What a Woman Wants (A Manley Maids Novel) (21 page)

“Look where we are, Livvy.”

They could be on the moon for all she cared. Matter of fact, she felt as if she was over it.

“Go on. Open your eyes and look.”

She didn’t want to open her eyes. Opening her eyes would bring the present back. Would bring reality back. For a few moments there, they’d been in the realm of fantasy. The realm of
what if
. She didn’t have to think about what her grandmother wanted her to do; she didn’t have to remember that no one had ever held her like this, she didn’t have to think about how alone she’d been until she’d met Sean, and she didn’t have to worry about how long it would last because it’d still been going on.

“Livvy.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “Look what you did.”

What she
did? Her eyes flew open.

They were inside the maze. Just a few feet, but the symbolism was huge.

“See? I told you you could do it.”

“So you only let me kiss you so I’d go into the maze?” She was torn between finding it sweet and being disappointed as hell.

“I—” He exhaled and raked a hand through his hair. “No. Of course not. I wanted to kiss you.”

“Did you? Really? Because I seem to remember you wanting to stop the last time we were in this position. Something about it not being a good idea.”

“It’s not, Livvy. It’s really not.” The look on his face was pained.

Well so was her ego. And maybe just the teensiest bit, her heart. “Why?”

“Because . . . I’m scared of how much I want you.”

As far as explanations went, that one was a doozy. How much he wanted her? The man was as strong and honorable as an ox if he was able to put the brakes on if he wanted her even half as much as she wanted him.

“Sher said something to me this weekend that I think I should share.”

“What?”

She traced her fingertips over his cheek. “That I shouldn’t be so afraid of what the future holds that I don’t live in the present.” She stepped closer to him. “We’re here now, Sean. Right here. Together. I don’t want to miss out on what’s between us because we’re scared of where it could lead or not lead. We’ll never find out if we don’t take that chance. I’m willing to. Are you?”

S
HE
was going to kill him.

He was trying to do the right thing. The noble thing. The honorable thing, but she was leading him down the path to temptation and, God help him, Sean didn’t think he was strong enough to resist, because that same God knew he didn’t want to.

“Livvy, I—”

She put her fingertips to his lips. “Do you want me, Sean?”

So much it took his breath away. “You know I do.”

“Then let’s have tonight. Whatever tomorrow brings or next week or next month . . . we’ll always have tonight.”

Yep, killing him.

And he went willingly.

He scooped her up in his arms. She was such a tiny thing. A tiny little thing that packed a wallop stronger than any storm, and he kissed her again, willingly going into the maelstrom.

He walked along the path, turning the corner at the end without breaking the kiss, loving the feel of her in his arms.

“I hope you know where we’re going,” she muttered between kisses.

So did he.

He came to a fork in the path. He’d been in here before and tried to remember which one had taken him to where he wanted to go.

He headed to the right, his memory shorting out as her tongue drove him crazy, and figured instinct was working well for him; he’d let it lead where it may.

He broke off the kiss when he heard the gurgling of the fountain.

Livvy groaned. “No, Sean. You can’t stop again.”

“I have no intention of stopping.” He cupped her cheek so he could look into her eyes. “Look where we are.”

She nibbled her lip—puffy from him this time—and looked around. The center of the maze was a large courtyard with a stone fountain and statue in the center, benches and topiaries laid out around it like an English garden, the moonlight blanketing it all in wispy, glistening silence.

“Oh, it’s so beautiful.”

“Not half as beautiful as you.”

Her cheeks flamed then and Sean was lost. The hell with the property, the clues, investors and balance sheets, what was best for her and what was best for him . . . Nothing mattered in this moment but Livvy and the way she was looking at him. The way she wanted him. The way he wanted her.
That
was what was best for both of them.

Sean sank onto one of the benches, wrapped his arms around her, and let the future take care of itself.

K
ISSING
Sean was an experience all of its own. Livvy sat up on his lap, wound her arms around his neck, and dove in. He wasn’t stopping this time; she could feel it. Whatever reason had held him back was, if not gone, at least put aside. She hoped it was something that wouldn’t make things hard between them later, but given what
was
hard between them right now, she was willing to worry about the future in the, well,
future.

