One of his hands moved to cup her throat gently, his thumb tracing back and forth over the skin beneath her jaw.
The length of his cock stroked over her clit each time he thrust into her pussy, sending ribbons of hot sensation through her, drawing her closer and closer to orgasm.
“Open your eyes, Liv. I want to see that moment when they blur and I lose you just a bit when you come. You’re close, I can feel your pussy flutter around me. It’s so good.”
She dragged her eyes open and met his gaze, snared, helpless to do anything but feel as he stroked her closer and closer, the pleasure growing sharper and sharper with each moment.
Her breath grew shallow and suddenly it swallowed her whole, the wave of climax that had been building. Mouth open on a hoarse gasp of his name, her gaze was still locked with his even as her vision blurred a bit and she fell away, letting the rush of endorphins sweep her up and ride her.
Moments later, she blinked and found him smiling at her. “Beautiful. Now me.” His fingers dug into the muscle and flesh of her ass as he pressed hard and deep and came, his gaze still with hers.
The depth of connection, of intimacy at staring into his eyes as he came clutched deep, pulled at her, tied her to him in ways she hadn’t imagined. Seeing him in a moment of emotional and physical vulnerability and having him give it to her freely, swelled her heart as she loved him more than she thought possible.
Breaking their gaze, he dropped his head to her shoulder as he caught his breath for a few moments.
“Right. This is pretty swanky hotel. Is the bathtub big enough for two?”
She laughed. “I don’t know. I hadn’t thought about it. Let’s go see.”
Marc went back out into the living room to grab the wine. He’d never experienced a sexual interlude so intimate before, not even with Liv. She gave him everything without holding back.
And being naked inside her had been earth-shattering. He’d never been inside a woman without a condom before and her trust in him, in giving him such a gift, was unsettling. But in a good way.
He realized she was serious about letting the walls down and he had to give it back to her in equal parts. He knew how to seduce her body but he had to remember part of this was in showing her he loved every part of her, not just the sex part.
Grinning, he picked up the phone and called the concierge desk.
She looked up at him from her perch in the rather large tub, naked and glistening. He honestly thought his brother Matt was the biggest idiot ever breathing to let this woman go.
He handed her a glass of wine and put his next to the tub as he climbed in behind her and pulled her back to his chest. “How you could have not seen this bathtub as a sex spectacular is beyond me.”
“I wasn’t thinking of sex when I came here.”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry that my not telling you about the Nancy thing led to all this complication.”
“I’m sorry you felt like you had to walk on eggshells, Marc.”
“That wasn’t entirely fair of me to use that. Yes, I did feel hesitant about sharing it for the reasons I told you but I can’t argue that you didn’t have reasons not to be wary. I’d just worked so hard to prove I was genuinely in love with you, I didn’t want to give you any reason to doubt that.”
She turned and wrapped her thighs around him, pulling close.
“This is nice. You’re very limber. I admire that in a woman.”
Laughing, she took a sip of her wine before setting it on the side of the tub. “I’m going to have a Come To Jesus talk with Nancy when I get back to Petal.”
Marc chuckled. “You won’t be the first. Cassie got hold of her first, then Maggie, I think Matt and Kyle too. Oh and my momma.”
Liv winced. “I almost feel sorry for her for that. Almost.”
“Don’t. She thought she’d test my commitment to you. She’s sorry but it’s not enough.”
Liv grinned and leaned in to kiss his chin.
“What was that for?”
“You didn’t take her side.”
He laughed at that outright. “Do I look crazy? Sugar, she nearly broke us up because she acted like a selfish bitch. Her being sorry doesn’t erase that. I almost lost the best thing that ever happened to me. I nearly kicked her butt myself.”
“Hmpf.”
“I like this side of you.”
“The side where my goodies are?”
Lord how she made him laugh. “Well, that too. But I meant the possessive, slightly feral side. Not that you have anything to worry about. You don’t. Liv, I’d never cheat on you. In the first place, I love you. In the second, I have honor.”
“Well, I have to deal with an awful lot of female attention your way. Which sucks. I mean, it was bad with Matt but you’re worse. You’re a very flirty man. Women, some women, tend to purposely misunderstand that and take it for an invitation. I don’t like it but I don’t think you’re fixin’ to cheat on me. Let me just tell you, a knee in the junk is the least that’ll happen to you if you really do cheat on me.”
He winced but couldn’t deny the viciousness in her eyes was a turn on. Man he was sick.
“Liv, sugar, I’m going to make a real effort not to be so flirty with other women. I don’t want you being bothered by it and I don’t want you to feel disrespected, nor do I want to send the wrong signals. It’s something I do on auto-pilot. This is all sort of new to me, the being hopelessly in love with the most beautiful woman in the world thing. I’m learning as I go.”
“I don’t want you to give up who you are.”
“You think flirting with women is who I am?”
She rolled her eyes. “No. But I don’t want to change you. I just want to try and find a way we can be together without either one of us having to give up who we are.”
He soaped a washcloth and began to minister to her, enjoying the way she arched into his touch like a cat.
