Chapter 18 Sam
Sam
“Are you sleeping?”
Livi’s voice came from somewhere under the blanket. My left nipple, to be exact.
“Not anymore,” I joked.
Technically I had been in that half asleep twilight phase while Livi recovered from what I knew had been an intense orgasm. Her inner muscles had been squeezing me so hard I thought she’d rip off my fingers.
I yelped as she bit down on the nipple, then shivered as she smoothed the sting with her tongue. She shifted, then did the same thing on the other side.
“I want to kiss every inch of your body,” she whispered.
Well maybe it wasn’t a whisper but with her mouth around my breast and the blanket over her head, sounds were muffled. I shoved the blanket down, partly because I was suddenly feeling very warm and partly because I wanted to see what she was going to do next.
Livi kissed her way down my torso, taking time to lick along my bottom ribs and circle her tongue around my belly button. She was moving maddeningly slow and when I couldn’t take it anymore, I shoved her head in the direction of where I needed her.
“Impatient, huh?” she chuckled against my belly.
“One of us already got to come,” I reminded her pointedly.
She laughed again but moved lower, settling between my legs much as I’d been with her a little while ago. She licked me from bottom to top a few times, dipping her tongue in between my folds, then shifted back up my body.
“I can’t get enough of these,” she said, going right back to my breasts.
I made a sound of protest but shut up as soon as she moved her hand between my thighs.
She gave my mound a little squeeze, then went right for my opening, sliding a finger inside.
I hadn’t even adjusted to the intrusion before she added a second.
Not that I minded, the feeling of fullness was a turn-on all its own.
Livi continued to lavish attention on my breasts while thrusting her fingers in and out. This time her fingers were straight, the next time they were curled, changing it up to keep me guessing and ratcheting up my excitement.
I rolled my hips, riding her hand even while I dug my fingers into her hair, holding her head against my breast. The combination of sensations was driving me crazy.
The cool air on my skin. The roughness of the drop cloth beneath us.
Those fingers moving in and out of my body.
Then Livi bit down hard on my breast, marking my skin with her teeth, and I lost all control.
“Livi! Jesus. Livi!”
Normally it took a while for me to reach orgasm, but after hours – well, weeks – of foreplay my body was primed and ready. I repeated her name over and over as I rode the waves of my release and when Livi finally pulled away, I felt completely limp.
“I can’t move,” I groaned. “I might be dead. Just leave me here, the others will take care of the body.”
She laughed softly, then stood up, giving me the perfect view of her naked body. She was lean but soft, her skin glowing white in the low light.
“I’m going to get us more beer,” she said. “And some chocolate.”
I popped up to sitting.
“There’s chocolate down there too?” I asked incredulously. “I can’t believe the guys have been hiding this from me all this time.”
“Don’t tell them I told you,” she warned. “They’ll find another hiding place for the snacks, and I’ll lose all my credibility with them.”
I shook my head in amusement.
“I won’t say a word,” I promised. “As long as there’s chocolate.”
We ate mini Snickers bars and drank another beer leaning against the wall, bodies pressed together underneath the blanket as we talked until we both grew sleepy.
Outside the wind continued to howl, although when we checked the weather app on our phones it said the wind would die down overnight and the rain would lessen too.
That would make it easy for someone to come move that tree tomorrow so we could leave.
Although the thought of leaving made me feel almost sad. We’d been in this little cocoon less than eight hours, but it felt like we’d been here for years, and part of me wanted it to go on as long as it could.
Once we were out of here, the real world would intrude on us again.
We’d be back to kind-of boss and temporary employee, rich girl and poor girl.
As close as I felt to Livi right now, I know this thing had a time limit.
She’d go back to her fancy job at her fancy office building, and I’d finish remodeling this Victorian and move onto the next project.
It was a shame really because I loved this house.
Loved it more than any other building we’d worked on.
But I knew enough about the real estate market to know that once it was remodeled, a restored Victorian mansion on a large plot of land with a private road would sell for millions. Needless to say I didn’t have millions.
“What happens now?” Livi asked a while later. “We can’t go back to the way things were, not after this.”
I thought she’d fallen asleep while I was lost in my own musing.
“I don’t want the guys to know,” I said immediately. “They’ll give me shit about it and I don’t want them to lose respect for me.”
“I doubt they would,” she said. “I haven’t heard one of these guys say a bad word about you. They all say that you’re a fair, dedicated boss who doesn’t ask them to do anything she wouldn’t do herself. They love you.”
“Regardless, I’d appreciate it if we could keep what happened tonight between us.”
“What about when I’m done with my time here?” she asked.
I felt my stomach cramp at the idea. She’d become such an important part of the team in a very short time.
“You go back to your real job, I guess.”
It was a cop out, and we both knew it. Livi rolled over, waiting for me to do the same so we could see each other.
“I want to see you again. After this,” she said. “I want you to be my girlfriend.”
“I wouldn’t be opposed to hanging out and hooking up,” I lied.
The truth was I wanted nothing more than to call this woman my girlfriend, maybe even my wife, but I wasn’t naive enough to think that could ever work.
“This thing that’s happening between us, it’s big Sam. It’s not friends with benefits, it’s happily ever after stuff. I’m falling in love with you.”
My heart stuttered in my chest as feelings hit me fast and furious. Joy. Fear. Happiness. Denial. Hope. The truth was, I was in love with her too. But then my brain engaged, and I shoved everything down deep.
“Livi. I know this feels big, but we’re too ill-suited for any long-term relationship to work out.”
She studied me long enough that I looked away, afraid that she’d see the truth in my eyes.
I wished I could believe her. I was sure she believed herself.
But I’d gotten my heart broken by someone who decided that I was too much for them.
Too working class. Too opinionated. Too independent.
That relationship had taught me an important lesson: I was better off alone than to be with someone who was focused on changing me into their perfect little partner.
Not that Livi had ever given me any indication that she didn’t like me just as I was.
Despite her generally put together appearance, there had never been any subtle digs about my clothing, how I needed to do something with my hair, the state of my fingernails.
How I would look prettier if I just put on a little bit of makeup and made more of an effort with my appearance.
But we were in a bubble here. She was going to go back to her high society life, and go do the things that heiresses do, and eventually I would be her project, something to work on, something to be embarrassed of. Something to mock and then discard.
No, I couldn’t do that. It hurt back when I was with Savannah, but my feelings for Livi were much, much stronger than what I’d felt for her or any other woman. Being hurt by her would cut much, much deeper. It was something I’d never recover from.
“You’re scared,” Livi said decisively, telling me that she’d read more of my emotions on my face than I’d intended. “I get it. I’m scared too, but I’ve never been one to run away from a challenge. I’m going to do what it takes to make you mine forever.”
“What if I don’t want forever?” I snipped.
“If I thought that was true, I’d take my broken heart and walk away. But there’s no way what just happened between us means nothing, that it was just sex.”
She took a deep breath, and when her hand came to my face I couldn’t help but meet her gaze.
“You’re going to be mine, Sam. And I’m going to be yours, because deep down, you know it’s what we both want. But I’ll give you some time to get used to the idea because when we make a commitment, I want us both to be sure.”
“Let’s just have tonight,” I said placatingly. “And we’ll go from there.”