Page 54 of Anchor Point

I gestured to a stool by the worktable. “Have a seat. What’s on your mind?”

Her gaze flittered around the space, landing briefly on the place where I did my woodworking, then the wood stove in the corner, before she straightened and drew her attention back to me.

She cleared her throat, and I almost felt sorry for her. She sat so stiffly, so ramrod straight, I could probably bounce a quarter off her shoulders. Whatever was on her mind must be really bothering her.

I drew a stool close to her and sat, my legs splayed wide on either side of her, and leaned my arm along the wood table behind her.

“Talk to me, Liv.”

Those gorgeous eyes that had drawn me in the moment we met held mine. She turned slightly, her hips brushing the inside of my thigh. I had to work to not lean closer.

Her hand rose to cup my cheek, fingers dancing across the hair at my temple. “This is a good look for you. Really suits the whole MacDaddy, silver-fox vibe.” She watched her fingers play, while I had a hell of a time trying to catch my breath at her touch.

“She cannot call me that.” You could, though. The thought reverberated in my brain, and I couldn’t let it go. I had to stop this train. Her eyes dropped to my mouth. And then she licked her lips. She was so close… I could lean just the slightest bit and kiss her.

As if my desire willed it, she moved just a fraction toward me.

And that was all it took.

My lips landed on hers. She spun fully into me and met me there. I was already halfway to the point of forgetting everything except this woman and her glorious mouth.

I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her close, but it wasn’t enough. I needed more. I stood, slipping my hands to her hips, and lifted her, setting her on the waist-high workbench. Stepping between her parted legs, I lost myself to her.

How long had it been since I’d felt anything close to this fire Liv and I shared?

Her fingers gripped my hair, tugging me where she wanted me. The table put her at the perfect height for me to grind into her, the hardest part of me pressing into the softest part of her. There was no time lost, no space between us, nothing but irritating clothes stopping me from absolutely burying myself in her.

My hand snaked up her neck, where I spread my fingers to feel her pulse while we kissed as though our lives depended on it. Like all the years lost to us meant nothing. She kissed me back with a fever that lit my soul on fire.

Open-mouthed, with dancing tongues and racing heartbeats.

With one hand, she cupped my head, pulling me into her as the other skated down my back like she, too, couldn’t get enough.

I was ready to take her right then and there. Damn the dirty shop, the sawdust, and the tools scattered around. None of it mattered. All that mattered was this moment, with this woman. It was so right. Her in my arms. Tasting her. Dry humping her in my workshop.

With a hand to my chest, she pushed me away, both of us breathing hard. That little niggle of doubt at her backing away sent me into a free fall. I didn’t want to fall. Didn’t want the crash that I knew would come.

But it was too late. I’d lost my heart the moment I laid eyes on her again.

I rested my forehead on hers and closed my eyes, sinking into this bliss. “Liv, what’s going on.”

“I don’t know what’s going on,” she whispered.

“But something is, isn’t it?”

She nodded.

“But is it a good thing?” I shouldn’t have kissed her like that. No good could come from us being together because, in the end, it would mean me having to give up my retirement or her having to quit her job. Or her leaving. “You’ve been kinda tense. And beyond the job thing, until just now, I’ve gotten the feeling that you didn’t want to be here. Is it so bad staying in my house?”

Something in those words must have struck a nerve because she stiffened in my arms and pushed me away.

“Besides the fact that I’m being threatened, the job thing is key, Mac.” She slipped down from her perch on the worktable and brushed off her pants, avoiding my gaze. “We both know that, because of our jobs, a relationship beyond co-parents can’t happen. Aside from that, yeah. I’m a lot stressed about all the other bullshit happening around me. Smith, this arsonist. Trying to make changes in the department on a shoestring budget. So yeah. I’m kinda tense.”

Old, ugly memories of another rejection surfaced with her words. Another woman who pushed me away, left me standing alone with my heart in my hands.

In a way, I was grateful for the rigid stance Olivia had. It’d make keeping the distance between us a little easier.

But no matter how hard I tried, she was under my skin, and I had to learn to deal with it for the sake of Rosie.

---