“Olivia, woman, you are exasperating sometimes. Just when I think you’re doing one thing, you go and do or say something that shows me just how unselfish and giving you are. You have such a tough exterior and it’s all bullshit. You’re a marshmallow, aren’t you?”
“I am not. I am a hard assed bitch. Ask anyone.”
He pushed her back playfully and she ducked under the water and got to her knees to return the favor and soap him up.
“I have asked and that’s not anyone’s impression of you at all. Well, except the mayor and that’s good. He should be scared of you. Maybe his crush on you will wear off. I have to deal with male attention your way too, you know.”
He watched as she stood and grabbed a towel before stepping out. “He’s just lonely, that’s all. And I don’t come equipped with a harem but if you see me flirting or you feel uncomfortable about the way I interact with anyone, please tell me. I’d hate for you to feel bad.”
Standing, he got her wet again as he embraced her.
A knock sounded on the door and he held a hand out. “I’ll be right back.”
“What are you up to?” she called out.
“Hold your horses.”
She got dressed in the bedroom and peeked out to see what he was up to.
“Nosy. Come on out and bring a blanket.”
“What?” She grabbed a blanket and skipped toward him.
He caught her, laughing, picking her up and she wrapped her legs around him. “Now that’s the kind of leg wrapping I approve of.”
He kissed her quickly and put her down on the couch.
“I had them bring up some DVDs and some snacks.”
“You did?”
“Yeah. The Matrix movies and those weird chocolate things with the white stuff you like.”
“Snowcaps? Where? Gimme!”
He put in the first movie and came back to the couch, handed her the box of candy and settled in beside her.
“You remembered I liked Snowcaps. That’s one of the sweetest things anyone has ever done.”
“It’s candy, sug
ar, while I’m content to hog up credit that’ll get me laid later, it’s not that big a deal.” Smiling, he put his arm around her shoulder and tucked the blanket around them both.
But it was a big deal. He noticed something small and seemingly inconsequential. They’d only gone to the movies once and she’d gotten the candy there. And the movies he’d gone to the trouble to get? She had just a teeny celebrity crush on Keanu Reeves.
The sex had blown her mind but the movies and the chocolate had shown her he’d noticed more about her than her bra size. It occurred to her she needed to be more mindful of what he liked too. She hadn’t been as aware of things as she should have been, or at least she hadn’t shown him. If they were to make a go of their relationship it was up to her to do her part as well.
As she snuggled into his side, she let hope settle into her bones. Hope that just maybe, Marc was more than her future, they were the future.
Breathing heavily, Marc rolled off Liv’s sleep-warm body and onto his back beside her. With a feline smile, she stretched, leaning over to kiss his chest over his heart.
“That was a very inspired good morning, Marc Chase.”
“What can I say? You inspire me,” he gasped out.
“Don’t you need to get back to your clients? I feel bad that you’re here when you have a business to run.”
“You’re more important to me than that. I couldn’t have waited until tomorrow for you to come back to town. I wanted you to know I didn’t betray you, wanted you to know how much I love you. One of my buddies from my old gym has taken my clients until Monday so that’s not a problem.” He cocked his head. “But thank you for asking, for thinking of it.”
“I love you. Your business is important to you so it’s important to me. Now get up. We’re going to breakfast and then I have somewhere I’d like to take you.”
They quickly got up and dressed and headed out, hand in hand. She drove him out of the city center, to a greasy spoon the likes of which she’d rarely seen anywhere else. But an older hippie couple owned and ran it so she knew firsthand they had healthy offerings too. When her mother had been in the hospice during those last seven months, she often snuck away to come to this place to get away from the pain and death. Every time she came to Atlanta in the twenty years since, she’d stopped in and it had become a part of her in a sense. A refuge.
He gave her a skeptical look when she pulled in.
“Stop. Trust me.”
He took her hand and they walked in together. “I do. With all my heart if not my cholesterol.”
“Livvie! How are you darlin’?”
“I’m well, Rain. And you?” Liv kissed the cheek of the bird thin woman with short, white hair.
“Pretty darned good. And who is this fine looking specimen?”
“This is my boyfriend, ugh, that’s such a weird term for an adult woman to use, anyway, this is Marc Chase. Marc, this is Rain Scott. She and her husband Pete own this place.”
Smiling and turning on the charm, Marc shook her hand.
“Boyfriend huh? That’s nice to hear. Well let’s get you to a table. Coffee will be up in a moment.” Rain handed them menus and they sat near the windows overlooking a side vegetable garden.
Liv watched him through her lashes as he opened up his menu and his face changed.
“Sneaky.” He grinned her way.
She shrugged. “I knew you’d like it. The food here is really good.”
“And healthy. Thank you.”
“I like to eat healthy too, you know.”
He took her hand and kissed her knuckles. “I like you. How did you find this place? It’s sort of off the beaten path.”
She told him and noted that he was touched.
After breakfast, she took him to the cemetery. “I know this is sort of weird but when I’m here in Atlanta, I come by. My dad buried her here. The hospice she spent the last year of her life in is just across the way. She’d look out the window at these big oak trees and say that’s where she wanted to rest. I don’t think he ever denied her anything. I wish she was in Petal but he’s bought the plot next to hers and my sister lives here now anyway.” She got quiet, looking off into the distance.
