Loving Liv

by Stacey Kennedy

  He gave her a very appreciative once-over, noting her taut nipples even though the room was warm. When he finally looked into her eyes, he spotted the desire there…the need. “Are you purposely distracting me Liv, to avoid our talk?”

  “No, whatever do you mean?” she said with a sweet smile.

  The Dom in him would have tied her the bed and teased her mercilessly until she realized what happened when she taunted him. But the man in him loved that smile, that playful nature. He grinned back. “You’re a clever, clever woman.”

  Her laughter echoed around him as he scooped her up and dropped her back onto the bed. And instead of teasing her, he gave himself what he wanted. Her.

  By the time they left the cabin, Miles was sure he couldn’t make her any more satisfied than she already was. He was dead wrong.

  “Oh, my sweet God,” Liv purred. She licked her lips at the rows of ice cream, in front of another row of sundae toppings. “I had no idea this even existed.”

  Miles smiled, nudging her forward with a hand on the small of her back. He’d overheard two women talking about the midnight ice cream bar when he’d first arrived on the ship, and he figured Liv would appreciate it too. He was glad he got that right. When he reached the bowls, he offered her one and moved out of her way.

  She started with vanilla ice cream, then added a scoop of chocolate, which soon disappeared beneath the hot fudge, sprinkles, peanut butter cups, peanuts, and every other thing she could find. Following her lead, Miles didn’t skimp either.

  When Liv was finished, she grabbed napkins and spoons, and Miles followed her outside. A seating area with small iron tables and chairs had been set under rows of twinkling string lights. Plants situated around the space made it feel like they were in some backyard garden in Tuscany, not sitting on a cruise ship. Farther down, another couple ate quietly, moaning in happiness.

  Miles held out the chair for Liv, and she quickly dug right in. “Oh my God, this is…”

  “Good,” Miles finished for her, after he took his first bite. He wiped the napkin across his mouth, seeing a chocolate smear on her bottom lip. He nearly leaned across the table and licked it off, but figured they needed to talk. He scooped up more ice cream with his spoon. “Are your friends all right with you being with me tonight?” The last thing he wanted to do was cause a rift.

  She shoved her spoon with the gooey hot fudge into her mouth and simply nodded. Once she finished her bite, she replied, “We’ve got a chat group. That’s who I was talking with when you came out of the shower. They’re all doing their own thing tonight with people they’ve met, and we’re meeting up for breakfast in the morning. We’re good.”

  “I’m glad,” he said, lowering his spoon back to his bowl. “So, now that you’ve ruled out your college friends from sending the email, any other idea who could be behind it?”

  She finished her spoonful and then shrugged. “I have no idea.”

  Miles didn’t have any reason not to trust her judgment. “What about Allie?”

  “I mean, maybe,” Liv finally answered with another shrug. She slid her spoon back through the ice cream, scooping up some peanuts on her way. “But I just can’t see Allie ever doing something so…”

  “Bold?” Miles offered.

  “Yeah, bold and intrusive.” Liv nodded. “She just doesn’t get involved in my life like that, no matter how many times I talked to her about you.” Her lips immediately clamped shut, obviously regretting her words.

  Miles couldn’t help the twitch of his mouth. Yeah, he’d talked about her too. “Well,” he said, having what he needed to move the conversation along. “It’s pretty damn clear that whoever sent me the email is playing matchmaker.”

  “Seems so,” she admitted.

  He placed his spoon back in the bowl, rested both arms on the table, and leveled her with a hard look. “Which brings me to my next point: why would someone go to all this trouble to get us onto this cruise ship together?”

  The answer was right there on her face, and she surprised him this time by actually saying it. “Probably because they think it’ll make me happy.”

  He hesitated, watching her, not quite sure if he should push or not. His gut told him to push, albeit gently. “Which begs the question, have you not been happy lately?”

  She looked at her ice cream bowl. “I’m fine.”

  Miles knew with total certainty that meant not fine at all.

  He waited her out, and she eventually lifted her soft eyes to him. “It’s just…that night, with us…well, it was hard to forget. That’s all.”

