Date Night by Emma Holly Read Free Book Online Page A

impossibly.
    She was so lucky he’d fallen in love with her.
    “I know we’re playing hooky,” he said, “but now you’re playing hooky from me.”
    She wriggled around until she lay on her side as well. Her wavy red locks fell forward, reminding her she could use a trim. Despite their unkempt state, she didn’t sweep them back. Like a background that was meant to lull them into intimacy, the Atlantic waves broke foamingly on the shore. Olivia felt as if she were dreaming when she spoke.
    “I was wondering why I look at you and feel happy, when Sherri looks at
    Mark and sees everything she wishes he’d fix about himself.”
    “That’s easy. Clearly, I’m perfect.”
    “You are not,” she said, shoving his admirably buff chest. “No more than I am.”
    “You’re perfect to me.”

    “What about my shyness? Or the way I need to organize everything?”
    James shrugged one muscular shoulder. “Neither of those things are worth getting upset about.”
    “Why aren’t they, though? Why does Dan go ballistic when Kim buys a pair of shoes he thinks she’ll never wear, and you and I let stuff like that roll off us?”
    James’s dark brows puckered above his hazel eyes. “Are you suggesting we ought to fight about those things?”
    “No. I’m just wondering why we’re different.”
    “I believe I told you why we’re different the day I proposed. You and I are soulmates. We’ve been married in lots of lives before.”
    Olivia rolled her eyes even though she loved hearing him say this - as she was sure he knew. James was endearingly proud of being romantic. “How do you know our friends aren’t soulmates as well? Can’t soulmates be grumpy?”
    James cocked his head, his expression the one he got any time he heard an idea that started his gears turning. His willingness to entertain other people’s viewpoints was part of what made him an excellent CEO.
    “I suppose they could be,” he said.
    “And,” Olivia said, encouraged by his attitude, “how do you know for sure I’m everything you need in a partner?”
    And then she saw it: the tiniest shadow shuttering his friendly hazel eyes. At first, she thought the emotion the shadow inspired in her was fear. Her chest did go tight, and adrenaline certainly surged into her veins. When she looked inside herself, however, fear wasn’t what she found. James loved her. That she knew as surely as the earth going round the sun. Strange as it sounded, she thought her reaction to the idea that James had a secret might be excitement.
    Intrigued, she sat up and looked down at him, her hand pressed to the place where her heart pounded in her chest. They both liked to swim every morning before they drove to work, and she was nearly as fit as him. Her red bikini wasn’t something she was embarrassed to be seen in. On the other hand, the way her nipples beaded painfully tight beneath it made her a tad self-conscious. Luckily, James was peering into her eyes right then.
    But maybe it wasn’t nice to call that lucky when his expression was so
    concerned.
    “There is something,” she breathed, giving voice to her suspicions.
    “Something you want that I’m not giving you.”
    “Liv,” he cautioned.
    “Is it the games?” she asked, her pulse drumming harder. “Do you wish we played them more often?”
    He blushed, something he almost never did. His coloring was naturally dark, and usually it hid embarrassment. She glanced at his Speedo, which he carried off a good deal better than most men half his age - and never mind that his choice of swimwear sometimes gave their twenty-something daughter conniptions. If Violet had been around, instead of minding the store at Forster Media, he’d have had to cover himself. His cock was swelling inside the stretchy fabric, the swiftness of its rise and his not insignificant size creating an effect that was thoroughly X-rated.

    Apparently, he couldn’t make it go down by reciting baseball scores. As soon as he saw her