Colin’s eyebrow went up in an expression of doubt. He had watched his cousin charm the panties off the coldest girl for twenty pounds, but this was looking like a suicide mission.
“Go close the door.”
He kicked the door after the last gawker had gone. He plastered his back on the wooden door while he watched Forrester roam around the room. Forrester traded his grass-stained cargo shorts for loose-fitting, acid-wash jeans that hung low on his hips. His hair fell over his forehead while he put on a dark brown, leather belt. He considered changing his blue, ribbed, tight-fitting wife beater but decided to keep it on. He strolled over to his dresser, paused to spray on his Sauvage Cologne by Dior, a necklace he had a hell of a time finding, then turned to face his amused cousin.
“You look like one confident man, but I’m telling you. You’re fucked the pooch on this one,” teased Colin.
“I don’t care what you say. I’m gonna win her back.”
“I think, if you want to keep your cock and balls, you better back off.”
“Shit, after all of that, every man that can get it up is going to be running after her. I need to stake my claim,” explained Forrester.
He crossed the room. He waved his hand for Colin to move out of the way to allow him to leave, but Colin stood firm.
“You fucked a barmaid. You made her believe you were screwing around. How do you plan overcoming that?”
“I will,” Forrester snapped.
Colin tilted his head as he examined him openly. “You’re nervous,” he marveled. “You’re scared that you might have gone too far.”
“I’ll eat cow shit if that’s what it takes. The woman I saw in here is the woman of my dreams. I don’t know why Olivia’s been hiding her from me, but that’s the woman I’ve always wanted. Now that I see she still exists, I have to try and see if she really has changed. Just one more time.”
The force of Forrester’s words left him speechless. The cool man that was like a ship on the ocean, in a sense that he was never shaken, was melting before his eyes. The fact that he wanted Olivia wasn’t a surprise. From the second the girl had become obsessed with having his cousin, Colin knew the man was lost.
No, the sour taste was born once Forrester realized what he had married and the life and family he had dreamt of that weren't going to be. It was, then, to guard the heart that was full of hurt and disappointment that he backed away from Olivia. The excitement that vibrated off Forrester was almost touchable.
“I pray she won’t have you eat too much,” Colin replied, opening the door.
By the time they reached the landing that overlooked the Great Hall beneath, everyone was laughing and drinking. Forrester slowed his steps while he scanned the hall for Olivia.
“You called it,” mumbled Colin, pointing to a group of people seated at a table.
Forrester worked his jaw in annoyance. He had to admit that he didn’t like wearing the shoes he then had on his feet. He didn’t care about Marcus, her brother. It was all the other grinning fools that were chatting her up while they ate. She brought the bottled beer to her lips and took a drink. She was too focused on her plate to notice the heated glances the men gave her, but he saw it all. He didn’t look to the right or the left. His blue gaze was locked on his target.
Olivia stiffened. She could smell him and feel him coming near. Even still, she did her best to play off the effect of him being so close was having on her. She was sure he was just on his way to take his place at the head table. Her perfectly arched eyebrow went up at the sight of his tanned hand reaching to retrieve her plate.
“You say you don’t want to be disrespected, so why aren’t you at the head table?”
She opened her mouth to respond, but he didn’t give her a chance. A deep frown creased her face as a stream of curses flowed from her lips.
That’s the girl I know, Forrester spoke to himself with a smile.
“You’re going to slice through that sharp tongue of yours if you don’t slow your chewing,” he pointed out a few minutes later. He needed to get her talking to him.
“Thanks for your concern,” she mumbled.
Olivia knew he was watching her. She reached for another beer out of the ice-filled bucket that had been placed in front of them. She was determined to ignore him.
“Let me,” he offered, snatching it from her hand.
She kept her eyes trained on her plate while she waited. She heard the pop of the cap. However, he still hadn’t handed it back.
Olivia sighed. “My beer,” she requested, not turning to face him.
“All you have to do is look at me, cailín. Surely, you’re not scared that I can make you cum with just one look.”
His voice. He was using that deep, honey voice that seemed to tear up her guts with lust.
