Page 48 of Vicious Sabotage

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Without a word, he enveloped her hands in his big ones and started to sway with her.

“Is this your way of dancing?”

He did a shimmy.

Tossing her head on a laugh, she watched him for a heartbeat before she performed a wiggle of her own.

“Now we’re talkin’.” He whirled her in an awkward circle that ended too short, sending her tilting off-balance.

Laughing along with Carver, she straightened up and continued to let him lead, even though he was terrible at it. The song ended, and he twirled her again. This time, she didn’t spin out of control.

His eyes sparkled, and she found herself sinking into their depths. Just as she thought she could get lost forever in those eyes, he stomped on her toe.

“Ow!”

He quickly stepped back. “Sorry! I’m a SEAL, not a dancer.”

“Is that the opposite of you’re a lover not a fighter?”

“You know it.” With a palm on her spine, he reeled her in close until she bumped against his chest.

She did know. Especially her body. His fingers moving down her spine to press her even tighter against him made her pussy clench.

He ground his hips against hers like a dancer in a male revue. Even though her body pulsed with need, the too-serious expression he wore left her giggling.

He cradled the back of her head and kissed her—long and deep—just as a slow song kicked on the jukebox.

Oh god. Now she was in the arms of her lover…and the things she was feeling were far too deep for a bar owner and her sort-of bodyguard.

She dropped her arms and stepped back, away from him.

Confusion pinched his brows. “What’s wrong? Did I step on your toes again?”

Her heart jogged. “This is sweet. And nice. But it’s not how our relationship should work.”

“How should it work then?”

She shook her head, her words spinning on her tongue with no way to speak them in a coherent way. “This isn’t a relationship—but if it were, it doesn’t work like this.”

“It can be anything you make of it.”

She dropped her gaze to her squashed toes. “I need to focus on shutting down the bar for the night.”

A heartbeat passed before his boots moved out of the line of her vision. She listened to his footsteps moving away from the bar. Away from her.

She hadn’t done anything wrong, so why did she feel like she did? Carver was temporary in her life. No reason to get attached to him.

She was practical. She rolled with the punches life jabbed her way. Even if the things that had happened really were threats, they wouldn’t last forever.

Then Carver would be gone.

* * * * *

On the ride home, Livia was super quiet again. The streets of the small, quaint town were equally silent and still since everyone else was in bed at this hour.

Carver sent a sidelong look at her profile. Her lips were set in a firm line that told him she was still in a mood. Thing was, he didn’t understand her. One minute she was dancing and laughing, having fun. The next she put up walls and backed away because of some stupid idea in her head about what was and wasn’t acceptable in a relationship. Not that they were involved in one, she rushed to remind him.

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