The love of my life.

I truly did love her. I loved her so much that it almost hurt. I’d never imagined I could fall in love with someone so hard and so fast.

“Layton, are you even paying attention?”

I glanced up at Olivia. “Oh, sorry, Liv.”

“I’m having second thoughts about marrying Justin.”

Nothing—I felt nothing for Olivia.

“Oh yeah? Why’s that, Liv?”

She looked at me and gave me a small smile. “He’s not you. He could never be you, Layton. Please, please can we just maybe go for a ride or something? I really need you right now.”

I pushed myself off the wall. “Is that so? Kind of like when I really needed you after my brother died, and instead of being there, you walked out on me?”

She started to shake her head. “No! Layton, I didn’t want to leave. It was just…you were so upset, and so…I don’t know. It was like a part of you was missing, and it scared me. I didn’t know how to deal with that.”

“A part of me was missing, Liv. A big part of me is still missing. All I needed you to do was stay with me, hold me, and show me you loved me to prove I wasn’t alone in this fucked-up world.”

She started to walk toward me. “I can do that now, Layton. I promise you, I’ll never leave you again. I promise. Just please…give me another chance. I’m begging you. I’ve loved you since we were young kids. Layton…please.”

She went to reach out for me, and I put my hand up.

“Stop. Just stop this, Olivia. We were never in love.”

She shook her head. “Don’t say that, Layton.”

“We weren’t in love. We were in lust, Liv. I thought I loved you, but someone has taught me what real love is. She has totally opened up her heart and soul to me, and she trusts me to take care of her, to love her with no conditions. I can’t even stand the thought of being away from her for more than five minutes. My heart stops when she walks into a room or when she smiles at me. When I hear her laugh, I just want to make her laugh more because it makes me feel so happy.”

Olivia rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Oh, please, Layton. Did you fuck her last night? You know that’s all this is, don’t you, baby? She’s just another girl who you’ve taken to bed to try and forget about me. But, baby, I’m here now. We can be together. I know what I had, and I’m ready to take it back.”

I felt heat rising in my body. “Don’t you ever talk about Whitley like that again.”

“So, it’s Whitley who’s here. For Christ’s sake, Layton, you barely know that girl. I don’t trust her anyway. She’s hiding something. I don’t think this is a good idea, baby. Come on, you go tell her to pack up her shit and leave, and then let’s go for a ride.”

I just stood there, listening to her crazy talk. “Get out.”

“I know how hard the last six months have been, Layton, but I’m here now, baby.”

I let out a long sigh. “Get the fuck out of my house right now, Olivia.”

Her mouth dropped open. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. I want you to leave my house, and so help me God, if I ever see or hear of you talking to Whitley in any negative sort of way or if I find out you’re digging into her life, I’ll make you pay for it. I love her, and I’ll do whatever it takes to protect her. Do you understand me?”

“You’re insane, do you know that? You don’t know a damn thing about this girl. She’s only after you for your money, Layton! How can you say you love her? You’ve only known her for, what? Two weeks?”

I turned and opened the door. “Get the hell out of my house, and go back to Justin, Olivia. You two were made for each other.”

She squared off her shoulders and started out the door, but then she stopped right in front of me. “You don’t know what you’re walking away from here.”

I laughed and gave her a wink. “Oh, the hell I don’t. I know exactly what I’m walking away from. Just like I know what I’m walking toward—happiness and love.”

She turned and walked away. “Good luck with that.”

I shut the door and turned to see Whitley standing there with both dogs lying at her feet. She was leaning up against the doorjamb, wearing nothing but one of my T-shirts.

I instantly smiled and shook my head. “Damn, Whit, you sure look good in my shirt.”

The smile that spread across her face made my legs shake and my stomach drop.

Shit, I love this girl standing in front of me.

She slowly started making her way over to me. “This shirt sure feels good on me.”

I smiled wider. “Oh yeah? I bet it would feel even better if you took it off.”

She threw her head back and laughed. She glanced down at the tray and then back up at me.

“You hungry, babe? It’s probably all cold now.”

She moved up to me and placed her hands on my chest. The moment she touched me, I felt electricity move through my body.

She looked up at me with those beautiful deep green eyes that just sparkled. “I’m hungry…but not for food.” She raised her eyebrows.

I literally felt my stomach do a flip. Reaching down, I picked her up and made my way back toward my bedroom. I walked past the bed and went straight into the bathroom. I set her down on the bench and turned on the shower.

“I need to take a shower,” I said with a wink. I glanced down and saw her rubbing her legs together.

Fuck me. I want her so damn bad.

She bit down on her lower lip, and something in me snapped. I walked up and grabbed her, pulling her up to me.