“Are you sure, Livvy?” Sean growled against her lips, the look in his eyes taking her breath away as much as his kiss was. “Because if we go on any longer, I’m not going to be able to stop.” He ran his tongue over her bottom lip and she’d never been surer of anything in her life. “I won’t
want
to stop.” Then he licked her upper lip. “I
don’t
want to stop.” He kissed her. Quick and hard and wonderful. “I want you.” This kiss was sweet and delicious and skin-shiveringly good. “Here.” And another. “Now.”

She turned in his arms and slid a leg between them so that she was straddling him on the bench. There would be
no
doubt exactly how much she did want him.

There certainly wasn’t any question about what
he
wanted. His erection strained against the silky fabric of his shorts, leaving nothing and everything to her imagination.

She moved against him.

Sean’s hands flew to her hips and he wrenched his mouth from where it’d been doing delicious things to her neck. “Hold still. It’s too much all at once. I can’t take it.”

“Ah, you say the sweetest things, Sean.”

“If you think that’s sweet, you’re going to find what I say next downright decadent.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

He skimmed a hand over her hair, then along her shoulder and down her arm, which wasn’t
exactly
where she wanted him to touch her. About two inches to the right would be perfect. Perfectly decadent.

“That you better stop moving like this if you don’t want me to toss you onto the grass and have my wicked way with you.”

She moved against him.

And moved again.

“Ah, God, Livvy, don’t.” His lips twitched as his smile morphed into a grimace, but Livvy wasn’t buying it. A certain part of him said he was as into the moment as she was, so she was taking his
don’t
as
don’t stop,
because it’d been far too long for her and Sean was far too potent, and if he had an issue with that, well, he could just make love to her until they both got it out of their systems.

Hmmm, how could she ensure that he
did
have an issue?

Shoving the bench slats with her heels, Livvy backed herself up to the very edge of his knees. He wanted wicked? She could do wicked . . .

He tugged her hips. “Hey, where are you going?”

She crossed her arms and pulled her camisole off, then shook her head to tumble her curls down her back, wanting his hands in it—and on her.

She didn’t have long to wait.

“Oh my God.” The words came out in a rush as his breath
whooshed
out of him. “You have the most gorgeous hair.” He brought a fistful of it to his face and brushed it across his lips before trailing it along her nose and over her own lips. Then lower, along her throat, down to her collarbone, then feathering it down the center of her chest.

Too.

Damn.

Slowly.

She arched her back, her breasts aching for his touch. “Please, Sean.”

He sucked in a breath every bit as harsh as the ache she was feeling. “God, Livvy, do you know what you’re doing to me?” He dropped her hair and instead ran his palm from the base of her throat down between her breasts, his fingertips spanning the distance, teasing her with how close they came to her tight nipples.

So she teased him right back. “Yes, I think I do.” She drew
her
palm down
his
chest, smiling when
his
breath caught as
her
fingertips brushed his erection. “So what do you think? Do I know what I’m doing?”

“Jesus, woman,” he said on a long exhale. Then he slid his hands under her butt and pulled her back into him. “Last chance,” he whispered against her lips.

“Not taking it,” she said, nipping his bottom lip.

He turned the tables on her, sucking
her
bottom lip between his teeth and sliding off the bench onto the soft grass in front of it.

“You are so utterly gorgeous, Livvy.” Sean, kneeling over her on all fours, leaned down to kiss her. Their lips were the only point of contact, but the power in that small point was enough to drive her wild.

She lay on the ground below him, shivering with desire, her breasts aching to be pressed against him. To be touched by him. “Stop teasing and kiss me, Sean.”

“I just did.”

“I mean
really
kiss me.” She fisted his shirt and pulled.

He didn’t budge. “Impatient, are we?”

“
We
, apparently, are not.
I,
on the other hand, am. So are you going to get down here and get the job done or are we going to spend our night verbally sparring instead?”

“Not the whole night.” He kissed her. Short and sweet and wonderful. But not what she wanted. “There. Satisfied?”

“Seriously?” She raised her eyebrows.

“What? You want more?” Sean leaned in, his groin brushing hers, making her forget what they were talking about.

She didn’t, however, forget that his shirt was in her hands.

She ripped it.

It seemed like the easiest way to get it off him.

Sean looked down at his chest, then into her eyes, and he smiled. “Like that, is it?”

