The climax came, rippling through her. Giving her a final burst of that pleasure. Ethan wasn’t far behind her. He gathered her in his arms and surrendered right along with her.
Chapter Sixteen
As he watched Livvy eat her breakfast, Ethan was feeling a lot of things. Worry over the investigation. Over the possibility of Livvy being emotionally crushed if her memory did fully return. Heck, he was even concerned about the safety of the baby and her.
One thing he wasn’t feeling was regret.
It had no doubt muddied their relationship waters for them to have sex, again, but he was having a hard time being sorry about it happening. Along with it being pretty damn amazing, Livvy had seemed to relax. And later, she’d fallen asleep in his arms.
No nightmare.
That was somewhat of a miracle, considering the hell she’d been through for the past two days. Of course, the “hell” wasn’t finished. Ethan knew that soon reports would be coming in on Belinda and the two crime scenes. Added to that, a second investigation would need to be opened on her mother.
All of that would no doubt be like adding salt to Livvy’s wounds, but for now, for this moment, she seemed, well, settled while she ate the eggs and toast he’d made for her.
She wasn’t noticing that he was studying her because she had her attention on her laptop screen where she was reading a transcript of the recordings that had been in the file Franklin had given them. It had to be hard to read about Chloe plotting Belinda’s murder, but he wasn’t seeing that on her face. Maybe she was looking at the info as simply evidence needed to solvea case. If so, he hoped she could keep that attitude for a while longer until they had caught the killer.
“I’m all right,” she said, glancing up at him. So, she’d noticed him studying her after all. “How about you?”
Ethan felt himself smile, and to answer her, he leaned in and dropped a kiss onto her mouth. He expected her to return the smile.
She didn’t.
Instead, she sighed. “We really do need to have that talk, don’t we?”
His stomach went into a knot. He definitely didn’t like the sound of that. “Are you dumping me?” he had to ask.
Judging from her face—mouth dropping open and eyes widening—he’d thankfully gotten that wrong. “No, uh, I was thinking more along the lines of asking you just how hard should I be guarding my heart.”
Now it was his turn to look surprised. He had no idea how to respond to that and didn’t get the chance anyway because Livvy continued.
“I shouldn’t be saying this, but I’m in love with you,” she blurted, and she looked stunned and a little horrified at her confession. “And no, it doesn’t have to do with the great sex. That’s just…icing. It doesn’t have to do with the baby either. That’s more icing.” She stopped, groaned. “I’m babbling. Sorry—forget everything I just said.”
Not a chance. In fact, Ethan was certain he’d remember that for the rest of his life. He was also equally certain that it scared the devil out of him. He wasn’t ready to fall in love again.
Was he?
If he loved anyone again, it would definitely be Livvy, but…hell in a handbasket, his mind was all muddled now, and even though she’d said her feelings for him had nothing to do with the baby, or the great sex, that was all part of this.
Wasn’t it?
Ethan did a whole lot of mental cursing, and he actually felt a little reprieve when Livvy’s phone rang. He needed a couple of seconds to tamp down the whirlwind in his head. A couple of seconds to catch his breath.
Livvy was in love with him.
And he had to figure out what to do about that.
She kept her gaze on him until she picked up her phone. “It’s Grace,” she relayed to him.
Unlike what Livvy had just said, the call was expected. The night before Grace had texted to let them know she’d picked up Sunny from the hospital but that she wouldn’t be talking to the woman about her fingerprints on the file until morning. She’d decided to let Sunny try to get a good night’s sleep before discussing that with her.
“How’s everything there this morning?” Grace greeted after Livvy answered the call and put it on speaker.
“Fine,” they said in unison.
A little too fast. And more than just a little tense. Damn it. He’d blown it, and Ethan didn’t know how to fix it.
“Okay,” Grace replied as if she hadn’t bought their response. “Well, I just wanted you to know that the CSIs did finish up inside at the old house. They’re still examining the area around it, but we’ve been cleared to visit the scene, so Sunny and I are about to head out there in a couple of minutes. Do you still want to join us?”
