She wiggled her ass into him. An invitation?
“I need the words, Liv,” he said.
She leaned her head back and moaned, “Have me.”
“Lift your dress and move your panties aside,” he ordered.
She did as he asked, while he wasted no time grabbing a condom from his wallet. In quick time he had his cock free from his zipper and sheathed. With a hand on her hip, he entered her from behind. Miles’s arm brushed against the man next to him. People on either side all focused on the show in front of them. “Do you want them to turn and watch you?” he murmured in her ear. “For you to be the center of attention now?”
“Yes,” she rasped, her legs trembling against his.
“All you need to do is moan, Liv.” He nipped her ear. “Moan and let them hear you, and they’ll see how beautiful you are.” He moved slowly, letting her feel all of him, while he felt all of her. He slid his hand up and cupped her breast, when suddenly she moaned. Loud.
He could feel some eyes in the crowd shift to them. Feel Liv’s inner walls clench tight when she realized it too.
And at that, it came as absolutely no surprise when she rose in her pleasure. She liked having eyes on her, as much as he did, even if she wasn’t ready to admit that aloud. Miles knew she was locked up tight, bound by her pain, but with every touch, every moment she allowed herself under his command, he felt those binds loosen.
He dropped his mouth to her neck, bit at the fleshly part of her shoulder and felt her shudder against him, her body hugging him tight. He squeezed her breast before moving on to the other, his fingers tightening on her hip, holding her firmly to him as her knees weakened. He caught movement to his right, and wanting to increase the intensity for her, he said, “Look to your right.”
She turned, the pleasure washing over her face before he felt her body contract around him at the sight before her. He groaned against her tightness, against her perfection, against her ass bouncing with every one of his thrusts. Her focus remained on the couple next to them. The woman kneeling in front of her man, giving him a blowjob, while he watched them. Miles didn’t take his eyes off Liv. Off her beauty. Off the magic he felt when her eyes suddenly shut tight. And soon, those slight trembles became hard quakes, and with a loud moan drawing more attention, she broke apart and tumbled into where he took her. But what did surprise him was that he followed her, losing control at the feel of her…the scent of her…the sound of her. Oh, what this woman did to him.
“And that, Liv,” he murmured in her ear after he emptied himself inside her, “is an introduction into my world.”
CHAPTER 7
The following morning, Liv woke up, still riding the high from the club. She could sum up her sex life as 1950’s America. Missionary. Boring. Last night her world had been blown apart, and the most mindboggling part of it all, she wanted more. She’d never considered herself wild in nature. She’d been too busy with life to really throw herself out there, and she’d come from parents who were so buttoned-up, sometimes even Liv could barely breathe. But last night made everything look unfamiliar, like the world was a place she’d barely even explored. Everything looked new…different. And being with Miles made her wonder; how much of the world had she not seen? She kept waiting to feel dirty by what she’d done, and seen, and she simply didn’t. She felt life pulsating through her veins.
After texting Aubrey in desperate need of girl talk, and leaving Miles eating breakfast on his balcony, Liv made it to the breakfast buffet. She found Aubrey already sitting, the sun casting its beams on their table. Liv smiled. Aubrey hadn’t changed at all. She’d always been like a cat, finding the sunny spots and staying there as long as she could. Aubrey stared out at the open water, her brows drawn, her teeth worrying her bottom lip. Maybe Liv wasn’t the only one who needed this talk. And maybe she wasn’t the only one treading a very dangerous line between fantasy and reality.
She and Audrey’s friendship had changed over the years and she barely saw Aubrey anymore, but it was still one of the strongest, most familiar relationships in her life. It didn’t matter that, when they finished college, Liv moved back home to San Francisco and Aubrey moved back home to Salvation, Virginia. Their bond never wavered.
“Morning,” Liv said, reaching the table.
Aubrey finished her sip of mimosa. “Morning. Got you a glass too.”
“Yum. Thanks.” Liv gestured to the buffet. “I’m starving. You?”
“Hell, yes,” said Aubrey, hopping up and following Liv to the buffet.
