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  Liv broke free first, wanting to stare at him again, but Neal had the same thing in mind. The grip on her arms tightened as his eyes slowly scanned every inch of her incredible, curvy body. He turned to sit on the bed, and Liv plunked down beside him, unable to remove her wide-eyed gaze from his erection. Before Neal could feel uncomfortable, it made him gasp to have her grab him with both hands.

  “I like,” she whispered, firming her grip until a grunt of laughter escaped Neal.

  “Easy,” he warned, setting a hand against her shoulder and slowly lowering her onto the mattress. Resting on an elbow beside her, he smiled as he traced a finger along her protruding collarbone. “I should dive right in, I’m that anxious. But you’re so beautiful. Let me get a good look at you before we –.”

  The doorbell rang. Liv’s eyes widened as she gazed up into Neal’s eyes. He stared back at her. The smile on his handsome face slowly tightened until she could almost hear him gritting his teeth.

  “Liv!” Carmen shouted. There was a lot of commotion below the bedroom, and then they both heard footsteps trampling up the stairs. Neal had closed the door behind him but he hadn’t locked it.

  In a blinding flurry of motion, Liv found herself covered in the bedspread. Neal remained at her side, his lower half hidden behind her purple satin covered body. She gazed up at him as he eyed the door, and just as she thought to laugh, she heard Noelle enter the room without knocking.

  “There’s another hot guy downstairs, and he wants to know if we’d . . . like . . . to . . . attend –.”

  Neal looked away from Noelle and smiled at Liv, making her smile back.

  “Oh my God.”

  It was Carmen’s voice that time, and Liv could only imagine that all three of her friends were hovering just inside the room with the same shocked expression.

  “I thought you said you two aren’t doing that?”

  Liv giggled at Sherry’s silly question, and Neal pressed a hand against her chest before turning his attention to the ladies.

  “We changed our minds.”

  “Sweet!” Noelle cried. “This is awesome! Liv, you’re the luckiest woman on the planet. I hope you know that.”

  “Do you mind?” Liv whined, unable to sit up with Neal’s hand still pressed against her chest. “Tell whoever came over that we’ll be done in a little bit.”

  “It’s that trooper,” Sherry whispered, causing Neal to laugh quietly and look away. “He’s not wearing a uniform this time, though. And, he’s brought some friends with him.”

  “They’re all pretty cute too,” Noelle added. “They said something about a pig roast.”

  “You’ll never guess where the party is at.”

  Liv quirked a curious brow at Carmen’s remark. Then with a knowing gasp, she struggled to sit upright and turned to face her friends. “Really?” Liv asked, ignoring the fact that their eyes grew big to have it be confirmed that she was naked underneath the bedspread. She caught Noelle peering over her head to get a glimpse of Neal’s naked body, but he had repositioned himself to prevent any prying eyes from seeing more than was necessary.

  Liv turned to face Neal. He sat staring at the floor, and for a second she felt bad that he seemed so disappointed. “Neal, we talked about them last night. I’d like you to meet Anise and Xalan. Do you mind?”

  “The middle of the day is never the best time to have sex,” Carmen offered, folding her arms at her chest and appearing as smug as she sounded. “Looks like our resident hunk will just have to wait awhile longer to get what he’s after.”

  Noelle and Sherry quietly scolded Carmen while Liv gazed up at her in disbelief.

  “I want it too.” She rose from the bed to face her blushing friend, forcing Neal to spring up behind her in order to keep covered. “I know what you’re thinking, and believe me, it’s not like I haven’t thought about it.”

  “Then why?”

  Liv studied Carmen’s face and the angry tears that now shimmered in her eyes.

  “I’ll be okay,” Liv quietly assured her. “Trust me just this once.”

  Carmen shot Neal a nasty glance before she turned and left the room. Noelle and Sherry watched her, and then they both looked to Liv for answers to the unexpected situation. Liv turned to face Neal, holding the blanket with one hand and setting the other against his broad shoulder.

  “You’re not angry, are you?”

