Now Sean’s stomach took another hit, but it wasn’t because of her smile. This place was worth a fortune and she was going to turn it into a co-op? The property value would take a nosedive and as for the surrounding properties he’d bought and would need to sell to pay back his brothers . . . A co-op would cut their value in half.
“You might want to check with the zoning board before you go that route, Livvy.” That would be his next call. “So, I’m assuming Dr. Carston called?”
“Yep. Davy’s doing fine. We’ll be able to bring him home today. Thank you for taking us yesterday. I know you probably wanted to spend more time with your grandmother.”
“No problem. And Gran understood.” Gran had understood too much; he hadn’t minded leaving.
“I should call her and the other ladies to apologize for running out. They never got what they came for.”
Gran certainly had. She’d had her say and saw him holding Livvy’s hand. When he’d called her last night after they’d gotten back from the vet, she’d said only one thing. “I approve of her, Sean, but I don’t approve of what you’re planning. I know you’ll do the right thing.”
As if he needed any more guilt over this situation.
“If you’re staying, you’ll have all the time you need for them to visit again. But to do that, we have to find the next clue. Any idea where to start?”
She tucked her hair behind her ears. “My grandmother said it had to do with my grandfather Henry. Something about his pet project. Any ideas what that means?”
He did, but as a housekeeper, he shouldn’t know about the amusement park her grandfather had built. As an interested party in Merriweather’s will, however, he did.
“I’m sure it’s not that hard to find out with a couple internet searches.”
“Which means it’s back to the library for me again. Want to come?”
“Actually . . .” He pulled out his phone. “Smartphone. I picked it up when you went to the Market. Search away.”
It took her less than five minutes to discover what he already knew.
“You’re never going to guess what it is.” She handed him the phone.
“Okay.” He didn’t let go of her hand.
She rolled her eyes but smiled anyway. “Aren’t you even going to try?”
“You said I wouldn’t, so why bother?”
“Seriously, Sean, you’re no fun.”
He arched an eyebrow.
“Okay, you are, but you could at least humor me.”
“All right. Let me see. Did he build a road?”
“No.”
“An office building?”
“Nope.”
“Shopping mall?”
“Not even close.”
“Gee, this game is so much fun.”
Livvy rolled her eyes again. “All right, Mr. Sore Loser. It’s an amusement park.”
“I am not a sore loser, and you’re right. Never would have guessed an amusement park. You’re planning to go there, aren’t you?”
“Unless you have other plans for the day.”
“There’s just one problem.”
“Oh?”
He tugged her closer. “Yeah. You see, I have this thing called a job. For which I get paid. And my boss is kind of a stickler for keeping the clients happy.”
She flattened her palms against his chest and suddenly Sean wasn’t finding anything amusing in their situation. Hot and heavy, a turn-on, sexy, yes. Funny . . . Not at all. He wanted her with an intensity that was almost frightening.
“Well this client would be much happier if you accompanied her to an amusement park instead of vacuuming the stairs, so unless you have some weird aversion to amusement parks, I guess that means you’re going with me.” She pushed back on his chest and he reluctantly—very reluctantly—let her go. “Give me fifteen minutes to get ready, and then we can go.”
“Sounds good, but why don’t we get something to eat first?”
“Good idea. Let’s check out that diner on our way to the interstate. My treat.”
“Sounds like a plan, but it’s my treat. I’ve never let a woman pay for a meal in my life and I’m not about to start now.”
She shrugged and the way her breasts moved was payment enough if she wanted to be a stickler about it.
“Okay, fine by me. But just so you know, I’m in the mood for a really big breakfast.”
SHE hadn’t been kidding.
Livvy was the first woman he’d ever taken to a restaurant who actually ate her food. All the others had taken little nibbles and pushed it around on their plate, but not Livvy. She was right; she wasn’t like any other woman.
Not that he’d needed her to point that out.
She polished off her third fried egg and washed it and the fourth piece of toast down with her second glass of grapefruit juice.
“Where do you put it?” Sean asked, trying to look at her objectively. Yeah, that wasn’t happening.
“Too much? Sorry, but I was hungry.”
“Don’t apologize to me. I’m glad to see you have a healthy appetite. Even if you were a little nutso with the multi-grain bread.”
“Hey, I had to know if it was organic or not. I don’t expect a teenage waitress to know that. Easiest way to find out is by looking at the packaging.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t ask if the butter was hand churned.”
She balled up her napkin and tossed it at him. “Now you’re just making fun of me.”
“No, I’m enjoying you. All your little quirks and issues.”
“You don’t mind?”
He reached for her hand. “How could I? They’re what make you you.”
She swallowed, then licked her lips. It wasn’t a nibble, but it was just as potent. “Thank you for saying that. It was really sweet.”
“So are you, Livvy.” He lowered his voice and leaned in. “And I wouldn’t mind tasting you right now.”
