Begin Again (A Starting Over Romance)

10. Luke

We stand there watching as she drives away. She lifts her hand up and waves. I feel a slap on my shoulder as Ryan laughs. "What?" I ask him but I already know. "Bro, you are so screwed. You've got it bad." He says. "Whatever" I say walking back into his shop.

"You're not even going to try and deny it?" He asks and I shrug. "What would be the point? You wouldn't believe me anyway." I tell him honestly. "I like her, ok? It's not like its a secret. She makes me want to protect her and take care of her. I can't explain it. Speaking of, where is Leo?" I ask and Ryan puts his hand on my chest to stop me. "I took care of it already." He tells me and I shake my head. "Good, but I still want to talk to him." I say and Ryan crosses his arms "I sent him home for the day. When I explained everything to him, he felt terrible but I still sent him home for the day, unpaid. Even if it wasn't Olivia, he can't go around touching customers like that." He tells me. "Yeah, no kidding. That's a lawsuit waiting to happen." I tell him

"I'm going to get out of here. I have a couple of things to do today before the bar opens.Olivia doesn't officially start until tomorrow so she should be home tonight. Don't tell her who paid for her car either." I tell him and a smirk appears on his face.

"So she is going to be home tonight, just the two of us? I have time to make her fall for the better looking brother then?" He jokes but I still give him a go to hell look. He laughs and slaps me on the shoulder again. "I'm kidding. I wouldn't dream of coming in between you and your girl. Its been way too long since I've seen you like this. I'm enjoying it." He laughs and I flip him off before I walk toward my truck.

I can still smell her in my truck. Coconut shampoo. Ryan's an idiot but he's got it right. I've got it bad. I haven't been this way about a girl since Gretchen and it scares the shit out of me.

I drive through town and I see Olivia's car at the grocery store. It takes everything in me to not pull into the parking lot and go inside. I just keep driving though.

About an hour or so later,  I'm done with my errands and I head home. Olivia's car is parked outside. I walk into the house and I can tell that she has been shopping because there are decorative pillows on the couch now, and a few throw blankets. I see a candle lit on the coffee table. A woman's touch to the house that I never thought I'd see. Surprisingly, I don't mind it.

I walk into the kitchen and she is bent down, putting something in the oven. I accidentally groan out loud. She stands up and turns around and smiles at me. "Hey! I thought I'd make you guys dinner before you had to go to the bar." She says and I walk closer to her. "What did I tell you about not having to cook for us Liv?" I ask her and she stops what she is doing and turns to me. "I know. I'm not cooking just for you ok? A girl's gotta eat right?" She smiles. I don't completely buy it.

I can't help myself, I close in on her. I box her in by putting my hands on each side of her on the counter. Her face turns pink. She looks up at me. "You don't have to cook for us." I whisper to her. My face is inches away from hers. "I know." She whispers back and puts her hands on my chest. "I'm trying my hardest to be good Liv but you smell so damn good and you in those leggings are what I'm going to dreaming about for days to come. I'm finding it extremely hard to stay away from you." I tell her and her hands fists my shirt. "I don't want you to stay away from me Luke. I know it seems like its too soon, since I just broke up with Logan but honestly, that relationship was over a long time ago. I was just going through the motions with him to try to keep him happy. You make me feel things that I haven't felt in a long long time, maybe even ever." She tells me and I groan. My head goes to her neck and she tilts her head to give me better access. I rub my nose right under her ear and her hands tighten on my shirt. When my lips finally touch her skin, I can practically feel her melt into me. She lets out a little satisfied moan and I lose it.

I kiss under her ear and move down to her collar bone. One of her hands go to the back of my head and I pick her up and sit her down on the counter behind her. She instinctively wraps her legs around my waist and holds me there. Her hands go to under the bottom of my shirt. She looks at me like she is asking permission to touch me. Yes fucking please. I nod at her. She puts both hands on my abs and moves them up to my chest.

"Tell me to stop Liv. Tell me not to kiss you." I tell her and she shakes her head. "Kiss me Luke." That's all it takes My lips meet hers and they feel like they were made for me. I start out slowly then the pace picks up and she opens her mouth for me. I gladly meet my tongue with hers and they dance together. My hands find her breasts and I touch them over her shirt. She moans in my mouth and wraps her legs tighter around me.

"What smells so good?" We hear as we also hear the sound of the front door closing. I pull back and she unhooks her legs. Ryan enters the kitchen and he is looking between the two of us. Even if he didn't just catch us, it wouldn't be hard to tell what was going on in here. We are both out of breath and disheveled. I help Olivia off of the counter and she turns toward Ryan. The fucker has a big ass shit eating grin on his face. Olivia's face is beat red. "What's up guys?" He asks practically laughing.

"Olivia is cooking dinner " I tell him and he just laughs. "I'm sorry, are we just going to pretend that your tongue wasn't just down her throat when I walked in?" He asks and Olivia groans and covers her face. "I was kinda hoping you wouldn't point that out" she says which makes me laugh too.

The oven timer dings loudly and she jumps a little before putting on an oven mitt and then she opens the oven. She pulls out a delicious looking lasagna that makes my mouth water.

"Mmm that looks amazing Olly. If making out with my brother gets you to make us food like this then by all means, have at him." He says as he grabs plates out of the cabinet.

"Leave her alone, jackass." I laugh

Olivia cracks a smile and then we all lose it. The three of us laugh and eat dinner and talk about our days. I could get used to this and while that thought terrifies me, it also makes me really excited.