“Is that supposed to be flattery?”

“Nope.” He kissed her forehead and pressed some tissues into her hands. “It’s honesty.”

In a rush, she threw her arms around him, clutching him tight. “I love you so much, Marc.”

He stood, still holding her tight. “And I love you, Liv. You gonna make an honest man out of me? You haven’t said anything about my proposal. I don’t have a ring. I’ve been looking but I planned on asking you in a few months at Christmas. We’ll get right on that. Well, after we have sex, because that’s necessary.”

“Sex first.” Fear still lived in her heart, even as she tried to beat it back.

“Nope. I’m not some floozy who’ll just sleep with any old gal. I need a promise of marriage first. For my honor and all.”

She laughed and the fear loosened its hold. Taking a deep breath, she looked him in the eyes and defied the fear of losing him. “Okay. You can’t dump me when I get old though. I forbid it. You made your bed by marrying an older woman.”

“Deal. Wow, you’ve made me a very happy man.” He started walking toward the bedroom.

“You saw it all, Marc. You saw inside me, past the bullshit and you loved me anyway.” She started crying again.

“Because you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. And you know my flaws too. Yeah I did f**k my way through every woman in town. I do have some issues about living in the shadow of the Chase men. Trying to act like it doesn’t matter so I never really treated myself like I mattered. Not emotionally anyway. You knew that about me and you loved me anyway. How lucky am I?”

“Not as lucky as you’re going to get in a few minutes.”

Marc sat back on the bed and looked her up and down. “Absolutely the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. Inside and out. Take your clothes off for me, sugar.”

She toed off her shoes and socks and then stood straight, her gaze on him. Sliding her hands up her torso, she smiled when his eyes widened as she paused to trail her fingertips over her ni**les. Slowly, she slid each button loose until the front of her sweater was open and she let it drop.

“I love that bra. You need a dozen more.”

A quick flick and she popped the catch between her br**sts and let the bra follow the blouse.

“Now, I don’t normally get crass in the presence of such a fine lady and all, but your tits are fabulous.”

She chuckled and traced the ni**les, round and round until her breath hitched and his eyes widened, glued to her movement.

“Hoo boy, that’s hot.” His hands convulsed a few times on his thighs like he wanted to touch her.

Catching her bottom lip between her teeth, she moved her hands to her jeans, lowering the zipper and bending forward to pull them off. She turned to grab a chair and moved it to the foot of the bed. A quick yank on each side of her panties and the ties loosed and they fell away, leaving her totally naked.

In for a penny. She sat, hooking a leg up on the arm of the chair. His aroused groan emboldened her and she met his gaze.

“Go on then, sugar. Show me how you like to be touched.”

“First, take your clothes off. I want you to have your c**k handy.”

He took a slow breath and got to his knees to get rid of the sweater and then shimmied out of jeans, socks and underwear. Reclining, he put some pillows behind his back and raised an eyebrow at her. “Your move.”

Liv couldn’t believe she was going to do this in front of him but she felt so sexy she couldn’t stop. He made her feel wanton and she liked that a lot. Wetting a fingertip with her tongue, she moved back to her ni**les pinching and rolling them until her breathing grew shallow and she felt her pu**y slicken in response.

“Touch your pu**y, Liv. I can see how wet you are. I want you to know while you’re doing it that my tongue will be there later on. I’m going to eat you until you can’t come any more. Over and over again. I love your taste.”

Wow. Her entire body tightened at that. She knew he’d do it too. And boy did she look forward to it.

One hand slid down her belly, her fingertips lightly grazing her labia, teasing them both until she could no longer stand it. She slid her fingers into the wet flesh, finding her clit swollen. Without even meaning to, her hips lurched forward when she touched it. She wouldn’t be long, she wanted him too much and was already very close.

He crawled off the bed and knelt on the floor between her thighs. “Keep going. I just wanted a better view.” He laid his head on her thigh and reached out to hold her wide open.

She was too far along to be shy so she covered her clit with her thumb and slid two fingers deep. Both of them moaned softly as she began to roll her hips. Closer and closer, her clit hardened and her pu**y grew wetter, hotter. He blew over that humid flesh and she cried out, sliding her thumb back and forth over her clit as she climaxed.

The muscles in her body were still jumping when she found herself picked up and dropped into his lap, pu**y sliding down onto his c**k as he’d sat where she had in the chair.

“I know I said I’d go down on you, and I will soon. But I had to be inside you right this minute. I’ve never in my life seen anything sexier. I’m so damned close I thought I’d come while I watched you. But I’d rather come inside you. Just an appetizer to take the edge off. Ride me, sugar.”

Squeezing her knees between the outside of his thighs and the chair, she rose and fell on him. Electric pleasure arced up her spine each time he filled her fully. Her hands rested on his chest for balance and his roved her body, played with her ni**les, kneaded her thighs and shoulders, caressed her face and ran through her hair.