He followed her down onto the mattress and covered her with his body. "Is this the same bed? Because if it is, next time you can sneak into my room instead. At least my mattress doesn't sag."

"Shut up." She bit her way up the muscular column of his neck. He smelled so good-familiar but different and exciting at the same time.

"You may not be concerned now, but in the morning when your back is kinked up you'll realize I was right."

"I'll give you kinky." She rolled over, toppling both of them onto the floor.

"Oof!" was all he said when she landed on top of him.

"Nice hard support for your back." She sat up and stripped off her top. "You should be fine now."

Underneath her, Michael went still. The amus.e.m.e.nt in his eyes faded, leaving behind heat so intense she was afraid she'd get burned.

"I have too many clothes on," he pointed out.

"I was noticing that myself." She unzipped his leather jacket, grabbed each side of his b.u.t.ton down shirt, and pulled. Fabric ripping was punctuated by b.u.t.tons pinging off the hardwood floor.

Olivia bent down and kissed her way across his chest, earning her a sharp gasp. "Shh," she chided, not bothering to look up. "We need to be quiet, remember?"

Not that it mattered. Her room was on the other side of the house from the others. No one would be any wiser. As long as they didn't scream at the top of their lungs.

Which, at this point, was a definite possibility.

"Quiet. Right." He hissed as she unsnapped his jeans and slid her hands inside.

She stopped when her fingers met bare hard flesh. "No underwear?"

He gave her a crooked grin. "Seemed excessive tonight."

"Good thinking." She pushed down his pants, staring at the long length of him.

Shimmying down, she took him all the way in her mouth before she sucked the tip. By the way he groaned and clutched her hair, she figured he liked it, so she did it again. And again.

"Olivia." He wrapped his hand in her hair and tugged. She lifted her head. "Later I want you to do that to me again, but for now I want inside you."

"I want that too." She straddled him and maneuvered him deep inside.

He brought some of her hair forward so it draped over her torso. He brushed her nipple with the hair. Sighing, she dropped her head back and offered her b.r.e.a.s.t.s to him.

He didn't hesitate. Sitting up, one hand gripping her hip to control her grinding movements, he sucked her nipple into his mouth. She cried out.

He murmured against her skin. "We have to be quiet, remember?"

"Do we?"

He grinned as he sc.r.a.ped his teeth against the taut peak of her breast. "Yeah. Or I can stop."

"b.a.s.t.a.r.d." She squeezed herself around him.

"Okay, maybe I won't stop," he said, panting.

"I thought you might change your mind."

He placed his hand on the small of her back to guide her rhythm. He sucked right below her ear where her pulse beat wildly. "Olivia, I can feel you gripping my c.o.c.k so tight. You're going to come, aren't you? I can feel it."

He covered her mouth a split second before she shrieked. She plunged head first into a deep abyss of pleasure-sinking, swimming, lost to everything except the feel of him going harder and exploding inside her as his tongue mated with her mouth.

She melted against him and he flipped her around so he was lying on top of her. Hooking her right leg in the crook of his arm, he thrust into her. She wanted to tell him to stop-there was no way she was going to come again. Another thrust and she decided she could be ready soon. By the third she was an active partic.i.p.ant.

He brushed her hair out of her face and cupped her jaw. "Look at me. I want to watch you as you come."

She laughed breathlessly. "Keep it up and you won't have to wait long."

He grinned. "I don't think that'll be a problem."

It wasn't.

Chapter Twenty-two.

By the next morning, Olivia decided she could forgive Gran and Parker for their meddling if it meant another couple weeks of head banging s.e.x.

She oozed through the door into Grounds for Thought, she was so boneless from Michael's visitation the night before. She grinned like a fool but didn't care. She sashayed to the counter. "Hey girlfriend!"

"Hey yourself. You have good timing." Eve pointed to a tray of scones. "Fresh out of the oven."

"I'm good with timing." As evidenced with Michael. She'd never had s.e.x that was so on before.

Eve began making her drink. "You look like you've lapped up a big bowl of cream."

"Or something." Olivia's grin widened.

Eve leaned across the counter. "You want the first degree with your latte or before?"

"How about I sit over there"-Olivia pointed to a small table in the corner-"and you bring over the latte and I'll fill you in."