A few minutes later, Liv had sausages, scrambled eggs, and toast, and every other breakfast food she could fit on her plate. Her body needed the fuel. She hadn’t felt as sore as she did now since she’d gone back to the gym a couple years ago. Though she’d take Miles’s kind of workout any day.
She returned to the table, and after placing her plate down, dropped into the seat.
Aubrey said, “So, I take it, by your sparkly self that things with Miles are going well?”
Liv chuckled. “I’m sparkling, huh?”
Aubrey smiled at Liv over the rim of her coffee cup. “As sparkly as those vampires in Twilight.”
Liv laughed. “Well, there’s a very good reason for that,” she explained. “Miles took me to a sex club yesterday.”
Aubrey spit the coffee back into her mug, coughing. When she could breathe again, she exclaimed, “You went to a sex club?”
Heat rushed over Liv’s cheeks, as every head turned in their direction. “Must you yell that?” she blasted back at Aubrey.
“Yes, I must yell that,” Aubrey gasped. “This is shocking! I mean, doing something that wild is totally my jam, but you?” She blinked twice. “Who are you and what have you done with my good girl, Liv?”
Liv gave the people watching them a smile she hoped spoke of her apology. “Good girl Liv is on vacation.”
Again, Aubrey blinked, sitting unnaturally still. “How on earth did you even find a sex club?” she asked.
“I didn’t find one. Miles did. He knows the guy who owns it.”
Aubrey placed her hands flat on the table and leaned in, her eyes glued on Liv. “Girl, tell me every single thing that has happened since you set foot on this ship.”
Liv took a long sip of her coffee, and then explained it all, from the surprise of seeing Miles there, to the body shot, to the hot sex, to deciding to embrace their days together, to finally learning more about his erotic tastes. “And that brings us to this morning,” she finished.
“Wow,” Aubrey breathed, chewing on a piece of bacon. “That’s just…wow. What was it like there?”
“Wild…and kind of amazing too. You know me, I’ve never been bold like that.” She leaned in and whispered, “But I’m telling you, Aubrey, I liked it…you know, having sex there.”
Aubrey laughed. “That is so hot.”
Liv laughed with her. “It is, but it’s also so much. He’s so much.”
Aubrey cocked her head, the sunlight warming the caramel highlights through her hair. “In a bad way?”
“Not bad necessarily,” Liv explained after a moment of consideration. “Just intense, you know. It’s like all this is fun and sexy, but it’s even more than that.” She hesitated, then told herself not to. Her heart needed someone to listen. “I feel like I’m falling…”
Aubrey’s eyebrows shot up. “Falling in love with him?”
“God, no, I barely even know him,” Liv corrected then paused. “I would never fall for him. He still lives in Vegas. I still live in San Francisco. Nothing about the obstacles in our way has changed, but it’s more like I’m changing. I don’t even know how to explain it. It just feels like I’m different with him. Like, I’m falling into where he wants me to go…making me want things…making me oddly trust him …making me feel things that I can’t control.”
Aubrey nibbled her bacon, her eyes turning inquisitive.
“What’s with the look?” Liv asked with a laugh.
“Maybe b
eing out of your comfort zone isn’t such a bad thing,” Aubrey said. “Maybe it’s about damn time you did something wild. Maybe Miles is actually the first guy to make you feel something that you can’t control. And maybe, this is how real love starts and you shouldn’t be so closed off to seeing where this goes with him.”
Liv swallowed deeply. “I can’t do that again.” Being in control kept her heart safe.
“I know,” Aubrey said, eyes sad. “But at some point, you’re going to have to dive in and believe that everything is going to work out. It’s been years since Gavin. This could be your chance to be happy, Liv. Don’t turn a blind eye to that.”
