time, watching her face. Then, when he was all the way home, he kissed her, a soft kiss that became more intense as he started moving inside of her. Liv gasped against his mouth as he hit the sweet spot just right and he smiled.
“You like that?”
“It’s okay,” she said.
He laughed low in his throat and began to move, taking his time, making her crazy.
“Better than okay,” she admitted, her words barely audible as sensations threatened to overpower her. She wasn’t ready for this to end. Not yet. Not after waiting all this time.
“I should hope so,” he said, but the teasing note in his voice was strained. And then the talking stopped and Liv lost track of everything except for Matt driving into her. He was so damned good and she did not want him to stop—
And then she exploded against him, long before she wanted to. Matt groaned against her neck as she arched beneath him, then he drove in deeply into her one last time.
What had she just done?
They were both still breathing hard as the questions began crowding into Liv’s brain, but she was soon distracted by Matt kissing her. A sweet, gentle kiss that made her want to melt back into him.
They were two people who understood each other. He wouldn’t tell her what to do, and she wouldn’t tell him what to do....
Except for that knee thing. That still bothered her.
“I’d like to stay,” he said, pulling her against him.
“Craig,” she said.
“Yeah.”
“That’s okay,” Liv said. “I think...I need some alone time.”
“Regrets?” Matt asked softly.
“No.” Liv hoped she wasn’t lying.
Matt got out of bed and pulled on his pants, dragging the denim up over his wrecked knees, buckling the belt around his lean hips.
He looked like a hot cowboy who’d just stepped out of some kind of magazine advertisement. And she... Liv caught her reflection in the full-length mirror on her far wall—she looked pale and tousled and not at all magazine worthy, but she would never have known it from the expression Matt wore when he met her eyes in the mirror. Her heart stuttered at the intensity of his gaze.
He smiled a little as he shrugged into his shirt, then he came to sit on the bed beside her and pulled on his boots.
“I’ll come back to help you feed in the morning.”
“Don’t.” The word came out so quickly that Liv was barely conscious of saying it.
Matt held her gaze for a moment, then exhaled. But he said nothing. A moment later he kissed her lightly on first the forehead, then the lips.
As he straightened, he smiled again and Liv couldn’t help but notice that according to the evidence showing through his worn jeans, he was seconds away from crawling back into bed with her.
And she was seconds away from insisting on it, consequences be damned.
“Good night, Liv.”
Liv rolled onto her back, pushed the hair back from her forehead as she stared up at the ceiling and listened to the sounds of the man she’d once thought she’d loved more than anything leaving her house.
What had she just done?
She’d done what had felt incredibly right. At the moment. And she’d enjoyed it, shutting off the warning voices in her head and simply experiencing what Matt had to offer.
When he’d started making love to her, his motions had felt practiced, automatic. But then...then things changed. She’d responded, and he’d done the same. By the end, Liv had the strong feeling that Matt was charting some unknown waters. Or at least waters he hadn’t experienced in some time.
She rolled over onto her side, cushioning her head on one arm as she heard his pickup start up. She’d rung his bell. Her lips curved into a wearily sad smile. She had the power....
And she didn’t want it.
Resolutely, she closed her eyes. She needed sleep if she was going to deal with her father in the morning. As if.
Her last thoughts, jumbled one on top of the other, were that there was no way she would ever be able to fall asleep and that Matt hadn’t asked when he could see her again.
The last thought made her smile.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“WHY IN THE HELL didn’t you come see me?” Andie demanded.
Tim rolled his head on the pillow to see her better. “I don’t have insurance and I was waiting for Medicare to kick in.”
“What happened to the insurance, Dad?” Liv asked, shocked at his admission. Her father had never been a fan of spending money needlessly, but foregoing insurance?