by J. L. Berg
“Your parents didn’t approve?”
She shook her head as her hands wrapped around the warm cup. “No, not at all. My father was very upset. He gave me an ultimatum, thinking I would never be brave enough to defy him. But I did, and I’ve been on my own ever since.”
“They really let you walk away?”
“Not at first. My mother begged me to reconsider, but I knew what I wanted to do with my life. At this point, I think the press caught wind of some sort of family crisis, and that’s when the lines of communication severed completely. Two weeks later, I received a check in the mail with a note that said they loved me—a parting gift, I guess. That was how I paid for my house.”
“So, they helped you start over anyway?”
“Yeah”—she chuckled under her breath—“I guess they did.”
“Do you ever think about contacting them?”
“All the time,” she admitted.
“Why don’t you?”
She looked out the window and sighed. “Perhaps I’m hoping they’ll love me enough to make the first move.”
“What if that never happens, Liv?”
“Then, I guess I have my answer.”
~Jackson~
Liv looked up at me, her lips curved into a flirtatious grin that held mischief and humor. The serene water of the lake sparkled behind her. Boats zoomed by the windows on occasion, making white trails in the dark blue waves.
“Do you…have any eights?” she asked.
I shook my head, unable to keep from smiling back at her. “Go fish.”
“Damn it. I have half the deck already!”
“Guess I should have warned you that the Reid men are supreme masters of Go Fish.” I laughed.
“I should have given up after Noah kicked my butt the first time.”
She threw a piece of popcorn at Noah, and he chuckled.
“It’s not my fault you suck at this game.”
“Hey, be nice to your elders.”
“You’re not my elder. You’re just Liv.”
She didn’t respond, but the way she bit her lip, trying to cover the shy smile spreading across her face, told me Noah’s response meant a lot to her.
Since that evening when I’d found Liv against her front door, frightened and scared, as a man she’d once trusted tried to take advantage of her, I’d watched her slowly coming back to life.
It had only been a few days, but I’d started to recognize the fiery woman I’d grown to know. Every day that pushed us further from that moment, she would come out of her shell more. The first day had been the worst. We had spent the majority of the day wrapped around each other, watching old ’80s movies while eating popcorn and candy. I’d known it was bad when she ate an entire box of Milk Duds.
The following day, she’d seemed to find peace, going back to her patients and becoming immersed in their lives once more. It wasn’t until she’d come home and remembered I’d met with her father that I saw her falter.
“I didn’t tell him about you,” I assured her.
“How was he?” she asked quietly.
“In charge, commanding, and captivating.”
She nodded and fell into my arms. “I miss him.”
“I know.”
The instant her father had walked into the building, my fists had tightened, and the need to defend Liv had overwhelmed me. This man had hurt her.
The last man who had hurt her ended up with a broken nose and a trip to jail.
Yet, her father had stood in front of me, and I couldn’t do a damn thing.
It had been excruciating to shake his hand and talk to him as if he were just another potential client and not the man who had crushed her heart.
I had wanted to ask him so many things.
Why?
How could he have forgotten about her? How could anyone forget about someone as amazing as Liv?
But I had Noah and bills and a life of responsibilities that I couldn’t forget.
So, I had let reason win that day. I’d managed to keep my job and land the client my boss wanted so badly.
It looked like I’d be spending a lot more time with Senator Prescott.
“All right, I give up. I forfeit!” Liv threw her massive pile of cards down on the coffee table we were gathered around.
The quaint cabin Mark owned was light years from the definition of the word. It was massive, extravagant, and luxurious in every sense of the word. But Mark came from wealth, and he was a founding partner in one of the top firms in the city, so I guessed it made sense.
My romantic weekend hadn’t turned out to be exactly what I originally planned, but considering the events of the past week, I wanted to play it safe and go for a family-fun theme rather than a couples retreat.
I knew she was recovering, and I had decided that pressure—in any form at this point—was the last thing she needed.
“I’m going to go upstairs and play on the Xbox,” Noah announced, placing his cards on the table before stretching his arms above his head. He yawned loudly and then hopped up onto his feet.
I almost called him out on the fact that he hadn’t bothered asking for permission, but realizing he was leaving Liv and me alone for the first time all day, I gladly let him go.
“What do you want to do now?” I asked, turning toward her.
The sun was disappearing into the lake, sending shards of orange and yellow light in every direction.
“I’ve been dying to go into that hot tub ever since we arrived,” she said, her eyes meeting mine as she finished collecting the playing cards scattered in front of her.
My stomach knotted together as she spoke, and my dick twitched at the mere mention of us in a hot tub—alone.
“Sounds good.” The words tumbled out of my mouth before my brain could even register what was happening.
This was supposed to be a safe and low-key weekend. Nothing was supposed to happen.
I would never survive seeing her in a bikini, wet and nearly naked beside me.
It was too bad my body hadn’t realized that fact because I was already racing upstairs to change.