“I’m not in the mood,” she replied.
“What are you in the mood for, Olivia?”
“Not the same dick you had in that barmaid,” she spat.
She finally faced him to snatch the open beer from his clutches. He captured her hand in his.
“I’m deeply sorry for that. I was upset. But I know that doesn’t excuse it,” he added in a rush.
Olivia searched his handsome face. “You’re damned right; there’s no excuse,” she grumbled, freeing her hand. “The way I see it, I deserve a hall pass to make up.”
Forrester tossed back his head in laughter. “There isn’t a man here that’s dumb enough to fuck you.”
“You’ll be surprised what men are willing to do with the right temptation.” She huffed, shifting on the bench.
“Why the act?” he asked with a chuckle.
“I remember you said the same thing about Carlos Santos, but he found the courage to give me what I wanted. You of all people should know how I can be very tempting to a man.” Olivia smirked.
She felt satisfaction when his laughter died in his throat. His face turned dark.
“Don’t test me,” Forrester growled.
Olivia gave him a look as if he was stuck on stupid. “So, I was just supposed to beg and wait for you to return to my bed while you were flying off fuckin’ high-priced whores?” she questioned with a deep eye roll. “You were gone for a very long time,” she stressed.
“Santos fucked you?”
“Correction, I fucked him. You trained me well over the years. I’m very good at dominating in the bedroom,” she finished with a smirk.
“Where are you going?”
Olivia paused after she got to her feet. “The games are getting ready to start,” she answered. She leaned closer. “I’ll teach you the art of being discreet, with one fuck at a time,” she mocked before she sashayed away.
She jumped back into the rough conversation that was taking place at her brother’s table. When teased about her antics upstairs, she let a stream of curses fly that would have had the old women of the church clenching their pearls. The men’s roars of laughter were deafening.
Before she could reply to a man’s comeback, a strong hand swung her around. The expression of shock registered on her face. Forrester towered over her. Without a word, he pulled her into his embrace. He didn’t kiss her. Instead, he nestled her neck. He heard her deep intake of breath to take in his scent. His hands went to her ass. He brought her closer to ensure that she felt his erection.
“I want you to show me everything you did to Santos,” he whispered in her ear.
He chuckled at her weak attempt to push against his rock-hard body. Olivia’s mask slipped for a millisecond at the other words he spoke in her ear. It was like a dagger stabbing her in the heart. Forrester leaned back to look into her upturned face. Her eyes darted to the object that dangled from his neck. She had been too enraged at the table before to have noticed.
“You aren’t playing fair,” she whimpered, taking in his necklace. Her voice trembled.
Forrester ran his thumb across her bottom lip. “All is fair in love and war, and this is a war I intend to win, sweetheart.”
Suddenly, Olivia bit his thumb, which caused him to narrow his eyes in merriment.
“Marcus, I expect you to keep my wife safe,” he stated before walking away.
Brick couldn’t hide the surprise on his face. The food had literally fallen out of his mouth due to the display he had just witnessed. He still hadn’t recovered when his father sat down in front of him.
“I can’t wait to see what’s going to follow that,” he mumbled.
“What’s going to follow, you’ll hear, but not see,” Pike wickedly teased.
“I do have an underhanded idea, but I’ll need help to pull it off,” admitted Forrester.
“Shit, you’re digging deep for this one, huh?” inquired Pike.
Brick held his hand up. “What I want to know is are you doing it ‘cause you don’t want her backing it up for another or because you really love her?”
“Love has never been an issue,” responded Forrester.
“We all know the problems, and I gotta say that you have more patience than I would ever have shown her, but this back and forth shit can’t go. Either you leave her, and you two have the occasional hookup, or you get your shit together,” grunted Brick.
“Tell his ass, please, bro. Jumping in front of guns and shit. That woman got a dent in her damned forehead from Ma,” shrieked Pike.
Brick chuckled. “She was fierce. I’ll think twice fuckin’ with her now that I know she got a crazy switch.”
