“Listen.” Logan slides his hand to my hip, and for a split second, I wish it wasunderthe silk instead of over it. “I get it. I have a sister, and I’d be pissed if she brought home some guy we didn’t know. Hell, we’d be pissed if she brought anyone home. So I really get it.”
“I don’t know you, man. And I don’t trust people I don’t know,” Killian argues, and that idea about kicking his shin rears its ugly head again.
“Then it’s a good thing I trust him,” I snap, already over this. “Listen. I love you, big brother, but I still have to deal with Mom and Dad and the uncles and probably an aunt or ten. And in case you didn’t notice, I was basically about to jump my husband before you came over here and interrupted us. So get over this pissing contest you’re currently taking part in and realize you’ve lost. You don’t own me.” I look over my shoulder at a smiling Logan. “And neither do you.”
“Never said I did, Olive.” He winks, and his dimple pops, and I really,reallywant to run my lips over that dimple. “I know better.”
“Go make the rounds, Killian. See your friends. Do your thing and get the hell out of my hair so I can do the same. Okay?” I might be the little sister, but I will never be made to feel small orprotected. I didn’t like it when I was a teenager, and I certainly don’t like it now that I’m a grown woman.
“You can’t even let me scare him a little?” Killer whines, actually fucking whines, and not for the first time, I wonder how grown men who train to beat people for a living are petrified of my brother.
“For fuck sake, Kill, he’s not scared. He skates on a piece of steel an eighth of an inch thick that’s as sharp as a damn knife. He’s as big as you and as strong as you and as loyal as you. He hasn’t moved an inch, and the only reason he’s standing behind me is because his dick is hard. Now. Back. Off.”
“What the fuck. Olivia... I don’t need to know that shit. Seriously.” Killian’s previously red face takes on a green tint. “Good luck, man. If you make it to Thanksgiving, I owe you a drink.” He pounds Logan’s shoulder as he walks off, and I contemplate the consequences of leaving now. Avoiding the headache that’s still to come and jumping right to the point where I try to seduce my husband again and hope this dress might have done its job and weakened his resistance.
Logan lowers his head, his warm breath skimming the shell of my ear. “You like the shock factor, don’t you, Olive?”
“My family has always tried to place me in a box.Little sister.Youngest daughter. They think I need to be protected. That it’s their job. But I don’t. One day, they’ll realize I’m capable of protecting myself. And if reminding them I’m a grown woman—with a brain and a career and a home and now a family of her own—every once in a while, in a way they might not want to think of me, gets them to back the hell off, then so be it.”
“Such a vicious little thing.” He kisses my temple and I’m pretty sure sniffs my hair. “Now introduce me to your uncles.”
“Why? Feel like going through that exact same conversation again? They’re going to pull the same shit as Killian just did. There’ll just be more of them ganging up on you. And knowingmy mom and her siblings’ strangely codependent relationships, they probably already know we’re married, even though we asked her not to say anything. It’s like they just can’t help themselves.”
“No, Liv. I don’t particularly feel like being threatened again, but it’s a small price to pay.” He offers me his arm.
“To pay for what?” I ask as I link my arm through his, bracing for the inevitable impact of the Kingston siblings.
“To dance with my wife. Let’s go get this over with.”
“So...” I ask after dinner when Logan finally pulls me against him on the dance floor much,muchlater that night. “You decide I’m not worth the hassle yet?”
“Why?” He spins us around so my back is to my family and my focus is finally on only him. “You’ve known me for over a decade, Olivia. Have I ever given you the impression I give up easily?”
“Why do you do that?” Logan wraps an arm around my waist, his warm palm pressed against the bare skin at the small of my back. Calloused fingers slip just under the edge of the silk. “Switch between calling me Olivia and Liv?”
The band switches to a beautiful James Bay song, and we sway slowly to the opening notes, while the soft string lights give everyone beneath them a beautiful golden glow under the stars of this beautiful night. “Because twelve years ago, when I finally got you to talk to me, you told me to call you Olivia. It was that first weekend of freshman year. The party in the quad. The one with the water balloons. You were in a cropped Revolution t-shirt and short black shorts that made your legs look a mile long.And when I got up the nerve to talk to you, you told me your name was Olivia.”
My heart stutters in my chest with foggy memories of that party. Of my roommate hooking up with Rafe. And every girl on campus flirting with Logan. “The nerve? You didn’t seem nervous. If I remember correctly, you were surrounded by girls all night.”
“Think harder, Olive.” His fingers slip lower, and a chill skates down my spine. One that has Logan grinning like he knows exactly what he just did and if I play my cards right, he might just do it again. “I don’t remember any of them. The only thing I remember is trying to get your attention all night.”
I think back to that night.
To that entire time in my life.
“I was going through a phase. I wanted everyone to call me Olivia back then. It worked while I was away at school but never here.” I tilt my head back and look up at this man I can’t quite figure out and remember thinking there was no way he was interested in me. My roommate was way more his speed. I wasn’t surprised at all when she dated Rafe. She was fun and flirty and never took anything seriously. She was my opposite in every way. Tall and beautiful and athletic. And I wasn’t. “I remember wanting to reinvent myself so badly, but it never really worked.”
“Why?” He hangs on each word like they mean everything. Like they hold the keys to the kingdom. “Why would you want to change?”
It’s hard to remember what life was like back then. Feeling like an outsider in your own family sucks. “I don’t know. I just wanted to fit in. I wanted to be more like everyone else. At least I thought I did.”
“Damn, Olive. You always stood out. Even when you were trying to blend in. Trying to hide. I’d never met a more confidentwoman. Not back then. Hell, I still haven’t. You were smart and self-assured and beautiful. You didn’t fake it. You justwere. No one could hold a candle to you. They still can’t.”
A warmth spreads in my chest.
One I can’t explain.
“What made you stop?” he pushes and takes my hand in his, resting it over his heart.