More than Anyone

“You’re spoiling him,” Olivia said two hours later as she and Ben sat down on the concrete steps as Sammy ran along the glass that separated the water from the walkway, staring at the beluga whales swimming about in the large tank in wonderment.

Ben grinned, shrugging. “I used to love coming here as a kid,” he said. “No reason why Sammy shouldn’t be having a good time.” He watched as Sammy squealed with delight as one of the whales swam right past him then pressed his face to the glass. Ben smiled.

She smiled, watching her younger brother as well. “I just don’t see how stuffing him with pizza and nachos in the cafeteria aids him in having a good time.” She looked at Ben and he turned his head as well to look at her. “He likes you, you know.”

He smirked. “That’s just because I keep his stomach full whenever I’m around.”

Olivia let out a laugh and she shook her head. “No. I know he likes you because he let you kiss me. About two years ago, I was dating this guy, Greg. And he came by my parents’ house. You know. To meet the family.” Ben nodded his head. “Anyway, he came in and kissed me. Sammy didn’t like this at all however because the next thing I know, he had hit Greg in the... well, you know.” Ben burst out laughing and Olivia couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah. That was pretty much my dad’s reaction to it, too. I was just so shocked and my mom was so embarrassed and Sammy just didn’t care that he very well could have ruined any chances of Greg procreating.”

Ben continued to laugh, shaking his head. “Oh, my God. That’s great. Maybe Sammy knew something no one else did.”

Olivia smiled. “Maybe.”

“So, was Greg a bad kisser?” Ben asked curiously with interest that he hoped didn’t seem too eager.

She made a face. “The worst,” she said and he laughed again. “Two words. Sloppy and wet.” She mock shuddered. “Truly horrendous.”

“And how was I?” He asked, his curiosity now trying to sound casual.

Olivia, however, could see past it and she raised an amused eyebrow at him. “Fishing for compliments, are we?” He grinned, shrugging, and she laughed softly. “You were fine, Ben,” she said casually.

“Fine?” He repeated. “Fine? I damned near swept you off your feet, woman!” He exclaimed making her laugh.

Upon hearing his sister laugh, Sammy turned away from the beluga wheels and scurried up the steps towards them. He was panting from the excitement of the day and they still had the sharks to see. He stood next to Ben, leaning into him and putting an arm around his neck comradely. Olivia smiled at the friendliness Sammy was acting with around Ben and she couldn’t believe how good Ben was with kids. She wondered what his experience was since he was an only child and she highly doubted that any of his close friends had kids that needed to be seen to.

“Ben?” Sammy said.

“Yeah?” He said, pretending to be weary of the child. “You hungry again?”

Sammy grinned. “Nope. What’s my name in Scottish? Livi says you speak Scottish.”

“Gaelic, Sammy,” Olivia corrected him. “Ben can speak Gaelic.” Sammy didn’t care though what the proper word for the language was. He didn’t understand it anyway.

Ben grinned. “Hmmm,” he said, stroking his chin and pretending to be deep in thought. “Well, you’re Samuel.” Sammy nodded his head. “Nope. You’re Somhairle,” he stated.

Sammy grinned at the name. “Somhairle,” he repeated.

“Perfect!” Ben exclaimed making Sammy laugh again with delight. Ben grinned and Olivia smiled as the boy threw himself onto Ben’s lap. Ben situated him on his legs so he didn’t knee anything important now that he knew Sammy had a tendency to do that.

“What’s my Scottish name?” A girl no older than eight asked from the step below them. She had turned around upon hearing Ben speak in his Gaelic tongue and her eyes were bright with curiosity.

“What’s your name?” Ben asked kindly.

“Christine.”

“Well, I would call you Cairistïna,” he said and Christine smiled so brightly, it engulfed her face and sparked in her eyes. Ben smiled in return before she turned and scampered off. He chuckled softly then turned his head to Olivia. She was staring at him, a look of amazement across her face. “What?” He asked, almost nervously. She shook her head but did not respond, now smiling faintly at him.

