Read Online Come Alive by Jessica Hawkins - Free Book Online

a
sense, we are dating.”
    “Did
it ever occur to you how that might make me feel?”
    “You
don’t exactly get a say, honeybee.”
    My
grip tightened around my glass. Honeybee. The hazy postcoital glow from our one night washed
over me. “Don’t call me that.”
    “Don’t
like it?” he teased.
    “I
love it.”
    His
smile faltered marginally. After a moment, he took a measured step toward me. I
pulled my robe closer as my heart skipped. Two more steps, and his
ever-imposing frame was filling the space around me.
The smell of liquor burned my nostrils as his gaze flitted down to me. “I’m
serious about this shit,” he whispered, tugging at the opening of my robe. “Start
taking better care of yourself, or it’s going to piss me off.”
    “You
don’t get a say,” I echoed. I held his gaze, but I could still see my breasts
heaving with each breath.
    “So
this is it?” he asked. “Everybody just moves on? We just move on?”
    I
cocked my head. Isn’t that what we’d been doing?
    “Olivia?”
My heart dropped as David took a controlled step back. Bill, in sagging boxers
and a t-shirt, stood in the doorway. He looked between us briefly and rubbed
his eyes. “What are you doing?” he asked.
    “Just,”
I croaked and cleared my throat.
    “She
needed water,” David said for me. He lifted the pitcher in Bill’s direction and
took my glass from the counter. Streaming water filled the silence as he topped
off my drink. Bill shifted on his feet. Long seconds ticked by until David
calmly handed me the cup. I accepted it and walked toward Bill without looking back.
“Let’s go to bed,” I told him.
    He
nodded at David and followed me from the kitchen. “How do you know him again?”
Bill asked when we were out of earshot.
    “Through
Lucy. He was the one who helped me with Mark Alvarez. I never followed up so he
was just updating me.”
    “Oh.”
He turned to look over his shoulder, and I quickly released the breath I’d been
holding. “Maybe I should say thanks,” Bill said.
    “No,”
I said under my breath. “You shouldn’t.”
    ~
    Tables were
set up under the arches of a covered patio, replete with carafes of orange
juice, platters of sausage, eggs and bacon and bowls of powdered-sugared fruit.
It was like something from a bridal magazine, if they were to feature the
morning-after festivities.
    “ Liv , grab the champagne?” Lucy asked.
    I
entered the kitchen just as David did from the opposite doorway. “Morning,” he
said. He sported a too-small striped polo and high-water khakis. I raised an
eyebrow at his outfit, and he smiled awkwardly. “Andrew’s ‘tall’ brother, as
they keep calling him.”
    I
gave a shallow nod and ducked by him to the refrigerator, infuriatingly
conscious of his body heat despite the dopey clothing.
    He
cleared his throat. “We didn’t finish our conversation from last night.”
    I
yanked open the heavy refrigerator door and searched for the champagne. “I
think we did. The idea is that we move on.”
    “Move
on,” he echoed.
    “Yep.”
    “Olivia.”
    I
leaned back to look at him from the other side of the door. We stared at each other
a moment until I started laughing.
    His
eyebrows knit as he studied me. “What?”
    “I
can’t take you seriously in that outfit.” I turned back to the refrigerator and
grasped the cold bottle of champagne by its neck. When I shut the door, he was at
my side, his lips quirked into a mocking smile.
    “You
can’t take me seriously?” he teased. “I have ways of making you.”
    He
leaned in to back me against the refrigerator, but I stepped forward under his
nose. I tried to appear calm, even though my heart thudded in my chest. “How?”
I breathed.
    “It’s
not really something I can explain.” His gaze fixed on my mouth and proceeded
slowly downward. When his eyes jumped back to mine, he said, “I would have to
show you.”
    “Show
me?” My voice was raspier than normal, low. It didn’t matter what he wore;