Ever After (Love to the Rescue Book 3) (17 page)

Didn’t stop him from wanting the punks who’d done this to him to pay.

“I’ll call this afternoon with an update,” Dr. Johnson promised when they stood to leave. “I expect he’ll be ready to go home on Monday.”

“Thanks,” Olivia said.

“We appreciate it.” Pete put his hand on her shoulder as they walked through the reception area and out to his car. “I’m starved. You dragged me out of the house this morning before I even got a cup of coffee.”

“But I gave you something better than caffeine.”

His blood heated at the memory. “That’s true. But I’m running on empty now. Let’s get something to eat. We’ll stop back by here to get your car on the way back to my place.”

“Okay.” She slid into the front seat of the Forester, and he climbed in beside her.

“The diner?” he asked.

“Sounds good.”

He cranked the engine and pulled onto Main Street. “I’ll call the sheriff’s office later, find out what’s going on with the investigation.”

She scoffed. “I bet they won’t laugh when you call.”

“We’re going to get to the bottom of this, Olivia, I promise you.”

He turned into the parking lot of the Dogwood Diner, a tired looking building with blue clapboard siding, and pulled into an empty spot near the back.

“I applied for a job here yesterday,” Olivia said.

“Really?”

“I’ve applied most anywhere in town that’s hiring.”

“Any leads?” He followed her through the front door.

Inside, the hostess led them to a booth by the front window and handed them each a menu.

“Thank you,” Olivia told her, then turned to Pete. “Not really. Truthfully I don’t want to wait tables anymore, but I’ll take whatever I can get to pay the bills until I find something better.”

“You’ll find something.” He looked down at the menu in his hand. He was hungry enough to eat everything on there.

“I will. So today’s your day off, hmm?”

He met her eyes across the table, completely captured by their chocolate depths. “Spend the day with me.”

A soft smile curved her lips. “Well as it happens, I’m free today too.”

A million ideas tumbled through his head, most of them involving Olivia naked and writhing beneath him.

“We should go hiking,” she said.

His mind went blank. “Hiking?”

She nodded. “I know some great places.”

Yep, Olivia Bennett was one of a kind. And he’d follow her to the moon if she asked. Their waitress arrived, and he ordered a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit and grits with a large coffee. Olivia ordered a bran muffin and water with lemon.

“A bran muffin?” He didn’t try to hide the disdain in his voice.

“A green smoothie would be better. They make great ones at the café.” Hurt shone in her eyes.

He resisted the urge to cover her hand in his. “No offense, but that sounds disgusting.”

“I’ll make you one sometime. They’re delicious and so good for you. It’s much better fuel for your body than the greasy breakfast and coffee you ordered.”

“We’ll see about that.”

“I need to stop by my place for some more clothes and to get Hallie after breakfast.”

Right. Because he’d agreed to keep the cat. “Okay.”

He was seriously rethinking that decision an hour later as they entered Olivia’s bedroom. One of the curtains had been shredded and the picture frames on her dresser were knocked helter-skelter, while the kitten herself lounged in the middle of the bed, giving them a wide-eyed innocent look.

Olivia pinched her lips together, a poor effort at hiding her grin. “She, um, gets a little crazy when I leave her alone for too long.”

“Jesus Christ.” He ran a hand through his hair and glared at the kitten.

In response, she raised her rear leg in the air and started licking her ass.

“You are a little heathen, aren’t you?”

“She’ll be good,” Olivia promised. She went into her closet with a duffel bag.

Pete sat hesitantly on the edge of the bed, remembering the way the little fiend had attacked his fingers yesterday morning to wake him. How things had changed in a day. Hallie crept toward him. Her butt wiggled, and then she pounced, landing in his lap in a mixture of teeth, claws, and wild purring. After he’d disentangled her from his fingers, she rubbed her head against his chest, purring louder. “I do not understand you. Not one bit,” Pete told her.

Olivia flitted in and out of the room, packing. Finally, she set the duffel bag on the bed, fully stuffed. “Looks like you two have bonded.”

He looked down at the kitten asleep in a tiny ball in his lap. “I decided this was safer than risking her claws.”

