Page 34 of The Recovery Coach
Taking the hint, she snuggled in, pulling her feet up under her and resting her head on his shoulder.
He kissed her hair.“Leave all this.Daisy arranged for cleaners to come in the morning.”
Livy reached across him to snag the remote and flipped the TV toPhineas and Ferb.They’d gotten through the first two seasons already.Rewatching with her was a painfully nostalgic experience.She relaxed further into the couch, and he relaxed with her, the tension from the evening seeping out of him.
They watched two episodes of the show in silence before he gathered the courage to broach a sensitive subject.
He paused the show.“What’s going on with you and Lover?”
There.It was out in the open.He hated himself for asking.Neither of them would do anything to put their relationship with him in jeopardy, but he still had a nasty little voice in the back of his mind warning him that their ending badly would tear his whole world apart.
Livy stiffened against him when the question sank in.She pushed against his shoulder to sit up straight.“Nothing is going on.”
God, he was in dangerous waters.One tiny misstep and he’d be groveling to them both.“It seems like you’re getting close.”
Livy frowned, a line appearing between her eyebrows.He resisted the urge to reach out and rub it away with his thumb.With her on high alert, if he tried, he’d get bitten.
“I’m allowed to have friends, Connor.”
Hazy sighed.The last thing he wanted was to turn into her ex, limiting who she could talk to and hang out with.He risked his life to squeeze the hand resting near his uninjured thigh.“Of course you’re allowed to have friends.I’m preparing myself.Are you two dating?Flirting?Messing around?”
She snorted, the anger leaving her expression as quickly as it appeared.“None of the above.”
“You guys were texting across the room tonight.Seems like something to me.”
Livy smiled.“He told me Toma rubs his beard when he has a good hand.”
Hazy’s mouth popped open.“I knew you weren’t that good!”
“Hey!I held my own.”
“Hell yeah, you did!I was seriously impressed.”
She preened.“Thank you.”
He chuckled, and they watched their show until the end of the episode, but try as he might, he couldn’t let it go.“There’s no interest, then?You’re always flirting.”
“I didn’t say there’s no interest.I’d climb that man like a tree.Have you seen him?”
Hazy grinned even as his stomach dropped.“He doesn’t even know he’s hot.It’s kind of hilarious.”
“Does he date?If I want babies by thirty, I need to get serious.”
Rolling his eyes, Hazy said, “You’re twenty-six.There’s plenty of time.”
“No, there isn’t.Not for me.”
Her mood changed rapidly, a sign that she had tired herself out.She’d been happy, then suspicious, then annoyed, then amused in the matter of an hour.Hazy tugged her closer and wiped a stray tear away with his thumb.
“Everything is going to work out, Livy.There are plenty of ways to have kids, and if you need to do some fancy fertility treatment, so be it.”
“It’s so expensive.I could never afford that.”
One of the first things Hazy had done when he got his first signing bonus was to put money aside for Jayden and Livy’s college expenses.It had taken months of arguing before they would accept.
Unbeknownst to Livy, he’d also set a sizable sum aside for her family planning.His own future remained unclear, but Livy would be an incredible mother.
“It’s a good thing you have a multi-millionaire older brother on your side then, isn’t it?”
