Loving Liv

by Stacey Kennedy

  Liv remained at the bar, waiting to order up a drink, as Miles hopped off and went toward the tiki hut. He grabbed a fifty from his wallet and maneuvered toward the crowd.

  “All right, beautiful ladies, who’s next?” a young man called with golden skin and whiskey-colored eyes. His name tag read: Alfonzo.

  Miles held his fifty up, and Alfonzo’s gaze immediately locked onto the bill before he moved in Miles’s direction. “See that brunette in the white tank top and ripped jean shorts by the bar,” Miles explained, as Alfonzo covered his microphone with his hand. “Her name is Liv Sloane. Get her on your bar and there’s another fifty in it for you.”

  The guy stared at Liv across the way and grinned from ear-to-ear. “Consider it done.” He raised the microphone again. “All right, my beautiful people, let’s see, who should we bring up next?” Even though women bounced, hands raised in the air, Alfonzo headed out of the tiki hut and moved straight to Liv. “Miss. You. Liv Sloane.”

  Liv slowly turned around; her eyebrows raised. She had a small straw in her mouth as she drank her fruity cocktail.

  Alfonzo added, “It’s body shot time.”

  Liv choked on her drink and began shaking her head, adamantly. She took a quick look around, and Miles bet she was looking to see if her friends were around. Which they weren’t.

  She backed away, but Alfonzo took her hand and pulled. “Come, Miss Liv, it’s your turn.”

  Her mouth moved and she pulled against his hand.

  “Liv. Liv. Liv,” Alfonzo chanted into the microphone.

  The crowd in the pool area joined in, yelling loudly, until every person on deck was yelling Liv’s name.

  Miles couldn’t fight his smile, leaning a shoulder against the tiki hut and crossing his arms. He hoped his plan wouldn’t backfire and end with her throwing a drink in his face. But somehow, he trusted his own judgment. She might not like this push at first, but he’d bet money that Liv, while innocent, wanted an adventure.

  Liv glanced around at everyone chanting her name and visibly sighed, her shoulders lowering. She set her drink down at the bar and waved Alfonzo on, defeat in her eyes. Then those eyes narrowed on Miles as she walked toward him. “Was this your doing or is my traitor at it again?”

  Miles slowly lifted an eyebrow. “Does it matter?”

  Alfonzo tugged her along before she could answer, and he heard her curse.

  Miles laughed as she looked miserable climbing onto the bar, while the crowd continued chanting her name. When she lay back, her knees bent, Miles took the other fifty-dollar bill from his hand and gave it to Alfonzo, who backed away, still chanting Liv’s name.

  Miles stepped forward then, slowly, intently. He’d done many great things with a crowd watching. He enjoyed having eyes on him, the way it felt, like he controlled the world. How people studied the way he moved, how he dealt with a woman, and the way he could make her body react. Most of all, the way he could make her scream. Fuck yeah, he loved that.

  “I’m going to kill you,” Liv said as Miles sidled in next to her.

  He studied her. Every fucking beautiful inch laid out for him, until he reached her eyes. There, he found her face flushed for another reason. Her pupils dilated with red-hot lust, begging him to burn hotter. He slowly shook his head and grinned. “No, Liv, you won’t.” The arousal in her face only deepened. He leaned down and said just to her in her ear, “You’ll want to fuck me.”

  He heard her slight whimper. When he straightened, her chest rose and fell with deep breaths, as those gorgeous eyes pulled him. Christ, he could all but smell her desire seeping into the air, and he hadn’t even touched her yet. This was what had stayed on his mind for the last three months, the very reason he kept trying to see her. She simply reacted to him being close. And damn, did he react, too, his cock hardened to steel, his mouth watered to taste her. And that same pulsating energy fed him as he nudged her leg with the tips of his fingers. One, then the other until she straightened out her legs for him.

  “Your shot of Tequila,” Alfonzo said behind Miles.

  “Thank you.” Miles took the shot and placed it next to Liv’s shoulder. When he put his attention back on Liv, she stared at him directly. He noted the hitch of her breathing and had no doubt if he placed his fingers against her pulse, her heartrate would be hammering.

