Page 28 of Liv Parrish

“True, but probably not great for our digestion. Do you have any favorite meals? Something special you’d like me to make?”

“Baby, everything you do for me is special. I’ll love every meal you cook for me.” Wow, this man. It’s going to be oh so easy to fall for him, I can tell.

He leaves shortly after that, insisting that I stay in bed and that he will go back to his own place to shower and get ready for his day, but he’s not even out the door when there’s a knock. I jump up, wrap a sheet around me and rush over to fling the door wide.

“Jesus Liv, put some clothes on!” Shit, Luke! Without thinking, I shut the door in his face, race to my closet and yank on a pair of yoga pants and an old t-shirt, then rush back to the door. When I open it, Luke looks like a thunder cloud ready to unleash biblical torrents of rain, so I immediately try to placate him.

“Hey, uh … I wasn’t expecting you, but it’s good to see you. You look great.” Well, so much for playing it cool, but Luke isn’t exactly giving off feel good vibes right now, more like we’re about to have a huge argument.

“Clearly.” He stomps into the apartment.

“I tried to reach you yesterday. You could have just responded to my calls and texts. There was no need to come all the way here.”

“Not what it looks like to me. Was that the guy? The one spending nights here like he’s paying rent.” Right, like he doesn’t know.

“You didn’t see him on your way in? You must have just missed each other.”

“I saw him Liv, and now I’m asking you, who is he?”

“Calm down, okay? His name is Heath Hayes and he’s a good man. I like him and I don’t want you scaring him away, so please just calm down. Also, you said you already looked him up, so you should know who he is.” He grunts at this, not looking pleased or calm at all.

“I wanted to hear it from you, to make sure things are the way you said. So, why did you call? And text. What’s wrong?” I stare at him, my mouth literally hanging open, but he’s scanning my apartment as if he might find someone else hiding in a corner.

“Are you kidding me? You tell me you bugged my apartment, and you didn’t think there would be a follow-up conversation? Fortress swept the place, just so you know. They found all your devices.”

“I know, which is why I didn’t tell you about them sooner. I was worried about you. After seeing you in that hospital bed and just knowing you won’t reach out to me if something happens to you. Fuck, Liv! I couldn’t sleep for days worrying about you, but I couldn’t stay. God knows I wanted to, but now at least I know you have someone else looking out for you.”

“Besides Wyatt, you mean. And you knew who he was all along. Nick. Wyatt. You knew and you never did tell me how you two know each other.” He looks around the apartment again and now I’m sure it’s so that he doesn’t have to face me. Okay then. “And speaking of staying, how did you get here so fast? You’re supposed to be half a day’s drive away, yet you pop up at the drop of a hat when something unexpected comes up.” He gives me a mocking look I remember well from our teenage years when he used to think he was so much smarter than me. I hated that look. Still do.

“You know there’s these things called airplanes, right? Pretty nifty for getting you from point A to point B in a hurry. You should check it out some time.” I don’t even bother responding to the snark. He’s not going to give me any more information, and I’m not in the mood to argue anymore.

“Fine, but bugging my place was a serious invasion of my privacy. What if I was … I don’t know, having orgies or something?” He outright laughs at that.

“Jesus, do you even know what an orgy is?” He doesn’t stop laughing, so I narrow my eyes at him.

“I know plenty, thank you very much.” He smirks at me now, not remotely convinced.

“Livvy, you are my sister and I love you. I also worry like crazy about you being alone in this city. What I do not worry about, is you having orgies.” Well, at least that’s something, but we’re both smiling now.

“Whatever. It’s way too early in the morning to be talking about such things anyway. Why are you here so early?”

“Hey, you’re the one who brought it up. And I can’t stay long. Have other places to be but wanted to check on you as well, so you’re my first stop.”

