Page 78 of The Hardest Hit
“Fantastic, Aiko! And delicious! I think I ate my weight in monja-yaki.”
The concierge, a fifty-ish woman who managed to combine sophisticated polish with a warm mom vibe, laughed. “That’s easy to do. I’m glad you enjoyed it! Did you want me to book the sake house tour for tomorrow?”
“Mm. Not yet. I was going to see if Evan wanted to come with me for that one. Is he back yet?”
“No, I don’t believe so.”
“Well, I’ll call down once I get a chance to talk to him.”
“Of course,” said Aiko with a small bow.
Olivia went up to the penthouse suite. After five days of living the hotel life, she was unsurprised to find that the flowers had been replaced and everything but her notes tidied away.She was wildly enjoying her trip to Tokyo, and she was not oblivious to the fact that it was partially because Evan was spending gobs of money.
She tried to discern if she should be concerned about that, but so far everyone at the hotel acted like his behavior was standard for all of his previous visits. Evan himself appeared to spend without a second thought. In fact, he’d been more than a little concerned that he couldn’t send her out on her daily adventures with his credit card. They had actually argued about it. He’d been adorably frustrated at her refusal to take his money and they ended up compromising on her booking all of her tours through the hotel so he could pay for them. Olivia was not at all sure how this was a compromise and thought that he had used unfair negotiating techniques, mainly his lips on various parts of her, to get her to agree.
It was disconcerting because she couldn’t tell if she was his princess or his pretty woman. She was trying not to think of it in general. Because thinking about it might ruin it.
She went to stand in front of her wall of notes.
Besides Evan seemed to enjoy spoiling her.
Which was one of the reasons she was sticking to their arrangement. She was very afraid that she was giving Evan a bad name. The day after she’d arrived, she had been facedown in the spa getting a hot stone massage when she’d come up with the best idea for her research. She’d gone sprinting into the lobby clutching her towel and demanding paper and a writing utensil. And now her notes were taped up on the sitting room wall.
Evan probably deserved to get his way now that his reputation included a crazy girlfriend. Of course, Evan had only been amused and said not to worry about it, but she couldn’t help but think her eccentric behavior reflected badly on him.
She took off her shoes and started to change as she stared at the wall, going over her math. She picked up her pencil and began to noodle through an equation, while the rest of her brain pondered the problem with Evan. Because there was a part of her that thought that Evan should always get his way. When he smiled at her, her heart did backflips. When he kissed her, she went a little woobly in the knees. And when they made love, there was literally nothing she could do to stop herself from saying his name.
The night of his office party, the night he’d confirmed her theory about Fetish, was the last night she’d had any doubts about him. She supposed that would have sent other people running for the door. But she got it. Locking himself into a place he hated, so that other people would be safe was twisted, and maybe it was the wrong decision, but she got it. How long had she stayed in Georgia with Clark because she wanted to make her family happy? It had taken Clark’s blatant infidelity and one sleepless night to make her realize that she couldn’t make up for what her mom had done and she couldn’t keep punishing herself for not being able to save her mother. So she’d left. She’d left her cage and so had Evan.
The night of the office party was also the night that he’d fucked her in the hallway, making her come so hard she couldn’t stand upright. Even a week later she still touched herself when she thought of it. She had shot down Clark on multiple occasions for lacking a condom. The idea of accidentally getting pregnant had disgusted her. Or maybe it was Clark who had disgusted her. But there in the hallway, Evan had come inside of her and she’d wanted it, loved it. It had felt so complete. He had switched back to condoms with an apology after that, but she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it.
“God, I love science!” exclaimed Evan, walking in.
She blinked at him and then looked down at herself, realizing that she’d forgotten to finish changing and she was still in her underwear.
“Hi. You’re home!”
He looked so handsome in his suit that Olivia couldn’t help feeling a pang of smugness that he belonged to her.
“I mean,” she said, replaying her own words, “back. I guess home isn’t the right term.”
“You’re here,” he said, stepping in to kiss her. “You’re mostly naked. Feels like home to me.” Olivia leaned into him, purposefully pressing her boobs against him. His arms went around her waist and the kiss became deeper. “Mmm, science is the best.”
“Support women in STEM fields,” she whispered in his ear, and he laughed.
“I think you’re using your powers for good,” he said. “We’ve got that casino thing tonight. Are you going to be ready or do you need more time alone with your math?”
She laughed. “No, I was going to get changed. I just got distracted.”
“Can I distract you?” he asked, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a long velvet box.
“Evan! That better not be jewelry.”
“And what if it is?” he asked, opening the box and she couldn’t stop herself from making a littleoohnoise. The necklace was large and sparkly and looked like diamonds. She didn’t even want to think about how much that cost if it was real.
“You keep buying me stuff. You can’t keep buying me stuff!”
“Why not?” he asked, sliding the necklace out of the box. “I like buying you stuff.” He slipped the necklace around her neck, reaching under her hair to work the clasp. The pendant hung, heavy and cold against her chest, but quickly warmed to her skin.
