Free Love in a Small Town (Pine Harbour Book 1) by Zoe York

little silly around the fire, but all he cared about was the woman he held in the circle of his arms. “You having a good time?”
    “Mmm-hmm.” She wiggled closer. For warmth , he told himself, but his dick paid no attention to the caution. He knew the moment she found him hot and ready for a laundry list of bad ideas because she froze, then eased away just enough to pretend she didn’t know how much he was enjoying having her up against him. 
    “There’s a stag and doe next weekend,” he offered after he found his voice again. 
    “Yeah?” She sounded skeptical, but tempted. In the country, the pre-wedding fundraisers were often the only real opportunity for dancing. If he was flooded with memories of slow dancing, maybe she was too. 
    “We could meet there or something.”
    “Are you asking me out on a date?” She tipped her face up to his and smiled. “That’s a terrible idea.”
    “Don’t call it a date. We could accidentally run into each other.”
    “And share a few beers? Maybe have a dance or two?”
    “Would that be so bad?”
    “Is your mom going to be there?” He heard the edge to her voice. 
    Hell no. They weren’t fighting about his mom tonight. “Not her scene.”
    “We’re not dating, Rafe. I’m leaving town in six months. And when I do, it’s going to suck. Let’s not make it worse.”
    “If leaving would be so awful, don’t leave.” There, he’d said it. Don’t leave . Pathetic begging, something he’d promised himself he’d never do.
    “Do you want to do this now?”
    Listen to her list all the reasons why they don’t work as a couple? It was a short list of two razor-sharp points, but Liv had a way of exponentially expanding the list until it filled hours of endless, torturous fights. They always started as conversations but devolved quickly into sniping matches. “Let’s skip to the end where I’m an asshole.”
    She stiffened against him, and then shrank away. Fuck . “You’re not an asshole, but you are a workaholic. And you come with a family that’s…overwhelming, to put it mildly. And you shut down when I ask you for even a little bit more. More time, more attention—”
    “You have my attention. All of it. All the fucking time. I can’t get you off my mind.” Why wasn’t that enough? 
    She pinched her eyebrows together. That made two of them that found this frustrating as fuck. “For now, sweetie. But not forever. You live a life best suited to a single man. There’s a reason why soldiers had to ask their officers for permission to marry way back when.”
    He rolled his eyes. “This isn’t way back when. Guys in the army are married.”
    “Soldiers and cops?” She snorted. “I think the divorce rate is pretty high in both professions. Mix them together and you’re better off in a relationship like Dean’s. Something easy. No strings.”
    A spark of something stupid and awesome came to life in the back of his head. An idea that he was surprised neither of them had suggested yet. “Let’s do that.”
    “What?”
    “Something easy. No strings.”
    She laughed, then stopped when she realized he was serious. “No.”
    “Why not?”
    She reached between and slowly tucked her fingertips just inside the waistband of his jeans. “Because when I do this…” She stepped closer and pressed up on her tiptoes, bringing her pelvic bone up against the bottom of his quickly hardening junk. “And this…you lose your mind and say stupid things like you love me. We’re a mess of strings already. We can’t fall into bed again. It’s a recipe for disaster.”
    “I do love you.” The words spilled out with ease, and he was relieved to not have to hold them back. “But you’re right. An affair isn’t right for us. We need to take this slow.”
    “ This isn’t anything.”
    He wrapped his arms around her, holding her against his body. “This is everything, Liv. And I’m going to find a way to make it right.”

 
    — SEVEN —
     
    P ART of