Power Play (D.C. Stars #2)

48. Piper

FORTY-EIGHT

PIPER

I didn’t expect to slip into Liam’s life so easily, but I have.

February turns to March.

The snow melts, and we keep seeing each other. Some nights after a loss, he wants to be alone. Other times he drives me back to his apartment, silent but affectionate with his hand on my thigh and the weight of a defeat on his shoulders.

We go to team dinner together. I’ll walk in a few minutes after him. He slips out a few minutes before me. I’m pretty sure the team is catching on, but no one says anything.

Like tonight. Grant winked at me when I slipped on my jacket, and earlier I saw him slip Ethan twenty bucks when I sat next to Liam on the couch.

“You’re deep in thought,” Liam says as we walk down the sidewalk to his place. “What are you stewing over, Pipsqueak?”

“Oh, my mind is a treacherous place.” I rest my head on his chest when he drapes an arm around me. “I think the guys have a betting going on us.”

“What makes you say that?”

“There was an exchange of cash based on our seating choices.”

“Now we have to fuck with them.” His fingers brush through the ends of my hair and tug on the long strands. “Next week you’ll sit next to Hudson.”

“I like when you’re scheming.”

We ride up to his apartment and he lets us inside. I smile at the pair of shoes I have by the door and the cardigan I left on the foyer table.

Last night, I noticed Liam cleaned out a drawer in his dresser for me, and it shows me he’s trying. Trying to fit me in with practice and games and messages from his parents about the trip they’re planning to DC. Trying to balance the things he cares about without neglecting the other parts of himself, and it means so much.

And I’m trying too.

Trying to be trusting. Trying not to compare him to my past. Trying to not anticipate the other shoe dropping and just being here .

“Want some dessert?” Liam asks, and I follow him to the kitchen.

“Depends.” I jump on the counter and swing my legs back and forth. “What do you have?”

“Carrot cake. And, listen, before you try to turn nose up at it, it doesn’t have raisins. I fucking hate raisins.”

“I hate raisins too!”

“Look at us. We’re an old married couple with similar interests. We’re going to take over the world.” He sets a plate between us and slices off a bite. “Open up, please.”

I smile and open my mouth. The bite is sweet, and I hum around the cream cheese frosting. “I think I like that better than I like sex.”

“I should be offended, but I think I agree.” Liam cuts off a bite for himself and swallows it down. “Delicious, isn’t it?”

“Don’t feed me anything else the rest of the night. This is all I want.”

He grips my chin and tilts my head back. His kiss is soft, savory, and I taste walnuts on his tongue. A hand works in my hair, pulling my ponytail free before settling on the back of my neck. I sigh, relaxing into him as he nudges his way between my legs and takes up the space where I love him to be the most.

“Bedroom?” Liam asks against my mouth and I nod, needing him. Wanting him.

I wrap my legs around his waist, smiling when he lifts me off the counter and walks us down the hall. He sets me on his bed and I fumble with the button of his jeans, my actions hurried, my heart racing.

Pulling the zipper down, I tug on the denim, my intentions clear when Liam steps out of the jeans and kicks them away. His briefs do little to hide his body and I pull those off next while he takes off his shirt, the two of us working in tandem until he’s naked in front of me.

“I want you in my mouth, Liam.” I run my finger up his length. My thumb drags over the pre-cum on the head of his cock, my touch more assured, more confident than it was weeks ago. I know how to do this. I know how to make him fall apart, and fuck do I want it. “Would that be okay?”

“Do you trust me?” he asks, and I nod. I trust him more than I trust anyone in the world. “Get on your back and let your head hang off the bed.”

I listen to him, getting into position as I scramble across the comforter. “Like this?”

“Perfect.” He grips his shaft and gives himself a few strokes. His other hand touches my chin and pulls down on my bottom lip, opening my mouth. “Breathe through your nose.”

I inhale, waiting as he towers over me, and he moves his fingers to the back of my head. He slowly works the first half of his cock in my mouth and tears prick my eyes. I relax my jaw, giving him more room in my mouth to fill, and he hums his approval.

“So fucking sexy,” he murmurs, reaching down the front of my shirt and pulling the cup of my bra down. “I love watching you suck my cock, Piper.”

The position doesn’t give me much room to move, and I rely on him to do the work. I moan around him when he pinches my nipple, my legs spreading and my fingers dropping to the hem of my skirt.

“Going to get a little deeper, baby. Want you to choke on it.” I gag when he thrusts his hips, his almost too much. “Perfect.”

His words might be filthy, but his actions are considerate. Like in how he wipes my eyes. How he gently pulls out of my mouth, my saliva covering his length.

