“What?” He chuckles. “Did you just say horny?”
“Yes, as in … you’re going to tease me all weekend with your dirty talk and sexy…” I wave my hand in the air “…ways.”
“Vivvy? Don’t forget the rules. No boys in your bedroom.”
“The door is open for heaven’s sake!” I yell down to her.
I send off a quick WTF-thank-you text to Alex as Oliver slides his hands around me squeezing my ass. “I’m going to feel like a teenager this weekend, sneaking around trying to avoid getting caught,” he whispers in my ear.
“Whoa, no. There will be no sneaking around—not now. After the vibrator incident, my mom will be on high-security alert. I wouldn’t be surprised if she decides to install hidden cameras around the house.”
Oliver laughs. “What is she going to do? Ground you?”
“She might.” I mock bite my nails with a frightened look on my face.
Oliver grabs me and gives me a dizzying kiss. My fingers claw into his back as all sense of control obliterates under his tempting touch.
“Vivvy? Kai is here.”
Splash!
There’s the cold water being dumped on us.
I rest my hand on Oliver’s chest. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For being amicable with Kai tonight.”
He laughs. “Have you been talking to my mom?”
“Why?” I look up at him.
“Because you’re messing with my mind. Thanking me in advance so I subconsciously feel the need to live up to your expectations of me.”
A wink from me, a shake of his head. I love this man.
As much as I want Oliver here with me this weekend, I’m not looking forward to my birthday dinner with both of them. Of course my parents have no idea what’s gone on over the past few weeks, and I hope it stays that way.
“Can you get the door, Vivvy?” my mom calls from the kitchen as the doorbell rings.
“Sure.” I hand Rosenburg to Oliver. They’ve been bonding over the past few hours, but I haven’t worked up the nerve to ask him if he’d consider letting me bring him back to Cambridge. I wanted to take him with me when I originally left home, but a dog would be a red flag to Alex’s parents that I live there.
“Hey, Kai.”
“Please tell me you borrowed his car and he’s not actually—”
“Here? I am.” Oliver’s voice startles me. I turn. He’s standing behind me, holding Rosenburg.
“Oliver,” Kai says with a smug voice as he walks past us both toward the porch.
I take Rosenberg from Oliver. “You know how much I love you, right, babe?”
He gives me the stop-buttering-me-up smirk. “Yeah, I know.” He kisses me and I fist his shirt to make it last a little longer.
“Uh hum …”
I let go of Oliver.
“Your mom wants to see you in the kitchen,” Kai says.
I rub my lips together and nod. “Be nice,” I whisper while passing Kai.
“Watcha need, Mom?”
She leans against the counter with her hands planted on her hips. “You and Oliver are living together?” I can tell from the tension in her neck that she’s struggling to keep her volume under control.
“No. Why are you asking me this?”
“Because Kai said he hasn’t seen you much lately since you moved in with Oliver.”
Thanks, Kai … asshole!
I look up at the ceiling and exhale an exasperated breath. “We were for a little while, but we’re not now.”
“So you’ve had sex with him?” she whispers, glaring at me.
I laugh. No, Mom, we just sleep in the same bed, holding hands. “Yes, I’ve had sex with him. Good grief, I’m an adult.”
“So he knows about your back?”
“Yes, he knows about my back!”
She startles. “Keep your voice down, Vivvy.”
“He loves me, Mom. He thinks I’m beautiful and more than that … he makes me feel beautiful in a way I never have before. When I’m with him I don’t think about school, or my past, or marriage and children.” I bite my lips together and blink back the deep emotions that can only come from thinking about Oliver. “He’s my simple perfection. I like me with him.”
“Dinner ready?” My dad furrows his brow while peeking his head around the corner.
My mom nods, still staring at me. “Yes, tell the guys to come eat.”
“You know I just want what’s best for you, Vivvy.”
“Oliver … Oliver is what’s best for me.” I speak the truth. I know in a part of my heart that wasn’t alive until I met Oliver that he was meant to be with me. I just wish I knew what to do with the pain of his past. A past that’s still part of his present, our present.
“Okay, Vivvy.” She sighs and hands me a dish of steamed veggies. “But you’re still not sleeping with him under this roof.”
No problem. Oliver and I don’t do much sleeping when we’re together anyway. I smirk. “That’s fine.” I’ve never considered myself a rebel, but the more she treats me like a child, the more I want to take Oliver upstairs and do very adult things with him in my boy-banned room under my parents’ roof.
We make it through dinner without any bloodshed. My parents ask me about school under the scrutinizing looks of both Oliver and Kai. I think if it were just Oliver here I would tell them. Sometimes it feels like Kai is waiting for me to fall on my face so he can come to my rescue, so he can keep me needing him. Not anymore.
“Oh my gosh, Mom! You didn’t need to put candles on my cake.”
“Yes, I did. You deserve a wish, Vivvy.”
Mom sets the chocolate cake with vanilla frosting in front of me. I look around the table at the people who mean the most to me, even tattletale-half-the-time-I-want-to-kill-you Kai. Taking a deep breath, I give Oliver a sideways glance and a wink before blowing out all my candles and wishing for … nothing. I already have everything I could ever want.
I blow them all out with one breath. Oliver rests his hand on my leg and leans over. “Happy birthday, my love,” he whispers in my ear and kisses my cheek.
“Our little girl is twenty-two. Where did the time go?” My dad smiles while shaking his head.
“Twenty-two … how old is your wife, Oliver?” Kai silences the room.
Oliver’s grip on my leg becomes painful.
“Wife?” My dad clenches his jaw.
“Get out, Kai.” The anger inside me builds to an explosive level. I should have never taken him home after his sister died. Cracking the door for Kai is like cracking the door to a bull’s pen. If given the chance he will trample me every time.
“Kai’s not the one with the wife, Vivvy. Why are you kicking him out?”
“You’re right, Mom.” I glare at Kai. “He’s not the one with a wife. Kai’s just the one who got drunk and wouldn’t take no for an answer the night I tried to escape his advances and fell into the hot coals.”
My parents look at Kai and the smugness evaporates from his face. “Viv, you swore you’d never say—”
“Say what, Kai? The truth?”
I could have predicted it—he’s tearing up. Unbelievable. He should have majored in theater, not pre-med.
“Vivvy? Kai? What’s going on?” my mom asks with a wrinkled brow.
“The truth?” Kai shakes his head. “That’s real rich coming from you.”
The legs of Oliver’s chair screech against the tile floor. “I think you’ve said enough.” He stands and clenches his fists.
“What are you going to do? Hit me again? Is that what put your wife in the looney bin?”