  Aware of the crowd, and not giving a shit about them, he slid his gaze down her body, giving her the attention she deserved. He tucked his finger beneath the hem of her tank top, and flicked his attention to her face when she gave him a sweet tremble. Damn was he tempted to simply steal her away and give them what they both wanted. Instead, he grinned a promise that he’d increase that tremble if she let him. She nibbled her lip, those dark, hooded eyes on him. He held her eye contact, and as slowly as he could manage, nudged her tank top up, dragging his fingers across her warm flesh. She trembled again when he reached the bottom of her bra and tucked her shirt there.

  He knew this body, and when he grabbed her jean shorts on either side and pulled her forward so her legs dangled off the side, he was not surprised when she gasped. Her hands came down on his forearms, holding tight, the flush on her cheeks darkening. She liked a dominant touch. That he remembered vividly. Wanting to give her all she needed and more, he stepped between her thighs, nudging them aside as he did so, and the crowd went wild.

  Her breathing was ragged, her stomach perfect, and her lips parted begging for his kiss. Her fingernails dug into him as he leaned over her and used the flat of his tongue to drag a line down her belly, stopping to swirl around her belly button and continuing on until he gave a slow flick at the top of her jean shorts, teasing her with what he could do on her clit.

  The shiver she gave only made him draw this out slower. Teasing her, tempting her, with what the next six days and nights could bring. He grabbed the salt next to him and sprinkled it along the line of his saliva on her belly. She practically panted now as he took a cut-up lemon off the tray and placed it at the base of her throat.

  She moaned when he poured the shot into her belly button, letting it spill over her stomach. He became increasingly aware of the crowd growing quiet, all watching this exchange, and his cock twitched as masculine pride filled him. She whimpered just for him when he took both her wrists, pinning them to the table as he licked up the salt. He then licked over the line from her jean shorts to her navel, gingerly, dragging each moment out until she trembled harder. When he reached her belly button, he slurped up the bitter shot, and dragged his tongue the rest of the way up, licking the salt. He slowed between her breasts before he stopped at her collar bone. Hard, and ready to take this back to his cabin, he gave her a nip, causing her to lift her hips a little, making contact with his body as he bit the lemon. He sucked it. Then he dragged his nose along her neck, until his mouth was just over hers. He hovered there, letting her make the decision. “Your move,” he told her, huskily.

  And she made it. She reached up and closed her mouth over his.

  The crowd erupted into loud applause.

  He gave her a good and proper kiss, her tongue swirling against his tequila covered mouth, until she wrapped her legs around him, nearly rocking herself against him. He chuckled against her mouth. One touch. And she was now putty in his hands. That was why Miles had come. For this reason alone. This reaction from her had haunted him for months. Nothing came close to the way she brought heat to the blood in his veins.

  Miles gathered her in his arms and then lowered her from the bar, purposely dragging her along his rock-hard length, allowing her to feel what she did to him. He hadn’t come on this cruise to play fair. He’d come for answers. To find out why she was so damn unforgettable.

  Her lips were puffy from his kiss. Her pliable body his for the taking as she thrust her fingers into his hair. “It worked.”

  “What’s that?” he asked, brushing his mouth across hers.

  “I want you.”

  At that, he grinned. “And you can have me.”

>   By the time Miles got Liv inside his cabin, she could barely contain the wild lust that made her clothes feel too tight. He had been on her mind every single day for the last three months. She thought she’d imaged this overwhelming way he made her feel, but that raw feeling was there, pulsating, making her feel wildly out of control. She liked it. Hell, she wanted more. There were a hundred reasons to stop this, but they weakened now. Dead. Pain. For so long she’d felt only that, always that, but not now. The moment Miles shut the door behind her, she slammed herself into him and claimed his mouth. He seemed momentarily surprised, hitting the wall and wobbling, but he caught her around the waist, and had her yanked against him a second later, his lips crushing hers.

