Never Ever (11 page)

Chapter Thirty Two:

Taylor

I had paced the length of my hotel room at least a dozen times. I started about a hundred texts to Livi, only to delete every one of them. I wanted to tell her I was in town, that I wanted to see her. But I was terrified. What if she said no? I had talked to Cole, who had talked to Allie a few days ago. Apparently they had become buddies. She told Cole that Livi missed me. Her divorce was final now, and apparently Patrick was still trying to get her back. I wanted to track that asshole down and kick his ass. I wanted to tell him that she was mine now and he better back the fuck off. But…I didn’t. Because, she wasn’t. Cole had given me a ticket to come to Austin, he’d basically kidnapped me and put me on the plane himself. But hell, just because she missed me didn’t mean she wanted to see me. To Livi I was just a fling, just a good time. How could I blame her? That’s what I
told
her I was. I was just some guy who flirted for a living and went to school because he had nothing better to do. I drank and partied and whored around. I slept too late and I couldn’t cook. I didn’t even know how to do my own damn laundry. I always made sure there was a chick around to do it for me. I was a joke. She needed a man. Someone who could provide for her, give her support and stability. Someone to make her life better, not make her life harder.

***

Four hours later and I was still hiding like a chump in my hotel room. I’d procrastinated like a mother fucker. I’d gone down to the gym and worked out. I’d showered, answered work emails and watched a lifetime movie. Now I was sitting on my bed, in complete silence with my phone in my hand. It was time to man up. It was time to call Livi and ask if she wanted to see me. There was a knock at the door. Yes! The room service bucket of beer I’d ordered, one more distraction before my giant leap. I stood and crossed the room to answer the door.

“Livi?”

“Hey.”

Holy hell. I couldn’t believe that she was real, that she was standing front of me. So close I could reach out and touch her, that is if I wasn’t such a scared bastard. “I was just about to call you. How did you know I was here?”

“Oh, uh, Allie and Kate talked to Cole. So…”

My God she looked beautiful. Her hair was down and loose, her jeans hugged her ass and the rip in the thigh was sexy as hell. She always looked amazing without trying. “Livi, I’m so glad you’re here.”

“Really?”

For the first time I noticed how nervous she was. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other and chewed her lip. I smiled, “You have no idea how much I’ve missed you. I think about you all the time. I’ve wanted to call you a thousand times…but I wasn’t sure if you wanted to hear from me.” I grabbed her hand and pulled her into the room. The contact made my blood heat. “When you were leaving, I mentioned seeing you again and you didn’t say anything. I just figured the weekend was over and you were done with me.”

She shook her head, “I just thought…well…I was in the middle of a divorce, my life was kind of a mess. I figured maybe I wasn’t good for you.”

I ran my free hand through my hair, “Are you kidding me? You are the best thing that has ever happened to me Livi. You changed me, in the best possible way. I’ve never cared about anyone the way I care about you. You’re all I can think about, I miss you every second of every day.” I pulled her body against mine. “You are good for me Sugar, too good for me.”

She smiled, “I missed you too, Tay.”

I grabbed her face with both hands and kissed her with everything I had. When I finally let her up for air I winked, “You’re stuck with me now, Sugar.”

Epilogue: One Year Later

Taylor

“Honey, I’m home!” I shut the front door and threw my jacket on the bench by the front door. I walked through the living room and into the kitchen. Livi was standing by the stove, phone to her ear. I snaked my hands up her shirt and kissed her neck. I couldn’t help myself, it’d been 8 hours since I’d seen her.

She laughed, “Kate, I’m going to have to call you back. My perpetually horny husband is home.”

I waited for her to hang up before grabbing her around the waist and setting her on the kitchen counter. “How is Kate?”

She kissed me, “She’s good. She says hi.”

I pushed her hair to the side and nibbled on her collarbone, I would never get enough of this woman. “We’re still on for the lake house next month right?”

She moaned and nodded, “Yup. Kate and her family will be there, Allie and Carson, and Cole and his latest
fling
.” She ran her fingers through my hair, making my eyes roll back in my head. “Which by the way, Allie told me was a prostitute?”

I scoffed, “She is NOT a prostitute. She’s a stripper.” I loved that Allie and Cole had become friends. Carson, Allie’s husband wasn’t a huge fan, but his jealousy was needless. Allie and Cole were like siblings.

Livi rolled her eyes, “Lovely. Should be a super special family vacay.”

I smiled, “Aw, Sugar, of course it will be.” I’d gone to Austin a year ago, hoping and praying that Livi would want to see me again. And as it turned out, she did. She’d wanted to see me again, every day, for the rest of her life. The 4 months of long distance had been tough. But once Livi moved to Georgia, everything fell into place. We’d been married for 2 months now, and each day was better than the last. I felt like the luckiest man in the world. “I have a surprise for you.”

Livi’s smile was perfect, “You do?”

I nodded, “Close your eyes.”

She cocked her head to the side, studying me for a few seconds, “You aren’t going to pull your dick out again are you?”

“No, Sugar. Well, not right now I’m not.” I took a key out of my pocket and held it in front of her face. “Okay, open them.”

She wrinkled her nose, “Babe, I love you but giving me a key to the house we already own doesn’t really count as a surprise.”

I grinned, “What about giving you the key to the lake house?”

“Shut. Up?!” She squealed.

I laughed, “It’s all ours.”

Livi took the key out of my hand, shaking her head in disbelief. “How did you even know it was for sale? When I rented it for next month…I mean, no one said anything.”

I gave her a small smile, “Yeah, uh, Baily called me. She said the owners contacted her, letting her know about the sale.” I shrugged, “She knew how much it meant to us.”

“Wow. That’s really…I don’t know what to say.”

“Maybe you could give her a call sometime?”

She smiled, “Yeah. Maybe.”

I kissed her mouth, her neck, her chest, and finally her stomach. “Now we can take our little girl to the lake as often as we want.”

“It could be a boy, you know.”

I laughed, loud. “Nope, it’s definitely a girl. I deserve nothing less than a house full of beautiful daughters. Payback for the womanizing playboy I was until I met you.”

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