  Miles grinned. “I’m that unforgettable, huh?”

  “Don’t go getting a big head about it,” she said with a laugh, the hair around her face fluttering in the light breeze.

  He laughed with her, certain he’d never seen anyone so beautiful. “Then help me understand all this,” he said, letting his smile fall. “I made it very clear I wanted to see you again. Why didn’t you let me come out and visit?”

  She shifted uneasily in her seat. “Because there are obstacles in our way. Big ones. You live in Vegas. I’m in San Fran. It seemed silly to start something when it couldn’t ever work.”

  “Those are only obstacles if it’s impossible to move.”

  “It is impossible to move,” she said. “For one, my life is in San Francisco. My friends. My job. For another, I’m really close to my family. My mom has multiple sclerosis, and this last year has been rough for her. She’s in a wheelchair now.”

  He saw the pain in her face. Even heard it in her voice. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “Thanks,” she said with a little shrug. “It’s hard, but my mom’s strong as hell. She’s got a really positive attitude about it all.”

  Now he understood. “I see why moving would be hard for you, but why are you so dead set that someone couldn’t move for you?”

  She held his gaze. Firmly. “Because I would never let someone do that for me.”

  “What if that choice wasn’t yours to make?”

  She glanced to her bowl with a sigh before looking at him again. “I would never let it get that far where someone had to make that choice. Love has got to make sense, or someone is going to be hurt.”

  “And that won’t be you?”

  She lifted her chin. “That’s right.”

  “I take it that resolve comes from the broken heart you told me about at the wedding?”

  She shrugged and focused back on her ice cream, scooping up more on her spoon.

  In his life, he wasn’t used to having to push or navigate to get the answers he needed. And somehow, he liked how she kept parts of herself shielded away. She wasn’t easy to understand. She made him work to get to know her. She was a challenge he didn’t even know he wanted.

  “No more bullshit. No more games,” he told her, and she set her spoon down, giving him her full attention, as he added, “Here’s where I’m at with this. It’s been three months since I met you, and I want you as much now as I did that night at the wedding. Absolutely nothing has changed for me. There’s something between us that’s real and rare, and I want to explore it and see where we end up. With that being said, I’d like to propose something to you.”

  She studied him. Hard. “What’s that?”

  “Give me these six days,” he said boldly. “Shut off that gorgeous mind of yours. Don’t think about all the complications, or the impossibility of things, about if and how this will work in the future, just be here in the present and enjoy these days with me.”

  “And then what?” she asked.

  He laughed dryly and shook his head. “You can’t even shut off your mind for a minute.” He intertwined his strong fingers with her delicate ones, and then turned her hand over, palm up. He slowly dragged his thumb across her wrist, captivated by the way her pupils dilated under his touch. “Neither of us can have that answer because there’s no possible way to see where we’ll be at the end of the cruise. All I know is, there’s something her
e.” She shivered, and he gave her a knowing smile. “There was something here from the second our eyes met at the wedding. And there was something again when I saw you yesterday. After tonight, I know I need more. I want more of you. What do we have to lose?” He rose, leaned across the table and slid a finger across her jawline, loving how heat rushed into her gaze. “I’ve had you three times and look how fucking good it’s been. Imagine how it’ll be when I truly know your body.”

  A beat passed between them. “You’re a Dominant.”

  He placed both hands on the table, staring into the strength of her eyes, the determination there to shut him out. He wondered if she’d heard that about him and Club Sin from Allie, but he realized he didn’t mind that she knew. It saved a long and awkward conversation. He inclined his head. “I am a Dominant.”

  “I’m not a submissive,” she said. “Nor do I have an exciting sex life like I’m sure you’re used to.”

  He leaned in, inhaling her rich scent that drove him wild with need, and leveled her with a hard look. “There is more than one type of submissive, Liv.”

  She cocked her head. “What do you mean?”

