Chapter 37
Hazy
In hindsight, proposing to Livy before he’d even talked to her had been a horrible idea. He considered himself lucky she gave him a chance to do things correctly.
For their first date he reserved a dinner table at his go-to fancy dinner spot. The day-of he gave her space to get ready. Two hours beforehand, Livy texted him from the other room.
Livy
SOS
She once again stood half-naked, staring into her closet. He shamelessly ogled her, taking his time to appreciate every soft curve he’d overlooked for so long.
She snapped her fingers next to her face and said, “Hey! Eyes up here.” Her tone was serious, but her lips twitched, betraying her playfulness.
He let a lazy grin overtake his face. “What’s up?”
“I have a date, and I don’t know what to wear.”
Hazy sauntered over to her closet and stood behind her, reaching over her shoulder to grab the orange floral dress he’d bought her.
“This one will drive your date crazy,” he said, playing along with her game.
“It’s so short.”
“Exactly.”
“It’s like thirty degrees outside. I’m going to freeze my tits off if I wear this.”
Hazy tutted. “Can’t have that. Go put it on, and I’ll see what we can do to keep you a little warmer.”
She did as he said, and he picked out tights, shoes, and a cardigan for her to layer with the dress.
Livy put her clothes on and sat at her desk. She painted on mascara, blush, and lip balm. When she reached for the eyeliner, he stole it out of her reach.
“Your date will appreciate your face the way it is now.”
She held her hand out for the product, which he happily handed over. He would tell her his preference, but she could decide whether she catered to it.
“I like my face better with a little liner,” she said, stuffing the tube into her makeup bag. “But I do want to make a good first impression. If you think this is what he wants, I’ll trust you.”
Hazy ran a brush through her hair while the curling iron came up to temperature. As he put loose waves in her hair, she said, “I have an idea.”
“What’s your idea?”
“Home could be a boundary. At least at first. Here we can be Livy and Connor, best friends. But out there, on our dates, we can be Olivia and Hazy.”
“I like it. Let’s do it.”
“Really?”
“Sure. Connor and Livy are my favorites. But Olivia and Hazy can explore their dynamic as partners. It’s a good idea.”
“That means no funny business at home.”
Hazy snorted. “Connor and Livy are nothing but funny business.”
“I’m being serious, Connor.”
“I know, I know. I promise I’ll behave. Most of the time.”
She met his eyes in the mirror. “Thank you.”
When he finished doing Livy’s hair, he dressed himself. Then he knocked on her bedroom door.
She answered and greeted him with a smile.
He stuck his hand out for her to shake. “Hi, I’m so excited to meet you. My friend Connor has told me so much about you. I’m Hazy.”
Livy giggled and shook his hand. “I’m Olivia. I’m excited to meet you too. Livy hasn’t stopped gushing about you for years.”
Hazy drove them to the fancy restaurant he secretly hated and opened Livy’s car door for her. She remained seated, chewing her lip.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I know I asked to be Olivia and Hazy, virtual strangers tonight, but can I for one second please be Livy?”
“Am I Hazy in this situation?”
She shook her head. “I need Connor.”
He grinned at her. “You got him.”
“The car can be an extension of home. In the car we’re Connor and Livy.”
He laughed at her antics but shut her door and rounded the car, getting into the driver’s seat. “Okay. We’re Connor and Livy again. What’s wrong?”
She shook her head and fidgeted with the hem of her dress.
“Nothing is wrong. It’s just… I love that you had a plan.
But this isn’t us. Valentine brought me here on our first date.
I know it’s where you take your hookups.
Don’t treat me like someone you plan on sleeping with and then never talking to again. You hate fancy places like this.”
She was right. She wasn’t some hookup he needed to impress. He’d be happy if he never had to go to that swanky restaurant again. Hazy backed out of his parking spot and drove to a less pretentious, more delicious restaurant. When he opened Livy’s door, she stepped out without question.
“Oh my gosh! My friend Livy has been raving about this place.”
She was so fucking cute and committed to the bit.
“I’ve been here a few times. You should let me order for you. I promise you’ll like what I recommend.”