  Neal shook his head and tried to fix the way he was smiling. The frustration at having been interrupted along with his finally having seen all that Liv has to offer were too much for him to ignore or pretend didn’t matter now. Still, he would do anything she desired and quickly had to rearrange his thinking if he intended to prove to himself that making her happy was a promise he could keep.

  “I’m fine,” he said and rubbed her arm. “It’s been awhile since I attended a pig roast, and I’d like to meet your friends.”

  Chapter 12

  Although the beach below the B&B had filled with guests and the water became dotted with all sizes of vessel, the hosts of the party had yet to make their appearance even after several hours had passed since it began. A large bonfire was lit, the roasting was through, and everyone both on land and aboard a boat were eating, drinking, and having a wonderful time.

  Everyone but Liv and Neal that is.

  While he mingled well and engaged in small-talk among a majority of the party-goers that were startled to see him there, Liv remained too distracted to function in that type of a social setting. It seemed to her that the only time Neal ever noticed her was when she became surrounded by men. Then, Neal would find a way to reach her and either ask if she was alright or check to see if she needed another bottle of beer. It was about all the conversation they had when more people would come up to him and steal his attention, forcing Liv to back away as the crowd became too thick for comfort.

  Even her closest friends seemed to be in the midst of some serious or light-hearted discussion, leaving Liv to gaze at Neal some more. She felt a little foolish and a whole lot neglected, but what bugged her the most was that she seemed much more interested in being alone with Neal than he was with her.

  It almost seemed like a good thing that they were interrupted prior to having had sex. Liv could just imagine how stupid she would feel right about now if they had done it and then come here only to be abandoned by him.

  “He’s pretty popular.”

  Liv turned and saw Stevens beside her smiling as he leaned back to finish a bottle of beer. She grimaced when their eyes met, having seen just enough of the awful way Carmen had treated the handsome trooper to feel a little embarrassed on his behalf.

  As if he could read her mind, Stevens laughed and set a hand on her shoulder. “I like her,” he said. “She’s a tough one, but what can I say. I took one look and –.”

  Liv giggled at the way Stevens extended his arms and made a loud, explosive noise.

  “I’m glad to hear that,” Liv said, still feeling bad for him. “Carmen is everything and more once you get to know her well. Really well.”

  Stevens eyes shifted beyond Liv, and then he smiled at her directly. “Here comes Mr. Jealous.”

  Liv turned and saw Neal heading her way, and like the other times when he decided to grace her with his presence, she could see the hard set of his eyes as he approached. Turning to face Stevens, Liv pouted at the sand beneath their bare feet. Just as Neal reached them, she grinned at Stevens and kissed the trooper on the cheek, walking away.

  There were a dozen coolers and three kegs near the shore, and when Liv arrived at one of the coolers, Carmen abruptly and quietly demanded to know what she had just said to Stevens.

  “I wish I knew his name,” Liv said as a way of avoiding Carmen’s abrasive mood. “It seems rude to refer to him by his last name.”

  “It’s Jake,” Carmen offered, her expression blank as she gazed at Liv while drinking from a blue plastic cup. “Did he say anything about me?”

  “Was he supposed to?” Liv ask
ed, removing two beer bottles from a cooler and holding them away from her, to let the icy water drip onto the sand and not her body.

  “Funny,” Carmen grumbled, glancing aside and narrowing her eyes. Then she glared at Liv. “He’s been after me since we got here.”

  “And, I’m sure you’ve done all you can to keep him from getting any closer, dear-heart.”

  “Damn straight,” Carmen replied without thinking and started to take another sip when she gawked at Liv, making Liv smile. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Nothing, sweetie. Except that he seems like a decent man with a steady job who thinks you’re something special.”

  “He’s a cop,” Carmen shot back, her anger more evident on her model-like face now.

  “Yes, well, there’s that,” Liv said and sighed. “I wouldn’t dream of telling you what to do though, or how to live your life. If you don’t like him, that’s fine with me.”

  “Wait a minute,” Carmen said and set a hand on Liv’s arm when Liv started to walk away. “You just shot me down again, didn’t you. So, you think I’m butting into your life and trying to tell you how to live it then?”

  “I think I said Jake seems ideal for you the same way I think Neal might be ideal for me.”