Olivia gave him a knowing smile. “I’ll just go get her things.” She returned with a large reusable shopping bag and a cat carrier. She lifted the sleeping kitten from his lap and placed her inside the crate. “Okay, we’re ready.”

“All right then.” He led the way downstairs.

Hallie mewed all the way to his townhouse.

“Poor thing,” Olivia said as she carried the kitten inside. “This is already the second time I’ve had to cart her off to someone else’s house to stay. It’s a wonder she’s as well behaved as she is.”

He let that one go rather than debate the kitten’s manners, or lack thereof. And then he let Olivia convince him that Hallie should stay in the master bedroom with them, on the somewhat questionable assumption that the kitten would get into less trouble that way.

Once she’d gotten Hallie settled, he pressed her up against the wall. “Now let me tell you what I think we should do with the rest of our day.”

“Oh yeah?” She went up on her tiptoes and kissed him.

“That’s an excellent start.” He lifted her off the floor so that his pelvis matched hers, his cock pressed between her legs.

“I like what you’re thinking, but hold that thought.” She unwrapped her legs from around his hips and slid to her feet.

“Hold that thought?” He sat on the edge of the bed and watched her.

“I’ll make it worth your while, I promise. You change into something comfortable for hiking while I get a backpack ready.”

So she was serious about this hiking thing. “Babe, I don’t think anything’s going to be comfortable right now.” He gestured to his lap.

She grinned. “Sorry about that.”

“You could take care of it for me.” Because the last thing he wanted to do was go hiking with a hard-on.

She shook her head. “Incentive. We can do it in your bed anytime. This will be special.”

So she had more than just hiking on her mind, and he liked that. He
really
liked that. But— “I can’t do what you’re thinking of doing.”

Her brow wrinkled. “What?”

“Public indecency. I’m a cop, Liv. I can’t break the law.”

She sighed dramatically. “Your job can be such a downer sometimes.”

“You know, surprising as it may be, most women find my job to be a turn-on.”

She gave him a long look that made his dick even harder. “Well, I
am
pretty turned on right now.”

He grabbed her and pulled her into his lap. “You drive me absolutely crazy.”

“Wait—” She pulled back. “What about in a tent? Is that legal?”

“You want to have sex with me in a tent?”

“I really want to show you this place. Come with me?”

He rolled her beneath him on the bed. “Baby, I can come with you right here.”

He thrust his hips against hers, rewarded by a whimper of need from Olivia.

“You’re not playing fair,” she protested.

At that, he fell still. True, she’d been trying to plan something special for their afternoon, and he was too busy trying to get in her pants to listen. “I’m sorry.”

“So, yes in a tent?” She looked so hopeful that his heart clenched.

How could he ever say no to this woman? “Yes, in a tent, as long as it’s legal to camp there.”

“It is. I’ve camped there before. I packed a picnic for us while we were at my house. We’ll just need to stop back to get my tent.”

“I have a tent.”

Her eyes lit with interest. “Really? You go camping?”

“Yeah. I like being out there under the stars.” He liked the solitude. Usually. Now all he could think about was getting Olivia in his tent. Naked.

“Me too,” she whispered. “So let’s go.”

She slid off the bed and went downstairs. He went into his closet to change into hiking boots, then followed her down.

She was in his kitchen, shoving things into her backpack.

“You bringing Bailey?” he asked.

“Ordinarily I would, but she’s supposed to take it easy today while she gets all that chicken out of her system, and besides, she might get in the way of what I have planned.” She winked.

Pete pulled her in for a lingering kiss. “Wish we could stay the night.”

“Me too. But I need to get back to Bailey, and you need to check on Timber.”

“And I’m on duty tomorrow morning at eight.”

“Right.” She pulled free, put Bailey in her crate, and led the way to the front door. “Let’s get going so that we can be home by late afternoon.”

“And where are we going, exactly?” he asked.

“Loblolly State Park.”

He nodded. He knew it, had even camped there before. It was just outside Dogwood, with miles of scenic trails and plenty of loblolly pines. Swift Creek ran through its center.

The drive took about twenty minutes, and they were hiking by eleven.