Marc stopped and stared at her, turning her chin so she faced him. “I don’t know what to say. I’m amazed that you’d share this with me.”
“You are? Have I been so selfish with you?”
Marc felt the gulf between them again but determined to push through it. “No. It’s not that. But you’ve kept a lot of stuff to yourself. I guess I’m just seeing how much I didn’t see, didn’t know.”
“Okay. That’s fair I guess.”
Her shoulders dropped and he felt like an asshole. He hadn’t meant to make her feel bad. In fact, he was touched she’d brought him there. But she hadn’t talked about her mom much before and he realized there was so much he didn’t know about her.
“Liv, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to make you feel guilty or lacking.”
“You feel how you feel.”
He sighed. “Eggshells here, Liv. I’m just expressing my surprise. I want to be able to be honest with you but I’m going to hold back if I hurt you.”
“I don’t want to do this here. Let’s go.”
He stopped her, grabbing her hand. “Honey, this is going to be a work in progress. You know that. We can’t make things right if you just give up. First things first. I’m honored, truly, that you’d share this with me. Let’s go and visit your mother and then we can talk.” He tried to show her how much he loved her, wanted her to see it in his eyes.
Keeping her hand in his, he followed her across the quiet grass to the flat, pale stone. They knelt together and he nearly gasped when he saw the name. He knew it was her mother but seeing Olivia’s name on a headstone gave him a start.
“I know. It’s odd isn’t it? My father told me shortly after my mother died, that it was hard for him to come here because he thought of me every time.”
Her voice was quiet, soft and he put his arm around her shoulder.
“She was only thirty-five when she died. So young.” A shiver ran through him again at the comparison.
“I’m now older than she was when she died. She passed two days after her birthday. And yet she had two children and a marriage when she died. I have none of that.”
He remained quiet. Not because he didn’t have something to say about that but because her mother’s grave wasn’t the place to say it.
“Lilacs and lilies. Pretty.” He indicated the flowers there.
“My sister is most likely the source of the lilies. I brought the lilacs. They’re out of season but I know this little florist not too far away and I call ahead and he orders them for me. My mom loved them. She wanted to name my sister Lilac.” Liv laughed. “I know. Well, Susan lucked out I think.”
“She was the year behind me in school so I don’t know her very well. Not well enough to really get a feeling about whether she’d be a Lilac or not. But she doesn’t seem like one.” In truth, Liv’s sister had been pretty wild back in the day. They hadn’t run in the same circles but she’d gotten around quite a bit, partied pretty hard, got into trouble.
They stood and walked back to the car, driving back to the hotel quietly. He realized just how complicated his woman was. She was so confident on the outside but each layer he uncovered showed him a wounded heart. It began to settle in that this issue between them was bigger than the Nancy thing. He was also pretty sure Liv herself hadn’t realized it just yet. He’d have to confront it and make her see it. It wouldn’t be easy, he had the feeling there’d be more tears before the breakthrough, but he needed to be steadfast so they could build their future. He meant to have her as his wife and the mother of his children and that meant she had to accept he wasn’t going anywhere.
She spoke then, pulling him out of his thoughts. He looked at her as she walked through the room, the grief on her face.
“She’s not. A Lilac, I mean. She’s had a lot of proble
ms but in the last few years she’s straightened herself out. I suppose you know that, as you two were in school together the way you were. Getting away from Petal was good for her. She’s here in Atlanta now. Got married two years ago, has two kids.”
She sat on the couch and put her feet up.
“You’re not close.” It was hard for him to imagine not being close to a sibling.
“We are in our own way. Susan was young when our mom died. Seven. It was harder on her because pretty much all of her memories of our mother were of her being sick. I had her for longer, it affected me differently. And I had Maggie. By that point neither one of us had a mother. Hers wasn’t dead but may as well have been for all the attention Maggie ever got from her. My dad sort of checked out. Gave up expending emotion. He never neglected us, we had a nice place to live, he came to our plays and school stuff. But when he moved to Florida ten years ago, it wasn’t like there was much of a difference in my life. He’s happier now I think because the memories are farther away.”
“I’m sorry. I can’t imagine not being close to my family. But I’m glad you and Maggie had each other.” And he began to understand her more with each bit of her life she exposed. “So, why haven’t you shared any of this before now?”
She sighed heavily. “Marc, it’s not like I was hiding it. But I don’t just take my dates out to the cemetery ninety minutes away to show them my mother’s grave. I’ve never shown anyone her grave. It doesn’t matter, she’s been dead over twenty years. I shouldn’t have taken you today, it was a stupid impulse.”
“What? Stupid? For you to open up to me? Is that what you think? Sharing with me is stupid?”
“Oh get off your fucking self-righteous high horse, Marc. Here’s a clue, I’m not perfect. And here’s another, neither are you. I don’t come from some perfect, Leave It To Beaver life. My mom didn’t greet me at the door with cookies when I got home from school. My sister was a drunk by fifteen and my mother died when I was thirteen. I don’t have family dinners every Sunday and hang out with my family on purpose.”