly aware of how the bombing affected Zeke, how it had ripped at the close-knit family of friends. Things changed that day for everyone, and tonight… while she didn’t understand what it felt like to be part of a community that way, she understood that the club was what brought them all together and had been instrumental in hooking up several of the couples.

Tonight was about going home again, and Zeke deserved to be part of it.

“I’m at your service, Sir.”

***

Zeke

At five p.m., just three hours before the grand opening of Avalon was due to start, Zeke sat comfortably in the armchair beside the window overlooking his postage-stamp sized garden and watched Olivia pick her way through the meal in front of her, segregating pieces of corn and setting them in a pile on one side of the plate.

On the other side, she’d set a smaller heap of tomatoes.

The rest of her food—rice, beef, peas, and minutely diced peppers—was going down well.

Fork poised halfway to her mouth, she flicked a glance at him. “You’re watching me eat.”

His lips twitched. “I am.”

“You watched me dance with death this morning as well.”

“Fifteen minutes on a treadmill at crawlin’ pace does not constitute dancin’ with death, angel.” Chuckling, he let the twitch become a smile. “It’s barely considered exercise.”

“Pfft.”

“I like the way your ass moves,” he added as she popped the fork between her lips. “Gives me ideas on how I’m going to fuck it.”

By the sheer grace of God, Livvy clamped her lips shut before rice sprayed the floor. Expression wary, she chewed with exquisite slowness as the hazel of her eyes deepened. Once she swallowed, she cleared her throat. “I beg your pardon?”

“Did I misspeak?”

Carefully, she set the fork down. “I think you said you have ideas on how to f-fuck…”

When she trailed off, her cheeks glowing with color, he tilted his head. “Your ass.”

“Uh-huh. Heard you correctly the first time.”

“I know. Which leads us to a conversation we need to have before I take you anywhere near Avalon. Before I put my hands on you again.” Tapping his fingers on his knee, he studied her face and wondered how the hell he’d earned the right to touch her in the first place. “Trust me, Olivia, I want my hands all over you.”

That busy analytical brain of hers kicked into gear. “You’ve decided. About tonight.”

“Yes. Aside from tryin’ and failin’ to evade your nap time,” he admonished, “you’ve accomplished something today. That warrants a reward, don’t you think?”

Olivia sniffed and shoved at her curls as they tumbled around her face. “If being lazy and unproductive is something worth rewarding.”

“It is when you’re a workaholic on the verge of collapsing,” he said mildly. “If we go, there is no pressure on you to play, Olivia. I need to make that starkly clear. Should you want to explore, we will.”

“Do I need to give you consent every time?”

“No. This is new to you now. Once I know your limits, and you trust me not to exceed them, we’ll find a rhythm. For tonight…” Lifting his hip, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a folded sheet of paper, then crooked two fingers at her in acome heresummons. “Take a look at this with me. Anything you don’t understand, I’ll explain.”

Licking her lips nervously, she pushed away from his space-saving dining table and approached him cautiously. Her eyes darted from his face to the paper he was slowly unfolding as though he was pulling a prank on her.

When it came to anything related to work, she was confident in the way of a woman who had no doubts about her talents. Switch that focus over to personal, ask her to step away from being a data mining machine into feminine shoes, and she floundered.

She was a complex creature, he mused, powered by anxiety and caffeine.

---