"Deal. Give me juicy details and I'll throw in a pastry."

Olivia laughed. "You drive a hard bargain."

Eve was over at the table in record time with Olivia's drink and scone. She faced a chair toward the door, to keep an eye out for customers Olivia a.s.sumed, and sat down. "Okay, I'm ready."

Olivia hid her grin behind her drink, making a pretense of leisurely sipping it just to drive her friend crazy.

Eve exhaled in frustration. "Okay, fine. I can probably guess what happened anyway."

"Go ahead."

Eve folded her arms across her chest and pursed her lips. "You and Michael obviously spent last night together. By the look in your eyes, I'd say you did more than just talk."

Olivia popped a piece of scone in her mouth.

"If I had to guess, I'd say last night wasn't the first time since he's been back."

She grinned. "Maybe."

"So did you tell him?"

"Tell him what?"

"Don't play dumb." Eve rolled her eyes. "Did you clear the past between you two?"

She groaned. First her grandmother and now Eve.

"I'll take that to mean no."

"It's not important."

"Yes, it is as long as it still haunts you."

"It's not haunting me." Not much anymore, in any case.

Eve arched her eyebrows.

"It's not." She'd stopped holding Michael responsible for her miscarriage-there was no reason to dredge it all up. Besides, Michael cared about his career, not a baby he never wanted.

Eve sighed. "Just be careful, okay?"

"I can read the writing on the wall. He's going back to LA in a few weeks. I know this." She shrugged. "It doesn't mean I can't have fun in the meantime."

"You don't want more?"

"I can't want more."

"Olivia, sometimes the heart doesn't listen to logic." Her friend squeezed her hand and went to serve a customer.

Leaving Olivia alone. She took another sip of her latte, trying not to think about a past she couldn't change and wishes that were never going to come true.

Chapter Twenty-three.

Michael tapped his fingers on his thigh and stared out the front window of Grounds for Thought. Down the street, Olivia was in her store, playing with s.e.xy underwear.

Okay, so he didn't know that for a fact, but he bet that's what she was doing. He could see her setting out the little bits of lace, smoothing out silky panties...

"Michael."

"Yeah?" Maybe he should go over there and help her break into one of those jars of chocolate sauce. Chocolate tasted killer on Olivia.

"Michael."

Fingers snapped next to his ear and he jumped. Scowling, he looked across the table at Parker, who frowned mildly.

"This is highly unlike you, Michael."

No kidding. But he couldn't seem to help it. He combed his hair back with his fingers. "I'm just a little tired."

Parker's frown deepened. "Trouble on the set?"

Only if you called a h.o.r.n.y actress who threw herself at you at every turn trouble. Not to mention a director who couldn't keep his mind off his high school sweetheart. "Nothing I can't handle."

"I can't stress how important it is for you to bring this project in on time-"

"Yeah, yeah. I know." His whole future hinged on it.

The only glitch was the sooner he wrapped up the movie, the sooner he'd get to go back to LA. Which meant the sooner he'd have to leave Olivia again.

He harbored no delusions about the future. It wasn't in the cards for him and Olivia to be together. But-d.a.m.n it-he'd like to enjoy as much of her as he possibly could.

"You're not yourself, Michael," Parker said.

"I don't know what you mean."

"I've never seen you this distracted. If you don't think you can finish this project-"

"You'd love that, wouldn't you? You'd get to keep your claws deep in me?" A light flipped on in his head. "That's why we're here, isn't it?"

"Here?"

"Quit the act, Parker. You're setting me up to fail. I knew there was a reason we had to shoot up here. You're using Olivia as a distraction." As the implication of that hit him, he felt something inside him seethe. "What kind of man are you that you use your own daughter as bait?"

Parker didn't even bat an eye. "I think once you calm down you'll be able to see reason."

"f.u.c.k reason. I know I'm right." Michael lowered his voice, conscious of the stares they were attracting. He leaned across the table, staring into his boss's icy pale eyes. "You're a b.a.s.t.a.r.d to do this to Olivia. Me, I can understand. I'm just a commodity. But Olivia? Play your Machiavellian games with me, Parker, I can give as good as I get. But stay away from Olivia."