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“We need to be realistic,” she argued, though her tone sounded weak even to her. “I can’t stay and we can’t do this again.”
Jax rose slightly, his dark brows drawn in. “Regrets already? And here I thought you wouldn’t have those until morning.”
She hated that he assumed she’d be regretting this. Did he always think the worst when it came to her?
“I don’t have regrets,” she retorted. “This was amazing, but I’m not looking to dive into an affair. We have things to discuss, plans to make.”
He jerked her leg higher as he started to nuzzle her neck. “So go ahead and discuss. I promise, you have my undivided attention.”
She swatted him. “I’m serious. I can’t talk about the airport with you doing . . . that.”
“What? Seducing you aga
in? I may be younger, but even I need time to recover. I just like how you feel beneath me.” He stared down at her, his eyes dropping to her mouth before coming back up to meet her gaze. “I like you in my bed.”
She couldn’t reply because she prided herself on honesty and there was no way she could tell him that she liked it here, too . . . more than she had a right to.
Chapter Fourteen
“Livie.”
Jax shook her shoulder as she rolled over and settled deeper into his bed. After his promise of not letting her sleep, they’d made love once again and then he promised to just hold her . . . he hadn’t been ready to let her go.
Yet here they were at six in the morning. He needed to get her up and out before Piper woke because his girl was an early bird.
When Livie didn’t wake, he stood straight up and stared down at how perfectly placed she appeared. Her honey-colored hair fanning all over his navy sheets, her bare shoulder peeking out from beneath the quilt, her fingertips resting on his pillow.
Yeah, there was so much about this scene that he could get used to, but then there was that whole side of him that needed to keep his guard up. There was so much he’d gotten over from his past that he’d promised himself never to go back to.
It wasn’t exactly fair for him to compare Livie and Carly, but in his defense, he couldn’t help putting them against each other in his mind. There were so many similarities, yet the more he got to know Livie, he saw just how different she was from his ex-wife.
Ultimately, though, in the end Livie would leave . . . just like Carly.
Jax shoved aside the welling of emotions. He was stronger than this, damn it. He’d seen it all overseas in the air force, he’d been blindsided by a woman who claimed to not love him anymore and left him with an infant, and he’d faced the death of his mentor—a man who’d been like a father.
Yet he couldn’t bring himself to get this woman out of his bed. Perhaps he wasn’t as strong as he claimed.
Little footsteps sounded down the hallway and Jax sprang into action. Racing toward the door, he flicked the lock and stepped out.
Piper’s hair was all in disarray. She rubbed her eyes, then smiled up at him. Her rotten little grin always melted his heart.
“Waffles?”
Jax laughed. He’d created a monster. He found a waffle maker at a yard sale and since that day three months ago, Piper wanted waffles every Saturday morning. But first he had to figure out how to get Livie out of his bed, out of the house, and not alert Piper to the overnight guest.
“Why don’t you go down and pick out a movie,” he suggested. “We’ll have a carpet picnic with our waffles. I got some strawberries yesterday too.”
Piper jumped up in the air and squealed. “This is the best day ever.”
She turned and raced down the stairs. Jax raked his hands over his face, his stubble bristling beneath his palms. Now he had to get Livie up and dressed, keep Piper distracted, and slip his guest out the door. He couldn’t help but smile at the look on Livie’s face when she discovered she’d indeed fallen asleep in his bed and it was now morning.
He turned and slipped into his room, but the moment he closed the door at his back, something smacked him in the face.
“How dare you?”
Blinking, he noticed a very angry, very undressed Livie. She didn’t seem so shy about her body now and he couldn’t help but rake his eyes over every inch of her. Granted she was walking around the room gathering her clothes, but he wasn’t about to look elsewhere.
“You let me sleep,” she scolded as she scooped up her shirt. “I didn’t want to wake up here. I never stay, ever. This wasn’t supposed to happen.”