~Liv~
While Jackson changed in the guest bedroom, I pulled out my suit and began undressing. I let the fabric of my dress pool to the floor, and then I slowly removed my undergarments. As I put on my bikini in front of the large mirror, I stopped for a moment and just stared at the reflection in front of me.
I still looked like me, but I felt completely different.
If someone had told me a week ago that I would cower in front of an intruder, beg for mercy, and stand there completely motionless rather than fight back, I wouldn’t have believed it.
Since I’d walked away from my family, I’d been fighting and surviving each day on my own. It hadn’t been easy—at least, not in comparison to the life I once had. I had worked for everything I now had.
I was strong.
But in that moment, when I had seen the look in Victor’s eyes, I’d felt nothing but weakness.
Mia and everyone else had assured me it was a completely normal reaction. It had nothing to do with strength.
“I would have done the same thing,” she’d assured me.
Would she have though—with a family to protect at home? Wouldn’t she have fought back to protect those she loved rather than curl into a ball and do nothing?
I should have done something, anything.
Since those first few days out on my own, I’d never felt so helpless—until my eyes had collided with Jackson’s.
He’d made me feel safe and secure, and part of me had hated that. The independent and self-reliant part of me hadn’t wanted to depend on anyone—much less a man.
But the rest of me—the empty void that had missed so much while I was busy convincing myself I didn’t need love in my life—had wanted to cling to him desperately.
I let my arms wrap around the naked skin of my torso as I looked into my familiar brown eyes and wondered how anyone really knew who was
the one.
I guessed that was what taking a leap of faith was—risking oneself in hopes of gaining something better.
I turned toward the door and headed downstairs.
I was ready for Jackson.
I was ready to leap.
“Are you okay, Jackson?” I watched him from across the bubbling hot water.
We’d been in the hot tub for a few minutes, and an eerie silence had settled between us. He’d seemed up to the idea of relaxing together and watching the moonlight shining over the lake but ever since I’d walked through the double doors and sunk into the water, he’d been on edge and almost twitchy.
“What?” he asked, his attention snapping up to me. “I’m good.”
“Then why do you feel so distant?”
“I’m not distant. Just quiet.” His eyes darted away again, and he focused on the lake, now nearly invisible under the dark sky.
Jackson nervously wrung his hands together, and I watched as he let out a deep breath that he must have been holding for far too long.
Why was he so nervous?
Moving forward, I rose from the water and took a few careful steps toward him, stealing his attention once again.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Bringing me here with Noah wasn’t your original plan, was it?”
“What do you mean?”
“Go Fish, roasting marshmallows—that wasn’t how this weekend was supposed to start?” I closed the remaining distance between us until my legs brushed up against the inside of his thighs.
The tender touch of his fingers trailed my thigh, curving toward the back to cup my ass.
“No,” he simply answered.
I swung my legs around to straddle his trim waist. His arms wrapped tightly around me and pulled me closer, every scorching inch seemingly bringing as much pain as pleasure. It was as if he were at war with himself, struggling to remain in control.
“Why? Why did you change your plans?”
His cupped hand dropped to the water, collecting a steamy palmful within as he brought it to my shoulder and let the contents slid down my back. His fingers followed the trail the water left behind, kneading sore muscles as he spoke.
“I thought you might need time,” he confessed softly.
“Why?”
His gaze met mine, and I saw tenderness in his features.
“I don’t expect to know everything you’re going through, Liv, but I do know that to anticipate anything from you right now is out of the question. The only thing I’m sure of is, I’m here for you—in whatever way you need me.”
My hands joined his that returned to my shoulders, and his warm fingers intertwined with mine.
“What if all I need right now is for you to touch me?”
“Liv—” he said hesitantly.
“Please listen to me before you say anything.”
He nodded.
I continued, “In some ways, I feel like nothing happened. It was a near miss, you know? I should be happy for that fact. I’d trusted the wrong person, and that mistrust almost cost me something precious. Had you not been there, had you not saved me from him—I honestly don’t know where I would be mentally right now.”
“You doubt yourself,” he said, not bothering to ask but rather forming it as a statement.
“Yes. It’s something I’m still struggling with and working through. Even though the rational side of me knows I did everything right and that I shouldn’t hold anything against myself for the way I handled that afternoon, I still feel weakness. I still feel a loss of the woman I once was.”
I could see his lips about to move, his words forming. He wanted to rebuff my words, console me, and heal me, but I needed only one type of healing tonight.
“Victor was the last man I was intimate with,” I said slowly as I slid our joined hands down the bare skin at my sides. “Help me forget, Jackson.”
His fingers dug into my waist as I was pulled even closer to him. The water lurched forward and splashed, and I suddenly found myself flush against every part of him. My legs instinctively tightened around him as his lips met mine.
