Warrior (First to Fight #1)(57)

“Shit, shit, shit,” she whispers. “I’m gonna come.”

“Oh, yeah?” I slow my pace, watching as she tightens up, her mouth opens and she lets out a voiceless scream, offering up her throat to me. “God, baby, yes.”

I let go, following her over. My arms give and I levy my weight over her, trying not to crush her. Rational thought is drowned out by the buzzing in my ears.

I manage to get up and dispose of the condom in the bathroom and slide back into bed next to her. She turns to me automatically and fits herself to my side, resting her head on my shoulder and wrapping a thigh around my legs.

“Is that a picture of me?” she asks, propping herself up on an elbow and peering at my nightstand.

“Uh—yeah. It is.”

“Where in the world did you get that? How long have you had it?”

“Since last year,” I reply sheepishly. “I kept it with me in Afghanistan. Nicked it from your brother’s car before I left.”

“You’ve kept a picture of me with you that long?”

I swallow thickly. “Yeah.”

She relaxes back down on top of me, her hands tightening around me. My world contracts down to this house. This room. This moment.

“I love you.” The words come from a place I don’t let anyone see. The place that I’ve kept wrapped up tight since I left.

When she doesn’t respond for a second, I start wrapping us up in the sheets thinking she’d fallen asleep. Then she looks up at me, emerald eyes twinkling, and says, “I love you, too” and I know she does. A woman like Livvie doesn’t give herself easily. To anyone.

That’s really what I meant when I told her that Chad would go crazy over a woman like her.

She’s special and now that she’s mine, there’s no way in hell I’m going to let her go.




Livvie eventually agrees to let me stay at her place, though I think it’s out of sheer exhaustion for the most part.

From that moment on, I don’t leave their side. I take her to her physical therapy appointments. I take Cole to his checkups and quiz every single doctor and nurse I can get my hands on about his condition. I help Olivia feed, change, and clothe him. When she has her own appointments, I’m the one who watches him.

One morning a few weeks after our date at the cabin, I find her downstairs, a cup of coffee cradled in her hands. “Mornin’,” I say.

Her eyes flit between me and the cup. “Good morning.”

I make my own cup and sit next to her at the island bar. She shifts uncomfortably. “You’re up early.”

She nods. “I have a meeting at eight with the principal from my school to discuss going back to work next week.”

The hot coffee burns my tongue. “Next week?”

Livvie hops up from the chair. “Uh huh. Thankfully they’ve held the job for me after Cole’s diagnosis and this catastrophe. I just want things to get back to normal as soon as possible.”

“Normal.” I repeat.

“Yeah.” She returns with creamer and a toasted bagel. “The doctors have given me the go ahead to go back to work. If I have to spend another day cooped up in this house, I’m going to go crazy, Ben.”

I take a calm sip of my coffee. “Like hell you’re going back to work next week.”

Livvie looks at me with a mouthful of bagel, her eyebrows raised. Her jaw works as she swallows. “I’m sorry,” she says after a moment. “What are you talking about?”

“In case you forgot, someone tried to kill you less than a month ago. They shot you. If you think I’m letting you go back to work before they’ve even caught the f*cker, you’re crazy.”

She sets down her bagel carefully and splays both hands on the counter. “I can’t let this guy ruin my life. I’ve given my arm plenty of time to heal so that I can get back into working order. Cole’s healed from his surgery and ready to go back to daycare. I don’t want to let this affect our lives more than it already has. If I do that, if I go into hiding, then he wins.”

I nod. “He’ll also win if you aren’t being safe. Were you even going to tell me?”

“I’m telling you now. Besides, this is my decision, not yours.”

“I’m going to make it my business if your decisions put you in danger.”

Livvie growls in the back in her throat. “I can’t put my life on hold for things that may happen. If there’s one thing that Cole’s illness has taught me it’s that nothing is guaranteed in our future. We have to live each day to the fullest.”

“You can’t live it if you’re dead.”

“I can’t talk to you right now. You’re impossible.” She tosses her uneaten bagel in the trash and dumps her coffee in the sink.

A desperate feeling claws its way up my throat, but I force myself to calm down, to reason with her. “We need to talk about this.”

“We can talk when you’re ready to be reasonable about it. Ordering me around isn’t being reasonable. I’m glad you’re back in our lives, but I do have to get back to mine at some point.”

I swallow my retort. “The point is,” I say through my teeth, “it’s not safe for you to go back to work right now.”