She felt it to her toes and blinked back tears. “I love you too.”

His free hand found her clit, squeezing it lightly between slippery fingers and she arched, grinding herself into him, into his thrusts as yet again, climax washed through her body, leaving her helpless to do much more than hold on and ride it out.

“There you go, sugar. Give it to me,” he said, voice hoarse as his thrusts deepened once, twice and a third time before he pressed as deep as he could and came.

And as if she weighed nothing, he picked her up and carried her to his bed, laying her there carefully, gently.

“Rest up now because we’re going another round or five when I get my breath back.”

Laughing, she reached up and traced the line of his jaw. “Even if my legs were working I wouldn’t want to escape.”

Chapter Eleven

Liv stood under the tree the large blankets were spread beneath for the annual homecoming picnic. Nicholas, two months old now, stared up at her, wide eyed with a gummy grin on his face.

“Aren’t you just the most handsome little man?” Liv smooched his chubby cheeks and smoothed down the patch of bright red hair that normally stood straight up on the top of his otherwise bald head.

“Handsome? Well, certainly he’s got a lot of character but with that hair, I don’t know.” Matt grabbed a bare foot and kissed it, making Nicholas emit a breathy laugh.

“A man with character is handsome, I’ll have you know.” Polly stood there, moving from foot to foot and Liv finally took pity on her and handed the baby over.

“You’re greedy with him.” Polly never took her eyes from Nicholas as she teased Liv. “You should have one of your own and you can hold him. Well, every once in a while because he’ll fit just fine here on my other hip.”

Marc laughed, a little distracted. He’d run into one of his old ex-girlfriends the day before and she she’d come on to him. Strong. It wasn’t so much that he was interested but there’d been a moment when part of him panicked at the thought of never being with another woman again. It passed quickly enough as he’d realized he didn’t want to be with another woman. Liv was everything. He’d considered talking to her about it but he’d been concerned that he’d hurt her or make her think he was having second thoughts. He’d worked so hard and so long to gain her trust, he didn’t want to endanger that. But he felt like he was hiding something from her because they normally shared everything.

“You okay?” Her head cocked, hand on her hip, she looked so beautiful it made his chest hurt a moment.

“Yeah, fine. Hungry? We’ve got a lot of food here and I can see Momma has left us all to fend for ourselves now that the youngest Chase has stolen her attention.”

Liv sat next to him on the blanket and began to make plates and pass them down to everyone. Cassie sat across from them, leaning against Shane while Maggie looked up at Polly as Polly sang silly songs to the baby. It was good there with the people he loved.

Since Nicholas’s birth, he and Liv had gotten closer and closer. He practically lived in her house and saw her or spoke to her daily. She’d become a regular at all Chase family events and dinners.

He loved waking up to her, feeling the warmth of her body next to his. They’d cooked together, side by side and he’d enjoyed the feeling of familiarity and comfort. Their sex life had remained active, exciting and very frequent. But it wasn’t just sex, every time he was inside her he learned something new about her and himself. She saw into him. There was a time he’d have been freaked out by that, but instead, it made him feel whole.

He didn’t want to do anything to screw that up and so he’d keep the thing with Nancy to himself because it had meant nothing anyway.

Liv knew there was something Marc wasn’t telling her. She’d known him long enough to tell the difference between the way he was acting then and his normal behavior.

She didn’t like it. It felt familiar. Before the end with her other lovers it had been like this. Smiles and assurances that nothing was wrong and then the end. Her insecurity ramped up.

All afternoon and into the evening it sat at the back of her mind, worrying her, nagging at her. Finally, as they were packing Nicholas and all his gear into Maggie’s car, her friend turned to her, touching her cheek.

“Is everything all right? I feel like I’ve not paid a lot of attention to you these last two months. Nicholas takes up so much of my time but I want to know what’s going on with you. I care about you.”

Liv gave Maggie a tight smile. “I’m fine. I think. I don’t know.” She sighed. “It’s Marc. Since yesterday afternoon when I came into the shop to work out he’s been acting odd. I don’t know, like he’s not saying something.”

“Are you two having problems?”

“No. Things have been going great. He’s totally present in this relationship, you know? We talk all the time, share everything. I’ve never felt this way before. He’s good to me, you know? He cares about me. But I’m afraid.” A sob tore from her and Maggie hugged her.

“It’s okay. He loves you. He does. I’ve seen the way he looks at you. I’ve heard how he talks about you. I’m sure it’s stress or something silly like that.”

“I’m afraid he’s going to leave me.” Liv felt like the words tore a part of her to say. Like everyone she loved left. Sooner or later it happened.