“Are you sure you want that? Ma’s gonna get in your ass. She’s gonna have you running, Da,” Brick paused at the equally insane glint in his father’s eyes. He sighed. It wasn’t a sound of dread, but more of relief. The worry that he had been experiencing over his parents had finally been put to bed.
He understood the crushing desire to be with someone only to allow outside forces and upbringing to threaten to destroy it. As youths, he had always loved his Lakyta, but his fears of what his mother and friends would say made him hide his feelings and lose his secret crush. When she re-entered his life, years later, he didn’t care what anyone said. He wasn’t going to lose his second chance at love.
“So, what’s the plan?” questioned Pike.
“I want you two to beat me.”
Pike and Brick froze. The expressions on their faces caused him to toss back his head in laughter.
The plan was set, and the players knew where they needed to be to pull off the elaborate melting of Olivia’s heart. Neither one of his sons could understand why he was going to such great lengths to get her attention. When Cashmere and Lakyta were pulled into the mix, both women laughed. They explained that their father was on the right track in his thinking. Lakyta went on to retell, much to Brick’s distress, how McCormack had him fake a fever to get her out of the funk to melt her heart towards him.
Forrester kept a good distance between himself and Olivia. She mingled with the crowd with her sister Saoirse and Marcus.
“Forrester is going to kill himself,” shouted Saoirse.
Olivia followed her pointing finger to see Forrester walk over to the tall, muscular thoroughbred that stood five hands taller than her. She danced on her feet as a nervous feeling churned in the pit of her stomach. The horse’s nostrils flared as he tossed his head. With fear in her throat, she jogged over to the side of her sons in the front of the crowd.
“Hey, hey! Do not let him do this,” she commanded.
Pike’s eyebrow shot up as he glared down at his distraught mother.
“I’m not going to embarrass him like that. Besides, he wants to do it.”
Olivia stomped her foot, crushing the grass under her hiking boot.
“I don’t give two shits. You’re Da is being an ass by thinking he’s still a buck. He… he’s going to break his neck,” she cried out.
“Or be paralyzed. His back was already giving him problems,” interjected Cashmere.
Olivia rolled her eyes. “See! Shit! Get his ass off that horse.”
She never liked this game of test of wills. After she had watched a few times on the first day of the festival, she had thought it was silly and dangerous. Two men on horses would fight as they pushed, punched, and tried to knock the other man off his perch while the spooked horses pranced under them. She cupped her hands to her mouth.
“Forrester, get your old ass down,” she thundered.
Forrester gave her an angry look in response to her command.
“Yeah, Ma. That’s the way to sweet-talk him.” Brick smirked.
“Ugh,” Olivia let out with a groan when Forrester locked hands with the man.
Not knowing that that was the signal to set his plan into motion, she watched the battle intently. Colin nodded to the men that were stationed three rows back. Angus and Shamus began to shove the people forward. The surge of people shifted Olivia and everyone’s bodies, causing Cashmere’s son to drop his binky.
Just like clockwork, the baby let out a blood-curling scream in protest. Olivia tried to fight against the tide that pushed against her body. She looked around to find the source but came up with nothing. Placing her arm around Cashmere, she attempted to help keep her on her feet. She had completely forgotten about Forrester until the sound of gasps.
Everything—the baby’s cries and the crush of bodies—faded away at the sight before her. Life switched to slow motion as her world came crashing down around her. The horse with his two legs pawing in the air; Pike, Brick, and many others with their hands up to control the horse: all she could see was Forrester’s motionless feet on the ground where he laid. There were too many people in the way for her to see him completely.
Move! Move, damn it! the voice in her mind screamed, but her feet refused to move. Olivia blinked in awe. She didn’t know when she actually walked over. However, there she stood at the outer ring of the group of people around her husband.
He isn’t moving. Why is he not getting up? she wondered.
She swallowed. She closed her eyes so tight that she saw sparks of golden lights behind her lids. Images of the man she deeply loved, despite all the recent and past shit, flooded her mind. With trembling hands, she pulled at her short hair.
“Please, God. Please, Jesus. Not this,” she mumbled.
Not able to reframe from not knowing, she began to push, pull, and punch a hole that was small enough for her to slip through.
