Liv's Journey Read Online Free PDF Page B

stumbled back a pace.
    "Trust me, darlin'."
    Liv nodded, but she wasn't sure she meant it. Could she trust him?
    Could she trust herself to let go?

Chapter 3
    Trey went back to whatever he did during the day, and Liv finished up her photo session. He hadn't asked her to look at the stars with him again, and she thought maybe her lukewarm response to his BDSM admission had put him off. But, as she began moving toward a trailer, he showed up again.
    She stood there and admired him as he got out of his truck and put a cowboy hat on his head. It was black and curved perfectly to fit the shape of his rugged face, and he looked so damn sexy in it. She wanted to mark him as her territory when the other girls stopped and looked at him, too.
    Gabriella, in fact, watched him intensely. Younger Gabriella. Pretty Gabriella, whose career was just beginning to take off. Ambitious Gabriella. Liv thought about the possibility of competition. It made her fingers tighten into a ball. She hadn't competed for a man in several years. She had confidence in her ability—confidence left over from before —but she was, at the same time, concerned about what Trey was looking for. It was always possible that, faced with a choice of a younger woman, he'd choose youth over maturity. Lots of men did.
    She didn't know why it mattered so much to her anyway. But it did.
    He walked right up to her and yanked on a lock of her hair. "Hey there."
    Liv pulled her hair out of his hand. "Hey, yourself. What are you doing back here?"
    "I came to pick you up."
    Excitement bubbled up in her belly, but she tried to remain nonchalant on the outside. "We didn't have anything planned."
    "I want you to meet some people. Come have dinner with us."
    "Dinner?" Food. Why was there always food? She was hungry, but she didn't want him to see her eat like a pig. She knew she ate too much. She used to eat too little, and the pendulum had swung.
    "Yes, ma'am. There's a wonderful cantina in Sonora and I'm meetin' a few friends there for dinner. It seemed like somethin' we'd have fun doin' together."
    "I'm not hungry," she lied.
    "Then just have a margarita. Come on, Liv. It'll be fun. These are good people."
    She bit her lower lip and thought about it. Gabriella took that moment to walk up and greet Trey.
    "Hi, cowboy. Where's your horse?"
    He laughed and gave her a warm smile. Liv's face stiffened.
    Pointing toward his truck, he said, "That’s my horse over there; he’s a were-truck. Come the full moon, he transforms into an appaloosa. He gets twenty miles to the hay bale.”
    The younger woman laughed. Dimples showed in her cheeks. Liv could have gleefully throttled her.
    "Going for an evening ride…in your were-truck?"
    She was flirting! Gabriella was flirting with Trey. Liv fixed on her best ice queen smile and addressed the girl. "We were about to leave, Gabby."
    Trey shot her a neutral look, but his eyes spoke volumes. They said he was wondering what had gotten into her, and Liv wondered the same thing. Nonetheless, she sailed on as if she hadn't a care in the world. Inside her heart was pounding.
    Gabriella's smile wilted. "Oh. Well, I'll have to hope for a ride—in your truck—another time." She patted his bicep. "Good to see you again, Trey. Have fun, Liv."
    Liv nodded and smiled, genuinely pleased that she'd won that round. It wasn't nice of her, and she knew it. Some part of her was even contrite over shooting Gabriella down as she'd done. And for something she wasn't even sure she should want. Well, Liv wasn't trying for the Miss Congeniality award.
    Trey wished Gabriella a good evening, and when he and Liv were alone again, he stuck his thumbs in his belt and smiled at Liv as though he knew exactly why she'd done what she'd done. She squared her shoulders and tried to look unaffected.
    "Glad you changed your mind," he said.
    A little heat stole over Liv's cheeks. "A woman's prerogative. Isn't that what they say?"
    He nodded and held out his hand. "That's what