Love and Submission

Chapter Sixteen

“So what did you tell her?” Connor asked from his current decadent lounge across her bed.

“I got caught up with Kitty.”

“Really?” Yea the last week she’d gotten ‘lost’ everyday. Well except one. She decided she needed to change it up a bit and said she’d bumped into Kitty. She’d then had to call her and oh what a catch-up session that was. Kitty made her describe s*x with Connor in detail. Not that it was a bad thing necessarily but Olivia was still slightly uncomfortable with having gone from virtually having no s*x at all to having it every single day in the space of a few days. Connor, the overgrown imp that he was, enticed her out for a run every day. Claiming she needed to build up stamina and learn to control her moods better. What a load of crap that was. The only thing he wanted her to work up was an appetite for him, which she inevitably did. Then she had to come up with yet another excuse as to why she was arriving home in the dark after a run of several hours. “I hate to say this babe but your mom is kind of dumb.” Olivia snorted.

“You hate to say it huh? Maybe I wouldn’t have to keep lying to her if you’d ever actually let me get home on time.” Connor pretended to think about it even posing with a finger on his perfect chin. She rolled her eyes and pounced on him causing him to laugh.

“It’s not like I’m the only one to blame on that front dearest. You just look so delicious in that little running outfit.” He leaned up onto his elbows so she could bend down and kiss him. Obviously she did. After all, an offer like that was not to be passed up. She sighed happily and smiled against his lips.

“So now once more, what are you going to talk about with my parents tonight?” He laughed and collapsed back onto her bed.

“Well I thought I’d start with telling them that I and my entire family were werewolves, yes those kinds of werewolves.” He said as if he were speaking to them right now. She scowled, not amused by his sarcasm. “Then I thought I’d launch into a description of how delectable a daughter they produced. Using the absolute limit of my flattering vocabulary which believe you me is quite extensive. Then I could tell them how I turned you into a werewolf too, though that was an accident, but how could I resist? You were so…you and then you tried to run. I’ll tell them I was completely and instantly overtaken by the strongest love I’ve ever felt.” He smiled up at her glaring eyes and winked. “How will that do?”

“Cute.” She said and slapped his chest.

“Hey.” He rubbed the spot as she climbed off him and flopped next to him. “I was teasing Liv. It’s nothing you need to get all worked up over. We’ve been over the entire range of topics and possible outcomes repeatedly. I promise not to embarrass you.” She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“I’m only half worried about you embarrassing yourself. The other half is totally worrying about my parents being…my parents.” He chuckled again and rolled to his side wrapping a big warm arm around her waist.

“Relax, love. I live in a house full of werewolves with a father whose brain stopped maturing at the age of sixteen. Trust me I can handle whatever they throw at me.”

“My mother is more than likely going to accuse you of impregnating me.” She stared into Connor’s face daring him to lose the fight against the smile.

“I promise not to infer in anyway shape or form that you and I even think about each other naked.” He even held up a hand in the scout’s honor pose.

“Were you even a boy scout?” He smiled impishly and nodded.

“For like a week.” She giggled and slapped at his hand playfully.

“You are impossible.” His smile widened.

“Perhaps you should spank me.” He waggled his eyebrows at her and she was about to respond when her mother’s voice rang down the stairs.

“Olivia, are you almost ready? He’s going to be here soon!” Olivia snickered. He was already there, making an insanely naughty face at her while pinning her arms to her bed.

“Give me ten more minutes mom I’ll be right there.” She called back fighting to keep the giggles in when Connor pouted. They waited until they heard the footsteps leave before she wiggled out of his not tight grasp and kissed him. “Okay so you should probably get going because even my mother would have trouble with you arriving from the basement instead of the front door.” He stuck his tongue out at her petulantly and slipped his shirt back over his head.

“I got to head back to my place and get changed anyway. This is hardly presentable.” He motioned to his t shirt that was most definitely ‘well loved’. She frowned at him.

“Then you’ll be late though.”

“What?” He looked completely confused.

“Your house isn’t that close right?” He blinked at her for a few minutes and then grinned broadly.

“My parents place is upstate but I have an apartment nearby.” Her eyes nearly bugged out. He had his own apartment? How had she not known that? “Honestly Liv how did you think I was changing everyday?”