He got the blush he’d been aiming for. He also got a raging hard-on, but then, he’d been at half-mast ever since she’d walked down the stairs in a pair of shorts and sandals that made him want to run his hands up her legs, and her requisite cami with the open blouse over it that was more of a peek-a-boo turn-on than anything that hid her curves.
“You can’t say things like that,” she whispered.
“Sure I can. It’s the truth.”
If it was possible, her blush got deeper. And it spread down her neck and beneath that blouse and that cami and, hell, he’d love to trace its path with his tongue.
“I think we should go,” she said, pulling her hand from his and sitting back.
“So do I, but unfortunately, if I get out of this booth, I’m going to embarrass you, myself, and everyone here.”
It took her a few seconds to get it, but when she did, she blushed all over again.
Sean groaned. “Livvy, please stop blushing.”
“Then stop saying things like that.”
“Can I still think them?”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re incorrigible.”
“No, I’m in pain. Take pity on me and let’s talk about something . . . oh, I don’t know. Cold.”
“Like a glacier?”
“That’s a good one.”
“Or how about a frozen lake.”
“Even better.”
“Polar bear?”
“That works.”
“Me naked in front of a roaring fire with snow falling outside the window behind me?”
“No fair.”
She flicked a lock of hair that’d fallen onto his forehead.
“All’s fair in lunch and war, remember?”
“I remember very well, thank you, but this is breakfast.” He remembered seeing her stretched out, naked in the sun with the gurgle
of flowing water surrounding them, the blue sky overhead and not a soul around for miles, and they’d made love as if they were the only two people on earth, in their own private Eden. “You’re blushing again.”
“That’s not a blush.”
The look she gave him told him everything he needed to know. “Keep looking at me like that, woman, and I’m not going to be liable for the consequences.”
“I’d love to explore those consequences with you, but there are rides waiting for us.”
He’d give her a ride . . .
He didn’t have to say it—she started blushing all over again.
Today promised to be a lot of fun.
Chapter Thirty-one
LET’S go again!” Livvy was bouncing all over the place, God help him. Down the steps from the ride, across the macadam, circling around him like her dancing poodle. Though a hell of a lot cuter.
“You want to do that again? Aren’t you about to toss up your three eggs, four pieces of organic multi-grain toast, and two glasses of grapefruit juice?”
“Technically, it was only one and a half.”
“Oh, right. Big difference there. So if it’d been two full glasses then you’d be tossing it?”
“No, silly. I love that ride. When the bottom falls out, it’s like that feeling you get in your tummy when you . . . You know.” She nibbled on her bottom lip and Sean had a feeling he knew exactly what she was going to say.
He tugged her against him and linked his hands against the small of her back. “You mean like the feeling you get when I do this?”
He kissed her. Right there in the park in front of everyone, he kissed her as if it were just the two of them like at the lake. As if he couldn’t wait to take her home.
He couldn’t. “I want you, Livvy.” He had to murmur it against her skin.
“Sean, we’re in public.”
“Trust me, I know.” He tugged on her earlobe with his teeth. “Just wanted to make sure you did.”
She arched her back slightly, thrusting her belly against his erection. “Oh I know.”
He exhaled on a laugh and kissed the tip of her nose. “How long do you think we can stay like this before someone notices?”
“Probably a lot longer than if you let go and turned around right now.”
“Good point.”
“I say we try the log flume next. That water will be sure to cool you down.”
“Until you end up soaking wet.”
“Oh, right. Good point. How about the fun house instead?”
“Sounds like a plan.”
It was a good plan. Those moving stairs sent her careening back into him. And that rope climb . . . Good thing Gran had taught him to be a gentleman; he’d let her go first.
“Cotton candy?” she asked once they’d worked their way through the hamster wheel and onto the platform at the end.
“Cotton candy? You?” Sean put a hand on his chest and pretended to stagger back against the cordon ropes. “Isn’t that full of chemicals and dyes and nitrates or something?”
“Sugar and air. Maybe some food coloring. Not too bad.”
“Go figure. The stuff mothers warn kids about passes muster with you.”
She poked him in the chest. “Mothers also warn girls about guys like you, yet I’m not listening to that, either.”
Sean wouldn’t let her pull her hand away. He plastered it against him, more than willing to use any excuse to get her hands on him. Hell, he had it bad for her. “Hey, I’m a good guy. Mothers love me.”
“I bet they do.” She waggled her eyebrows and tugged her hand free as she headed on to the next ride.
Sean followed her, quickly catching up. Bryan was the one every woman loved. And that was okay with Sean. He didn’t need to be the object of every woman’s fantasy. Just one certain one.
One special one.
Livvy.
“Sean? You okay?”
Livvy turned around when he stopped moving. Hell, he thought he’d stopped breathing.
“Sean?”
“Huh? Uh, yeah. I’m fine.” In a my-world-just-tilted sort of way.