“It should take us about an hour,” she told him as she led the way down the Dogwood Trail. She carried the backpack. He carried the tent.

“Incentive, huh?” He repeated her earlier words. He’d never gone to this much effort to get laid, but neither had he felt the intensity of anticipation she’d created. She was right. This was going to be special, an afternoon they would always remember. So much more than a quick romp in his bed.

She smiled over her shoulder. “You brought condoms, right?”

He paused, drawing a total blank as dread crept its way up his spine.

She tossed her head back and laughed. “You’re terrible at this! Good thing I have you covered.”

He exhaled roughly. “Yeah. Good thing.”

“So who do you usually go camping with?” she asked, sliding her hand into his.

“No one. I camp alone.” He’d gone often as a teenager, needing the space from his family, from the drama at home.

“I like to camp alone too.” She squeezed his hand. “It’s so peaceful. There’s nothing like meditating under the stars with nothing and no one nearby but nature.”

It was a stunning image she’d created. But he didn’t quite like the idea of her out here all alone overnight either. Call it the overprotective deputy in him. He’d seen too many women fall victim to violent crime.

“I come a lot with my friends too,” she said. “My friend Cara and I used to camp together all the time.”

“Used to?”

“She moved to Massachusetts earlier this year. She’s getting married in the spring.” Olivia sounded wistful.

A cold feeling crept through his chest. “You want that? Marriage? Two point five kids and the white picket fence?”

“Maybe. Someday. Probably not the white picket fence though. Not quite my style.”

“Nah. I see you more with a little ranch out in the country. Wide open spaces. No fence.”

“I’d like that.” She squeezed his hand.

He wondered if she was picturing him there with her on that ranch in the country, because he sure as hell was, and he had no idea why. He’d been there, done that. And failed miserably.

“We’re almost there,” she said.

Their trail had followed Swift Creek for a while then meandered up into the pine forest. Beneath the bushy treetops, a bed of pine needles coated the ground.

“This way.” She led him off the path and into the woods.

“You’re sure you know where you’re going?”

“Positive.” She led him through the trees alongside a smaller creek. They crested a hill, and here she stopped in a small clearing. Before them, the world opened in a perfect panoramic view of the valley beyond, with Swift Creek at its base. It was breathtaking.

“Wow” was all he could say.

“I’ve camped here before. It’s pretty much perfection, don’t you think?”

“Yes.” He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. “Thanks for bringing me here.”

“Worth the wait?” she asked.

“Hell yeah.” He forced himself to let her go, then shrugged out of his backpack and pitched the tent against the bed of pine needles. After inspecting his work, he unfurled the sleeping bag and laid it across the floor.

Olivia took a blanket out of her backpack and spread it out in front of the tent. She sat on the blanket and took off her hiking boots, then motioned for him to join her.

He took off his boots and sat beside her.

“Hard to feel anything but breathless taking in this view,” she said.

He was breathless, and not entirely from the view. The woman beside him was just as breathtaking. He brushed his fingers through her hair, turning her face to his. She leaned in, and he kissed her, slow and thorough. He kissed her until his chest heaved and his heart hammered against his ribcage. Olivia slid into his lap. Her fingers scraped down his back, igniting the fire inside him from a slow burn to a white-hot blaze.

“I want you so much,” she whispered. Her hips thrust against his.

He held her tight. “This is your dance. You lead.”

Her eyes gleamed wickedly, and he knew he was in for the most delicious kind of torture. She laid him on the blanket so that he was flat on his back, staring up at the sweeping loblolly pines above. The scent of pine needles filled his lungs, mixed with Olivia’s flowery perfume. An intoxicating combination.

“I always thought this would be the most romantic place in the world,” she said, kissing her way down his neck as her fingers roamed over his chest. “It’s kind of been a fantasy of mine to bring a guy here and have my way with him.”

“I like your fantasies.” His voice was gruff because he was so turned on he could barely breathe.

“I fantasized about making love here under the pines.” She straddled his erection.

He gripped her hips, rocking her against him. She wasn’t wrong. The sweeping landscape around them, the whisper of the pines, the distant gurgle of the creek, was almost enough to make him forsake the law and strip her naked right here on this blanket.