Danny Ellis
Re: Best friends
November 4, 10:06 PM
You’re feeling guilty at the moment. Let’s sleep on it.
Olivia Lincoln
Re: Good idea
November 4, 10:06 PM
See you in the morning.
Her easy acquiescence and brief reply told him she wished she could take back what she said. But she had said it. Still, he needed to be sure she was 100 percent behind this. It wasn’t just the two of them taking a chance. If things went sideways, a child’s life would also be affected. Was adding physical intimacy to their relationship worth changing something that was already pretty damn perfect without it?
He wished he knew.
…
Liv avoided Danny on Friday and texted Will. There’s someone else, she told him. He’d responded he’d met someone, too.
Her heart had caved at the words. So simply stated. So quick to be texted back, like the six months they’d been together had meant nothing to him. In her head she saw hearts and smiley faces next to his words. He was happy. Without her.
Deep down, she was fine without him, too. Thinking back on their time together, there was never that moment when she’d completely let him in, dropped all of her defenses, and loved him like she wanted to love that one special person. The person meant only for her.
No, what stung in his easy dismissal and made her chest ache was that she worried she’d never be enough for someone. Her whole life she’d fallen short, and here it was happening again. Her mom’s words, “Can’t you do anything right?” echoed in the back of her mind and she couldn’t make them stop.
So she had no idea what to say to Danny on Saturday morning.
Lucky for her when she found him working in the garage, she didn’t have to speak right away. She just enjoyed the view.
He had on worn denim jeans that hung low on his narrow hips, a tool belt, and nothing to cover his tanned, gorgeous torso. His shoulders were broad, his waist trim. The muscles in his back flexed as he worked. Nothing short of a buffalo stampede would get her to look away.
Tiny beads of sweat made his skin glisten and the hair at the back of his neck damp. He brushed his arm across his forehead. His biceps muscle bulged, and she imagined his arms wrapped around her, holding her close. She inhaled, breathing in the scent of man and wood and the faint remnants of soap.
Her fingers itched to touch his skin, to roam over his smooth, hard muscles. Her belly coiled, her nipples tightened. She squeezed her legs together and bit her lip to keep from sighing with pleasure out loud.
He turned. Oops. She hadn’t been as quiet as she’d hoped.
And uh-oh. From the front he looked even sexier. Light dusting of hair on his muscled chest, ridges in his abs she wanted to lick, and a happy trail she wanted to follow into his pants.
“See something you like?” he teased.
Crap. She’d been caught. Her gaze jumped up to his face where their eyes connected. They’d looked at each other thousands of times, but this time was different. This time it felt like a live wire pulsed between them. A current flowed through Liv’s veins that had never been there before.
“Maybug?”
“Sorry.” She blinked fast to break the crazy energy between them. “I came out to see if you wanted anything from the Beach Café. I thought I’d go grab some fritters.” Way to think fast you chicken.
“I never say no to fritters.” He looked her up and down with appreciation. Tingles settled at the base of her spine.
“Okay. Good. Great.”
“Is there anything else?” he asked when she continued standing there staring at him like a lunatic. A pale bruise spoiled the smooth skin underneath his eye, and she was grateful for only the slight reminder of her actions.
She looked around his well-built shoulder. “What are you making?” It didn’t look like any of his usual designs.
“A crib.”
Her legs, already weak from the mere sight of him, almost gave out. She put a hand on the doorframe to keep herself steady. A reply got stuck in the back of her throat. He was making her baby a place to sleep.
“We need to put all that Winnie the Pooh bedding somewhere, right?”
That he said “we” almost made her burst into tears. “Danny,” she breathed out. “I don’t know what to say.” She wanted to take a closer look, but if she got within touching distance of him, she’d want to do more than just touch and, with her emotions so raw, that probably wasn’t the best idea at the moment.
“I did some research online to make sure it meets all the safety requirements. It should only take me a few Saturdays to complete.”
“What about all your other orders? We’ve got plenty of time, you know.”