“Sharks!” Sammy exclaimed suddenly, too anxious to continue to just sit there.

Olivia laughed. “Okay, Sammy. Sharks it is.”

Sammy scrambled off of Ben’s lap and before he could brace himself, had latched onto his back. Ben pretended to grunt under the weight but he stood up effortlessly, Sammy’s arms wound round his neck, and he faced Olivia.

“Should we wait for everyone else?” He asked.

She shook her head. “Danny got distracted with the otters so Harry and Anne are still back there and I’m not sure where Toby and Sadie went off to.”

Ben nodded. “Okay. Well, I guess we’re going to see the sharks,” he said and Sammy let out an excited cheer.

Once they had entered the Shark Wild Reef exhibit, Sammy practically sprang from Ben’s back before he scrambled up to the tank that was an entire wall of the room and gasped upon finally laying eyes upon a black-tip shark. Ben and Olivia looked as well though they hung back a bit, letting Sammy get his fill. Looking over his shoulder, Ben saw a bench against the opposite wall and elbowing Olivia lightly in the side, he jerked his head towards it. Noting that she could still keep her eye on Sammy, she agreed and they sat down. With a tired sigh, she rested the back of her head on the wall behind her.

“You tired?” Ben asked, shoving his hands in his front jean pockets.

Olivia nodded her head then yawned. “I’m still suffering from jet lag I think.”

“Oh.” He raked his brain to think of something else to say, anything else, but it was a complete blank. He wished that he was as articulate as Jamie always seemed to be. He and Violet had never been short on things to say. But it was different between Ben and Olivia. He was certain that they were no longer enemies and yet, they seemed to have skipped the friendship as well. It was as if they were floating in a black abyss between unknown stages. He wasn’t sure what they were so he didn’t know in what manner he could talk to her in. He sighed softly. “I’m not sure what to say,” he admitted softly.

Olivia looked at him, smiling softly. “What’s on your mind right now? Perhaps that’s what you should say.”

He exhaled heavily. “I’m thinking that maybe I should kiss you again.”

Her eyes widened, having not expected that. “You are?”

He nodded past her. “Toby just walked in and he just sent an eyeful of daggers at me.”

“I’m sorry,” she apologized softly. She turned her head and saw Toby, his arm draped around Sadie’s shoulders, staring at her and Ben. She gave him a tight smile, which he did not return. Shaking her head slightly, she turned back towards Ben. “Here,” she said softly then before he could move, she slid her hands onto his cheeks and pressed her lips to his in a soft, gentle kiss that made his body immediately ache for more.

Without thinking the situation through, he wrapped his arms around her and she squeaked into his mouth with surprise when he dragged her across the bench, closer to him. She didn’t fight him though and he was grateful for that. There was something about kissing Olivia that he had never imagined. Her lips, mouth, just her taste was intoxicating and utterly addicting to him. He never would have thought that he wouldn’t be able to get enough of her, of all people. And for the life of him, he wasn’t sure when kissing her suddenly became so appealing to him. Her hands slid from his cheeks to the back of his head and he damned near almost shivered when her fingers began to scratch at the nape of his neck. His own arms circled tightly around her and practically yanked her into his lap. If he knew kissing her would be like this, it would have been his method to shut her up long ago instead of bating her and arguing with her more. What was even stranger to him though about kissing Olivia was that it didn’t seem strange at all. It felt as if he had been mating his lips to hers thousands of times before this time. It was unsettling in an unnatural manner. But he had to remind himself that neither of them were kissing each other willingly. They were simply kissing because Toby deserved to be jealous for once.

“Knock it off already,” Toby grumbled, sitting down next to them on the bench and pulling Sadie down onto his lap.

“Livi!” Sammy shouted. “Come look!” He said, gesturing for her to join him.

