I was almost to Vivian as the crowd applauded and cheered.
“To do the honors, we have one of our own, Miss Olivia.”
My heart thundered, blood pumping the only sound I could hear. My scalp tingled, and the floor swam. I refused to look out to see his reaction, instead keeping my eyes on Vivian, who held the microphone out to me mouthing breathe.
I sucked in a huge gulp of air, and the light claps and shouts of encouragement came roaring back.
“Good luck, Marilyn,” Vivian joked.
I don’t know why I thought this was such a good idea, but I thought he would laugh, and that was the foundation of who we were together. We had fun, and we loved. He’d once told me that I made him come, and I made him laugh, and those were the two most important things to him. Making him come in front of everyone probably wouldn’t go over well at a mostly business function, so I decided to go for laughter.
But when I looked up, he wasn’t laughing.
The muscles in his jaw clenched. His Adam’s apple bobbed over a swallow. His tongue slicked across his lips. His eyes—almost black from where I stood a few feet away—raked over every inch of my body encased in the nude-colored dress, decorated with rhinestones from head to toe.
He set me on fire, and I had to force my feet to stay in place and open my mouth to sing the words when the band started playing.
I used a breathy voice and worked through my nerves to put on a show. Everyone cheered, and some joined in. When I sang the last word, applause erupted like I’d sung to a stadium and not less than a hundred people.
Kent’s eyes never left mine. Each word ignited something in him until I was sure he would explode.
Once things quieted down, I lifted the microphone and put myself out there for him to hold or shatter. There was no hiding behind a façade, there was no pretending in front of anyone. It was just him and me.
“Can I have this dance, Mr. Kent?”
I held my breath as an eternity stretched between my question and his slow nod. With shaking hands, I placed the mic back in the stand and forced myself to walk to his outstretched hand rather than run and jump into his arms. The band broke into a jazz rendition of Stronger by Ziggy Alberts. He loved jazz, and I loved it all. This song was a perfect blend of us.
Holding my breath, I placed my palm in his. Electricity fired from my fingertips, up my arm, jolting my heart, and down to my core, locking everything in place along the way. Without any hesitation, he jerked me into his arms, and I willingly slammed into his chest, sliding my hand around his neck, entangling myself with him.
“Hi,” I whispered.
I shivered when his other hand slid around my waist and rested on my bare back. His fingers stroked down to where the dress began just above the crack of my ass. When he didn’t say anything, I tracked my gaze up his neck, past his lips, until I finally met his eyes. When I did, he smirked. “Hi.”
“Happy birthday.”
“Thank you for my song.”
“Anything for you,” I answered honestly, hoping he heard what I really meant.
“Anything?”
I glared. He wasn’t letting me out of this easily. He wanted me to lay it all out there—lay all of myself out there, and I didn’t blame him. “Anything. I love you, and I’m sorry for holding any part of myself back because I was scared to give up all control. I was scared of getting hurt. But no matter how much I hid, the truth was always there. I’m all yours, every part of me.”
“Olivia,” he groaned my name, the deep rumble vibrating against my chest, bringing my nipples to life. “I love you too.”
“Can you give me another chance?”
“I’d give you anything you wanted because I’m all yours too.”
Euphoria spread like a flood, warming me from the inside out. “I missed you so much. I was such a naïve little girl, and I—I missed you.”
“You’re anything but a naïve little girl. You’re a woman who has been hurt. You’re a woman with doubts, and that’s allowed for any age. You just have to let me help you through it.” He leaned down, pressing his lips against the shell of my ear. “I’m pretty smart with all this life experience I have. Trust your elders. It’s good for you.”
I buried my head in his shoulder and laughed. “I hope you don’t plan on playing the ‘elder’ card for the rest of our lives.”
“The rest of our lives, eh?”
“If you’ll have me.”
“I don’t know how I got so lucky to have you, but I’m not letting you go. You may be in your prime while I’m using a walker, but that’s too bad. You get this old man through thick and thin.”