Loving Liv

by Stacey Kennedy

  “I’ll have the surf and turf with the lobster tails,” Liv said to the brown-haired man, holding the notepad and pen.

  “Prime porterhouse,” Miles said.

  “Perfect.” The man smiled. “Enjoy the wine. Your dinner will be out shortly.”

  As the waiter moved to another table, Miles sat back in his seat. The candlelight on the table cast Liv in a warm glow, somehow making her look softer. Maybe it’d been their time together that had relaxed her guards. Maybe he’d built trust. Whatever it was, he liked how she watched him, openly and eagerly, different than the Liv he’d met at the wedding. The woman who was somewhat closed down. He took a long sip of his wine before asking, “How open are you to answering some personal questions?”

  She finished her sip and then laughed softly. “Depends how personal and what you want to know.”

  Miles knew he treaded dangerous waters, but curiosity got the better of him. “Will you tell me about the guy who hurt you?”

  She held his stare, firmly. “How do you know it’s a guy and not something else, like a bad childhood?”

  He arched an eyebrow at her. “Is it a bad childhood?”

  Her mouth twitched and she slowly shook her head. “No, I actually have amazing parents, who loved me like crazy growing up. Still do.” She hesitated, setting her wine glass back on the table. “You really want to hear this? Don’t men usually hate hearing about ex’s?”

  He shrugged. “What’s to hate? A past is a past, and it’s yours. I’d like to hear about it, if you’re willing to share.” He wanted to find his way past those guards. First, he needed to understand why they were there.

  She let out a long sigh, looking out the window. Her gaze went distant, far away. “It’s a boring story.”

  “Tell me anyway.”

  Her soft eyes met his again. “His name is Gavin Humphries, the biggest player of all time. I met him through Allie. He’s a big time corporate real estate agent. At one time, I wanted to get into that, so Allie thought he was a good connection for me to have. She told me not to go anywhere near him, but Gavin and I…well, we just hit it off. Not that it should have surprised me. He hit it off with every woman. And yet, I thought he actually loved me.”

  Miles could tell by the tension in her voice where this was going, but he stayed quiet, letting her tell her story. “Within a year, we were engaged, and I thought I’d found the man I’d grow old with.” She glanced down at her glass, her chin quivering slightly. She took a long, deep breath and then went on. “You know, it’s not that he cheated that gets me.”

  At the deep pain in her eyes, Miles’s jaw set.

  “It’s that I let myself get that close to someone who I knew could hurt me.”

  “You can’t stop how you feel,” Miles offered gently.

  She gave a hard nod, lifting her eyes to him again. There was a coldness there. “I thought that way once too. But Gavin taught me that you can stop it. Don’t allow something to happen in the first place.”

  All the little things that Miles needed to know about Liv finally fell into place, and he realized why she was so hesitant to let life fall where it may. Why them living in different states was such a big deal, regardless of the fact that obviously there was something pretty sweet going on between them. She’d let fate lead the way before, and life had burned her.

  “What about you?” she asked, obviously wanting the subject changed. “Any bad ex-girlfriends in your past?”

  “None that I know of,” he said. “I typically don’t get close enough for that.”

  She snatched up her wine glass again, taking a quick sip. “Is there a reason for that?”

  “It’s nothing complicated. Back in my twenties, my entire focus had been on building my construction company.”

  “What kind of buildings did you build?”

  “Mostly corporate. But the last deal I handled personally was a shopping center.”

  “Big jobs, then?”

  He nodded. “I enjoy the big projects. It stretches the mind.”

  “Neat.” She slowly cocked her head. “Then how did running the nightclub come to be?”

  “I realized I wasn’t fulfilled, not truly. My personal life suffered greatly from owning the construction company and working long hours, and I needed a change.”

  “Which is why I guess you haven’t had many long-term relationships?”