  “I fucked you in an alleyway at a wedding, and I just fucked you on a balcony. The second you saw others were watching, you came.” Her face burned bright red, which he smiled at. Hell, she was cute. “You’re adventurous, but obviously haven’t been given the chance to explore. You submit your body to me naturally when I touch you. You followed every direction I gave you on the balcony, and willingly wanted to. Why do you think that wouldn’t be enough for me?”

  “Because I don’t know you.”

  He gave a firm nod. “My point exactly. Let’s take these six days to get to know each other. At the end of those six days, we’ll face the complications head on or we won’t because we’ll know this was something fun between us and that’s it. We’ll go home back to our lives and can firmly say that it just isn’t going to work.” He cupped her cheek, sliding a thumb across her pouty lips. “But to do that, you have to stop shutting me out. Can you do that?”

  She leaned into him and rasped, “Six days together?”

  “Six of the hottest days of our lives,” he murmured, knowing the risks. One night with Liv had ruined him for three months. What would six days do? But when she melted beneath his hands, he knew she was worth the risk. “Just give me the word I need to hear.”

  She rose to meet him across the table, and just before her lips met his, she whispered, “Yes.”

  CHAPTER 5

  The next morning, Liv left Miles behind to meet Grace, Benjamin, Aubrey, and Kendall at the buffet breakfast. Last night sat heavy on her mind. If being with Miles showed her one thing it was that her world was small, and if she looked at her life from the outside, there were flaws. She once had dreams of becoming a real estate agent herself. She once loved love. Where did all that go? Why wasn’t she living more adventurously? She needed answers to these questions, and her gut told her she’d find those answers with Miles. He had been unforgettable, but it was the way he made her feel that stood out. She wanted to be this sensual, exciting woman she was when she was with him. The woman she could be, even if it was only for six days.

  At noon, the ship would dock in Orlando and Miles wanted to take her on a day date in the city. But first, she needed to get to breakfast. She was beginning to feel like the world’s worst friend. When she finally entered the restaurant, she found her friends sitting at a table, already eating. She gave them all a quick wave before she hastily moved to the buffet and filled her plate with bacon, eggs, and a couple waffles with syrup before approaching the table. “Where’s Aubrey?” she asked, taking a seat next to Benjamin.

  “MIA,” he said.

  “Anyone text her to make sure she’s okay?” Not that Aubrey wasn’t well known for being MIA. It might have well been her middle name.

  Grace finished her sip of her coffee and said, “I did. She said she’s busy, but she’ll be here soon.”

  “Busy or getting busy?” Liv asked, reaching for her napkin and placing it on her lap.

  “The latter, I’m sure,” Kendall said. “But the who is up for debate.”

  Liv added a couple sugars to her coffee. Aubrey had a coffee, too, but Liv suspected it’d be cold by the time she got here.

  “How’s everything going with Miles?” Kendall asked. “Is he the stalker I thought he was?”

  Liv laughed softly. “No, not a stalker. Everything is hot and actually kind of good. I’m probably in way over my head here, but all he wants is to spend time with me while we’re on the cruise. And well…the sex is…”

  “Mind-blowing?” Kendall asked with a full mouth.

  Liv nodded. “Intense.”

  “Well, I say, good for you,” Benjamin said. “You’ve been shutting this guy out for months. There is nothing wrong with having a wild affair and that being the end of it.”

  “Cheers to that,” Liv said, then clanged glasses with Benjamin.

  Of course, the sensible Grace pipped up. “But will that be the end of it?”

  “It’s got to be,” Liv said. “You all know how I feel about this.”

  “You don’t date men who are bad for you,” they all said in unison.

  Liv nodded happily, even though apparently, she’d been drilling that line into them, and she wasn’t exactly sure what that said about her. “Exactly. I mean, really, who spends six days together and then decides to move to be with that person? It’s just not going to happen. I weighed the risk, and it’s impossible that anyone is going to get hurt here. He’s not asking to date me. He’s asking for six hot days together. I’d be an idiot to say no to that.”

  “You’re right, you would,” Benjamin agreed.

  Liv smiled at him and then decided she’d told enough of her secrets for one breakfast. “All right, since everyone knows about me and Miles,” she said to the group, “do you guys plan on telling me who you all are hooking up with?”

