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The House of Blues closed its doors after the show, but with the number of bands that participated, the place remained crowded. Everyone wanted to talk to Ben, and Liv hadn’t seen him for an hour. Paige was talking with a couple involved with Mandalay Bay management.
She didn’t want to pout, but she was bored and tired. Exhausted, actually. She wanted to crawl into bed. The problem was, she didn’t want to crawl into it alone. She wanted Ben as much as he said he wanted her.
She put her elbow on the table, and rested her chin in her hand. Here she sat, alone. Why did she surround herself with people who were so much more interesting than she was? Ben, Paige, Scott, even her parents were more interesting than she was.
Liv grew up loving Scott Fairchild. There wasn’t a better or more handsome man alive. Her dad mentored Scott as a cadet at the Air Force Academy, and helped guide his career, and he visited her parents regularly.
When Scott was promoted to captain, he planned to be in Colorado Springs, so Liv’s father could be the one to do the honors. Her parents threw a small celebration dinner for him after his pinning on.
“He asks about you,” her mother said.
“Who does?”
“Scott. He asked your father if he’d mind if he took you out while he was here.”
“What did Dad say?”
“Dad said it was okay with him.”
Liv was stunned. She was sure Scott hadn’t ever thought of her as anything other than her father’s little girl. She was eighteen, and Scott was eleven years older.
He took her out every night the rest of the time he was in town, and Liv was the happiest she’d ever been in her life. When he went back to his base, they’d talk every night on the phone. Scott spent the next Christmas with her family, and proposed. She said yes, and they married on Valentine’s Day. Soon after Liv realized she was pregnant.
In less than a year she went from being a girl who graduated from high school a few months before, to a wife, soon to be a mother. Less than ten months after that, she was a widow. She and Scott hadn’t been married a year when Scott was deployed to the Gulf War, where his plane was shot down.
Liv hadn’t been with another man since Scott. She hadn’t thought about it. Scott was the only man she’d ever had sex with. The truth was, she’d been too scared to let anyone close enough to share that part of herself again. The last time she opened herself up that way, her heart was broken into a million pieces.
All these years she believed if she kept her heart closed, she wouldn’t ever have to experience that gut-wrenching pain again. The only person she ever loved who hadn’t been taken away from her was Renie. And every day Liv prayed that God would keep her safe.
Liv didn’t know whether to thank Ben for awakening these feelings of desire in her, or curse him for it. This was different though, this wasn’t about her heart. If she had sex with Ben, it wouldn’t be about forever, not the way it was supposed to be with Scott. It would be a fling, a one night stand. Lots of people had sex with someone they’d never see again.
She stood, facing the bar, trying to decide whether to get Ben’s attention or head up to the room when his arms slid around her waist.
“There’s my girl. Oooh, you feel good.”
“Hi,” she whispered, turning to wrap her arms around him.
“Let’s get out of here. You ready?”
“Are you sure you can leave?”
“Yep. I can’t wait another minute to be alone with you. Come on, let’s go.”
He pulled her with him, heading to the bank of elevators in the opposite direction of hers. “I want you with me tonight, Liv. Please tell me you want the same thing.”
Liv took a deep breath. She needed to keep reminding herself, this wasn’t about her heart, it was sex. This time with him would give her memories she’d carry with her forever. They wouldn’t keep her warm at night back on her ranch, but at least she’d be able to say she’d done something a little wild, a little crazy, and maybe even had sex again after a twenty-one year dry spell.
He crowded her in the corner of the elevator, covering her mouth with his. Ben’s muscles tightened beneath when she put her hand under his shirt and touched his skin. He shifted so every inch of his long, hard body was up against hers.
“Liv,” he whispered her name, “you are so beautiful.”
“So are you,” she whispered back. Her hand slid down his belly toward his hip. Her heart thudded faster as she leaned into him, her body pressing close to his.
“You’re sure about this, Liv? Do you want me as much as I want you?”
“So much,” she groaned.
The elevator stopped, the door opened, and they twisted out, neither letting go.
