The Rented Husband (Southern Nights Series)

Chapter 17

**Edited by krisgee**

"The Rented Husband"

2011 Copyright All Rights Reserved

Chapter 17

                Olivia pulled herself back, out of Brody’s arms and struggled to regain her composure.  Her breaths were uneven and she had to fist her hands to still the trembling.

                “What…” she stopped and squeezed her eyes closed tight, taking a calming breath.  Starting again, she opened up her eyes and stared back at Brody.  “What do you think you’re doing?” 

                Brody stepped back with that damnable grin of his and gave Olivia a thorough once over.  “I believe I just kissed you,” he told her in response.

                She rolled her eyes in a move that was mean to show her sarcasm.  “Thank you Captain Obvious, I figured out that much.   My question is why?”

                Brody lifted his shoulders in an easygoing manner that she was starting to become accustomed to.  Standing there, by the bed, with his darkening eye and his impish smile she couldn’t decide if she wanted to grab his collar and pull her to him while continuing to ravage his mouth as she had just moments earlier or if she wanted to grab him by the neck and throttle his cocky ass.  

                “Because I wanted to,” he finally answered her after what seemed to be a farmer’s minute.  

                “Because you wanted to,” she repeated with equal amounts of frustration and anger seeping in her tone.

                Brody turned and went back to his suitcase, lifting out his laptop.  “Yup.” He headed over to the small desk that was nestled in the corner of the room.  Laying the laptop down on the desk, he flipped it open and started it up.  

                Olivia stood there dumbstruck.  One minute he’s ranting, the next he’s kissing the daylights out of her and now, well….now he’s just sitting there as if nothing had happened.

                Shoving her hand irritably in her hair, tangling it with her fingers she let out an exaggerated sigh.  “What are you doing now?” she asked.

                Brody pulled out a pair of glasses from his shirt pocket and started tapping at the keys.  “Work,” he stated plainly.  “I needed to check on a few things,” he told her, not bothering to stop what he was currently doing.  “You know, it might be a good idea for you to check in with Marcey too.”

                “You might want to check on Marcey too,” she mimicked him, lowering her voice a decibel or two.  She hated the fact that he had a point and she didn’t think of it first.  She still has that huge case coming up and didn’t want anything to slip by her just because she was here in Hawaii.  

                He heard her mocking him and stifled his own chuckle.  Olivia was a complicated piece of work all right.  She could be as sweet as the honeysuckles that used to grow out back of his mother’s home in the springtime when he was a kid one minute, and she could be as ornery as a wet hornet the next.  He heard her stomping over to where she left her suitcase by the closet door, and some other exaggerated noise as she pulled out her laptop and settled over on the bed.  

                She huffed and puffed, and he wondered if her wires were as crossed as his right now.  Hell, forget crossed - he was finding more and more that whenever he was near the notorious Olivia Murray his wires tended to flat out short circuit and he wasn’t at all sure how he felt about it.  

                He felt confused but yet he felt intrigued.  She lit a fire under his butt and kept him on his toes.  Most women that he had dallied with in the past just fell at his feet and did his bidding…but not Olivia.  

                She challenged him.

                She made life exciting.

                And she drove him bat crazy.  All good things, he thought to himself.  

                His computer dinged at him, letting him know that he had an email.  He shook his head slightly to get his mind off of the little spitfire sitting across the room.  He had some work that needed to get done; playtime would just have to wait a little bit longer.