  “Ideal my ass,” Carmen snarled, turning away when Jake and Neal arrived.

  Smiling, Liv handed Jake a bottle of beer and started to twist off the cap of another when Neal snatched it from her and did it himself. With a snap of his fingers, the cap sailed over the heads of a few partygoers and landed in a large trash can.

  “You’re so suave,” Liv teased, swiping the bottle from the grinning man and turning aside to offer him her profile while she drank.

  Her anger was on the rise again, and it was beginning to have a nerve jangling effect on her whole body. One minute she was gazing at him with longing, and then in the next she was wishing that he would evaporate into thin air. When not upset, Liv wanted to get naked with him and spend a few hours in bed exploring him from head to toe. When he managed to piss her off, she wanted things to go back the way they were before he entered her life, when nothing she had held so sacred and meaningful seemed to be this confusing.

  Just as Liv felt Neal’s fingers curl about her upper arm, sending a desirous shiver throughout her body, a hearty ahoy greeted their ears, along with the ears of everyone standing within a few yards of them.

  Liv, Neal, Carmen, and Jake turned left and saw the captain of Neal’s yacht approaching. He looked relaxed with his white trousers rolled up his calves, and in a black t-shirt with a heavy metal band emblem across his broad chest.

  The grinning captain tossed aside his sandy blond bangs and showed his straight, white teeth after stopping alongside Neal.

  “Jennings,” Neal said.

  “Sir!” Jennings replied, saluting Neal with the hand he held a cup of beer in. Even Carmen laughed after seeing the alcohol splash Jennings's face.

  “Idiot,” Neal grumbled.

  “Yes sir,” Jennings replied, lifting the bottom of his t-shirt to wipe his face and throat. Liv and Carmen eyed each other after having noted the washboard abs that the goofy captain had just exposed.

  “Where’s Noelle?” Carmen muttered. “She’d like this.”

  Jake smiled as he watched Carmen look up and down the beach, and Liv smiled when Jake’s gaze met hers, making him blush.

  Five women in bikinis surrounded Jennings, giggling while fondling the half-drunk captain. Liv’s face started to hurt from having to smile so hard, but then she noticed the way Neal rolled his eyes and turned his bigger body away from his popular friend. She hid a quiet laugh behind her hand after Neal had discreetly shoved Jennings away from him, and Jennings started to walk away without realizing it.

  “Must be the accent,” Liv said at the same time Neal said, “Liv, can we talk?”

  He gritted his teeth at her, “Alone.”

  Neal took Liv by the wrist and started to walk away when she grabbed Jake’s hand and pleaded with her eyes for him to be patient with Carmen. Jake winked at her and started away backwards, to follow Carmen after she had spotted Noelle with a group of people near the bonfire.

  “Where are you taking me?” Liv asked as Neal led her away from the party, up a steep flight of wooden steps, and into the gravel lot of the B&B. “I think we’re alone enough now, don’t you?”

  Neal turned with a sexy smile and continued to his SUV. “Not nearly alone enough, Liv.”

  A sensation raced through her body that felt a hundred times more powerful than any she had experienced so far. She could feel her heartbeat against her chest now, along with the heat of blush that rose on her cheeks and made her ears feel hot.

  After helping her inside the vehicle and then jogging around the front, Neal entered the driver’s side and leaned forward to fasten her seat belt for her, stealing a kiss afterward.

  All the way back to her place, he held her hand on his thigh, squeezing it every now and then.

  “I’m afraid to ask anything that might spoil the mood,” Neal said as they entered Liv’s peacefully quiet house. “But, is there something about your friend, Carmen, I should know or that you’d like to share?”

  Stopping at the bottom of the stairs, Liv curiously eyed Neal. He grinned shyly.

  “She’s been giving me the evil eye since she arrived, and this afternoon . . . ,” his gaze shifted from Liv to the second floor and then he looked into her smiling eyes.

  Drawing her to him, Neal slid an arm about her waist and gently patted her on the behind. “I’m not in this for a piece of ass, Liv. I hope you know just how serious I am about you, and that I’m in this for a lifetime and not just one night.”

