As he’d imagined doing to her earlier, she traced the seam between his lips with her tongue. He didn’t need any additional encouragement. When Matt’s tongue touched hers, the outside world disappeared.
Liv tasted like red wine and something unique to her. And he couldn’t get enough.
The blood pounded in his ears as every cell in his body urged him to take things to the next level. To remove her clothes and see how accurate the image in his dream last night had been.
At some point in the future, he planned to do it. He just wasn’t sure if it would be tonight. He’d leave that entirely up to her.
Unable to simply end the kiss, he gradually turned down the intensity. And after brushing his lips against hers a final time, he pressed his forehead to hers.
“Stay here tonight.”
Liv pulled away and searched his face, making him wonder if he should’ve kept his mouth shut.
“Nothing has to happen that you’re not ready for, but I want to fall asleep holding you.” It’d be absolute torture to do nothing but hold her as they slept, but he’d never forced a woman before, and he sure as hell wouldn’t start now.
Matt knew the moment she made her decision. “By here, do you mean on the boat or back at your house?”
“Either. Whatever you want. But if we stay out here, I can’t serve you breakfast in bed.” He hadn’t been thinking about spending the night on the boat, but if that was what she wanted, he was okay with it.
Standing, Liv reached for his hand. “Breakfast in bed. You should’ve led with that. Let’s head back up to the house.”
Eleven
Matt grabbed his ringing cell phone after he flipped the omelet in the pan. There weren’t many things he cooked well, but he made a damn good omelet.
“Hey, Adam,” he greeted after putting the device on speaker so he could finish preparing breakfast. “What’s up?”
“Other than avoiding calls from my mother, not much.”
He didn’t blame his cousin. Although he’d always known his aunt and uncle weren’t the warmest people in the world, he still couldn’t believe how they’d reacted when they found out Evie and Adam were engaged.
“Have you and Evie decided on a wedding date yet?”
When Adam asked Matt to be his best man, he shared that they planned to get married sometime in July, but he hadn’t been sure of the exact date or location.
“That’s one of the reasons I’m calling. The last Saturday in July. We decided to get married on the beach.”
Assuming she wasn’t working that weekend, it sounded like he and Liv would be going away sooner rather than later.
“I’ll be there.”
“Should we add a plus-one to your invitation?”
“Let me check with Liv, and I’ll get back to you.”
“I’m assuming that’s the woman you were photographed eating ice cream with yesterday.”
Not again. People needed to learn to mind their own damn business.
“Yeah. I did some pictures with fans, but I didn’t realize anyone took any of Liv and me.”
Except for a few brief times, such as when they’d gotten ice cream, they’d been alone much of their time at Smugglers’ Cove. He’d hoped that meant no one snapped any photos of them together like the day he’d spent with Evie. While he knew it was bound to happen eventually, he wanted to keep their relationship off the radar for as long as possible. Exposure on social media added stress to any relationship, but it could be devastating to a new one.
“Where did you see the pictures?” Not that it mattered, but Matt was curious.
“Evie saw them. They’re trending on CHAT.”
Social media was both the greatest and worst invention.