“Control the horse, or I’ll kill the fucker,” she barked.
Sensing the threat, the monster of a horse brought his hind legs down to prance in the dirt.
“Forrester, come on, honey. Please, come on,” she cried, slapping his face hard.
Suddenly, his hand shot up to capture her wrist.
“A kiss would have been better than being beaten, cailín.”
“Oh, God! I’m so sorry,” she stammered.
In her distress, she hadn’t even noticed the bruising on the side of his face. Colin hid his stinging knuckles behind his back. After Forrester’s staged fall, he had run into the middle of the crowd of trusted family members to lay a few perfectly placed punches on his cousin’s face.
“Da,” said Pike with as much worry he could muster.
“Get him to the house,” ordered Olivia.
“I don’t think I can make it that far.”
“Why not?” she inquired.
“My ribs,” Forrester hissed.
With tears streaming down, she slowly pulled up his shirt. Everyone heard the swish of air leaving her chest. Her eyes grew to the size of round saucers at the swelling of his midsection and ribs.
“I want the jackass put down,” she roared, getting to her feet.
“Can we focus on me first?” he groaned.
“Aye. Of course, um.”
Colin stepped in, right on cue. “You can make it to the hut, can’t ya, man?”
Forrester considered his question. He had practiced the pained expression that flashed across is handsome, dirty face. Brick rolled his eyes at the performance his father was putting on. His gaze darted to his mother. She was two steps shy of falling into crazyville.
He could see that her body was shaking with emotion and fear. Deciding to speed things up, he took the decision out of his father’s hands. It was making him sick seeing her being so worried for no good reason. He had warned them all that if she did something rash and got hurt, he was fuckin’ them all up.
“Don’t be delph. It’s just a stone’s throw away,” he grunted while Brick motioned with his hands for Pike to get their father onto his feet.
Brick ground his teeth at all the stop and go they had to do due to Forrester’s constant moans. Every time he milked it, Olivia shouted for them to pause. The muscles in his arms were beginning to burn from supporting his father’s solid body.
“I swear to God, if you drag this shit out, I’m gonna drop your ass,” Brick whispered in Forrester’s ear.
Forrester half-chuckled, half-groaned, but he willingly pulled back on his acting to get to the hut. He narrowed his eyes to continue with his antics while he scanned the room. The things he had asked to be put in the tiny house were there. He winced when they placed him not-too-gently on the full-sized bed that had replaced the little cot that had been in the one room shelter.
“I’ll stay with him,” offered Colin.
“What? No, I’ll see to him.”
“Hold up, you just tried to kill him a few—”
“Shut up, fool. You know damned well I won’t hurt him. I’ll take care of him,” she stressed, pulling off her heavy jacket. “I’ll need some … never mind, we got some wood already. Um, food. We’ll need that and clothes for later,” Olivia ticked off the list.
Colin put on a good show of hesitating before he followed the others out the door. Forrester would have to pat himself on the back at how everything had fallen into place on his behalf. He was alone with Olivia for the remainder of the day and night. Not only that, but due to his staged injuries, she had completely forgotten about their fight.
His heated gaze moved throughout the room, while she walked around putting things in order in the house. He didn’t know where she had gotten the tight-ass jeans that hugged her full buns so perfectly. All he knew was the image she was creating was making his tight balls tingle. It had been days since he’d had sex and even longer since he’d had a deep dip in her hot pussy.
“Did that horse stomp on your head, too?”
“Huh?” jumped Forrester.
“I’ve been talking, and you haven’t said anything back.”
The logs in her arms fell with a thud into the iron holder in the stone chimney. A deep frown creased her face as she stared at his from where she stood. Suddenly, she marched over to his side.
“What are you doing?” he wrenched at the feel of her hands in his hair.
“Feeling for any lumps.”
Olivia sighed. Placing her hands on her hips, she tilted her head. “I’m going to call a doctor. With your ribs and you not listening, I—”
“No,” snapped Forrester at bit too forcefully.
“Why not? You might be really—”
“I wasn’t listening to you before because I really have to pee, and I didn’t know how to tell you,” he lied, smoothly.
