Page 56 of Secrets & Desires
Livia squinted at him. “Areyousure?”
“I swear. Your finger landed on Austria…or nearenough.”
Livia started to giggle at the mischievous expression on his face. “What does near enough mean? Where did I reallypoint?”
Nox shrugged. “Somewhere inKashmir.”
Livia started to laugh and she slid over and perched on his knee. “You are a bad man.” She giggled as he blew raspberries on her shoulders. “Crazyboy.”
Nox grinned up at her. “Your boy. Areyoumine?”
“I’m your girlalways,baby.”
The ski lodge,located halfway up a mountain, was secluded and private, and warmly lit for their arrival. Livia walked around it, her mouth open. “This is gorgeous, Nox. Just beautiful.” She shrugged out of her coat—a log fire was already burning in the grate. She grinned at Nox. “Did you have your Christmas elves come in before wearrived?”
“Something like that,” he laughed and held out his hand. “Come with me, I have some more surprisesforyou.”
In the kitchen, he showed a refrigerator stuffed with every kind of food, ready for their Christmas. “And a pantry filled of things made entirely of sugar, butter and chemicals,” Nox said this with a mock serious expression on his face, knowing Livia wouldlaugh.
She grinned. “Goodjob.”
“And now the bedroom.” He led her along the hallway and pushed open the door to reveal a bedroom, fittingly all in white, with a huge bed in the middle and a glass window overlooking the mountains, the pines heavy with snow outside. “From the living room, at night, you can see the citylitup.”
“This is heavenly,” Livia enthused, then nodded at a box on the bed. “What’sthat?”
Nox grinned a little sheepishly. “I was in two minds about this after what’s happened, but I think you’ll enjoy it.Openit.”
Livia pulled off the lid of the box and the layer of tissue paper. She began to laugh. “Oh, youdirtyboy.”
Inside laid a supple leather harness, with creamy brown straps that would lie against her pale skin, crisscrossing her body. A riding crop, dildos, lube, and velvet ties were amongst the array of sex toys Nox hadgathered.
He grinned. “I wentshopping.”
“You certainly did.” Livia picked up the leather harness and held it against her body. She could tell it would fit perfectly. “God, Nox, even looking at this stuff is making mehorny.”
Nox laughed. “Can you imagine what shopping for it was like? I did it online, of course,becauseI’m—”
“Chicken.” They both laughed, and Nox curled a lock of her hair around his finger and pulled hertowardhim.
“You bet. But, also, in the city, there’s a very well-known and very well-stocked adult shop. One of Europe’s best. I was thinking if we needanythingelse…”
Livia wound her arms around his neck, feeling absurdly happy for the first time in a while. Here she could pretend nothing bad was happening to them back home, that the rest of the world was just an illusion. “Nox Renaud, you make this woman very happy.” She pressed her lips to his. “Now, what say we grab a shower and something to eat, and then plan our vacation? You want me to slip into this gorgeous harnesstonight?”
Nox grinned. “Actually, I was thinking we save it forChristmasday.”
“As that’s tomorrow, I’m okay with that. Just regular old fuckingtonightthen?”
“Oh, dang it,” he said, rolling in his eyes, “if wemust.” He tickled her until she cried with laughter, then they took a long bathtogether.
Livia was working shampoo into Nox’s dark curls, which had grown even wilder of late, studying his handsome face. “You know, when I look at us as a couple, you wouldn’t know there’s twelve years between us. You look so much younger thanyourage.”
Nox immediately screwed up his face and she laughed. “Now,that’shot.”
She poured water over his head to rinse his hair. “You know, no one’s done that for me since I was a kid and my mom used to sing to me while she was washingmyhair.”
“That’s sweet. Every time I see photos of her, I can see you in her features. Not so muchyourdad.”
“Yeah, that’s whateveryonesaid.”