“Sure,” she said. “Why not? Sounds fun.”
He opened the restaurant door for her and ushered her through it with a hand low on her back.
Inside, the hostess sat them, and Hazy ordered them each a rum and coke and their go-to carry-out order.
They sat in their booth for two hours, talking about the weather, sports teams they liked (that conversation got animated), and their families.
Hazy tried to tell stories Livy didn’t already know, and she did the same for him.
They were being goofy, but he’d learned more about her than he’d expected.
In the car they listened to their favorite playlist, both of them quiet, digesting their food and the fact they’d gotten through their first date. When he opened her car door, they morphed into Hazy and Olivia again, and he walked her to the door.
On the porch he asked, “Does Olivia kiss on the first date?”
She licked her lips and nodded, looping an arm around his neck. He placed the lightest, sweetest kiss possible on her lips, lingering as long as possible without being weird.
Then he pulled away and whispered, “Goodnight, Olivia.”
Once inside, they both kicked off their shoes in the doorway.
Livy disappeared into her room, and Hazy did too, desperate to get out of the confines of his jeans.
He changed into sweats, forgoing a shirt altogether, and padded to the kitchen.
He poured two bowls of Cocoa Puffs and sat in his spot on the couch.
Livy joined him, makeup removed, hair brushed out, and clad in booty shorts and his sweatshirt. She sat next to him and pulled her feet up underneath herself before accepting her late-night snack.
Hazy flipped on an episode of Phineas and Ferb.
“How was your date?” he asked.
Livy tilted her head back and forth in an undecided gesture while she chewed a bite so big she couldn’t close her mouth. After she swallowed, she said, “Okay. He’s cute and funny, but there wasn’t enough kissing.”
Hazy’s jaw dropped. He swore Livy’s goal in life was to exasperate him. She was really fucking good at it. “Maybe he was being a gentleman.”
“Gentleman Schmentalman.”
Hazy took her empty bowl and set it aside his own. Livy leaned into him, and he wrapped his arms around her. “How about your date? How’d she measure up?”
Hazy tightened his hold on her so she couldn’t run away when he pissed her off. He held up a hand and tilted it in a so-so gesture. “Fine, I guess. She seemed nice. We had a lot to talk about. She’d get along great with my friends and family.”
“Then what’s wrong with her?”
He grinned. “Nothing is wrong with her. It’s just...”
“Just what?” Livy asked, already glaring at him in outrage.
“I don’t know. She kind of looks like my sister.” He giggled, unable to contain his laughter at his own joke.
She let out an antagonized laugh and grabbed a couch pillow from behind her. She swung it hard, hitting him on the head.
“You asshole!”
For once he had managed to take her by surprise, and he reveled in the victory.
Until she straddled him, pelting him with hits from the pillow.
He managed to rip it from her hands and fling it across the room.
Then he pinned her hands to her sides. She gasped, her eyes darkening with unmistakable desire.
All the blood in his body rushed to his dick.
He went from zero to one hundred in under five seconds, and he saw the exact moment she realized it.
She shifted her hips, and they both sucked in a breath.
He let go of her wrists, giving her the option to stop, and she used the opportunity to grab his hands and place them on the smooth skin of her outer thighs.
Then she placed her own palms on his chest and rolled her hips.
“Fuck, Livy,” he whispered on a shaky breath.
She kissed him, slow and gentle. Then she ran her thumbs over his nipples and slid against him again, shivering with the friction.
She had total control, and he loved it. Loved that she felt comfortable enough to tease him.
He slid his hands up her thighs and around to cup her ass, coaxing her into an intoxicating rhythm.
She lowered her forehead to his and whispered against his lips. “Tell me you want me.”
“I want you so fucking bad. So bad. It’s all I’ve thought about for weeks. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve come imagining you like this.”
She rewarded his good listening skills with a sloppy kiss. He’d been plotting ways to steal more kisses since the first time. It was happening sooner than anticipated, but he had no complaints.
