Read an Excerpt
Olivia gives a tiny laugh of amusement and lays her hand on my arm. She squeezes me gently . . . almost sympathetically. “No offense, Garrett . . . but you have sort of a reputation as a playboy. You’re dangerous.”
Ouch. That hurt.
Not my feelings, but my chances with her. I’m getting close to striking out completely, and that isn’t something that happens to me.
Ever.
I take a sip of beer and then lower my cup, giving her my most devilish, charming smile. “A playboy, huh? So what exactly have you heard about me? I need to be able to set the record straight with you.”
She circles one finger over the rim of her wineglass as she drops her eyes from mine. “Oh, you know. Just that you never go out with the same woman more than once. That you’re a player.”
I snort, not because that’s untrue.
It’s so true . . . almost. “I’ll have to take exception to that. I’ve gone out with a woman more than once.”
She cocks her eyebrow at me in skepticism. “Oh, yeah? Do tell.”
“Well . . . I went out with one woman at least three times that I recall,” I tell her with my lips curved upward in a smarmy grin. No need to tell her it took me three dates to get in that woman’s pants because the first two dates were cut short since she was a doctor and got called to the hospital.
“Oh, wow.” She gasps in false amazement with both eyebrows rising high. “Three whole times. That’s incredible.”
I give her a smug look. “See . . . I have layers that you can’t even dream of.”
Olivia gives me another jovial laugh, from deep within her belly, and I’m glad that at least I’m amusing her. I’m perilously close to bombing out, but at least I got a gorgeous smile on her face for the time being.
“You’re hilarious, Garrett,” she says, as her laugh winds down into the cutest chuckles. “Seriously . . . you crack me up.”
“Which is why you should totally go out with me,” I assert quickly. “At least I’ll have you laughing.”
And in my bed before the night is out, I hope to myself, because that is my main intent right now. But hell, even if it took a few dates to get her there, I’m thinking this bright, funny, and totally hot woman would be worth the extra effort.
“Hmmm,” she says thoughtfully as she eyes me up and down. “While you are very tempting, in this rough, good-looking sort of way, I think I’m still going to say no. I’m just not much into dating.”
“Okay,” I tell her in capitulation as I raise my arms out to my sides. “You got me. No dating. How about we just have one night together of incredible, explosive passion? Something to put a satisfied smile on our faces and then we both go our own ways.”
Olivia grins at me, and I’m glad to note I haven’t offended her, because that was a serious offer I was making.
“You’re that good, huh?”
“Only one way to find out,” I say as I wink at her.
“Jesus, Garrett,” I hear from behind me, and I start smiling before I even turn to face the newcomer. “Can you go five minutes without hitting on a woman?”
I glance at Olivia briefly before I turn to face Alex. Her smile is still amused, and I hope she keeps it there and lets me pick back up where I left off.
“Dude . . . where have you been?” I ask Alex. We give each other a quick fist bump and then I lean over to hug Sutton, who is standing beside him with her hand linked in his.
“We’ve been walking around looking for you,” Sutton says, and then she glances at Olivia. “And I see you’ve wasted no time in making a move on my cousin.”
I jerk slightly and turn to look at Olivia. Her eyes are twinkling with merriment. Turning back to Sutton, I ask lamely, “Your cousin?”
“Yup. Olivia’s mom, Maryana, is Jim-Dad’s sister.” Jim is a cool guy. He’s Sutton’s stepdad, who basically rescued her and her mother, Penny, from a women’s shelter years ago.
Okay, I’m so busted by Sutton, who caught me shamelessly ogling and hitting on a family member, but I decide to own it. “How come I never knew you had a cousin that was so freaking gorgeous? How did you keep that hidden from me?”
Sutton laughs and punches me on the shoulder, kind of hard, and I rub at my muscle as I wince.
“I kept her hidden with hard work and dedication. I didn’t want her falling prey to the likes of you.”
Ouch . . . that kind of hurt too. And now I’ve got a sneaking suspicion where Olivia has heard all about my playboy ways. Sutton has stood alongside Alex over the past several months and watched me burn through women like a wildfire burns across a dry forest. I’ve even gone out on double dates with them, and at the end of the evening, when my date would shake hands with Alex and Sutton, and say with such hope and yearning, “This was lovely. I can’t wait until we can do it again,” I would never fail to miss the roll of Sutton’s eyes because she knew damn well that there would never be a second date.
Angling my head to look at Olivia, she returns my stare with the same light and cheerful smile that was on her face a moment ago. She’s enjoying me getting my chops busted by Sutton.
“Well, it’s your fault you left her here unattended,” I assert as I tweak Sutton’s chin. “She was just ripe for the taking.”
“Except there was no taking,” Olivia chimes in. “He put forth a good effort, but alas . . . I held my own.”
Alex starts snickering, and I know that I have officially struck out with Olivia. Oh, well. It’s not like there won’t be someone else on my near horizon.
“Okay, Sutton . . . why don’t you and Olivia go away then and let me and Alex have some man-talk,” I say as I make a shooing motion with my hands.
Sutton bumps Olivia on the shoulder and leans in to whisper loudly to her, just for my benefit, “That’s code to mean Garrett has a dirty joke he wants to tell Alex.”
I start to open my mouth to object, because I’m about so much more than dirty jokes . . . even if that is exactly why I was shooing them away, but then Olivia pipes up, “I love dirty jokes. I want to hear it.”
Dang . . . gorgeous and she loves dirty jokes. I’m seriously bummed she won’t go out with me, because if she loves filthy humor, she certainly wouldn’t mind my filthy mouth in the bedroom.
I open my mouth to start to tell my joke, when a phone starts ringing. Olivia reaches into the pocket of her long skirt and pulls out an iPhone that has a bright, tie-dyed case. Lifting a finger, she says, “I’m sorry. I need to take this.”
She steps a few feet away and I hear her answer with a murmured “Hello.”
My eyes are pinned to her for just a moment, then Sutton is slapping at my arm, causing my gaze to jerk back to hers. “Stay away from her,” she hisses, in sort of a teasing way, but there is seriousness there as well.
I look at Alex in surprise. “Are you seriously going to let your woman abuse me like this?”
He shrugs nonchalantly. “Hey man . . . she’s the boss.”
I give him a mock glare. “You’re so whipped.”
He just gives me a cheesy grin as he pulls Sutton in tight to him and nuzzles the top of her head. “Happily.”
“I’m serious,” Sutton says, her voice now warm and her eyes slightly apologetic about the hammer she’s laying down on me. “She’s got a lot on her plate right now and doesn’t need your type of complication.”
Well, hell . . . that makes me feel like crap. I start to ask what exactly Olivia has on her plate that can’t be made better by some amazing sex, but then Olivia is stepping back up to our circle. Looking directly at Sutton, she says, “I was able to get that early-morning appointment, so I’m going to have to head out.”
Sutton gives her a tiny smile and some type of understanding passes between them. Olivia then turns to me and holds her hand out. “It was great meeting you, Garrett. I love how you made me laugh.”
I reach out almost stupidly to take her hand, and I relish briefly its warm softness as she says goodbye. “It was nice meeting you too.”
“Come on,” Sutton says as she steps forward and drapes her arm companionably around Olivia’s shoulders. “I’ll walk you to your car.”
I watch as the two cousins walk back up toward the house, their heads bent in toward each other as Sutton squeezes Olivia gently. Then they’re gone and my mind drifts back to the dirty joke I wanted to tell Alex.