  “Exactly.” He stared into her gorgeous eyes, finding it very easy tell her how he felt. “I sold the company to find out what I was missing in life. I’ve run the club for about a year now…and I’m still looking.” Until I met you. He didn’t feel restless around her. He felt sure, and that was something he’d ever felt before.

  She took another big, long sip of her wine, and then cleared her throat. “You must have dated a lot, though? Being you and all.”

  He chuckled, not sure how to take that. “Being me and all?”

  “Yeah, hot and with your…interests,” she said with a sweet smile.

  He couldn’t fight his answering grin. He liked her innocence, probably too much. “Dated, no. Enjoyed sexually, yes. Like I said, I’ve never met anyone that sparked anything more than a casual encounter.” He could see the question in her eyes and answered it for her, taking her hand in his. “Yes, it’s different with you. That’s exactly why I called for three months trying to come see you. And why I came on this cruise without a second’s thought.” He felt her hand pull back at the same time her eyes closed off a little. Trying not to scare her, he added, “And that’s what this is for me. I’m chasing whatever feels good until I find exactly what I’ve been missing.” To change the topic of conversation from them, he asked, “But what about you, Liv? What do you want? Marriage? Children? Is that in the cards for you?”

  She nodded. “Yes, I want the husband and the kids, but I’m a lot more of a realist now.”

  Confused, he arched an eyebrow. “A realist about love?”

  “That’s right,” she said, taking her hand from his to reach for her wineglass again. “It’s got to make sense to love one another.”

  He sat back, regarded her. “Is that you talking or the walls you’ve built against men like Gavin?”

  She stilled, her wine glass halfway to her mouth. “It’s not one or the other. There was me before Gavin and me after, walls included. I never make the same mistake twice.”

  “Not even if the risk was worth it?”

  “Not even then.” She released a slow breath and set her wine glass down. “The thing is, for me, it’s not about trusting someone again. It’s that I knew better. That’s what got me, you know. That I knew Gavin was trouble, I knew he was a player, and I let him walk right into my life. I did that to myself. All the heartbreak that came after was my own doing. It took me a good year to crawl out of the depression I sank into after him. I know it seems too logical and hard, even, but it’s not that I won’t take risks for love. Of course, I would. But love, for me now, has to make sense. Because I know my heart. It can’t be bruised that way. I can’t take it. And that’s a limit I know about me.”

  Red-hot anger coursed through him and he gave her a slow, understanding nod. To have this woman’s heart was a gift. He couldn’t imagine mistreating it.

  She gave him a funny look. “You think I’m being silly, right?”

  “No, Liv, I don’t,” he told her, controlling the fury licking his veins.

  She glanced at her plate a moment then looked up at him through her lashes. “Then what are you thinking?”

  He wasn’t sure how she’d take what he said next, but he couldn’t find a filter. “That if I met Gavin, I’d make sure he regrets what he did to you.”

  Her eyes widened slightly, and then she gave her sweet laugh. “You know, I think I’d like to see that.”

  CHAPTER 8

  By the time dinner was done, and Liv awaited Miles’s sexy surprise in the lobby, she knew two things for certain. One, this had been one of her favorite days ever. She’d never enjo
yed being in the ocean before, but today had been different. The fish, the bright colors of the coral reef, the shipwrecks, she’d gobbled up every minute of it. She knew with total certainty that having Miles next to her made the ocean less scary. A solid punch from him would no doubt send a shark away. She hadn’t had a man in her life for years. She forgot how good it felt. Beyond the fabulous sex, spending time together, laughing, enjoying each other, it all felt…good. Really good. And talking about her past didn’t hurt like it once did. And she knew both of those things were because of Miles. She wasn’t exactly sure what to do about that. She liked him. A lot. She liked how he listened, how, when he talked, he did so with care and compassion. Most of all, she liked the way he lived. Whatever he did, he seemed to do it with everything he had in him, determined to change and keep changing in order to find what satisfied him in life. She remembered a time she was like that, when she had so many dreams. One of those being a corporate real estate agent. She wasn’t exactly sure when those dreams went away, but she guessed a lot of it had to do with Gavin. And that just made her mad, not because he cheated, but because she forgot her dreams.