Sure, he had to piss, but the urge wasn’t as strong as the lustful one that was coursing through his loins.
“Why do I care if you have to piss?” she grumbled, turning back towards the fireplace to get it lit.
“Because I need your help, cailín.”
The tenor of his voice caused Olivia to stop in mid-stride. She glanced at him over her shoulder before she faced him.
“I’ll help you to the door,” she offered, thinking it was closer than the toilet that was positioned on the far side of the room.
“Do you really think you’ll last under my weight, Livy? Not to mention the pain…”
He let his words trail off. He could see her trying to come up with a better solution.
“There’s an old bowl over there,” she suggested.
Forrester bit his lip to keep the laughter that was close to erupting from his mouth at the comical, twisted expression on her beautiful face. Olivia huffed.
“Here,” she mumbled, placing it on the bed, next to him.
Forrester shook his head.
“You can piss in that pot,” she spat.
“My fuckin’ body hurt,” he pointed out. “I’ll have to roll to my side and hold the pot and my cock.”
“If you piss on me, Forrester…”
He closed his eyes, not because of the make-believe pain he was in, but because of the complaining Olivia had started. He wanted to laugh so damned bad, which he knew he would for days after he dropped his act.
“Help me, damn it,” she grunted.
He remembered to curse as he pushed off with his arm in the direction she was tugging him.
“Okay.” She sighed, fumbling with his belt. There was no mistaking his hardened dick that stretched the cloth of his jeans. Her eyebrow shot up.
“Are you playing me, Forrester?” she questioned, her Irish accent growing heavy.
“I have to piss. He ain’t dead to your touch.”
His eyes became slits of blue as his blue orbs watched her lick her hips. He couldn’t help the moan that escaped his lips when her hand closed around him.
“Shit,” he groaned.
Olivia’s grip tightened. She stroked him slowly from the root of his cock to the large, mushroom-shaped tip. Forrester’s eyes rolled back in his head in pleasure.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, sheepishly. “If I keep this up, it won’t be pee covering my hand.”
“Christ, Livy,” he hissed.
Suddenly, she released his throbbing member. She smirked at his loud protest. “I was hoping that would happen as soon as I touched your dick. I’m happy to see you aren’t completely turned off by me.”
Her words caused his eyes to open and gaze upon her. “You have and will always be my fantasy made flesh.”
His eyes were so open at that moment that there was no doubting the truth. The silence in the room stretched out with the noise from the games being played in the background.
“Well, you can’t pee like that, so I’ll get back to the fire.”
Forrester worked his jaw while he glared at Olivia’s back. He cursed himself for backing himself into a corner. He saw now that he had royally fucked himself. He wished he could go back in time and undo fucking that damned barmaid. He could care less about whoever she might have let get into her pants when they were at odds. Hell, she was right.
It had been many years before he had gone back to their bed. There were times that he had considered the fact that she might be seeking her affections elsewhere just as he had been doing at that time, but he never wanted to know. However, he could see that she wasn’t going to let it go—not with all the other things he had spoken to her over the last few days.
“Do you still love me?” he asked out of the blue.
“Of course, I do. Just as I believe you will always love me,” she replied without looking at him.
“Then why do I feel as if we won’t be able to recover from this, Olivia?”
She straightened back up now that the fire was lit and dusted off her jeans. “Maybe because now that my eyes are open, I can’t help the guilt I have for making you suffer all these years,” she confessed. “I took you from your family. You did that for me, and I paid you back by giving you a cold home and my ass to kiss. I want you to be happy, and if that’s without me, then…” she trailed off with a shrug.
Forrester opened his mouth to speak, but when she reached for her coat, what he was going to say fled from his mind altogether.
“Where are you going?”
“To watch the games. I don’t like being with you alone for too long. It puts thoughts in my head, and that hurts too much.”
“Olivia, wait! Olivia!” he shouted after her.
She held her coat tight to her body as a gust of wind hit her square in the face. She could hear him yelling behind the door for her, but she continued to walk away.
“Two can play that game, motherfucker.” She chuckled with a deep eye roll.