  “I’ll settle for one night right now.” Liv wrapped an arm about his neck and kissed him as passionately as he kissed her. She squealed with surprise to be lifted into his arms and smiled shyly before kissing his cheek as he carried her up to her room.

  “I noticed you handle your beer better than you do champagne and wine.” Neal tossed his t-shirt basketball style onto a nearby chair and turned with a teasing grin.

  Seeing Liv stripped to her red lace bra and panties caused him to suck in his breath and pause to admire her delectable charms before he took a long-leg stride to reach her. Standing over her, he met her gaze with the eyes of desire she had become so aware of and appreciated now.

  “I’m crazy about you,” he cooed before kissing her again.

  Liv opened her mouth and tasted the beer on his tongue, making her smile. Another shiver raced through her whole body to feel the bra clasp leave her back, and then to have his big, warm hands slowly inching their way from her sides to her breasts.

  Unfastening his jeans, Liv slid her hands inside his briefs and latched onto what she desired most; his long, solid erection.

  Once again, they arrived atop her bed, and once again, Neal rested on his side with Liv on her back so that he could eye her head to toe and back again.

  “If you’ve seen one,” Liv breathed, gently curling his hair behind his ear.

  “Hardly,” Neal groaned, cupping a breast in one hand before leaning in to clasp his mouth around the other.

  Liv arched her back and let out a soft gasp before slowly relaxing and sliding the fingers of one hand through his thick hair. The other hand smoothed down his taut arm, and it made her smile to feel all of the sinew and solid muscle he possessed in over ninety percent of his body.

  Unable to wait any longer, Liv pushed Neal onto his back so that he had to remain tense in order to keep his upper body from leaving the edge of the mattress. She liked the curious look in his smoldering eyes as she slowly crawled atop him, bending her legs at his waist. Leaving his eyes, Liv watched as her hands smoothed across his chest and abdomen before they fanned out at his broad shoulders, and then she gazed into his eyes again.

  “Do me, Neal,” she suggested, squealing again to be suddenly flat on her back. Her wide eyes met Neal’s intense gaze as he hover
ed over her, appearing like the wild cat she’d envisioned a while ago. His thick mane fell forward on either side of his flushed face, making his cheekbones seem a bit more prominent to her. “Take them off,” she ordered about his jeans, and at once, Neal sat up to do as she asked.

  As he turned to face her again, Liv crawled to him on her knees, sliding her fingers through his hair and pressing his handsome face against her bared breasts. His desirous moan made her smile, and her muscles tensed to feel him fondling them again.

  “Shit!”

  Liv sat back on her heels, staring at Neal’s mortified expression with one of her own.

  He left the bed, stopped just a few paces, and slid his hands through his hair.

  “Neal?”

  He started to turn and face her when he stopped, glaring at the hardwood floor instead.

  Liv started to leave the bed to go to him when he turned his upper body, stopping her and making her even more nervous.

  “I swear to you on my life I’ve never, ever had sex without using protection, Liv. Never. But, I’m sure you don’t want to take any chances with me in that regard, so . . .”

  Relieved, Liv exhaled as she leaned forward and opened a drawer of the nightstand, producing a large, purple box of condoms. She tossed them atop the nightstand and held out both arms, wiggling her fingers and encouraging Neal to resume his duty to satisfy her.

  Neal didn’t move, and he stared at the purple box like it was a used tampon. Then he looked at Liv, and she slowly sat back with a sheepish expression. “What’s wrong?”

  He pointed to the condom box while eyeing her. “What’s this?”

  “Condoms, silly.”

  “I know that,” he argued. “What the hell are they doing in your bedroom?”

  Liv’s eyes became those of a puppy, and she slowly raised a pillow to her chin. “Just in case?”

  “Just in case what?” he shouted.

  “Don’t yell at me,” she warned, tossing aside the pillow and averting her gaze, not wanting him to see how upset he was making her feel.

  “This is hardly what I’d call yelling, Liv. Just in case what? Are you trying to make me believe I’m the one being played? You’ve done this before, and you’ll do it again once you’re through with me?”