  Everything sizzled. Her lips, her tongue, and most of all, her sex, the very place so desperate for his touch. Frantic to feel the way he owned her body in a way no man had done before, she grabbed his tank top, and he immediately helped her, pulling it over his head in that one-handed move men do. He backed away, and she couldn’t stop herself from licking her lips in ravenous hunger. Miles was what men hoped they grew up to become. In the alleyway, he’d never undressed. Now she couldn’t take her eyes off him. Strong shoulders, soft hair covering his chest, and biceps that bulged with veins that make her weak in the knees. But it was his gaze that did her in. To some, she had no doubt that his eyes seemed hard. Firm. Unyielding. But beneath, she saw the just-for-her heat that simmered. That night at the wedding she knew being with Miles would be a powerful and intoxicating experience. Now that they had full use of a bedroom, she couldn’t wait to see what he did with her body.

  Urgent to find out, she reached for the button on his shorts, but he snagged her wrist and spun her around until her back pressed into his chest. His mouth dropped to her neck and he kissed her there, softly, sweetly, teasingly. A deep shiver rolled through her. “Truth time,” he said firmly in her ear. “Have you thought about me since our night together?”

  She dropped her head back against his shoulder, grinding her bottom against the impressively big and hard length of him. “Yes,” she said, not feeling like that was crossing any lines she couldn’t uncross.

  “Did you shut me out because you’re scared?”

  She hesitated. He nipped her shoulder, and the answer all but fell from her lips, “Yes.”

  His touch turned tender as he pressed a soft kiss to her shoulder and then slid his tongue carnally up her neck, leaving her breathless, until he murmured in her ear, “I’ve thought of you nearly every night. Every time I stroked my cock, you were on my mind.” He nipped her ear lobe, igniting another deep shudder. “Did you touch yourself thinking of me?”

  She whimpered, dragging her bottom up and down his length, ready to say any damn thing he wanted to hear, as long as he didn’t stop. “Yes.”

  “Did you make yourself come?”

  “Yes.”

  She felt his smile against her neck. “Good girl,” he said, huskily. He rid her of her tank top, then her bra, and while he played with her breasts, she wasn’t thinking about all the things she said or if they were the wrong thing to say. She only thought of his passionate touch, stealing all the cold insecurities. When he flicked her nipples, then squeezed them tight, a moan she didn’t even recognize escaped her. He obviously approved since a hand skimmed down her belly until he flicked open her jean shorts and slid a hand inside.

  “Jesus,” she breathed at the first touch. Yes, she missed this. The way he made her body melt. The way he made her forget about all the things that could go wrong.

  He groaned when he met her silky warmth. “So fucking wet, Liv.” His teeth grazed her neck. “Fuck, I’ve missed this sweet pussy.”

  Her eyes rolled back into her head.

  “Tell me, gorgeous,” he said throatily in her ear. “What do you need? My fingers…just like this…” He swirled her little bud, feeding the pleasure, her legs trembling. “Is that what you want from me, Liv?”

  “No,” she breathed, as he stroked his finger through her soft, wet folds. “More.”

  “My cock?” he growled in her ear. “That’s what you want?”

  This time, he pressed her clit, and she could feel her pulse there, the need coursing through her. “Yes. Fuck, yes.”

  His hands were gone. His breath gone. His nearness gone. All replaced by a firm voice behind her. “Take off your shorts and panties, and I’ll give you want you need.”

  She felt the world spin a little as she tucked her fingers into her shorts and pulled them, along with her panties, down. He had moved to his suitcase, and she watched him open a new box of condoms and take one out before he turned back to her. Her breath hitched at the intensity staring back at her, the way he commanded the space was nothing she’d ever experienced before. Miles knew himself. He trusted his judgment. He saw through bullshit, right to what mattered. And beneath that stare, she felt more vulnerable than ever before. Almost as if he knew how to bare her soul, get it right there in his hands, until she could hide nothing.

  His mouth twitched at whatever he saw on her expression. “You’re looking a little unsteady there, sweetheart.”

  “You’re…a lot,” she admitted.

  “A lot of what?” he asked, closing the distance.

  “A lot of man.”

