I smiled. “Okay, let’s get you home then, you little drunk.” My eyes fixed on her lips, I reached up and wiped the moisture away, dragging her mouth open slightly.
She bit down on her lip where I had just touched her.
Holding back a groan, I looked at her friend. “Thank you, Lucy. I’m sorry if I intruded upon your night. I was just worried about her.”
“It’s okay. We can do this any time, and she’s already on her way over to a major hangover, better we cut her off now. She is a lightweight.”
I could see that, and for some reason, I preferred a lightweight Olive to a heavy drinker. Nodding, I gripped Olive’s hand to steer her away from her friends, but her other friend, Charlotte stopped us.
“Here,” she said, handing me a key over Lucy’s shoulder. “Olive doesn’t have one on her.”
“Char, I love you,” Olive exclaimed, and pushing Lucy out of the way, gave her friend a big hug.
“Hey,” Lucy yelled.
“I love you, too, Olive.” Charlotte laughed a little stiffly. “I’ll see you back at the house.”
She nodded and came back to my side, holding her hand out just like she had done when she was only ten years old.
The memory hit me in the back of the head out of nowhere. When Dylan and I had found her sitting on the school steps, she was silently crying because some kid had made fun of the burn scars on her mom’s arms. While Dylan had flown up the steps to find the little shit who had upset his sister, Olive had simply held out her hand, silently asking me to stay with her.
My eyes on her upturned hand, my mind stuck in a memory I hadn’t even been aware I remembered, I reached for it, just like I’d done years before, and held on tight.
I felt more eyes on me, so I looked to Lucy’s left and saw the guy, Marcus, sizing me up with a not-so-happy look on his face.
Ignoring him and saying goodbye to her friends again, I pulled Olive out of the bar and onto the street.
Clean air.
When we reached the black SUV, Olive suddenly stopped. I looked back at her.
“What’s wrong? Are you feeling sick?”
“No.” She squinted her eyes. “I don’t think so. Where is your car?” She looked to her right and left, trying to spot my Spyder.
“I didn’t take the Spyder out tonight, that would be too telling. Come on, this is mine, too.”
“Oh, man,” she groaned, her face crestfallen as she started petting the car. “This monster is yours, too? How many cars do you have?”
“Five,” I answered, amused at her tone.
She groaned louder and her shoulders slumped, but she didn’t object when I unlocked the door and helped her in.
“You’re getting farther and farther away from me, Jason Thorn,” she mumbled as I was trying to buckle her in.
Misunderstanding her meaning, I laughed and said, “That’s because you are drunk. I’m right here. Let’s get you to your bed so you can sleep it off.”
“Let’s,” she murmured, right before I gently closed the door.
***
Our drive to her apartment was quiet as she dozed off in the passenger seat. I parked the car in front of the building and jumped out to help her down before she fell on her face. When I slowly opened the passenger side door, she was still sleeping. I was considering whether I should carry her upstairs or if that would be pushing it when some jackass drove by us and someone leaned out the window and shouted something at us.
Fucking idiot.
Olive’s eyes opened with a small frown.
“Jason?” she asked, her voice all drowsy and sexy.
Shit!
“Yeah, it’s me, sweetheart. Can you walk if I help you?”
Her face still confused, she almost toppled down the seat when she tried to take a step out into thin air.
“Whoa, easy there,” I said, gripping her waist. Her dress had ridden up and it seemed insistent on flashing me her white lacy underwear. “O-kay. I think it’s way past your bed time, Olive. How about you give me a little help so I can get you up while you are still intact.”
“What are you doing here?” she asked, her eyes half closed.
I locked the car, sneaked my arm around her waist, and half carried her up to their apartment as she hung on to me.
When we were finally inside, I had trouble locating the light switch and eventually gave up on it altogether. Fuck eyesight, especially when my friend’s sister was almost half-naked in my arms.
“Olive? Are you awake enough to tell me which room is yours?”
“Huh?”
“Sweetheart,” I mumbled, taking her weight as she rested her head against my chest. I gripped her chin and tilted her head up. Her eyes opened.
“Jason.” She looked at me as if she was seeing me for the first time. There was that smile again.
“Hi there,” I said, brushing away her bangs from her face.
She put both of her hands on my chest and hiccupped. “Hi.”
I chuckled and held her up as her knees buckled. Regaining her balance, she looked around for a moment then turned her huge eyes at me. “What are you doing in here?”
“Came to drop you off. Can you show me your room?”
She lifted her hand and pointed to her left.
“Where are Lucy and Charlotte?”
“They’re still back at the bar, remember? People were starting to notice me so I had to leave with you. I’m sure they’ll be here soon enough.”
She half shrugged and yawned through the motion.
We entered her room and I stopped short. This was her room? Just a bed against the wall? Not that she had any space for anything else, but still. Glancing to my right, I saw a small dresser in the corner, but that sad piece of furniture didn’t even count.
“Sorry,” she said in a small voice. I had no idea how she’d guessed where my thoughts were, but she hit it right on the nose. “Considering where you live, this apartment”—she gestured to her room with her hand—“this room must look very small to you.”
“Come on,” I said, ignoring her words. As soon as I lowered her on the bed, she grunted and fell to her side.
“Can you put my legs on the bed? Please? I don’t think I have it in me to lift my arms and get undressed.”
“Believe me, that’s good news for me,” I muttered quietly and kneeled next to her bed. I didn’t think it would be wise of me to deal with a half-naked Olive. Pulling the high heels off of her feet, I gently gripped her ankles and lifted them up.
Either way, she didn’t need to get undressed; her legs were right there for all to see. As if that wasn’t enough torture, she stretched her arms, groaned, and started to turn her hips this way and that way, causing her dress to shimmy up. Leaning over her, I pulled the edge of her dress down a little and my knuckles caressed the soft skin of her thighs.
A soft moan escaped her lips and I froze. I was fascinated by the goose bumps that had appeared on her legs after the small contact. While I was distracted by that soft moan and her legs, she chose exactly that moment to flip onto her stomach and hug her pillow.
“Goddamn it!” I cursed as I tried to pull out my hand from underneath her. When I finally managed to do so after palming places I shouldn’t even get close to, I let out a long breath and straightened up.
Then I saw her round ass. “Oh, for god’s sake…”
“Jason,” she mumbled when I was still staring at her sleeping form.
A small, helpless growl escaped from my lips. “Yes?”
She smiled, but her eyes were still closed when she asked, “Will you stay in Dylan’s room again? I know you were his friend and not mine, but I used to get so excited when you stayed over. Even after you broke my heart, I couldn’t hate you. Not really.”
Thinking she was talking about me leaving after my mother’s suicide, I sat down on the bed and brushed away the few pieces of hair that were covering her face.
Looking around the room, I saw a neatly folded blue throw on the edge of her bed. Since I knew it would be damn near impossible to lift her from the bed and get her under the covers, I opted to use the throw to at least cover her legs.