Untangling herself from Ben, Olivia jumped to her feet as if she had been shocked and rushed away to go to her brother. Ben watched her, not even noticing Toby staring at him for a moment, and he smiled slightly. Shit. That was the second best kiss he had ever had and he couldn’t help but wonder when he would have the third. He never would have guessed that the finest, most heart-stopping kisses would come from none other than Olivia Grange. He drew a shaky breath and willed his heart to stop pounding within his chest. He didn’t want it to seem as if he had never been kissed before.

Toby opened his mouth to say something to him but before he could get a word out, Anne sat between them on the bench, sighing tiredly. She cradled Chris in her arms, the baby sucking contently on his pacifier, one of his small hands fisted around a pale lock of his mother’s hair. Harry bent down in front of her and without speaking, took the baby from her. He then kissed her forehead sweetly.

“Rest,” he said softly and she smiled, nodding her head with no argument. Holding the baby with no break certainly was a wear on her arms. Harry smiled at her then guided Danny over to the tank to join Sammy and Olivia in looking at the sharks. Anne yawned, resting her head against the wall.

“Your boys are adorable, Anne,” Sadie commented, her arms wound around Toby’s neck.

“Thank you,” Anne said in her soft voice that was constantly hers. “And they’re quite the handful, too.” She looked at Ben. “And what about you? How are you handling Sammy?”

Ben smiled, shrugging. “I found out that I just have to feed him constantly and he’s fine.”

Anne smiled as well. “And Olivia? How are you handling her?”

Toby saw his opening and he didn’t hesitate in taking it. “What’s going on with you two? I thought you hated each other and now all of a sudden, you’re making out like a couple of teenagers.”

“Hardly,” Ben said dryly, reminding himself that Toby asking questions was a good sign. It meant that seeing him kiss Olivia had unnerved him and Olivia was getting a bit of revenge on him for being blind for so many years. Ben shrugged. “It just kind of happened when we were over in London together. I took her up to Scotland and...” he trailed off, letting Toby’s imagination run off with his words. Let him think that Ben and Olivia were romantically involved with one another.

“I have always wanted to go to Scotland,” Sadie gushed then turned to Toby. “Maybe we can go there for our honeymoon.”

“Really?” Toby frowned. “Isn’t it a little gloomy and always raining?”

“Not always,” Ben said, almost smirking. He leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees, and he rubbed his hands together. “And I was born in Scotland so I think it’s a fine piece of land.”

Anne smiled then touched his shoulder lightly. “Come with me, Ben. I like to read some of the exhibits but my children don’t permit that so I’d like to take advantage while Harry has them for a bit.”

Anne was one of those people that few could refuse and Ben was not about to tell her ‘no’. Her face was too sweet, too gentle to refuse and he quickly pitied Harry for he could imagine that it would be quite difficult to have a backbone around such a fair creature. She smiled at him and slipped her arm through his as they walked through the crowd out of the shark tank area and into the rest of the exhibit. He waited patiently as she read information on the Sandbar Shark.

“I know what you and Olivia are up to,” she spoke quietly without moving her eyes away from the text on the wall. A smile played at her lips. “You two are magnificent actors though,” she added.

Ben stared at her for a moment. “I’m not crazy, am I?” He asked and she finally looked at him, her brow tugging with confusion. “You have an accent. It’s the lightest thing possible but sometimes, I can just hear it.”

She laughed softly. “You’re not crazy. I was born in South Africa,” she said, smiling.

“You’re kidding? Really?” He gaped. “Wow. Home of Dave Matthews and Charlize Theron? That South Africa?”

Laughing again, she nodded her head. “However, we like to think of it as the home to Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu.”

“Wow,” Ben repeated. “All this time and I never knew.”

“I moved here with my mother when I was just four. I’ve lived in Chicago ever since and I’ve just lost most of the accent along the way,” she explained simply then shrugged.

“You’ve never gone back?”