I placed my hands on her face and looked into her eyes. “Whitley, you drive me crazy. How do you do this? How do you make me feel so insane?”

She smiled slightly. “Layton, I want you so much that I can’t even breathe.”

I pulled the T-shirt over her head and picked her up. She wrapped her legs around me and started kissing me with so much passion that I could feel it pouring into my body from hers. Our tongues explored each other, and she let out a moan.

I walked into the shower and pushed her against the wall. I slammed my dick inside her.

“Oh God…yes!” she called out.

Last night had been all about love. Now, it was all about passion.

“Harder, Layton…please…I just need to feel only you.”

I bit down on her lower lip and sucked on it as I pumped faster and harder into her body. I felt her getting tighter around my dick, and I almost wanted to stop just to make this last longer.

“Oh God! Layton, I’m going to come,” she said as the water cascaded down her face.

“Whitley…oh God, baby, it feels so fucking good.”

I felt myself pouring into her as she called out my name over and over. I swore I could feel every ounce of me, down to the last drop, spill into her body.

I stood there, holding her against the shower wall, both of us trying desperately to catch our breaths.

“Whitley…for so long, I’ve been standing in the rain…withering away. I just wanted to forget everything. I did things, things I’m not proud of.”

She wrapped her arms around me tighter. I swore I thought I heard her crying.

“The moment you walked into my life, I knew you were what I’d been looking for. I knew you were the one who would save me from this broken shell of a man I had become. Please, baby…have faith in me, and I promise you, I’ll love you forever.”

I slowly let her slide down my body. I pushed her hair away and cupped her face in my hands. The tears were running down her cheeks, mixing with the hot water.

“Layton, he broke me so badly, and I’ve been so afraid to ever open my heart again. I never thought I would feel this way, but you…” She started crying harder.

My heart was breaking for her.

“You told me last night I healed you, but you healed me just as much. I love you, Layton. I’ll love you forever, too.”

I slammed my lips to hers as I picked up her wet body. I reached over, turned off the water, and brought her to the bed. I gently laid her down and crawled on top of her.

The moment I entered her body, I felt all the anger, fear, and doubt just leave my body. Our wet bodies moved together in sync. It wasn’t long before we were both calling out each other’s names again.

She was my angel who had been sent to me from Mike. I felt it so strongly. I knew Mike had sent her to me.

I pulled her next to me and held on to her as tightly as I could.

I was finally happy, finally at peace.

Chapter Fifteen: Whitley

I opened my eyes when I heard Layton’s cell phone going off.

Oh shit! Courtney is probably freaking out. I never called her.

“Hey, Lucky, there better be a damn good reason you’re calling me. You interrupted the pure heaven I’ve been in.”

I smiled as I pulled the covers up and over my mouth to giggle.

Oh my God! I can’t believe this is happening to me. I swore off men. I was never going to fall in love again, but Layton…he loves me. I feel it in my heart.

I’d never felt like this with Roger, not even in the beginning. It had never felt so…powerful, so full of magic and love.

Layton sat up and smiled. “He’s here? No shit? How the fuck did they get him here so fast?”

He? Who in the hell is Layton talking about?

“We’ll be down in a few minutes. Yes…don’t run him until I get there.”

A horse—he must be talking about the horse he went to see last week.

He hung up the phone and leaned down toward me with the biggest smile on his face. He gently brushed his lips against mine, and I let out a slow, low moan. He pulled slightly away and kept his eyes closed.

“How is it even possible I could want you so badly again?”

I laughed as I ran my index finger down the side of his face. He opened his eyes, and I let out a gasp when I saw his beautiful blue eyes looking into mine.

I could barely talk. “Layton,” I whispered, “is it even possible to fall so madly in love with someone like this?”

He smiled that crooked smile of his, and I swore his eyes sparkled as he glanced down at my lips and then back into my eyes.

“Yes,” he whispered. “You wanna go see a horse?”

I laughed and nodded. “Yes! I want to be wherever you are.”

He reached down and kissed my nose. He jumped up and walked over toward his closet before turning back to look at me. “Your clothes?”

“I have spare clothes in my car,” I said with a wink.

He returned my wink with a panty-melting smile as he grabbed a pair of jeans and put them on. For some reason, the idea of him going commando turned me on even more. He walked out of his closet with flip-flops, and I fell back onto the pillow and moaned.

Holy shit. He makes fucking flip-flops look sexy as hell. A cowboy in damn flip-flops! Oh God, what is he doing to me?

I slowly moved my hand down and touched myself.

What in the hell is wrong with me?

I had such a damn pulsing feeling between my legs. I just needed it to stop.

How is it possible to have this much sex yet still be so damn horny?