“Can we do the swings? I love spinning around like that.”
She ought to try spinning the way he was right now. Holy hell, he was falling for her. And not because the sex had been great. Though it had been. But he wanted her smiles in the morning and her moans at night. Her kisses all day long. He wanted her laughter and her insecurities and her jokes and her sighs when she was sleeping. He’d even take the dogs if it meant he got Livvy. And her blushes. Oh, how he wanted her blushes.
“Or do you want to do that pirate ship ride?
He looked to where she was pointing. A giant ship swinging from side to side until it was almost perpendicular to the ground. Nah, he didn’t need to go on that one; his insides were doing that all on their own.
“Or how about the Double Shot? It’s a rush.”
He didn’t need any more of a rush. But he couldn’t exactly tell her that. “Sure. Sounds fun.”
He was falling for Livvy.
LIVVY couldn’t remember a better day. Well, maybe the one by the lake, but this was a close second. Sean was so much fun and such a good sport and the perfect guy to hang out with at an amusement park. He, of course, hit the bell on the strong man game. He popped all six balloons with his darts, winning her a stuffed hippo “for her menagerie,” and didn’t mind powdered sugar all over his face from the funnel cake.
Of course, that might have had something to do with the fact that she kissed it off of him, but still . . .
They went on every ride, some twice, bought all of the overpriced pictures the rides took of them, watched a clown juggle, a sword swallower swallow swords (obviously), and the trained dog act got her seriously thinking about her own animals. Hers were smart; they could learn to do tricks like these. Maybe she could put on shows at senior centers or children’s hospitals now that she’d have time to do such things—if she found the rest of the clues.
She gave in to eating a hot dog—it was pretty good, though she wasn’t going to admit it to him—when Sean brought their drinks back to the table.
“Here. I got you an iced tea. Figured the cotton candy and funnel cake were enough sugar for you today, so I bagged the soda. Didn’t want to overdo it.” He plucked the hot dog from her hand. “Including this. All those nitrates you know.” He downed it in one bite.
“Hey! That’s my dinner!”
He raised an eyebrow. “Really? You were enjoying that? I thought you were eating it to appease me, since there’s no corn-fed beef around here.”
She crossed her arms and exhaled. “I was appeasing me. My appetite.”
He pulled out some more cash. “Oh. In that case, I’ll get you another one.”
“Never mind. It’s not like I need any more. Besides, I have this.” She held up her tea. What an utterly sweet gesture. “Thank you.”
“No problem.” He took a good chug of his soda, then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. She hid a smile. “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing.”
“Uh huh. Not buying it. Your nothings always sound like something to me, so spill. I want to know why you’re laughing at me.”
“I’m not laughing at you; I’m smiling at you.”
“Same thing. Tell me.”
She shook her head. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“Try me.”
She arched her eyebrows and lowered her voice. “I already did.”
She loved teasing him. Loved the way his blue eyes darkened. Loved the way his shoulders got straighter as he sat up. Loved that tic in his jaw that said he got her innuendo and was remembering exactly what she was remembering.
“You’re going to pay for making that comment in public, Carolla.” His look let her know exactly
what he was talking about.
“I’m counting on it.” She picked up a few hot dog bun crumbs from her napkin. “So, we should probably find the next clue before it gets dark. You haven’t seen a plaque or anything proclaiming the great Martinson name around here, have you?”
Sean looked at her a few seconds longer with the look. “Actually, I did. What will you give me if I tell you where it is?”
“What do you want?”
“You know the answer to that question.”
“Yeah, I do.”
“And?”
“And I’m in complete agreement.” She stood up and held out her hand. Whatever Merriweather’s plans for the treasure hunt were, Livvy was just glad they included Sean. “Let’s go find that clue so we can spend the rest of the evening together.”
Chapter Thirty-two
IT was late morning when Livvy woke up in some budget motel that probably rented rooms by the hour.
She smiled. For her and Sean, it was cheaper to rent it by the night.
She looked at him asleep beside her. She loved his face. Oh, not because he was good-looking, though he was, but because it was so expressive. Sean held nothing back. He looked at her with such care in his eyes, so clear and direct and honest . . . It felt as if she could see into his soul when she looked into them. His face was so strong, so masculine, so perfectly chiseled, as if Mother Nature had been intent on making not only the most perfect inside of a man, but outside as well. She’d gotten it right on both counts with Sean.
Livvy reached up to trace his nose. She’d done that a lot last night. There was something about Sean’s nose . . . and his lips . . . and his chin . . .and—
“See something you like?” He caught her hand and brought it to his mouth to kiss her fingers.
And to steal her breath.
“Yeah.” She more than liked it.
He rolled onto his side facing her, still holding her hand, then tucked it against his chest. Against his heart. “Me, too.” He kissed her.
What a Woman Wants (A Manley Maids Novel) Page 26