  She was lost in those thoughts when Miles’s surprise plan for the night became clear after she’d been handed a piece of paper by one of the entertainment workers. She studied the paper then looked up at Miles. “A sexy scavenger hunt?”

  “Surprised?” he asked with a sly smile.

  “Uh, yeah.” Of all the plans that Liv thought Miles might have, this had most definitely not been what she thought. Standing with two dozen couples in the main lobby, she examined the insane list in her hands.

  To be done in order:

  1. Give your bra to someone on the dance floor.

  2. Get a spanking in public on the pool deck.

  3. Ask a man to autograph your cleavage at the piano bar.

  4. Go to the bow of the ship and have someone talk dirty to you.

  5. Get a condom from someone at the stern of the ship.

  She took in each and every word and then she slowly lifted her head to Miles. “I’m so confused right now,” she admitted. Where was the sex? The dirty times that his eyes had promised her?

  Miles gave her that panty-melting grin. “Stop thinking and just go with it.” The world faded away when he took a step closer, captured her chin, and brought his powerful gaze down to her eye level. “Let me be clear, Liv, the only guy doing anything on this list to you is me. Understood?”

  At that firm command in his voice, she shivered. “I understand that when you look at me like that and talk in that deep, sexy voice that I want to rip your clothes off, yes.”

  His eyes softened with his chuckle. “And the rules, you get those too?”

  “Yeah, yeah,” she said, “but, are you not coming on this scavenger hunt with me?”

  “I’ll find you on it.”

  Before she could reply, Alfonzo, the man who’d organized the body shots, said, “All right, friends, are we ready? Complete all the items and whichever person comes back first wins a bottle of tequila.”

  Loud applause filled the lobby, echoing in the grand space. Liv slid Miles a look, spotting the slight curve of his mouth. Oh, yeah, he knew she was watching him. Obviously, he was changing up the game to suit him, and she decided to listen to him and go with it. So far anything he did proved hot as hell and ended with a mind-blowing orgasm.

  Alfonzo lifted a hand in the air and called, “Ready, set, go.”

  “Let the games begin,” Miles said, yanking her forward and gave her a searing kiss and then he smacked her ass. “You better get running. Don’t want to lose, after all!”

  She spun away feeling the laughter bubble up. Okay, so maybe this wasn’t going to be so bad after all. She followed the other participants as they moved through the hallway down to the party room where the DJ had electronic music blasting through the speakers. The dance floor was already jam packed. The others in the game began taking off their bras to give to someone. Liv scanned the club but couldn’t find Miles anywhere. With a sigh, she reached up the back of her shirt, right as two hands gripped her arms. In less time it took to blink, she was spun around and brought up against a post. Miles’s hands braced her face, his mouth sealing against hers. He ravaged her with kisses. He melted her damn insides, turning her into hot, fiery liquid that was his to drink. His tongue devilishly stroked hers and their lips moved in sync. His hands were everywhere, squeezing, kneading, waking every single inch of her up until there was no music. No people. Only them, and this wild place he took her.

  Just as she became desperate for more, he was gone.

  She slowly opened her eyes, feeling wet, hot, and needy as she glanced down, realizing he’d stolen her bra. She blinked, finding people watching her, one lady was fanning herself. Her face burned from Miles, but surprisingly not from embarrassment. She’d never thought being watched would get her off like it did, but she liked that feeling of having eyes on her. The eroticism of it all. The proof that she was sexy and young and wild.

  Ready to find Miles again, Liv rushed forward, remembering she had a list to follow. She couldn’t find any of the other participants, so she hurried out to the hallway, and then out onto the pool deck. The bar, as always, was alive with partygoers. Her face flushed hot at the thought that he’d spank her in front of all these people. Nervous excitement fluttered in her belly.