  “Good.” He latched onto her hand and yanked her against the hard lines of his body. “Because you’re a lot of sweet, warm woman, and you’re exactly who I want.” She sank into that statement as he sealed his mouth over hers, and she became lost in the talent of his tongue as he stroked hers with more than passion. It was like every move was meant to learn a little more about her. Discover all of her on buttons until he knew exactly how to work her body. And damn, did she want to get worked over. Fully, completely, until she screamed his name.

  She felt him ditch his shorts and apply the condom before he had her back in his arms and against his chest, her bare ass pressed against his condom-covered cock. The king-sized bed was right there, but he skipped it, nudging her out the open balcony doors with their long white curtains waving in the wind. Immediately, the warm breeze washed over her, followed by the laughter and voices drifting in the air. Her nipples puckered, regardless of the heat outside. People would hear them, and the thrill of that unexpectedly shot straight through her.

  Miles cupped her breasts, pinching her taut nipples. “Grab the railing.”

  “But people could see us?”

  He slid his hand between her legs, working her clit. “Does that frighten you? Excite you?”

  She moaned, dropping her head back at the pleasure. “Both,” she said, shocking herself with her answer.

  He didn’t respond, simply swirled the bud between her thighs, working her pleasure, until her legs began to tremble. “Grab the railing,” he repeated. “Don’t let go, no matter how hard you come.”

  She shivered against him at his promise, doing as instructed, but glancing down, realizing that all anyone had to do was look up and they’d see her. She’d never been this bold, this daring, and yet she was soaking wet with need. More than that, she wanted someone to look up and catch a look at them. She realized she wanted to feel something exciting, instead of feeling like a woman she didn’t know anymore.

  He nudged her legs open and bent her over the railing, and then every inch of him entered her. She gasped at the slight pinch. The sheer size of him filled her impossibly and perfectly all at once. He trailed his fingernails down her back as he withdrew, slowly, carefully, while he gave her time to adjust to him. But that softness didn’t last. Soon, he slid in and out effortlessly, and all gentleness vanished. He rocked into her, and his hand soon slid up the back of her neck until he fisted her hair. God, he felt strong. Like nothing could touch her here. He simply wouldn’t allow it. And every thrust forward made her feel owned and wanted in the best way possible.

  One hand gripped her hip, and he angled her head back, murmuring in her ear, “This was how I imagined taking you when I booked the cruise. Right he
re, making your scream loud enough for everyone to hear. Is that what you’d like, Liv? To scream? To come?”

  “Yes.” She gasped.

  He thrust hard once, teasing her with what would come. She shivered against him, body quaking against the pleasure he built. “Then come,” he growled, but before he moved again, he added, “Let everyone hear how good I fuck you.”

  She couldn’t. She wouldn’t. She didn’t have a choice as he closed his hard body around hers, enveloping her with his strength. Her hips were pushed up tight against the railing, her breasts hanging over for anyone to see if they looked up, while he pounded her from behind. She fought to stay quiet, but she slowly opened her eyes, catching a couple watching them below. The heat they watched her with, like she was the most beautiful woman in the world, undid her. She thought she should feel embarrassed. That’s not what happened.

  Her climax hit, surprising her and thrilling her all the same. Her scream no doubt drawing more attention, as her muscles tightened once and then everything exploded until never-ending pleasure stole her away.

  Miles left the bathroom, the steam from his hot shower following him. He stopped short when he caught sight of Liv in bed. She was on her side, her cell phone in her hand, and his gaze traveled along the perfect line from the tip of her toe up her thigh and over the gentle curve of her hipbone. His cock hardened swiftly, and he groaned. “Let’s get out of here for a little bit.”

  She lowered the phone, giving him a view of her breasts, pushed together perfectly. “Everything okay?”

  He chuckled, gesturing down at his erection beneath his towel. “We need to talk, and you’re making it very hard for me to do that.”

  “Oh,” she said, even though her smile told him she didn’t mind the compliment. With her gaze holding his seductively, she slid out of bed, boldly striding toward him, showing him every spectacular curve. “Wouldn’t want to interrupt that talk you want to have, would we?”