She nibbled her bottom lip. He liked when she did that. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Uh huh.” Sean adjusted his weight and lifted an arm from beside her to work it out of the sleeve.

“Don’t tell me you can do one-arm push-ups.” Because she found that a complete turn-on. She had no idea why, but seeing a guy able to do that did it for her.

The look Sean sent her did it for her, too. “I can if I’m motivated.”

She nibbled her lip. “Is that enough motivation?”

He brushed her nose with his. “Not quite.”

“What about this?” She ran both hands down his chest, then around to his backside and squeezed. He had an amazing backside.

“You’re getting warmer.”

She certainly was.

“How about this?” She raised her head and flicked his nipple with her tongue.

“Holy shit.” His elbows wobbled and he caught himself at the last second before he fell onto her. “Damn, woman, that’s not fair.”

“We’re playing fair?” She licked the other one. “How is it fair that you’re all the way up there and I’m all the way down here?”

“Oh, is that a problem?” He adjusted his stance so that his legs were directly over hers in a classic push-up pose, holding himself there effortlessly and making no move whatsoever to come closer.

So she pressed down on his butt.

Sean didn’t fight her on this. He lowered himself onto her, still keeping the bulk of his weight off her, but teasing her with the most delicious points of contact ever. He swayed back and forth slightly, his chest sending her nipples on high alert, and she wished to high heaven that’d he’d follow her lead and do some clothes-ripping of his own. She needed to feel him against her.

She pressed on his butt some more.

Then she grabbed it.

That did the trick. He
finally
lay on her and it was utter heaven.

He angled his head to the other side, moving his weight to his elbows, and cradled her head in his palms as he deepened the kiss.

She wrapped her arms around the small of his back. God, he felt so good pressed against her. All hard strength and coiled desire. He
did
desire her; of that there was no doubt.

And now she had none about what they were doing. About how far she wanted it to go. Sher was right; there was no sense living in the future if she never got there. One day the future would be the present and this was as good a time as any to realize it.

She slipped her hands beneath his waistband. “I want you, Sean.”

He sucked in a breath—and her tongue—and his arms gave out.

He recovered quickly—too quickly—and lifted himself off her. But, thank God, nowhere near as far from her as he had been before. “Jesus, Livvy. Do you know what you’re saying?”

“I do. Absolutely.” And for the first time in her life, she was acting on it without thinking it through to the
n
th degree of ramifications. They were two consenting adults who had no other agenda besides the one fate had lobbed at them, and she was more than willing to knock it out of the park.

“No,” she breathed when he rolled off her, breaking the kiss. “Sean, you—”

“Shhh.” He smoothed her hair from her cheek. “I’m too heavy for you.” He rolled onto his back and in a move that almost defied gravity, he pulled her on top of him.

“This is how it should be. This is where you should be.” He bunched her hair into a ponytail with one hand and ran the other down her back.

She shivered.

“Like that?”

She nodded.

“How about this?”

He squeezed her butt.

She licked her lips.

“Ah, hell, Livvy. I have no defense against that.” He pulled her down and kissed her again.

And then she kissed him. Being on top gave her a certain freedom she didn’t have when he was over her. Now, she could move a bit to the right and press her thigh against his erection.

He groaned.

She smiled.

“You’re going to kill me.”

“I certainly hope not.” She nipped his jaw. “That’d kind of ruin the night.”

“You think?” he growled when she nibbled her way down his throat, the just-right amount of chest hair tickling her chin as she kissed her way from his collarbone to his navel. And maybe lower if the spirit so moved her.

Right now, it was moving her to run her tongue over his nipple. She wanted to hear him gasp in that same breathless sense-of-awe whisper she felt.

You are so in over your head.

Her conscience was right, but for once, she wasn’t going to listen to it.

He let her tease him, his hands fisting in her hair, his chest—his gorgeous six-pack perfect enough to inspire fantasies—quivered beneath her fingertips.

Somehow, her shorts joined her camisole. She didn’t know how and really didn’t care. Now if she could just get her darn thong off.

Sean helped with that.

So she helped him and the next thing she knew, they were naked on the grass.

Naked on the grass.
She never thought she’d see the day when she was naked in the moonlight, rolling around on the lawn with a god of a guy who looked as if he were the model for the one in the middle of the fountain.