  Laughter came from her left. She spotted one of the women getting spanked by a half-naked cowboy. It occurred to her then that that’s not what Liv wanted. She didn’t want silliness. She wanted a passionate man to hold her, to command her, to take what he wanted and to give her the same.

  Goosebumps suddenly rose on her flesh as a hard body closed in behind her. Miles’s hand slid up her back until his fingers threaded in her hair. “A little pain always does make things more interesting.” His low voice rumbled over her, taking her far away from there. He fisted her hair, nudging her head to the side while he kissed her neck, turning her bones to mush. Her eyes fluttered shut at the sheer force of him as he stepped to the side, the strength of his body right there. She fell into him, into the safe feeling he provided. He cupped her bottom. Squeezed twice. Then blasted a hard swat against her butt cheek. Heat flooded her. She leaned back, not ashamed to want that feeling again. More.

  He slapped again. And again. And again.

  The air got thick. She felt dizzy with the desire coursing through her.

  But then all that strength behind her was gone.

  She snapped her eyes open and spun around, the world shaky beneath her, until her vision cleared. Every set of eyes on her prickled against her flesh, making even the breeze on her arms tickle in a good way. But then she found Miles. His heated smile widened before he faded into the crowd.

  Drenched with desire and encouraged by the envy she spotted in more than a few women’s faces, she moved back the way she came, having a hard time remembering where the piano bar even was, or if she even still had legs. Her panties were soaked, her limbs nearly numb. She went right down the hallway. When suddenly, she realized she should’ve gone left. “Dammit.” She turned around, nearly walking right into someone. “Sorry.”

  The man reached out for her. “Are you all right?”

  “Yes, thank you,” she breathed, trying to find her working body parts.

  She headed the opposite direction until she saw the large crystal chandelier hanging in the center of the classy bar, decorated in red and black accents and more mirrors than she could possibly count.

  Just as she approached bar, a hand caught hers. The room spun as she was snatched away and pulled behind a large pillar. “Stay right here,” Miles ordered, a firm look in his eyes now. One that made her belly tighten. This man looking at her now was the Dominant. The man he’d obviously contained. “Move an inch and security cameras will see what I’m about to do.”

  Before she could even question him, or make sense out of how wildly hot his dominance made her, he grabbed the front of her d
ress and exposed her breasts. Anyone could have seen them, watched this. Her breath caught somewhere deep in her throat, excitement coursing red-hot in her veins, secretly wanting for just that to happen. He cupped her breasts, sucked each one, bit each nipple, and she unabashedly ground herself against him, lacing her fingers into his hair, holding him there, wanting him there. She was a panting mess when he tried to lean away. She held on, and he nipped hard at her breast. Hard. She somehow gasped and shuddered all the same. “Don’t ruin my fun now,” he said with a dark, devilish grin. “You’ve got two more tasks ahead of you.” He grabbed a marker from his back pocket, took the top off with his teeth and then signed Miles onto her breast. She wasn’t sure why, but having his name on her like this felt like the most erotic thing she’d ever experienced. She felt marked by him in the best possibly way.

  His sly grin was the last thing she saw as he headed down the hallway. She peeled herself off the wall, trying desperately to catch her breath, wondering how in the hell she was going to make it to the last item. Her panties were soaking wet, her sex throbbing for his touch…his cock, and when she looked at the next item, she whimpered.

  The walk to the bow of the ship felt long, but did nothing to ease the tension coiled tight inside her. When she finally made it outside, the light breeze brushed across her, doing nothing to cut through the heat blazing between her thighs. People were everywhere, laughing, talking, but her full attention went to Miles. He leaned against the railing, soft lights along the ground guided her to him. He was magnificent. His grin haughty, yet warm. His eyes dark and stern, yet passion burned in their depths. Her heart raced with each and every step she took toward him. She thought he’d grab her, spin her around, and quietly talk dirty in her ear.