She smiled, almost sadly. “South Africa isn’t exactly like Scotland, Ben. The area where I’m from, a blonde-haired white woman wouldn’t exactly be greeted with open arms.” She shook her head slightly. “Anyway, back to you and Olivia.”

“Yes?” He asked expectedly.

“I think it’s sweet of you to want to help her maybe move on and make Toby jealous at the same time but...” she paused for a thoughtful moment. “I think you just need to be a bit careful.”

“Careful?” He echoed. “Of what?”

“Olivia has this fierce independent streak to her...”

“No shit,” he snorted and she laughed.

“What I mean is, she can be fiercely independent but at the same time, she is much in love with the idea of love.” She tilted her head slightly to study him closely. “Do you understand?”

“You mean, if I keep kissing her and buying her stuff and we continue being somewhat civil to one another, she just might one day look at me like a knight in shining armor?” He asked.

She smiled. “Or a Highland warrior in a kilt.”

He smirked at that. “Thanks for the advice, Anne, but me and Olivia...” he paused, not wanting to make her angry at him. “Every time she even mentions him, she cries. And I personally do not have the stomach for weeping women.”

Anne broke into a faint smile at that. “You’re very sweet, Ben. I wonder why you’re still single.” She paused. “Of course, you didn’t know Olivia until a year ago so I suppose that is why you’re still single...” she trailed off with laugher when he groaned.

“You are one of those happily ever after people, aren’t you?” He accused.

“Guilty,” she shrugged then looked past him, her face lighting up brightly. “Hey, Danny boy,” she greeted, crouching down seconds before her son plowed into her arms. She scooped him up and the boy laughed as she blew a raspberry on his cheek. “Ben,” she said, resting Danny on her hip. “But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams,” she recited. “William Butler Yeats.”

Ben sighed. “I am so sick of you literary types constantly quoting your brilliance around me,” he grumbled. It only made Anne laugh again though. He jumped slightly when Harry came up beside him, smacking him upside the head. “What the hell was that for?”

“Stop running off with my wife,” Harry said, pretending to look menacing though it was a difficult feat with a baby in his arms and spit up food on his shirt.

Ben held up his hands. “She came onto me, man.”

Harry bit back a smile. “How would you like it if someone ran off with Olivia?”

Ben would roll his eyes and groaned at Harry’s lack of subtly but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. He turned around to find his eyes immediately looking into Olivia’s. She gave him an apologetic smile that he couldn’t help but be affected by. Her smiles were like punches to his stomach. He wondered when her smiles started doing that to him. He couldn’t for the life of him pinpoint the moment.

“I’m sorry,” she began. “My mom just called and Sammy’s getting tired so I’m going to take him to her so he can go home.”

“Oh,” he said, hoping he didn’t sound too deflated. He had been enjoying his afternoon with them and it just hadn’t been from Olivia’s kisses and smiles. Sammy continually reminded him why he wanted children of his own. He was an amazing kid, just like his sister surely had been at the same age. Not that she wasn’t still amazing. He almost flushed at the thought. God, what was going on with him? He was having difficulty looking at her and being unable to not think of things that he could do for her. And to her. Her kisses had been intoxicating. How had Toby been immune to them for so many years? Was he truly that blind? An unexpected wave of sudden jealousy overcame him and he was powerless to fight it. Staring at her, he wondered if she had ever kissed Toby before. And then that of course led to thoughts of everyone else she had ever kissed. He was going to drive himself crazy. “I’ll walk with you,” he offered and she smiled at him as if nothing would please her more.

“Thanks,” Olivia said as Ben took a sleeping Sammy into his arms, the boy immediately resting his head on Ben’s shoulder. “I hope today was okay.”

He smiled. “It was tolerable,” he teased and she smiled, a blush bursting across her cheeks. “Where are you meeting your mom?” He asked as they began to walk from the aquarium.

Olivia pointed ahead. “Just up on the lakeshore jogging path.”