“You forget I’ve ridden in your car. Besides like I know how fast a full grown werewolf can run.” He smirked and nodded simultaneously.

“Well FYI we can run really, really fast but we’re made for endurance not speed. And I don’t drive that fast.” He opened the window and made hopping out of it look ridiculously easy.

“Yes you do. See you in a half hour?” He nodded once, blew her a kiss, and then disappeared. She tore her room apart looking for something nice to wear and stopped halfway through. Connor had already seen her in just about everything she owned and in nothing but her skin. There really wasn’t a need for any of this. Yet somehow, it felt like it was what she needed to be doing. And besides. She could dress really nice and maybe put him on the defensive for a change. She grinned wickedly and bee lined for her closet. Oh…yes…

“Olivia dear stop fussing with your hair.” Her mother said for the umpteenth time. She couldn’t help it she was nervous and fiddling with her hair or clothes was one of the ways she expressed it. She didn’t want to ruin the dress that she had meticulously arranged for maximum distraction without being too obvious. So her hair paid the price. Her mother was trying not to smile and look stern but she wasn’t succeeding. Olivia frowned at her several times but it had little effect. Her dad was fidgeting in his chair and pretending not to notice the tizzy the women of the household seemed to be in.

“I can’t help it. Stupid hair, it never does what I want.” Her mother smiled knowingly and smoothed it back in place. “Now you are going to be nice to him right Mom? I mean it.”

“What do you think I’m going to do Olivia? I’m not an intimidating person.” Olivia decided snorting wasn’t going to get her wishes accomplished so she refrained.

“No mentioning babies, marriage, or long term anything okay? We’re high school kids. Nothing serious.” Her mother smiled again but nodded.

“We will try to contain ourselves. Still it must be serious on some level if you’re bringing him home to meet us.”

“You met Clark.” Olivia commented petulantly.

“He was your first love.” Olivia glowered but thought about that. She wasn’t really sure that what she had felt for Clark had been love. Now that she had Connor and this overwhelming need to be near him all the time and constantly worrying over him. It just wasn’t so easy to define it anymore. She had heard once that every love was different but her previous feelings towards Clark paled in comparison. She would probably categorize it as an infatuation now if she didn’t have the memory of them sleeping together. Somehow sleeping with someone she was only infatuated with made her feel trashy. Although, she slept with Connor and they didn’t really know each other that well. “Why are you blushing? Dear, you’ll ruin your makeup.” Her mother interrupted her thoughts making the blush deepen.

“I’m not wearing makeup. Mother, stop. Jeez.” She batted her mother’s hands away and heard the crunch of tires on gravel. Realizing in time that her parents probably couldn’t hear them she had no choice but to feign oblivion. Of course, that was easier said than done when every cell in her body was keyed up. She really needed to reality check this situation at some point in the near future. It wasn’t healthy to wrap yourself around one individual so completely. She was sure of it. She listened as Connor made his way up the driveway and then, unable to contain herself any longer, sprinted for the door so she could be there before he knocked. Her mother’s laughter followed her into the hall but she ignored it. She wrenched the door open as Connor was about to knock. He was standing in the doorway with his hand raised and everything. “Hey.” She smiled, felt something inside her unclench at seeing him and let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d held.

“Hey.” Connor smiled widely and then looked her over. Then went back to the floor and slowly looked her over. The ring of amber around his iris’ were more than enough by way of complimenting her outfit so she beamed a smile at him as she reached for his hand.

“Come in, come in. Everyone is in the dining room.” She helped him out of his coat and sighed happily when his arms snaked around her for a body-melding embrace.

“That’s just evil.” He breathed into her ear. She pulled back enough just to give him wide innocent eyes.

“I was helping with your coat.”

“The dress Liv, and you know damn well what I meant. How am I supposed to behave when you’re dressed like that?” She shrugged and flashed a wicked grin of her own.

“I don’t know guess you’ll have to figure something out.” She squirmed out of the embrace before one or both of her parents came looking but Connor grasped her hand firmly and wouldn’t let it go. She watched in quiet fear as he introduced himself to her parents and they all sat down at the table. It was silly because Connor it seemed was a master of charisma. He managed to somehow make them all smile within ten minutes of their introduction. Of course he would be charming and at ease with perfect strangers. He must have had many occasions where he didn’t know many people at the gathering being a Wahl and everything. She didn’t think it was entirely fair that he got brains, beauty, and grace with social situations but it worked for him. Maybe it was a trade off to the whole werewolf thing.