“Sit up,” he tells me.

“I need to take my clothes off.”

“Can’t wait that long.”

I sit up and spin, my legs dangling over the edge and heat rising on my skin. Liam tugs on my calf, laughing when I almost fall off the mattress and kissing me when I finally get settled.

He shoves my skirt up to my waist and I smile, teasing him as I lift my hips and take off my underwear. I’m bold, ambitious when I touch my clit, his name a whispered gasp that falls from my mouth.

His touch runs up my thigh, the bump of his hand against mine reminding me this is wicked. A sin, but not one I’d care to repent for. I don’t give a shit about damnation or hell or anywhere else I might end up, because when he bats my hand away and shoves three fingers inside me, I’ve never wanted to be angelic a day in my life.

“Piper.” His voice is thick. Maybe it’s lust. Maybe he’s tipsy from the one beer he had at dinner. Whatever is aiding him, I love it. I want more of it. “Can I?—”

“Please,” I whisper, wanting him to know how badly I want him too.

This is different from what we’ve done when we’ve been intimate before.

This is a need. A desire. Agony in the most blissfully wonderful way, and I think I might die without him.

I prop up on an elbow, wanting to commit tonight to memory because I know it’s monumental in the grand scheme of us . Something special, something cherished, and I’m surprised by the look of admiration in his eyes. The way his hands trace up my sides then back down, squeezing my hips.

I never seen Liam like this with his ragged breathing. Falling apart at the seams. Losing his self-control in the name of something deeper than sex. He can’t pick a spot on my body he wants to focus on, so I help him. I spread myself open, letting him see all of me.

“You are…” He trails off and shakes his head. “I’ve never been with someone as magnificent as you.”

There are so many things I want to say to him.

Silly things like thank you .

Thank you for bringing me out of the dark.

Thank you for making me feel beautiful.

“Show me,” I whisper. “Touch me, Liam.”

There’s a tremble to his touch, like the room is shaking. Like this is real , a living and breathing thing outside these walls we both know the name of. His thumb presses against my clit. His mouth is on my neck, a warm swipe of his tongue against my throat nearly catapulting me into space.

“Fuck,” he says, but it’s not a curse. It’s beautiful and pleading. The mattress dips so he can ease me back. So he can take up more of space and move into my orbit. “I could fuck you all night. Could touch you all night. Could just… fuck . Be with you all night. And the next and the next.”

“So be with me,” I say, and his eyes blaze with fire.

Liam pulls his fingers out of me and reaches for a condom. I touch his wrist, stopping him, and he looks at me.

“You okay?” he asks, and I’m not sure I am.

“Would it be okay if—” I take a deep breath. “Can we try without a condom?”

His gaze is piercing, a lightning bolt to my heart. He drops his head back and blows out a breath, staring at the ceiling instead of me. I might of said the wrong thing, but before I can worry about it, he’s kissing me. Brushing his nose against mine and laughing into the crook of my neck.

“You want that?”

“I want it with you,” I say. “I’ve never had sex that way, and I want you to be my first.”

“I haven’t either,” he says, and the room is a blur of colors. Of shapes and sounds and sensations. “And I’ve wanted to with you from the first time I fucked you. But if I fuck you without a condom, Piper, you should know it’s going to be difficult to ever give you up. It’s going to be hard to walk away from you, because once I sink into you without anything between us, I’m not going to want anything else for the rest of my life. I’m going to want to fuck you every minute of every goddamn day.”

“I’m on birth control,” I tell him, running my fingers down his chest because that sounds magical. Magnificent and exactly what I want.

“Okay.” He nods and pulls away. “That’s good.”

Liam lies on his back and motions for me to straddle him. I throw a leg over his hips and look down at him. “I know being exclusive was part of this, but I haven’t been with anyone else, Liam. Just you. And I want you to know that.”

“It’s only been you from the beginning. No one else, Piper.”

Sinking onto him without the feeling of latex is dizzying. I transcend time, floating above my body as I work the head of his cock inside me first then relax enough to take the rest of him.

I let go, my body knowing his and the things he likes best. I realize as he cups my cheek, his touch heavy on my skin, this isn’t fucking. This is something so much more substantial, something far more monumental than anything we’ve ever done.

When he’s close, he looks at me, a question in his eyes.

“Can I?—”

“Yes,” I whisper. “I told you I’m yours, Liam.”

“You are. And I want everyone to know it.”

I revel in his release and the mess it makes and the way it finally feels like I’ve seen every part of him.

After, he cleans me up and hugs me tight. Pico settles between us, our breaths turning soft as we drift off to the world where this exists forever.