I have to…she almost replied, but then kept the thought to herself. She’d let go once and it had cost her deeply, when she knew better to let her guard down. She remembered vividly what it felt like to see the world lose its color. To feel so drowned by betrayal and heartbreak that she lost the energy to get out of bed. Aubrey had come to San Francisco during that week after Gavin’s cheating came to light. She’d been there through the tears, the anger, and she, along with Allie, gave Liv the love she needed to pick herself up again. The very thought of going through that again made her stomach go laden with her breakfast. “But what if I’m not enough for him?”
Aubrey frowned. “How could you not be enough for him? You’re Liv!”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because he goes to sex clubs and has women falling at his feet, and I’m…well, not going to fall at his feet.”
Aubrey laughed softly. “Maybe he’s bored with that kind of thing. You could be refreshing to him.”
“Maybe,” Liv said after consideration. But that stupid little voice in her head got loud: You thought you could change Gavin…and he cheated.
Not hungry anymore, she pushed her plate away, and did what she did best, avoided the subject all together. “Okay, enough about me. What’s wrong?”
Aubrey adverted her gaze. “Nothing.”
“Liar.” Liv pointed her fork at Aubrey. “I know you. You had that I-am-thinking-deep look when I showed up. Talk to me.”
“Really, it’s nothing.” Aubrey’s gaze lifted, a shadow in their depths, revealing heaviness there. “I spent the day yesterday having sex with the one and only Carter Hayes. Believe me, I’ve got nothing to complain about.”
Liv examined her. Aubrey was as close as a sister. Regardless of what she’d said, something was wrong. Very wrong. And if Liv guessed, she’d bet Aubrey felt guilty about something. “I’m here, you know that, right? If you need to talk about anything.”
Aubrey gave a soft smile, reached across the table and squeezed Liv’s hand. “I love you too.”
Liv returned the smile, right as a couple walked by. The gentleman wearing a straw hat said to the woman next to him, “We’re arriving to port in CocoCay any minute now.” Liv couldn’t wait to get there. The plan today was to soak in the sun on the beach, drink cocktails, and swim in the ocean on the private island for as long as she could before the ship departed at six o’clock tonight. She’d sent a group text out earlier to tell everyone where she and Miles planned to be for the day in case anyone wanted to join them. She suspected she wouldn’t see anyone until dinner tonight, and that was A-okay with her. “So, before we head off, are we going to talk about you and Carter Hayes, and the unbelievable twist of fate that’s at work here?”
Aubrey dropped her chin into her hand. “I don’t even know if I still believe it. It’s like a…”
“Fantasy come true?” Liv offered.
Aubrey snorted a laugh. “Exactly.” Then her smiled faded with her long exhale as she reached for her glass again. “I’m still waiting to wake up and realize I’m dreaming all this.”
Now that, Liv understood. She lifted her mimosa to cheers. “You and me both, girl. To this wild adventure.”
Aubrey laughed and clanged her glass with Liv’s.
Later that afternoon, Miles swam behind Liv on the private island, immensely enjoying the view of her yellow string bikini. The cruise line owned the private island and had built a huge waterpark, but Miles was glad that wasn’t Liv’s thing. It mostly definitely wasn’t his. They’d spent the day soaking up the sun and drinking on the beach. They hit the water after that. Well, after a little nudge from him. The coral reef was bright and beautiful, and Miles hadn’t seen color like this in a very long time.
Liv swam farther ahead of him and then suddenly stopped and turned back, pointing right. Miles followed where she directed him, and he gazed upon one of the makeshift plane wrecks. Colorful tropical fish swam around the single engine plane. He gave Liv a thumbs up, and even with the scuba mask, he could see how much she was loving this. He liked her like this. All lit up, without a guard in sight. He’d studied the map of the water before they came to the island, and wanting to see more of that excitement, he took her hand and swam north. There, he pointed at the makeshift shipwreck. Liv’s wide eyes met his and he heard her scream of excitement muffled in the water before she swam forward, circling around the shipwreck, looking at it from every angle.
Miles stared after her, not much interested in the ship below. He wondered if this was what love felt like. Bright. Colorful. Easy. Liv turned back to him and waved him forward, calling him over in the direction of the other shipwreck a few feet away. And he followed her, oddly feeling like he’d follow her anywhere, just for more of this.
