The Rented Husband (Southern Nights Series)

Chapter 11

 **Edited by krisgree***

“The Rented Husband”

2011 © All Rights Reserved

  Chapter 11

                “Will you stop that incessant fidgeting?”  Brody complained. 

                He glanced over at Olivia out of the corner of his eyes and had to work at hiding his smile.  He arrived at her condo at 5:00 on the dot to pick her up for the dinner with his mother and low and behold, she was ready to go, outfitted in an impeccable black cocktail dress that had him momentarily clamoring for words.   

                He was also thrown for an additional loop because based on his own past experiences, women were never ready when he told them to be ready, which was precisely why he had told her six, even though the dinner reservation wasn’t until seven.  That gave them thirty minutes leeway to get to the restaurant on time. 

                So he was pleasantly surprised to find her standing at the door, purse in hand and ready to hit the road.  This was like a whole new version of Olivia Murray that he had never seen before and he found that he rather liked this Olivia a lot.

                Now that they were in the car and on their way, he had begun to notice small details; details such as the little fact that Olivia couldn’t seem to keep still to save her life. 

                She started by nervously tugging at the hem of her dress, then she pulled out this little scrap of metal that he assumed was some sort of a mirror from her purse, first checking her make up, then her hair and now she was wringing her hands in her lap like a overwrought school girl getting ready to go out on her first date. 

                Olivia, realizing what she was doing, suddenly snapped her head in his direction.  “I can’t help it,” she hissed.  “You may be used to this kind of stuff but I on the other hand, am most certainly not.”  

                All afternoon Olivia had been able to do nothing but stress the entire time about tonight’s dinner with his mother.   Brody had played his part so beautifully in front of her sister earlier in the day that now she was fretting over the fact that she would be the one to end up screwing up this whole charade of theirs with his mother before it ever really had a chance to get started.   

                Brody pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant and found a spot near the front.  His smile turned into a frown as he started to process her words.  Turning off the ignition, he turned to Olivia who was now gazing outside the front windshield and chewing on her bottom lip.  “What exactly do you mean by I may be used to this kind of stuff?”  

                She let out an exaggerated sigh.  “This stuff,” she repeated and flung her hands up in the air in frustration when he narrowed his gaze on her.  “The lying to our parents, pretending to be married and pretending like we are going to have a baby for God sakes.  That kind of stuff,” she ranted and then let out a dramatic huff to make her point.

                Brody sat there and just watched Olivia for a minute.  He couldn’t help but notice the strawberry flush that had worked its way into her cheeks, giving her face color and sort of a hint of unbound sexiness that was naturally part of her appeal.  Her hair was done up in an elegant  French twist revealing her slender neck and for the first time he took in her transformation from the usual professional to evening decadence and found himself completely transfixed by the change.