“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah.” He moved slow, slow enough for her to stop him, slow enough to torture them both with unbearable anticipation. He kept his eyes on hers, starting over, not trusting her not to bolt away or bare her teeth. She let him inch closer, her eyes fluttering closed and her lips parting. It took only the faintest brush of his lips to break the seal on her passion. She yanked her hands free and drove them into his hair, feasting on his mouth the way he’d feasted on her food. Their bodies swayed as they brushed together, torso-to-torso, heat-to-heat, heart-to-heart. Lyle felt hers hammering against his chest.
The last fraying thread of sanity had him pulling back when he desperately wanted to plunder. They’d come too far for him to let his body take over and screw up again.
“Erica, Erica, Erica.” He covered her face with kisses. “Do me a favor?”
Her eyes weren’t clear or steady when she reared back. “What?”
“Come to Jill’s wedding with me?”
“Jill’s wedding?”
“It’s in a few weeks, the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I want you to come with me.”
“You’re asking me on a date?” she said. “Now?”
“What do you say?”
“I say you’re crazy,” she said, but there was a laugh in her eyes.
“Nope. Not crazy.” He looked down at his shirt and hoped she didn’t see or feel the bulge in his pants. “Soaked, but not crazy. Will you go with me?”
“Jill doesn’t want me at her wedding.”
“My invitation says Lyle Woodward and guest. I want you to be my guest.”
“I don’t even know her.”
“So? The invitation doesn’t say Lyle and guest who knows Jill. It says guest.”
She blew out a breath. “Okay. I’ll go to the wedding with you.” She sounded as if she’d agreed to her own hanging.
He drew her in for one long, luxurious kiss. When she pulled back, he could tell by the look in her eye it wouldn’t take much to convince her to stay. He didn’t want to have to convince her of anything.
“What are you grinning about?” she asked.
He looked down at his shirt and the corresponding stain on hers. “If I’d known all it took for you to say yes was a little water, I’d have tackled you in the river weeks ago.”
Chapter 46
Olivia gripped the edge of the kitchen table and closed her eyes. Just a few more hours. A few more hours until the hearing was over and she could wait in earnest for the board’s decision. The lawyer had told her not to worry. He’d flown into town the night before and met with her and Jack, explaining what to expect, and he went over what Olivia would say. He reminded her again the hearing didn’t determine guilt or innocence; it added another voice to the chorus the board had to consider.
As soon as Napster had left for his hotel, Jack had taken her to bed and loved her as if she were as precious to him as anything he’d ever touched. She’d slept in his arms out of sheer exhaustion.
Still she worried.
“Ready?” Jack gently placed his hands on her shoulders. She leaned back into his chest. So solid. So steady. She didn’t know how she would face the hearing without him.
“As I’ll ever be.” She turned in his arms. “Thank you for the sleep aid.”
“Sleep aid?”
“The orgasmic kind. My mother would approve of your natural method.”
He drew her closer and laid his cheek on her head. “It was my pleasure, but if your mother approves, I need to be more inventive.”
Olivia burrowed into his warmth. “I want this to be over. I’m so tired of living like this, waiting for the knife to fall.”
“It will be soon. You have to be patient.”
“Says the man with no patience.”
“No patience?”
She couldn’t help but smile. How could he make her smile even then? “All right. In the bedroom, you have patience. Everywhere else, none.”
He pressed the button on his watch and listened to the time. “Let’s go. Napster said we should arrive early.”
They walked to the door arm in arm. Olivia stopped dead in her tracks when she spotted Erica waiting by her car wearing a skirt, a pretty blouse, and low-heeled shoes.
“What’s wrong?” Jack asked.
“Erica. She’s standing by my car all dressed up.”
Jack closed the door and followed Olivia to her sedan. “Erica?” he asked. “I didn’t know you wanted to come.”
“I’m going to testify. For Olivia.”
