Page 25 of Secrets & Desires
He stroked her cheek with his finger. “Will you staytonight?”
She leaned into him. “You knowIwill.”
As the others left,after midnight and all vaguely drunk except Odelle, Roan hugged Nox and swung a giggling Livia around. “You, my little pocket rocket, have made my friend smile.Adoreyou.”
She was still giggling when she and Nox walked back into the mansion. It was so quiet, and Livia looked back out of the window. “The spooky fog is back.” Nox joined her at the window, running a hand down her back. They stared out at the mist coming off thebayou.
“It’s late November,” Nox turned and trailed his lips down her neck. “Do you think it’s too late for a little…alfresco?”
Livia began to smile, turning to pull his lips to hers. “If I ruin this dress, Moriko will actually kill me. Literally, notfiguratively.”
“Then you’d better take it off in here, woman, because there’s no way we’re not going out into that garden and making love infive…four…”
Livia shrieked with laughter as he advanced and she quickly peeled the dress over her head. Nox tugged his own shirt of and then hauled her over hisshoulder.
Livia beat a drumbeat on his buttocks as he carried her out into the garden, and when he laid her in the damp grass, she grinned up at him. “You are adoofus.”
“A doofus that’s going to make you come again…and again…andagain.”
Soon they were naked and clawing at each other as they fucked with abandon. The mist drifting up from the bayou was chilly and they both shivered, their skin damp with sweat, as they made love. Afterwards, they lay wrapped around each other. Livia kissed his mouth. “You make everything so magical, baby. You know what I’d lovetodo?”
“What’sthat?”
“Remember that little grove wherewemet?”
They walked slowly, holding their clothes until they slipped into the secluded little grove. Livia walked to the stone seat and patted it. “Come sitwithme.”
Nox sat, his face confused and Livia smiled, placing her palm on his cheek. “When I first saw you here, I thought you were the saddest person I had ever seen. And something in me wanted to take thatpainaway.”
Nox leaned his forehead against hers. “Youhave.”
“I hope at least I’ve begun to. You deserve every happiness, Nox. Every single moment of your life should be fullofjoy.”
“It is when I’mwithyou.”
She kissed him. “Remember that night? I was so sure you were going to kiss me, and when Amber called your name…god, I was so disappointed. I’ve always wondered if I imagined thatmoment.”
Nox shook his head. “You didn’t.” He grinned slightly. “I wanted to do a lot more thankissyou.”
She laughed. “Well, I wanted that too. So…let’s make good on that wishrightnow.”
She had barely finished her sentence when he crushed his lips against hers. “God help me, Livia Chatelaine,” he said when they were both breathless, “but I think I’m falling in lovewithyou.”
Livia felt a surge of joy. “I love you, Nox Renaud. I don’t give a shit if it’s only been a few weeks. Iloveyou.”
They were so wrapped up in each other as they began to make love again, that they never saw the man slip quietly from the corner of the grove into thedarkness.
He watched them make love,their love for each other obvious and palpable. They made a beautiful, ethereal couple, pale skin in the moonlight, their gasps and sighs and moans of pleasure the only sound in the night.Enjoy her, Nox. Enjoy her for as long asyoucan.
He couldn’t tear his eyes away from Livia’s lush body. At dinner, he had studied her, those huge, warm brown eyes, the way she had dealt with the sniping of Mavis Creek. Those pink full lips curving up in a smile. Yes, he imagined it would be very easy to fall in love with Livia Chatelaine. He would pay more attention to her, her life, her friends…it would be interesting to mess with her head too, before she became hisvictim.
In the meantime, Nox… He would make his old friend think he might be losing his mind. That was next and he knew just how todoit…
He looked back at the couple, crying out as they came, and smiled.Yes, enjoy the beautiful Livia while you can, Nox. Because sooner rather than later, before the winter is out, before the last of the pine needles has fallen from the Christmas trees…she’llbedead.
And you, Nox, you will be rotting away in a jail cell, charged with the depraved, brutal, bloody murder of the womanyoulove.
ChapterTen