Ben nodded his head, shifting Sammy slightly in his arms. They walked in silence for a few minutes but he found it to be companionable instead of completely awkward and tense. He continually kept glancing towards her and began to choose his words carefully. He, more than anyone, knew of her temper and he didn’t want to see the wrath of it that afternoon, especially not after spending such an afternoon with her.

He cleared his throat. “Olivia, I gotta tell you something.”

She looked at him, smiling. “What is it?”

Oh, god, he thought, swallowing the lump in his throat. He could do this. “When you asked me about my dad’s business...”

“Was he in the mafia?” She joked and he managed a smile though it was tight and it almost immediately disappeared.

“Not quite.” He cleared his throat again, wishing he hadn’t started this. “Do you, um, know the North Star hotel?”

“I’ve never stayed there if that’s what you mean,” she said, confusion slowly seeping into her eyes as she looked at him.

He shook his head, thousands of butterflies flying loose in his stomach. “No. I, um, well, my family... no, I do. I own it.” He dared a look at her and found her to be gaping at him, her mouth open and her eyes blinking with surprise.

“You own it?” She finally asked, shocked.

“I own it,” he said with a head nod.

“That hotel?” She pointed to the hotel that boasted an impeccable and unobstructed lake view. It was one of the most expensive places to stay in all of the city.

“All of the hotels. My grandfather and dad started the North Star chain....”

“You own all of them?” She gasped. This was almost too much. She knew that he had had money but she never thought that he was running in the same circle as someone like Paris Hilton.

“After my dad died, he left me everything,” Ben explained. “I have my mom and a financial advisor and some other people who helped my dad now helping me but... all of the money, the houses, the hotels, it’s all mine.”

Olivia looked around for a bench. She desperately needed to sit down. “All of it?”

He nodded, watching her carefully. She obviously was having problems believing him. He didn’t blame her. She had just spent a week with him and she had never known the extent of any of it. “All of it. Olivia...”

She stopped walking suddenly and faced him. “Why didn’t you tell me?” She demanded of him. “You’ve had plenty of opportunities.”

Guilty as charged. He nodded. “I know. But I don’t tell anyone this. I... I can’t trust people too often.”

She frowned. “Let me guess. They find out that you’re worth millions and they want a piece.” He nodded and she sighed. “And you lied to me, repeatedly, because you thought that I would, too.”

“Livi...”

She interrupted again. “I don’t want your money, Ben.”

He hung his head. “I know that.”

“So now that I’ve passed your honor test or whatever, you can tell me things now?”

“It’s not like that,” he began to argue but she shook her head, stopping him.

“You don’t have to lie to me, Ben,” she told him softly, staring deeply into his eyes. “I hate being lied to. You’re rich. So what? You have more money than I can ever dream of having. So what? I want nothing to do with you.”

His heart fell to his feet. He could feel it actually plummeting within his body. For some reason, he didn’t want to hear that. “Nothing?” He practically croaked.

She stared at him for a moment, searching his face, his eyes. “You can’t trust me, Ben. So, obviously, you want nothing to do with me.”

He shook his head immediately at her logic, seriously flawed. “I told you about me. That’s a huge step for me. And the reason I told you is because I DO want something to do with you.”

A lifetime of silence passed between them. Or that was how long it felt to Ben anyway. She took a step closer to him and he could smell her shampoo when the wind from off the lake picked up. She was staring at him as if it was the first time she had ever seen him and in some aspects, it was. He wished he wasn’t so nervous over her reaction. Despite a bit of hurt feelings, she seemed to have a complete lack of reaction over his confession.

She placed a cold hand on his arm and he swallowed, awaiting her words and trying to not react to just a mere touch. “Don’t ever lie to me again, Ben,” were her only words.

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Just a quick note. I do proofread but I don\'t catch anything. I\'m not perfect. I\'ll admit that. But as for run-on sentences, I forgot who commented on it, but everyone has their style of writing and I have a certain style that some English teachers would probably hate it but I can\'t change it. Thank you to all those who review this story!