What he would complain about is if something else happened sooner than anticipated. And if she kept up like this, it would. He kneaded her ass and kissed her until he couldn’t take it anymore. Then he lifted her hips away from him.
She whined in outrage. “Why are we stopping?”
“We’re not stopping, baby. I wouldn’t do that to you.”
He slid a hand up the inside of her thigh.
How was she so fucking soft? His thumb grazed her clit over the fabric of her shorts.
A few strokes there had her moaning and kissing him again.
He moved his hand away from her clit to toy with the hem of her shorts.
Her hips kept moving, her body searching for any possible attention where she needed it most.
He hooked a finger under her shorts. They were short enough that if she let him, he could push them aside.
He broke their kiss long enough to ask, “Can I?”
Livy kissed his cheeks, his jaw, his neck. “Yes. Please.”
She caught his earlobe between her teeth, slid her hands across his abs, and massaged his dick through his pants. Focusing on what he was doing with his own fingers let him enjoy it without worrying about embarrassing himself.
He shoved the tiny crotch of her short shorts and panties out of his way. His fingers met slick, wet heat. He moaned. Livy gasped.
“You’re soaking for me.”
She bit his neck as he explored her body. “Always am,” she panted into his ear.
His cock twitched, and she smiled against his skin.
“Oh. You like knowing you make me wet?”
His dick betrayed him, twitching against her palm again. Fuck. He really did like it. And he loved her dirty mouth.
“Tell me.”
She was going to kill him. Maybe his refusal to acknowledge how hot she was for so long was his body’s way of protecting him from certain death.
Still, he couldn’t, wouldn’t deny her. “I don’t like it.”
She froze.
“I love it. Tell me every time I make you wet. Every. Single. Time. I turn you on? You tell me. Got it?”
Livy nodded and tweaked his nipple. The sensation sent a wave of pleasure to his dick and had him grinding into her hand. She reclaimed his mouth, returning her attention to the growing wet spot on the outside of his sweats.
He redoubled his focus away from the attention she gave him, swirling her arousal around her clit with his thumb. When his index finger circled her opening in a silent question, her hand stilled on his dick. He did it again, and she whined.
“What about this?” he asked, drawing a circle one more time, needing to know for sure.
“Yes. Fuck yes.”
He slid effortlessly inside her and hooked his finger toward him, rubbing the spot he knew would make her soak his hand. She moaned, her body sinking into him, trying to get more.
She abandoned stroking his cock, which somehow made him harder.
“Do you want another?” he asked.
She buried her face in his neck, breathing heavy, a light sheen of sweat making her whole body radiate a healthy glow.
“Yes, please,” she said with a sigh.
He obliged, slipping a second finger in. He flattened his palm against her clit, earning him a groan. Her hips moved in slow circles.
“How’s that?” he asked.
“It’s good. Holy fuck, it feels so good. Please don’t stop.”
“I won’t stop until you come all over my hand. You can have whatever you need.”
“Okay,” she said. “Okay,” a pitch higher.
Hazy kept a steady pace, a steady motion. She set the rhythm with the roll of her hips, the tone of her pretty little pleas. The walls of her pussy squeezed his fingers.
“Connor,” she whined. “I need more. A little more. Please.”
He slid his free hand up her shirt and rolled one of her nipples between his thumb and index finger.
“Oh my God. Yes. That.” The motion of her hips stuttered, her grip on his fingers pulsing. “That.”
She fell over the edge and collapsed into him, her pussy fluttering around his fingers. He moved his palm in tiny circles, dragging every last wave of pleasure out of her. She laughed and her muscles clenched around him.
When her breathing returned to normal, she sat up and he pulled his hand free. He stared into her eyes as he stuck his fingers in his mouth and sucked every drop of her desire from his skin.
She was gorgeous, an ethereal being come down from the heavens. Her skin glowed, bright and pink; her hair mussed and wild; her lips kiss-swollen. Her eyes twinkled with delight, and she wore a lazy, satisfied smile.
“Jesus Christ,” she said.
He grinned at her. “Actually, I’m Connor Hale.”
She smacked his chest. “Fuck you.”