  Blank stares met hers, and Liv laughed. “Yeah, no one is getting off the hook here. I’ve told you everything. Tell me about the guy you met,” she said to Kendall.

  “What?” Kendall blinked.

  Liv pointed her fork at her. “Who is he?”

  Kendall’s cheeks stained with dark red hues.

  “Oh, he’s Alex Jeffries, and Grace has a hottie warming up her bed too,” Benjamin said.

  Grace choked on the water she was drinking. She coughed as she set it back down on the table. “His name is Bryan Sirimongkol, not ‘hottie’.” She lifted her chin, looking ever so stoic and put together as always. “Why don’t you tell Liv everything about Lucas Hall, Benjamin?”

  Benjamin grinned a smile of pure sex. “He’s an assistant football coach, tall, green eyed. Gorgeous.”

  “Sounds yummy,” Liv said, nibbling her bacon.

  “Scrumptious,” Benjamin agreed.

  Liv smiled and then sighed. “So, there’s something I want to talk about with you all. Miles wants to take me into Orlando on a day date, but if anyone—”

  Again, nearly in unison, everyone said, “We’re busy too.”

  Liv laughed and slowly shook her head. “You all realize that we’re failing epically at having a friend reunion?”

  “Sex, Liv,” Benjamin stated. Then he gave her one of his sweet smiles. “We’ll all always be friends, and we’ll be better about getting together, but right now this cruise is shaping up to be something none of us expected. Let’s go with it.”

  Liv glanced around and everyone else nodded. She supposed they hadn’t changed that much over the years. No one passed up a good time. “Okay, then, that’s settled. Let’s try and meet up every day, though? Breakfast. Dinner. Deal?”

  “Deal,” the group responded.

  With that all settled, she dug into her food, as did the others, and the conversation shifted to avoid talking about their current hook ups. No one in their group of friends was very good at relationships, long-term or short. But Liv wondered
if someone would find love here. She reached for her coffee and took a long sip, hoping one of her friends did. No matter how much time passed since she saw her college friends, their bond never wavered. They all deserved good things. The best things.

  Just as she swallowed her coffee, her stomach screaming at her to stop eating, Grace’s gasp made her look up.

  Aubrey strode up to the table with Carter Hayes, the famous Hollywood actor, at her side. He was trying very hard not to look like Carter Hayes. His Iowa farm boy disguise wasn’t fooling anyone. He had blond hair, blue eyes created to-die-for, looks that couldn’t be ignored. Liv outright gawked, unable to help it. Aubrey had a Carter Hayes thirst account on Instagram. Her crushing levels on Carter topped red-hot, and fate was working some serious magic on this cruise. Liv blinked a few times just to make sure her eyes weren’t betraying her.

  They weren’t. Both of them still had damp hair, and he had a tiny bite mark at the base of his throat.

  She glanced around the table, finding bemused shock on her friends’ faces. Aubrey began nibbling her lip nervously. Liv quickly intervened and broke the silence to save Aubrey. “Imagine you two rolling in late together.”

  “Our rooms are right next to each other,” Aubrey said.

  A total lie. Even Benjamin covered his chuckle with a coughing fit.

  Liv rose and turned, putting her back to Carter and mouthed to Aubrey, “What are you doing?”

  “Him,” Aubrey mouthed back. Liv blinked, realizing that her and Miles’s situation wasn’t nearly as complicated as Aubrey’s. She felt oddly refreshed by that as Aubrey stepped closer and whispered, “I’m in way over my head.”

  Liv snorted. “Believe me, you’re not the only one.”

  And almost on cue, from behind her, Miles said by way of greeting, “Good morning.”

  Liv turned around, hit by the heat he brought, even if he was currently looking at her group of friends. “Hi,” she said. His gaze met hers then, and the smile he gave her took her breath away.

  “Hi.” He leaned in a pressed a sweet kiss on her cheek that didn’t feel so sweet. “Have the plans for the day been decided?”