When he reached her, she breached the water and took her snorkel out of her mouth. “How cool was that?”
“Very cool,” he said, treading water. “Not so scary in here, is it?”
She laughed softly. “No, it’s not so scary. You were right to push me to do this. Thank you for that.”
“You’re welcome.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her in close. “But I don’t need to be right.”
She licked her lips. “Then what do you need?”
“To see your smile.”
And she gave him the exact one he wanted. The same one that had caught his eye when he first saw her at the wedding. A smile that felt handmade just for him.
The thought stayed with him for the remainder of their snorkel, and even after they returned to the cruise ship.
Freshly shaven and showered, Miles checked for his keycard before shoving his wallet into the pocket of his beige slacks that he paired with a white button-down. As he approached the door, he couldn’t remember a time he had enjoyed a day this much. He liked being around Liv, near her, touching her, whatever she’d let him do. For years, he’d been searching to fill a void inside him. He’d changed jobs, hoping that would heal the wound. He’d tried to gain more of a personal life, but that had failed to ease the tension in his chest. But slowly, he was beginning to understand why.
Liv.
The magic there. It was…different.
Her yellow string bikini had tempted him all day, and she knew it, too, openly teasing him. He had plans for a little retribution on his part, but that would come later. For now, he left his cabin and strode down the hallway, realizing whatever he’d been missing in his life he was finding in Liv.
When he finally reached the main eatery where they served the buffet, he knew food was the last thing he wanted tonight. He hungered for the stunning brunette before him, who stood with her curls free and wild. Liv’s skin was sun kissed from their day, and she wore a blouse and skirt, light makeup. “I like this look on you,” he told her before dropping a kiss on her cheek.
“What look?” she asked with a sweet smile.
“Fresh. Natural.”
She played with one of her curls. “It wasn’t on purpose, believe me. I just ran out of time.”
He slid his hand on her waist, pulling her in against him. “Then I’m glad you did. Seeing you like this reminds me of you naked.” He glanced down into her sparkling eyes. “And I happen to like you that way.”
She angled her chin up, offering him so much. “I happen to like that you like me naked.”
He chuckled a
nd gladly accepted what she offered, sealing his mouth across hers. When he eventually forced himself to back away, they were both breathless and he considered skipping dinner all together.
But the choice also didn’t belong to him. A harsh reminder when her cell phone began to beep and beep and beep.
“That sounds like trouble.” She reached into her little purse and took out her cell. She scrolled through then fired off a text before glancing up at Miles. “Well, change of plans, it’s just the two of us now.”
Miles moved out of the way of the couple passing by them. “Your friends cancelled?”
She nodded and said with a laugh, “They’re preoccupied doing other people, which means, we could be doing those things too.” She stepped closer, closing the distance, bringing all her warmth and soft curves against him. “How about we get back to that kiss?”
Damn. He was tempted. Too tempted. But he wanted to know her mind as much as he was learning her body. “Let me take you for dinner instead. Somewhere a little nicer than the buffet.” Slight disappointment touched her gaze, and he chuckled at that. “I’ve got plans for us later. Trust me, it’ll be worth the wait.”
She studied him. Then grinned. “Well, in that case, dinner it is.”
He slid her arm in his and he led her down the hallway and up to the top deck. When they entered the Prime Grill, the steak and seafood restaurant, he was glad to find it looked romantic, with a white honeycomb ceiling, black painted walls, and silver and gold accents.
“For two?” the maître d’ asked, drawing his attention.
Before he could reply, Liv said, “Yes, please.”
“Perfect.” The maître d’ scooped up two menus. “Right this way.”
Miles gestured for Liv to follow and he strode in behind her, his gaze lowering to her incredible ass and the way she put an extra little wiggle to her hips. Playful, are we? That bode well for their night ahead. He lifted his attention when they reached the table with a starboard view, and the maître d’ set down their menus. Miles held out Liv’s chair, and within minutes, they had a bottle of red wine on the table, two glasses poured.
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