“Ah, look at you trying to make me feel special. Come on, I’ll make coffee while you tell me what you can.” It wasn’t much, but I expected that. He knew Wyatt was investigating various Russian families operating in the city, involved with human trafficking amongst other things and wanted to make sure I didn’t get mixed up in anything, at least not more than I already was. He was planning on removing the bugs when he found out about Fortress but seemed happy that we saved him the trouble. Luckily there wasn’t any further probing into my relationship with Heath. He already knows more than enough. After breakfast and my fruitless attempts to find out more about where he’s going and what he’s up to, he leaves. One thing’s for sure, my brother might have been a United States Marine at some time in the past, but he’s definitely not anymore. I’m going to have to find out more about that.

With nothing better to do, I clean the kitchen, take a shower and get ready for work. The neighborhood where the center is located does not see much traffic and unfamiliar vehicles tend to stand out, like the one I’m looking at as I make my way inside the building. For one thing, it’s far too new and well looked after to belong here, and for another it’s a big, black sedan with windows tinted so dark, you can’t see a single thing inside. It immediately sets me on edge and panic scratches at the back of my brain, urging me to run and hide. Which is ridiculous. I’m a grown-up, with grown-up responsibilities. And besides this creepy feeling telling me something’s wrong, I have no proof to act on. At this moment there is no threat, just my imagination running wild. Trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, I take a quick photograph of the number plate, just in case. For a moment I consider sending it to Heath, but he’s got more important things to take care of than my paranoia. I decide to hold on to the pic for a day or two and if I don’t see the car again, I can just delete it. With that sorted I throw myself into the work I love and completely forget about the car.

After mentally checking my list of favorite dishes I could make, I settle on lasagna for dinner because who doesn’t like lasagna? If Heath doesn’t want to tell me what his favorite meals are, I’ll just have to get creative to find out. When he finally arrives, we almost have a repeat of last night, the part where we forgot about the food because he was devouring me instead, but somehow, I find the strength to hold him off until after the meal because making lasagna from scratch is no joke and I didn’t want the food to go to waste. Not that it would, but still. We talk about our work, and I also tell him about Luke’s visit. He tells me that they’re done with the recording devices and that there’s nothing to worry about. That seems odd. I knew who planted them and why, and now they’ve been removed so why would I worry? Heath doesn’t give me a chance to question him further though.

“You’ve kept me from your gorgeous body long enough, baby. Come to bed with me. The only talking I want to do now is to whisper dirty things in your ear.” The look in his eyes is primal and hungry and it sets my body alight with want. I can’t imagine denying him, and when he picks me up and carries me to bed, something he seems to enjoy doing, I hold on to him, alternating between kissing and licking his neck. “Fuck, I love your lips on me. Can’t wait to return the favor, but first we have to do something about all these clothes you’re wearing.”

With a sexy smirk, he sets about removing each item slowly, as if prolonging it will make our eventual skin-to-skin contact that much more pleasurable. I’ve barely crawled on top of the bedcovers, then he’s lowering his gloriously naked body on top of me and kissing me with a fervor that takes my breath away. From my lips he moves down my neck to my breasts, sucking hard on each nipple, biting and licking them until everything between my neck and my knees feel like it’s on fire for him. I arch up towards him, offering my breasts as sacrifice to his hunger and my fingers tangle in his hair, holding him to me as an anchor for my pleasure. He circles his hips in slow, seductive movements, grinding his cock against me, a delicious torment designed to drive me out of my mind.

“Heath, please. I need you. Please … please … Heath … please…” I alternate between begging and chanting his name, rocking my body to the rhythm of his sensual torture, desperate for more friction, more contact, more him. It might have been the words, or maybe it was the movement of my body against his, but his resolve to continue snaps and he drives into me with a grunt and a chant of his own.

“Fuck, baby … so fucking good … fuck.” Our movements lose some of their rhythm as his thrusts become wilder, driven by instinct and need, chasing the ultimate pleasure. And oh God, the orgasm that surges through me can’t be described as anything else but that. The ultimate pleasure.

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