The tears sprang so quickly to Olivia’s eyes, she had to blink them away. “You are? I thought…you said…”
“I know what I said. I was scared. But you’re scared, too, and you’re facing up to it. I want to tell them what we’ve been doing together all these months. I want them to know what a good teacher you are.”
Olivia reached for her hands and clung, hoping to convey her gratitude in a way Erica would accept. “Oh, Erica. I can’t tell you how much this means to me. If you change your mind when we get there, I’ll understand.”
“Mop up your face before you ruin your makeup. I know what it means, and I’m not going to chicken out. Once I set my mind to something, it’s done. Besides, I didn’t go shopping and put on makeup for nothing.”
“You look beautiful,” Olivia said, admiring the way Erica’s eyes popped with the mascara she’d added and the hint of blush on her cheeks. “You always look beautiful, but you look especially so today.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let’s get this over with.”
When Erica slid into the back seat and folded her hands in her lap, Olivia let out a laughing cry. “Oh, Jack. There’s no one like your sister. No one at all.”
“Tell me about it,” he said and walked her around to the driver’s side door. “Are you okay to drive?”
“Yes. With you two by my side, I’m okay to do just about anything.” She stepped in when he held the door open. “Let’s go knock them dead.”
If Olivia had been surprised to find Erica waiting at the car, she was doubly so to see Tommy and her mother sitting outside the hearing doors. “Mom? Tommy? What in the world are you doing here?”
Olivia’s mom stood up, her strawberry blond hair flowing down her back. “If Tommy hadn’t called and told me about the hearing, I wouldn’t have even known you were in trouble.”
Olivia spared a glance at her brother. “I didn’t want you to worry.”
“Honey, I’m your mother. It comes with the job.” She pulled Olivia into a hug. Her mother’s distinctive scent, like mint and a variety of herbs from her shop, wafted up to tickle Olivia’s memory. Her mother, so happy and carefree, was as solid as a rock.
Olivia pulled back and dabbed at her tears. “Mom, this is Jack Forrester and his sister, Erica. This is my mom, Nadine Golden.”
Nadine shook their hands and appraised Jack from head to toe. “Bobbie wasn’t kidding about you, Jack. You knock a woman right between the eyes.”
“Mom!” Olivia chided. Since when did Jill’s mom and her mom talk about Jack?
“Bobbie?” Jack asked.
“Jill’s mom,” Olivia explained. “I didn’t know she’d even seen Jack.”
“With a face like that in a town this size, you ought to know better, Olivia. Even with a sack over his head, he’d have the tongues awaggin’.”
“Okay.” Olivia looked at her brother and widened her eyes, pleading for him to step in and save her.
He chuckled and gave her a hug. “Don’t be nervous. You’ll do fine in there, Liv.” She felt Tommy’s eyes boring into her head as Jack tightened his grip around her waist.
Napster’s Italian loafers clipped a tidy pace down the hall, announcing his presence. “Ready?” He held his arm out for Olivia.
She took a deep breath and nodded. “This is Erica Forrester. She’s agreed to testify as my character witness.”
Napster spared her a glance. “Good. Wait here, Ms. Forrester, and they’ll summon you when it’s your turn to speak.”
Erica looked white as a ghost, but she gave a brisk nod and led Jack to a line of benches against the wall. He reached out and grasped Olivia’s wrist, yanking her back to him. “I’m proud of you,” he said against her ear. “And I’ll be waiting for you right here when it’s over.”
“Counting on it,” she said and turned to face her fate.
***
Erica wanted to throw up when the man opened the door and called her name. Jack helped her to her feet and squeezed her hand before the man led her inside and to a chair in the middle of a long table. She’d expected a courtroom with a judge wearing a robe and a police officer or two guarding the doors, but she only saw a handful of men and women in suits. Her drumming heart slowed a bit as she sat.
The man at the head of the table cleared his throat before introducing himself as the hearing officer. He asked her some simple questions like her name, address, and date of birth. She’d worked hard to memorize her address in the days leading up to the hearing, so she wasn’t surprised or upset to have to answer. Even though she was about to admit she couldn’t read, she didn’t want anyone to think she was stupid.
