The Rented Husband (Southern Nights Series)

Chapter 36

     He reached for her hand again, needing her to understand, wanting her to remember.  “Liv, please.  Your a smart woman, sit down and think a minute.  It should all come back to you.”

     She jerked her hand away from his, his touch was just too disconcerting for her.  He lunged for her again and she jumped off the bed, staggering out of his reach.  Her head spun, but she held on to the side of the bed, determined to make him leave.  “I don’t know why you’re here Mr. O’Connor, but I want you to leave- NOW.”

     She pointed at the door, and Brody felt everything slipping through his hands.  “Cupcake, you don’t mean that.  Listen,” he implored, coming around to the other side of the bed and placing his arms on her shoulders so she couldn’t continue to avoid him.  She turned her face away from him, not wanting to see that look of desperateness in his eyes.  “Look at me Liv,’ he insisted.

     There was something in the tone of his voice that she couldn’t refuse.  She couldn’t explain it, wasn’t even sure if she wanted to explain it.  Nothing was making any sense to her.  Slowly, she turned her head and met his intense gaze.

     “Think baby,” he said squeezing her shoulders, willing her to see.  “Remember our deal, our plan.” He almost laughed at himself at how ridiculous this all sounded in hindsight.  “You offered to pay me ten thousand dollars to pretend to be your husband on this trip so that your family would stay off your back.  You told me that you were tired of them setting you up with every Tom, Dick and Harry that they could rustle up.  I refused at first but then countered your offer when my own mother started in on me about marriage and grand kids.”  He paused to catch a breath.  “Together we agreed that we would play like we’re married to fend off both of our families.  Then there was the stalker, and Patton kidnapping you, the fight, the heroine...  but none of that matters now.  What matters is that your safe.“  

     She didn’t know what to say to him,  while it all sounded eerily familiar it also sounded ridiculously absurd to her. Her head was throbbing, her stomach was threatening to spill it’s contents, and she just couldn’t think straight.

     He smiled down at her, “In theory, it all sounded like the perfect plan but over time, something else happened Olivia.”  He bent down and pressed his forehead against hers, needing her to understand him.  “I can’t say when it happened Olivia or exactly how, but it did and now I can’t fight it anymore.  I fell in love, I fell in love with you.”

     Her breath hitched.  She didn’t even know this guy other than the reputation that preceded him.  He was a damn good lawyer, and he was a player.  He loved all the ladies which is precisely why she always maintained her distance from him.  She didn’t know his angle or why he was here in the first place, all she knew was that she wanted him gone.  

     “Mr. O’Connor,” She started, ripping herself from his grip.  Her heart was going about a thousand miles a minute and her fingers shook uncontrollably.  “I don’t know what you think you’re trying to prove by being here or what you want from me.  What I do know is that I don’t want you near me.”  He was way to male and way to dangerous in her opinion.  “If we made some kind of deal then when I return back to the states I’ll be more than happy to write your ten thousand dollar check.  If I made this deal, it’s over- we’re done.  You’re free to leave.”