Come Alive (The Cityscape 2)

“Don’t like it?” he teased.

“I love it.”

His smile faltered marginally. After a moment, he took a measured step toward me. I pulled my robe closer as my heart skipped. Two more steps, and his ever-imposing frame was filling the space around me. The smell of liquor burned my nostrils as his gaze flitted down to me. “I’m serious about this shit,” he whispered, tugging at the opening of my robe. “Start taking better care of yourself, or it’s going to piss me off.”

“You don’t get a say,” I echoed. I held his gaze, but I could still see my breasts heaving with each breath.

“So this is it?” he asked. “Everybody just moves on? We just move on?”

I cocked my head. Isn’t that what we’d been doing?

“Olivia?” My heart dropped as David took a controlled step back. Bill, in sagging boxers and a t-shirt, stood in the doorway. He looked between us briefly and rubbed his eyes. “What are you doing?” he asked.

“Just,” I croaked and cleared my throat.

“She needed water,” David said for me. He lifted the pitcher in Bill’s direction and took my glass from the counter. Streaming water filled the silence as he topped off my drink. Bill shifted on his feet. Long seconds ticked by until David calmly handed me the cup. I accepted it and walked toward Bill without looking back. “Let’s go to bed,” I told him.

He nodded at David and followed me from the kitchen. “How do you know him again?” Bill asked when we were out of earshot.

“Through Lucy. He was the one who helped me with Mark Alvarez. I never followed up so he was just updating me.”

“Oh.” He turned to look over his shoulder, and I quickly released the breath I’d been holding. “Maybe I should say thanks,” Bill said.

“No,” I said under my breath. “You shouldn’t.”

~

Tables were set up under the arches of a covered patio, replete with carafes of orange juice, platters of sausage, eggs and bacon and bowls of powdered-sugared fruit. It was like something from a bridal magazine, if they were to feature the morning-after festivities.

“Liv, grab the champagne?” Lucy asked.

I entered the kitchen just as David did from the opposite doorway. “Morning,” he said. He sported a too-small striped polo and high-water khakis. I raised an eyebrow at his outfit, and he smiled awkwardly. “Andrew’s ‘tall’ brother, as they keep calling him.”

I gave a shallow nod and ducked by him to the refrigerator, infuriatingly conscious of his body heat despite the dopey clothing.

He cleared his throat. “We didn’t finish our conversation from last night.”

I yanked open the heavy refrigerator door and searched for the champagne. “I think we did. The idea is that we move on.”

“Move on,” he echoed.

“Yep.”

“Olivia.”

I leaned back to look at him from the other side of the door. We stared at each other a moment until I started laughing.

His eyebrows knit as he studied me. “What?”

“I can’t take you seriously in that outfit.” I turned back to the refrigerator and grasped the cold bottle of champagne by its neck. When I shut the door, he was at my side, his lips quirked into a mocking smile.

“You can’t take me seriously?” he teased. “I have ways of making you.”

He leaned in to back me against the refrigerator, but I stepped forward under his nose. I tried to appear calm, even though my heart thudded in my chest. “How?” I breathed.

“It’s not really something I can explain.” His gaze fixed on my mouth and proceeded slowly downward. When his eyes jumped back to mine, he said, “I would have to show you.”

“Show me?” My voice was raspier than normal, low. It didn’t matter what he wore; he was all man, predatory even as he towered over me.

He leaned in further, and my breath caught. I’d been fidgeting with the cap of the champagne, and he took it from my hands before straightening up again.

Gretchen’s head poked through the screen door. “Hurry up, Liv, we need that for the mimosas.” She looked between the two of us.

“We’ll be right there,” David said without turning around. He twisted the cork, and it freed with a loud pop.

“Um, no, everyone is waiting on you.” Gretchen shot him a piercing look. “Come on, move it,” she barked. She held the door open and ushered an irritated-looking David through. She grasped my arm as I followed. “Soon. We need to talk.”

“Fine,” I said, wrenching my arm from her grip.

I took my place next to Bill and filled my plate with whatever was nearest.

“What time do you guys leave tonight?” Andrew’s mom asked Lucy.

“Late. We’re sleeping on the plane so we’ll be fresh for Paris.”

“Ah, fresh for Paris,” Dani mimicked. “Get over yourself.”

“Don’t be bitter, petite Dani,” she said. “Your day will come.”

Dani flushed red. “I’ve been to Paris,” she muttered.

“That’s not what I meant,” Lucy said pointedly.

I pushed food around on my plate, tuning the conversation out. I replayed my exchange with David in my head, suppressing the smile that was trying to break through. He knew exactly how to draw me in, how to prick the bubble of numbness I lived in.

My thoughts wandered to the previous night. So he and Dani hadn’t slept together. But that didn’t mean they wouldn’t. It was clear, to me at least, that she wanted it to happen – didn’t he? Knowing how persistent he could be, I wondered what was stopping him.

When I blinked up, David was watching me from across the table. Eat, he mouthed, nodding subtly at my plate. I picked up a strawberry, bit off the end, and licked my lips. His eyes locked on my mouth as I slowly took another bite and dropped the stem on my plate. He swallowed and stared hard. I’d become uncomfortably aroused by his words in the kitchen, and it redoubled from the way he watched me.

I jumped when Bill placed his hand on my thigh and squeezed softly. He gave me a reassuring smile.

“And so,” Lucy was saying, “I wanted to express regret for those who couldn’t be here to help us celebrate. My aunt and my mother’s sister, Grace, God rest her soul. As well as Olivia’s mentor and good friend, Davena.” I clenched my teeth and concentrated on steady breathing. Lucy’s face contorted as tears welled in her eyes. “Two beautiful women who were taken from us too early.”

She was crying now, along with her mother, and I just sat motionless. Emotionless is more like it. Andrew’s mother leaned over and whispered as she rubbed Lucy’s back. I inhaled and tried to wet my eyes as well, but I was drier than Death Valley. Damn it, Lucy. Why are you bringing Davena into this? The table looked at me with overwhelming sympathy, including Bill, which bothered me most of all.

“Say something, babe,” he whispered in my ear, and my jaw tensed.

I scooted the chair back suddenly and dropped my napkin on the table. “Excuse me.”

I passed through the kitchen and over to the backyard-facing window. My eyes scanned the lawn as workers packed up equipment. I thought of Davena. She would have loved the wedding because she loved all things extravagant and expensive.

“I’m sorry,” Lucy said from behind me. I continued staring out the window, watching as the remnants of the night disappeared into the back of a van.

“It’s fine,” I replied.

“I only wanted to honor her memory.”

“I said it’s fine,” I repeated gently.

“What’s wrong, Liv?” she asked. “You never talk about her.”

“There’s nothing to talk about. I miss her, but that’s all.”

“What do you miss about her?”

I turned from the window and looked Lucy in the eyes. “She was a good person. She never judged anyone, because she just wanted everyone to live their lives. Davena was always on my side.”

“We’re on your side. Everyone wants you to be happy.”

I smiled weakly. “You’re a good friend. Let’s go back before I ruin the weekend.”

“You’re not ruining anything. I just want things to get better. I thought they were getting better.”

Even if David hadn’t reopened the wounds, they were still painfully fresh. Something felt off, wrong, with the house in Oak Park and with life in general. But to have David in front of me, to smell him, to look into his eyes – it made my heart race, but in the right way.