Page 43 of Vicious Sabotage

“Put a shovel in your hand.” Hunter flashed a grin.

Carver nodded. “Lead the way. I’m game for some hard work.”

Colton chuckled. “Like hanging around a beautiful bartender is work for you.”

Carver turned to stare at the house where Livia was hanging out with her friend. “Are you kidding? Have you ever talked to Livia? She’s the most stubborn, independent female I’ve ever met in my life.”

The guys busted up with laughter, and by the time the three of them reached the barn again, Carver was burning to keep on walking straight to the house. To Livia.

Chapter Nine

Tall orange flames flickered toward the sky, shooting sparks into the black of night. Livia watched the waves of heat and sank deeper into her lawn chair with a satisfied sigh.

When was the last time she kicked back and relaxed this way? All the stress of running a busy bar and keeping the distillery from falling off the map weighed on her every single day.

Livia didn’t have a degree, and her only job had been at the bar. She was proud to be a female business owner. She loved her work and was grateful that she had the bar to call her own. She didn’t have to sling food and drinks for some other bar owner for low pay. But it meant she didn’t take regular days off for fun or self-care. It had been so long since she did anything that didn’t involve the bar.

Looking at the faces of her friends seated around the bonfire in various lawn chairs and on tree stumps, she watched some of their strain fade away too.

The ranch manager Zach Webb cradled his acoustic guitar and strummed a chord. The soft music didn’t interfere with the conversations taking place between everyone. The ranch hands were joking and laughing, sharing a story about some mishap that had ended in a pair of jeans being ripped down the back and the ranch hand’s ass being on full display.

Across from her, Meadow was cozied up to Colton. He’d slung his arm around her shoulders. She turned her face toward him and said something too soft for the others to hear. He smiled and pressed a tender kiss to her lips.

Livia’s heart warmed at seeing her friend. Both Meadow and Ivy seemed to be finding happiness at long last. After the things they’d endured, losing their mom and then their brother, as well as the attacks on them, they deserved happiness more than most, in Livia’s opinion.

She turned her attention to Carver—and froze.

Her heart lodged in her throat.

Why was he looking at her with fire burning in his eyes? As big and bright as the bonfire in the ring between them.

The past few days, having him around…it had been different for her. She worked alone and didn’t really allow her fellow workers at Badlands to enter her life on a deeper scale. She was fine with being a loner. But that was good. Too many people walked out of her life. If she had nobody, there was nobody left to leave.

But Carver refused to leave. It was a wonder he even let her walk into the shower alone, he was so determined to keep her safe.

He had no reason for making himself her bodyguard either—he had nothing to gain from it.

His direct stare never shifted from her face. Her stomach dipped and seemed to melt into liquid heat that flowed between her thighs.

When he kissed her back at the bar, it took all of her self-control to keep from ripping off his clothes and tasting every inch of his big body.

That need spread through her belly, making it flip and flutter.

Her day with him and the others had been the best she’d experienced in ages. They had all come together for a big dinner eaten on the Graceys’ deck, sharing good food and drinks and stories before the sun dropped behind the mountains and they moved to the bonfire.

She flicked her gaze up to Carver’s. Their eyes locked and held. Several heartbeats throbbed between them.

Webb strummed some more chords on the guitar, and then he added his low, crooning voice to the notes.

A fairytale rose up in Livia’s head. One that she had absolutely no business allowing inside her brain. Between Carver’s steady gaze and the magic of the music, she was powerless to stop it.

Nights in the arms of her lover. Rolling. Fingers twisting in the sheets as pleasure crashed through both of them.

Of waking up to find him in bed next to her. Being able to reach out and touch him whenever she wanted to.

Sharing the workload at Badlands, talking, teasing and joking the way she’d seen Ivy and Hunter do together at dinner. Then going home together and starting all over again.

Having a person of her own to love who loved her back.

---