Come Undone by Jessica Hawkins Read Free Book Online

threw open the
cupboards. Once I found a towel, I flipped on the faucet and wet it. When I
turned from the sink, a small white hand towel pressed against the impurity on
my breast, my gaze fell familiarly on those hooded eyes from the theater. The
flush instantly returned and I was back there, as if no time had passed,
frozen. I racked my brain; had we invited him? I didn’t know; couldn’t know. I
had no idea who he was.
    He flattened his hands on the surface of the island and jutted his
hips out behind him. “Tell me your name.” His thick voice was my desire
manifested. Words stuck in my mouth, choking me. It never occurred to me to
question the intensity of his question, the urgency in his voice. “What’s your
fucking name?” It wasn’t malicious, but pleading.
    “Olivia,” I replied levelly, not recognizing my own voice.
    “Olivia,” he repeated, momentarily satisfied. He reached a long
arm over the island and placed his hand over my mine – the one that held,
now clutched, the towel. Goosebumps lighted over my body at the contact, and I
shuddered slightly. He took it from me, and I dropped my hand as he rounded the
island, his eyes never leaving mine. Before I realized what was happening, he
was there with the damp towel in his hand, pressed against my breast. “Olivia,”
he said softly. “I’m desperate to know you.”
    My lashes fluttered underneath him. I’d remembered his eyes as
dark, but they were an indisputable light chestnut brown, intensified a
thousand times by his jet black, bushy eyebrows. Their golden-brown color
misaligned with his mysteriousness, almost painting him as divine-like. His
freshly shaven jawline was angular and ended with a cleft chin, the only soft
curve among otherwise chiseled features.
    I tore my eyes from his gaze and looked down, swallowing so I
might say something. I didn’t quite know if I should protest his brazen
approach, or if I should listen to my body and move against him. Before I had a
chance to respond though, Bill’s laugh floated in from the other room. I half-leaped
back to the sink as he blew through the door with a leftover smile from his
boisterous guffaw. He did not even notice the man, but came straight to me at
the sink and linked his arm around my waist, leaning down to kiss my forehead.
    “Livs,” he exclaimed. “Hugh insists the Bulls are headed toward
defeat so I had to set him straight.” His loud voice carried back into the
party.
    “Your husband is this close to betting your down payment on the
playoffs,” Hugh called from the other room, “and I can’t say I haven’t warned
him.” I forced a small laugh for Bill while my insides turned over, and my
heart fluttered like a trapped butterfly.
    “Anyway,” he continued, “I just came for the sweets.” He smiled,
just for me, and placed an oversized cupcake into a red napkin. Once he’d left,
I glanced back at the man who’d never stopped watching me. His eyes slowly
traveled the length of my left arm until they rested on my hand. I only had a
moment to try and comprehend his fallen expression before I heard footsteps
again. I moved around the island, distancing myself from his spell just as
Andrew waltzed into the kitchen.
    “Liv, where’ve you been?” he asked, just as he noticed the mystery
man whose face, I thought, revealed too much. “Ah, David. Got it. Always one
with the ladies.” Andrew laughed casually, nodding toward the man.
    David ,
I thought. A common name; nothing out of the ordinary. But now I repeated it to
myself behind sealed lips, as though it were the first time.
    “Actually, we’ve not yet met,” David said coolly, and I turned to
glare at him. He was calm and unperturbed, as if everything were normal. Slowly,
he scrunched up the sleeves of his black V-neck pullover and rolled up the
cuffs of the white button down underneath.
    I, on the other hand, had been startled into silence. I did my
best to mimic his relaxed stance, loosening my shoulders and