Out Of My Dress

Olivia's POV

Twenty-four hours of self-therapy, of convincing myself that what happened the previous day hadn't happened at all.

That all goes down the drain when I look across the massive pool and my eyes meet intense hazel ones, shamelessly looking me over with approval.

Among all the people, the whole lot of them, my stupid eyes had decided to land on what made my tummy flip and what made the joints in my knees momentarily useless.

Even as I had been getting ready to come here for the barbeque, my subconscious had been praying that I wouldn't see Shayne here.

But here she was. Looking so hot it was sinful.

"Honey, are you sure you don't want to stay with us?"

I almost forgot about my parents as they stood on either side of me, my mother looking a little too nervous.

I tore my eyes away from Shayne and subtly placed my palms against my cheeks in an attempt to hide the blush that obviously showed.

"Don't worry, mother. No one's going to eat me alive."

"Tell that to the hungry stares that are coming your way."

I rolled my eyes at her and turned to my dad, making sure to avoid bumping gazes with a specific pair of hazel ones.

"Dad, would you please talk to her?" I said as I looked up at him. He seemed a little distracted, but I figured maybe he was also worried for no reason like my mother.

In the next second, I was pulled away from my parents by an excited Christina.

"Hello, Mr and Mrs. Ryans," Christina said, not even waiting for a reply from them before rushing me back into the mansion.

We half-ran up the stairs, through the wide hallways and into her room.

"What's wrong?" I asked breathlessly as she closed the door.

"Nothing, Miss. Melodramatic. What happened yesterday?"

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "I've got every reason to be melodramatic. What you said wasn't any of Shayne's business, and you know that."

"I know and I'm sorry. But did you have to leave like that?"

"Actually, yes, so I'm not apologizing for that. Now can we please go back to the barbeque." Even as I said it, the dread of going back out was prominent.

"Sure, but I was just making sure you were okay. I'm sorry again."

"It's fine."

I wasn't planning on dwelling on this matter for too long before I'd have a panic attack over realizing that it couldn't be erased.

She hugged me. "Thank you. Before we get back to the barbeque, will you please wait here for a minute? I've got a couple of errands to run before I actually start to enjoy this party."

"Do you need my help?"

"Not at all, you're my guest. Mom would kill me if she knew I let you help. I won't be long, don't run off."

"Cool, I'll be here."

Barely five minutes passed before I started to get incredibly bored and decided Christina would just have to forgive me.

I got up and left the room, walking down the hallway that led to the grand staircase.

When I reached the first step, I froze when I noticed Shayne standing with some guy at the bottom of the staircase.

They seemed to be in a heated conversation. The usual smirk I had seen from the previous day was no longer playing across her full lips, and was replaced by a deep frown.

My gaze immediately took advantage to devour the beauty in sight.

Due to the black baseball cap on her head, I couldn't exactly see her face, but that didn't stop me from admiring the rest of her.

The long and thick dark curls that were gathered against her nape by the snap of the cap looked irresistible. The sleeve tattoos that embraced her caramel colored arms looked inviting. The firmness under her gray T-shirt was sure to keep a set of defined abs.

The black Amiri sweats looked really good on her as they met a pair of gray and black Air Jordans.

When I looked back up to try and admire her face again, I realized that whatever conversation had been going on had stopped, and Shayne was now looking right at me, the smirk back on to torment me.

There's no turning back, you coward. I told myself as I bravely took a step down.

I continued to descend the steps cautiously, knowing that if I looked up into those hazel eyes, my mind would falter and my legs would give way under me.

That would be totally embarrassing.

But then on the last two steps—trust me, I was counting—the same stupid sea greens I called my eyes looked up into Shayne's dreamy hazel ones and just as I predicted, my mind collapsed and my legs lost their purpose.

Gravity didn't waste time to take advantage of my current inabilities as it gladly cleared a path for me to stumble forward.

The squeal in my throat didn't make it out when a set of firm hands gripped my sides, keeping me from possible life-time embarrassment.

Unfortunately, those hands had tattoos that I was secretly and rapidly beginning to get too fond of.

Why me?

"Are you okay? Maybe we should get you out of those shoes," that swoon-worthy husky voice said.

Or out of my dress.

I gulped nervously at my unnecessary thoughts as my gaze jumped to Shayne's eyes, at the same time catching a whiff of that yummy woodsy lavender cologne. Mmmm.

My hands had landed on her shoulders to keep from smashing myself against her. So I decided to look at my hands instead, rather than those intimidating eyes that managed to look concerned at the moment.

"Thanks." I nervously pushed back a lock of hair behind my ear, my deep blush no doubt an unhealthy shade. "My shoes are fine. They aren't even that high," I muttered.

Really, they weren't. But it wasn't like I could explain why I was a clutz all of a sudden.

And it dawned on me that with the two steps between us and the five-inch wedges, we stood at eye level, and it would be so easy to just lean forward and...

I heard a throat clearing before I realized that we weren't exactly alone.

I turned my face to see the man Shayne had been talking to before, a forced smirk smacked across his mouth.

I made to move, but Shayne's hands remained gripped against my waist.

When I found the courage to look at her eyes, I found them focused on something else.

My mouth.

Breathe, damn it. I told myself when I suddenly forgot how to.

"Shay, why don't you introduce me to your friend?"

I couldn't tell if it was the realization that we weren't alone or if it was the sly mention of friend that made Shayne to suddenly let go me after steadying me on my feet.

Was the idea of being a friend that repulsive to her. I knew I wasn't Meghan Fox or Nicki Minaj, but, dude, at least have some mercy.

Shayne cleared her throat repeatedly before turning away from me with a disgusted scowl and facing the guy beside her.

You can't even bare to look at me? Wow, I'm killing it as a repellent over here.

But then in the next second, Shayne was grasping my hand and forcing me down the steps, before I ended up crushing into her side, and nestling there.

What the...

"This is Olivia, my girlfriend."

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