Napster and a woman wearing bright red lipstick took turns asking questions. She answered, though they seemed to ask the same questions over and over again. The hearing officer at the head of the table interrupted a few times and asked more detailed questions, but she didn’t mind. He had a soft voice that didn’t match his long beard and weather-roughened face. He reminded her a little bit of Santa Claus, though his hair wasn’t white. Olivia nodded and smiled whenever she looked over. Erica could tell she was close to tears again, so she tried not to look.
They dismissed her after about twenty minutes. As she walked toward the door, she didn’t know whether she’d helped or not. Olivia didn’t seem mad at anything she’d said, so she guessed she’d helped. She was just glad it was over and hoped it would be over for Olivia soon, too.
Jack hopped up when the door opened. “How did it go?” She could tell he was worried by the tracks he’d left in his hair. He always ran his hands through his hair when he was upset.
“It was fine,” she said. When she looked at the crowd outside the door, she gasped. She saw Lyle down the hallway next to a pretty woman with long, dark hair. He came to a stop in front of her. “What are you doing here?” she asked.
“I…” His brow furrowed and he reached for her hand. “Were you in there?”
Erica shot her chin in the air. “I was Olivia’s character witness.”
He stared at her with narrowed eyes before Jack stepped forward. “How was Olivia holding up?” Jack asked.
“Good, I think. She didn’t say anything. Her lawyer and another woman did all the talking.”
“You must be Jack?” the dark-haired woman asked. She stared at her brother as if she was meeting a movie star. She grasped Jack’s hand when he held it out and introduced himself.
“And you are?” Jack asked.
“I’m Jill Jennings.” She stood there nodding and shaking Jack’s hand. “Wow, Olivia wasn’t exaggerating.”
“Like a punch to the head,” Olivia’s mom said.
“Exactly,” Jill chuckled.
“I thought you were in North Carolina,” Erica asked. She didn’t like the look of Jill Jennings, all slim and pretty. She looked good standing next to Lyle; they were quite a pair with their athletic bodies and dark good looks.
“I was. I wanted to be here for Olivia’s hearing, but my flight ran late.”
Erica scowled at Jill’s offered hand but shook it anyway. “Erica Forrester,” she said as Jill checked her out.
“So this is Erica,” Jill said to Lyle.
Erica didn’t have a chance to ask what Jill meant because the next thing she knew, Lyle was dragging her down the hallway and away from the hearing room.
“Let go of me,” she demanded, but as usual, he didn’t listen. “Lyle, what are you doing?”
He pulled her through the outside doors and squinted at her in the bright afternoon sun. “Why were you Olivia’s character witness?”
Erica didn’t feel the panic she thought she’d feel when faced with telling Lyle the truth. Maybe it was because she was so mad at him for hauling her around as if she was one of his stepdad’s farm animals. She ripped her arm free and crossed her arms. “If you’d give me half a second, I’ll tell you. I was going to tell you later anyway, but since you’re here and you’re being such a jerk, I’ll tell you now.”
It was a risk. She’d always known telling Lyle the truth might end whatever they’d started. But if she’d learned one thing in the last few months, it was that she was tired of walking in place and never getting anywhere. Olivia’s lessons had made her understand that with hard work and effort, she could accomplish anything. If Lyle didn’t understand or chose to judge her differently, that was his problem.
“I haven’t been teaching Olivia to cook. She’s been teaching me to read.”
Lyle’s hands slipped from his hips to hang at his sides. “You can’t read?”
“I can read a little. I’ve got dyslexia, so reading was always hard. Olivia’s been helping me read better. I’ve come a long way in just a few months.”
“That’s…” His pinched face relaxed and broke into a huge grin. “That’s awesome, Erica. I’m really proud of you.”
Nothing could have surprised her more. “You are?”
“Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?”