But when Ollie raised one leg straight up, I got a great view of his manly parts. Oh wow, the sight of his dick and his balls made me flash back to earlier, in my room, when we'd gotten hot and heavy---and I'd come like a supernova. God, he was fantastic in bed.
What would it be like to have sex with him outdoors?
I froze, stunned by own thought. Holy shit. I wanted to have sex outdoors.
But only with Oliver Jackson.
No, I couldn't do that. It wasn't proper. And what if someone caught us? What if my family found out I'd not only done the deed with a virtual stranger, but I'd done it outdoors?
I let my head fall back against the chair and expelled a long sigh. Why did I still care what my parents thought? I'd always done what they wanted, what they expected, and it had gotten me exactly nowhere. Sure, I'd done okay with the apartment complex. But I was divorced. Another failure.
My phone rang.
The noise made me jump, and I fumbled to get my phone out of its little case. I twisted around, trying to dig the phone out, but my fingers slipped. I lost my balance, since I'd apparently been leaning too far over, and flopped onto the ground with a yelp.
Crunch.
I'd landed on my stomach. My phone stopped ringing just as my chest collided with the ground---and crushed Ollie's glasses in my pocket.
Pushing up onto my knees, I winced as I pulled his glasses out. The lenses were broken.
"Are you all right?" Ollie asked, rushing over to kneel beside me.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I said, kind of whining when I spoke the words. I squeezed my eyes shut and offered him his glasses. "I'll pay for replacing them. It's my fault, I'm sorry."
He took the glasses. "It's okay, Mara. I have a backup pair."
"I'm such a klutz. A walking disaster."
"Come on, it's not like you shoved that iceberg into the Titanic." He laid a palm on my cheek, his thumb brushing over my skin. "Relax. Everybody has accidents."
I moaned miserably.
"Open your eyes," he said. "It's okay. Look at me, Mara."
Though I didn't want to, I looked at him.
He smiled and kissed me. It was soft and brief, but the feel of his lips made my tummy flutter.
"See?" he said, waving his other hand to indicate our surroundings. "You didn't destroy the world. I'd call that a win."
I couldn't help smiling. How did he know exactly what to do and say to make me feel better?
Ollie set his broken glasses on the chaise and helped me up. "I'll get my backup glasses and then we can take that hike. Would you be more comfortable if I got dressed?"
"No, that's okay. I'm getting used to being around naked people."
He kissed me again, then grabbed his glasses and headed for the little house.
I slumped onto my chaise, frowning down at the ground.
My phone rang again.
This time, I carefully pulled it out of its case. The screen told me who was calling---Nico. Oh great, that's exactly who I wanted to talk to right now. I didn't want to talk to him ever again, but I knew he wouldn't give up until I did.
So I answered. "What do you want, Nico?"
"I miss you, Mar-Mar. When are you coming home?"
"When I feel like it. And my name is Mara, not Mar-Mar. You know I hate that nickname."
"But you used to love it when I called Mar-Mar while we were making love."
I huffed. "No, I hated it then too. You ignored me when I told you so."
"We were good together. Let's not throw that away."
Good together? Was he on drugs? And he had filed for divorce, so he had no right to imply I'd thrown our relationship away. He did that all on his own. I knew my ditsy behavior had pushed him away, but he hadn't even tried to work things out. Even when I'd learned about his infidelity, I tried to work it out with him. What an idiot. I was better off without him.
"You and I are divorced," I told him. "That's the definition of 'over.' Stop calling and texting me, Nico, or I'll get a restraining order."
I hung up on him. And I had no idea if I could get a restraining order because my ex-husband was annoying the hell out of me. I hoped the threat would convince him to go away.
A throat-clearing behind me made me jump and squeak.
"Sorry," Ollie said, coming around in front of me. He wore his backup glasses, which looked just like his wrecked ones. "Didn't mean to scare you, but I kind of thought you hadn't noticed me there. Guess I could've done something more smooth to let you know."
"It's fine." I got up. "Let's go for that hike."
He screwed up his mouth and hummed like he was trying to decide whether to tell me something.
"What is it?" I asked, sounding a touch more...touchy than I'd intended.
"I sort of accidentally overheard the last part of that phone call. Your end of it, anyway."
"Oh." My shoulders slumped. "I suppose you figured out I was talking to my ex-husband."
"Yeah." He took my hand. "Let's talk while we walk."
I let him lead me down the nature trail into the woods. Birds twittered and sang. The breeze ruffled the trees. Above us, the sunlight filtered down to the ground, muted by the foliage, and its warmth seemed muted too. The heat I'd experienced while watching Ollie do yoga had given way to a slight chill.
Ollie led me down the path until we reached a spot where a downed tree lay alongside the trail. He motioned for me to sit on it.
I settled my bottom onto the tree. It was surprisingly comfortable to use as a bench.
He sat right next to me and clasped my hand again. "You don't have to tell me anything."
"But I want to. Not sure why,