Every movement and every single touch felt deliberate and full of purpose. Nothing was hurried or clumsy. This wasn’t another rushed late-night encounter that I had grown accustomed to over the years. This was a man showing me exactly what it felt like to be worshipped.
When his lips touched mine, I felt passion and tenderness along with deep longing unlike anything I’d ever experienced.
I wanted this man and not just for one night. The longer I spent wrapped up in Jackson’s arms, the less intimidating the idea of finding someone permanent became.
Our kiss deepened, my mouth opening for him, and our tongues moved together like long-lost lovers. I felt him grow harder beneath me, heightening my desire. I moved, grinding my body against him, as my lips tasted his.
“Liv,” he groaned.
“Please, don’t stop.”
My pleading words pushed him further, and his hands dipped under the edge of my bathing suit bottom to grip my bare ass. His skin against mine felt exhilarating. My heart raced inside my chest, beating and skipping in a staccato rhythm that seemed to match the butterfly sensation blossoming in my belly.
I wanted him with every ounce of my being, every fiber of my soul.
That thought was dashed as Victor’s cruel face rushed to the forefront of my mind for one brief moment, shattering my Zen-like state.
Why?
Why would the memory of Victor come back now when I felt safe and secure in Jackson’s arms?
Wanting to leave him and everything that went with him in the past, my movements became rushed, panicked almost, as our kiss intensified.
“Liv,” he whispered, pulling back slightly.
I watched his chest heave, knowing mine was doing the same, as I tried to catch my breath.
“Sweet Liv,” he said, smoothing his fingers down my cheek. “You have no idea how badly I want you in this moment, how badly I’ve wanted you since I first met you, but I can’t allow myself to do it like this.”
I frowned, suddenly averting my eyes from his gaze. Warmth touched my chin as he tugged my focus upward once again.
“Please, let me explain before you retreat.”
I nodded, giving him the signal to go ahead.
“I know you probably think I’m going to feed you a line about how I think you aren’t ready, how you couldn’t possibly be mentally capable to move on after a traumatic event like that.”
“Isn’t that what you think?” I asked.
“No,” he answered. “You might not be the greatest when it comes to psychoanalyzing your own feelings or hang-ups, but I know you well enough to know there is probably more going on here than you’re willing to admit to. I can’t allow our first time to simply be an eraser for all things Victor.”
I opened my mouth to argue with Jackson.
“I know that wasn’t your intention, but if we did sleep together tonight, it would always be this reminder of him and what he did. When we come together for the first time, it will be just the two of us—no one else up here”—he lifted his hand and tapped at my temple—“and no threat of an interrupting child,” he said with a small grin.
I must admit, while I had been dry-humping Jackson, I’d completely forgotten about Noah being upstairs.
“And no terrible memories to erase. Give yourself some time to heal. You don’t need to rush with me. I’ll be here whenever you’re ready.”
I shook my head in astonishment. “You must be the first man in history to say no to sex after a make-out session like that.”
“I never said I didn’t want to. It damn near killed me to pull away from you, but I had to. When that day does come and we don’t stop, I want it to feel like there is only you and me and no one else left on the planet.”
“Like Adam and Eve?” I quipped, a mischievous grin spreading across my face.
He laughed, obviously gr
ateful for the break. We’d been serious for far too long.
“They were the first two people on earth. I said, the last. It would be more like a bad sci-fi film…but with really amazing sex.”
“So, a sci-fi porn?”
We both broke into hysterics.
“I’ll rock your sci-fi world.” He grinned.
“I can’t wait for that. I’ll go home and raid my secret stash of Star Trek costumes I saved for instances just like this.”
“Awesome. It’s a date.”
~Jackson~
“I’m fairly certain I could lie here for the rest of my life,” Liv said, stretching out languidly on the towel she’d laid across the boat bench. Her eyes were closed as she basked in a barely there bikini under the warm glow of the hot summer sun. It was a beautiful sight.
I’d suggested going boating early Sunday morning, and everyone had answered with an enthusiastic yes.
When staying at a multimillion-dollar lake house with a boat that would make most people weep in envy, how could we not take that baby out for a spin?
“I’m fairly certain I could do nothing but watch you lie there in that bikini for the rest of my life,” I answered back with a devilish smile.
Her eyes peeked opened as her hands cupped her face to block the sun. “No, you’d eventually cave and fall prey to my beguiling beauty.”
I rose from my spot across from her and knelt down before her. The smells of coconut and the tropics assailed my senses, making my mouth water, as my eyes took in Liv’s nearly naked form in front of me. Bikinis really were an amazing creation.
“Definitely beguiling,” I agreed before placing a tender kiss on her shoulder.
“Gross,” Noah said, announcing his arrival from down below where he’d gone to forage for snacks and drinks.
Mark couldn’t have just bought a regular speedboat. He practically had a yacht with a cabin below that was big enough to sleep an entire family and decked out with a gourmet mini kitchen and full bathroom.