Page 52 of Shadow

She set her drink aside as she contemplated her answer. “There was a great talk about current trends in cocktails that was a lot of fun. But I think this right here might be my favorite. I’ve been pushing myself for so long that I can’t remember the last time I just relaxed and had a drink. You being here makes it even better.”

He grinned. “I’m going to make sure you take more breaks from now on, baby girl. Working hard is good. I’ve done it all my life, but you have to blow off steam now and then or you’ll blow up.”

It seemed like he was speaking from experience though she wasn’t sure if she could remember a time he’d ever blown up. She didn’t want to ruin the moment by asking a potentially dark question. There was a lot about his past that would always remain a mystery to her thanks to his top-secret security clearance with the federal government and the number of alphabet agencies he’d done work for over the years. She knew he’d worked for the CIA and the NSA, but other than that she wasn’t sure exactly what his job was.

And she wasn’t sure she ever wanted to know. She worried enough without all the details.

“Where’d your head go?” he asked. She blinked when she realized she’d been staring off into space.

“Sorry. I was just thinking about all the things I don’t know about you and your job. We’ve been hot and heavy since we met at that house party at Gage’s place… a decade ago?” She shook her head. “I can’t believe it’s been that long. Sometimes it just feels like I don’t know you that well.”

He frowned. “Consider me an open book. I’ll tell you anything you want to know. I can’t divulge secrets about my former job, but I can answer anything about my personal life you want to ask. Not that there’s much to it.”

She stretched and put her drink down. “OK. Thanks. It’s too noisy to concentrate here, though. Maybe we can talk later. Just pretend we’re on a first date or something.”

His gaze turned wicked, and he moved closer to her and reached for the towel draped over the back of his lounger and tossed it over the two of them.

“Look around, Liv. Tell me what you see.” His hand snaked under the towel, and he gripped her thigh.

She looked around the rooftop pool party. Everyone was laughing, drinking, and having a good time. The DJ was hyping people up on the small dance floor at one end of the pool, and she could see two couples making out in one of the hot tubs. There was even one couple who were a tangle of legs and arms on a smaller version of the lounge chair she and Ripley were sitting on.

The air was charged with raw sexuality, and now that she’d tapped into it, her body was reacting strongly.

“I see people enjoying each other,” she murmured as his hand inched up her thigh.

“Anyone watching us?” he asked. His gaze was on the crowd, but she could tell she had his full attention by the way he trailed his fingers closer to the center of her thighs where her bathing suit was growing damp despite not having gone into the pool.

She shook her head. “They’re all too busy with their own fun to care about us.”

“Yeah? Then what do you say we worry about our own fun, too?”

He slipped a finger into the side of her bikini bottoms and found her soaking entrance.

“Are you turned on by the other people enjoying each other or by the notion that I’m about to make you come in a very public place?” he murmured as he worked a second finger into her panties.

“Both,” she whimpered.

“Let’s try a proper answer, baby girl.”

“Both, Daddy,” she groaned, her eyes darting around to see if anyone had heard her.

“Stop worrying about them, Liv. Right now, the only thing you should care about is if you’re being good for me.”

He found her clit and worked one finger around it in slow, gentle circles.

She licked her lips and took a drink of her cocktail before she set it down again and gripped the side of the lounger.

“You’re so damn beautiful, baby girl. Just make sure you’re not too loud, now, OK? We don’t want to distract anyone from their fun and draw attention to ourselves.”

Now she understood why he wanted her to get seats in the darker part of the deck. He’d had this planned the entire time.

And she didn’t care at all that someone might be watching. In fact, the thought fueled her arousal, and soon she was having to stop herself from grinding against his hand shamelessly.

If they could have found a way, she would have begged him to put his cock in her right then. She wanted it. Wanted the feeling of getting caught. That element of danger. What was it about things that could get a person killed or arrested that got her off? Ripley called it her primal urges and insisted she was a primal brat. But Olivia had never subscribed to such labels. Maybe that’s why his insistence on being her Daddy had been so off-putting at first.

Was he right about her submissive nature? She wasn’t sure, but she did know that she was on the verge of an orgasm.

“You better ask, Liv. You don’t have to be brazen about it, but you still have to ask.”

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