Page 28 of Reckless Intentions
Chapter Fifteen
The frenetic activity in The Roca Bar wasn’t doing a great job of keeping Brody’s mind off Olivia. He had hoped that by coming to work, the distraction would stop him from thinking about her, and more to the point thinking about what he’d said. He’d classed them as a holiday romance, when the truth was he wanted more.
And it scared him.
Shagging around, having a half-serious thing with someone like Valentina, all that was fine. But it appeared he had found someone that he could see a future with. On the surface, it seemed like they were opposites: he could be reckless, where as she was a planner. He didn’t always play by the rules while she did. They brought out the best in each other. The past few days had certainly shown that.
Brody watched Olivia, sat at the desk, her head bent over her laptop, brow furrowed in concentration as she worked on the new branding. Every so often, her lips pursed as she saw something she didn’t agree with. Oh, those lips, what she could do to him with those. He shook the thought away and tried to concentrate on levelling off the shelf he was trying to put up.
“Are we busy tonight?” Olivia looked at him, a hopeful expression on her face.
“I can imagine we’ll be doing the usual.” He winked.
“Mariella and Trent wondered if we wanted to go over to Puerto Pollensa for dinner. There’s a really great tapas bar there.”
“La Cabana?” Brody named the one he’d been to many times. It was great value for money, had a fantastic menu and looked out over the beach.
“Olivia nodded. “You know it?”
“Much as I don’t like the thought of sharing you for your final evening, it could be fun.”
“There’s one thing though.”
“What?”
“I don’t want it to be a date.” Olivia paused. “I mean, I don’t want Mariella to tell Caro anything. So, we’ll need to act as friends.”
He knew what she was saying, but it was going to be a tough ask. He could barely keep his hands off her now, let alone for the whole evening.
“You promise we can be more than friends afterwards?”
Olivia stood up and walked towards him. She placed her hands on his shoulders and stood on her tiptoes, so she was able to look into his eyes. “Absolutely.” And she sealed her affirmation with a deep kiss on his lips.
There were several tables already occupied by tourists by the time Brody and Olivia reached La Cabana later that evening. Mariella and Trent had got there early and had secured them the best table out in the courtyard, even if they didn’t have a view of the beach.
Olivia looked stunning, as usual, in a patterned blue sundress that complimented her eyes. Her dark hair was wound up on her head in a messy bun, tendrils falling down beside her ears. Brody wanted to reach over and sweep them back. He had chosen a pair of jeans and a simple white linen shirt. One that he wasn’t bothered about losing the buttons on if Olivia wanted to rip it off later.
Brody studied Mariella, as she and Olivia chatted. He thought he might recognise her. Then again, he had a lot of icily beautiful Scandinavian girls in his back catalogue. None of them compared to the sleek, elegant, black-haired beauty of Olivia.
He’d initially thought that the double date idea was ridiculous. Olivia was going home the next day and, selfishly, he wanted to spend as much time as possible with her. Every minute, in fact.
“How did you two meet again?” Mariella sipped her wine, glancing between the pair.
Remembering Olivia’s earlier warning, Brody answered, “Well, I’m working on the renovations for The Roca Bar for Caro, who you know. And Olivia…”
“I came here to help Caro out.” Olivia butted in before Brody could say anything else. “Nic and I were having some problems, so she suggested a break.”
The mention of Nic hit Brody like a truck. She had barely spoken about him, and he had all but forgotten that the ex-boyfriend existed.
“Really?” Mariella’s eyes bugged out. “I thought the two of you were solid.”
Brody watched Olivia shake her head as she spoke.
“I guess I did too, but when he said he didn’t really see a future for us, even though we’d recently moved in together, I knew we didn’t want the same things anymore.”
Brody reached for one of the dates wrapped in bacon and popped it into his mouth to give him something to do. Seeing Olivia open up to Mariella like that made him feel like a voyeur. She hadn’t admitted that to him, and he wondered why. Maybe she saw him as a holiday fling. That thought made him feel sick to his stomach. In the past few days he had felt more for Olivia than he had any other woman - and that included Valentina. It was a strange emotion for him. Usually he had his fun, and then moved on.
But he wasn’t ready to move on from Olivia.