Okay, at ease was putting it mildly she thought as the evening progressed to dinner. Even her siblings were infatuated with him. He knew just enough about everything to be a part of any conversation they could throw at him. He was currently detailing their first date to her mother. Well, detailing the way a high schooler would have she supposed. Connor was after all old enough to have his own apartment. The ‘date’ he described was their mall trip. She hadn’t really felt that was a date but the picture he painted sure sounded pretty. Of course he left out meeting his parents and the werewolf nonsense up until that point when explaining how he had managed to convince Olivia to go out with him. She realized with a pang that they didn’t actually do ‘date’ things. They did wolf things. They ran, they chased, and they talked about wolf rules and wolf culture and sometimes about themselves. But still even that seemed only what was directly affected by being a werewolf. She had no idea what Connor’s dreams for his future were or any plans he might have in that direction. Had he been planning to go to college before their meeting in the woods?

“I’m sorry I have to interrupt here.” Her father’s voice derailed her thought train fast. He had in fact interrupted her internal machinations but she doubted that was what he’d meant. She blinked. Where had her siblings got to? And when had her mother brought out the pie? She was going to do that part. She felt her face frown as she tried to determine just how much time had passed while she had been introspecting. “I understand that you’re young and everything but doesn’t this seem a little…fast?” Olivia winced. Apparently she had misread which parent was going to be maddeningly blunt this evening.

“I’m not sure what you mean by that?” Connor didn’t seem upset by the question just genuinely confused. Her mother was shooting death glares at her father but he wasn’t paying attention. Or he was ignoring her, either was a possibility.

“Olivia has a future ahead of her, a bright future.” She would have groaned if it would have diverted this train of conversation at all. She really felt like tossing something at her ridiculous over assuming parents but that too would have gotten her nowhere.

“I’m aware of that sir.” Actually, he wasn’t. That was kind of the problem she had just discovered. He knew she’d be a werewolf and in all likelihood attached to him for the rest of her days. Maybe he considered that bright, how did she know? That’s right, she didn’t!

“She’s going to go out into the world and do things. Become somebody. Not get married at eighteen to a boy she met in high school.” Olivia’s mouth dropped open. It was a damned shame she was out of kicking distance because her father’s shin clearly needed a little bit of foot attention.

“I know that too.” Connor replied with an easy smile. There was tense moment of silence at the table so Olivia took the opportunity to drink. This was spiraling out of control way too fast. “But one day I am going to ask you to marry her, so I thought it would be good for you to start getting to know me.” Olivia spit her drink back into her cup and choked on the little that had actually gone down. Connor stared at her father with the utmost patience and confidence. Like he’d just uttered divine truth and there wasn’t a damn thing anyone could do about it. Okay so there probably wasn’t, all things considered, but still. That didn’t mean it needed to be said in that absolute manner.

“Oh really?” Her father intoned with arms crossed over his chest. “And you know exactly how you’re going to feel years from now do you?” Connor flashed another megawatt smile and gripped her hand comfortingly.

“I know what I want.” He replied. Funny that wasn’t entirely comforting.

“Hmm.” Her mother made some noise about the time so they all thankfully decided to end the evening. She walked Connor out to his car and frowned at his pleasant expression.

“I think it went pretty good.” He said with a shrug.

“Yeah it was great til you asked my dad for my hand in marriage.”

“That isn’t what I said.” He replied with a giggle.

“Pretty close.”

“No I said someday. I was stating my intentions.” Olivia sighed loudly.

“Yeah except we’re eighteen or at least I am so ‘stating intentions’ isn’t exactly kosher with the parentals.” He laughed again the leaned in to kiss her forehead.

“It was fine trust me. No parent wants to admit their child is grown up.” She harrumphed but didn’t comment further. If he was going to insist on being logical she wasn’t going to encourage it. “I’ll be back later. You can continue to ream me then okay?” She stuck her tongue out but kissed him before he got into his car. Definitely not one of their more passionate lip locks but then she had a feeling her mother at least was watching them from the house. She sighed again before making her way inside. Aftermath was going to just be wonderful.