Page 64 of Noble Neighbor
“I’m not.” She barely stopped herself from stomping her feet.
“Yes, you are, sweetheart.”
She dropped her gaze and shook her head. “No.”
Oliver gripped her chin between thumb and forefinger, forcing her to look at him. “Sunny, we owe it to ourselves to explore this connection we have.”
His hold tightened. “No, don’t deny it. Wedohave a connection.”
Pursing her lips, she narrowed her stare.
He arched his brows, maintaining eye contact. “We’ve both trauma in our past. Christie’s death was devastating, but I was fortunate to have known her for eleven years, and I’m forever grateful for my time with her. Now I find myself with a chance to love again. I want to take hold of that opportunity, Sunny.”
His hand moved, fingers trailing lightly across her face before spearing into her hair. “Maybe we won’t run the full course. Maybe in a few months’ time we’d’ve scratched all the itches and find ourselves back in the friend zone.” He shrugged lightly even as his hold on her hair tightened. “Or maybe we’ll end up like Dad and Rena, satisfied with our separate lives yet enjoying our time together.
“But Sunny” — he tugged her head back and up, just a fraction, and brought his face to within an inch of hers — “we owe it to ourselves to at least be open to the … whatever.”
She swallowed, her throat closing. “Why the change? Why now?”
“It’s been brewing, but I watched Dad and Rena yesterday. They’ll never marry, you see. Her choice, but Dad has accepted her decision, and they make their relationship work. Sunny … give us a chance, baby.”
Her sinuses prickled, and she sniffled. She wanted to. So, so desperately wanted to. “Oliver …”
“Please.” Oliver's free hand also wound into her hair, and his fingers dug into her scalp. It wasn’t painful, just … insistent.
She placed her hands on his upper arms. “I can never tell you about my daughters’ father. Nor about my life before Clearbrook. Can you accept that you will never know?”
His Adam’s apple bobbed, and hope filled his gaze. “Yes. Yes, I can.”
Her eyes flicked between his, reading the sincerity in them. Could she do this? Could she give them a chance? Up till now, it had been what was best for her girls. Here was a possibility of something good for the girlsandtheir mother. Her heart beat a frantic rhythm, hammering against her ribs, and she tightened her hold on him. “I have conditions.”
Oliver huffed out a breath. “Of course, you do.”
“No sleepovers, and we keep it from Kenzie and Molly. For now at least. If this … whatever, lasts, we can talk again. They love you, Oliver, but I don’t want to cultivate any expectations regarding you. Or Clement.”
The smile that had pulled at his lips when she’d begunher new list of conditions bloomed wide. “Okay,” he agreed.
What have I done?
She locked onto Oliver’s thankful gaze and an inexplicable calm settled over her. She leaned in, sliding her hands down his arms, then across his back, finally resting against his waist, her fingers touching the towel.
He dropped his forehead to hers. “Thank you, Sunny.”
I’m making a mistake.
But the thought evaporated like mist in the sun as his mouth closed over her lips, and he kissed her, slow and sure, fogging her mind, drugging her senses. Sunny exhaled, accepted the inevitable, and tumbled into the goodness of Oliver Armstrong.
All that mattered now was his warm skin beneath her hands and his tongue exploring her mouth and the delicious tendrils of desire snaking through her body.
She toyed with the edge of the towel, loosening it, murmuring, “How much time do we have?”
The white cotton fell to the floor. Her hand fastened around him, stroking, delighting as he groaned intoher mouth, and the velvet-smooth length grew, hardened,in her grip.
He lifted his head, his hands moving lower until they molded her backside. “Up,” he growled, lifting.
She clamped her pajama-clad legs around his waist, one arm around his neck, her hand working him between their bodies, frantic. She bit his shoulder, soothed her tongue over it. “Hurry.”
Oliver growled, burying his face in her neck as he moved across the floor and into the room he shared with Clement, kicking the door closed behind them. A beat later, she was on the bed. He caught the hem of her cotton bottoms and tugged, pulling them down, chucking them aside.
