Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
brIAR
The look on Liam’s face sends panic skating through me, even though I can feel how much he wants me. It’s literally pressing into me, making me dirty promises.
Big promises.
“You want it here?” he asks.
“Oh my God,” I say, alarmed. “You think I’m a slut. I mean, here I am, practically begging you to—”
I try to get up, but he firms his grip on my butt.
“I don’t think you’re a slut, but I’m not about to complain if you want me to fuck you.
” His voice is a lustful growl, and I’m so turned on by the way he says fuck—confidently, with zero, well, fucks.
He pulls me closer, his next words practically whispered against my lips.
“But I figured you’d take me back to your apartment. ”
“I don’t do this sort of thing. I’m usually in relationships, but after I found out about Jonah—”
The sound he makes now is definitely a growl.
“You don’t like talking about Jonah,” I say. “I remember. I don’t like talking about him either, but he’s the last man I—”
He stops me with a hard kiss, lifting his hips as his mouth claims mine. He kisses me like he wants to suck my soul out of my body. I can feel him beneath me, straining for me, and I’m sure I’m sopping wet. It’ll be embarrassing when he feels it.
He pulls back, his eyes glimmering, his jaw a hard, severe line. “I want to make you forget that asshole’s name for good.”
“You’re jealous?” I ask.
The possibility had never occurred to me. Hannah made it clear that Liam doesn’t date. He hooks up with women. He gets them hooked on him.
I feel a pulse of anxiety, worried that that’s exactly where I’m headed, but then he looks me over with hooded eyes and says, “I don’t like to think about him being within fifty feet of you. So, yes, I guess you could say I’m fucking jealous.”
“You’re the only person who does this to me,” I admit. “I’ve never asked anyone else to touch me in a public place.”
“Good.”
This time I kiss him, pushing down with my hips so I can feel him right where I need him.
Oh God. It’s been so long since anyone has touched me like this, and I’m feverish for him.
I want all of him. I need to feel alive after being trapped in that mausoleum tonight, and I know he’s the man who can give me that.
The only man who can make me feel good right now.
“You didn’t answer me,” I whisper against his lips, hovering less than an inch from him.
“I’ve forgotten every question anyone’s ever asked me,” he says, his lips curving into a grin.
“Will anyone show up?”
“No. I’m the only one who has a key other than the owner and the cleaning service. And the cleaning service only comes in the afternoon, just after closing.”
My answer is to get up and pull the dress up over my head. I go for the clasp of my bra, but he stops me, his eyes shining with admiration. “I’d like to do that myself in a minute.”
My mouth goes dry as he gets to his feet, every action fluid, because even though he’s a big man, he’s an athlete. Then he tugs his shirt over his head, and it feels like all the blood in my body is suddenly pounding between my legs.
His body is a sculpted work of art, and he has a Celtic tattoo that weaves around his right bicep. I’ve never noticed it before now. I’ve only really spent time with him in winter, and long-sleeved shirts have hidden it from view.
He also has a few scars, including one that’s a few inches wide on his upper chest.
“Liam…” I trace his tattoo with my fingers, wanting to learn every dip and swirl, and the hot, hard muscle under my fingers fills me with longing.
Usually with men, I’m concerned about where sex might lead. I already know it’s a dead-end road for the two of us, which is surprisingly freeing. I’m analyzing myself less, and feel completely in the moment.
He shoves my stockings and underwear down one-handed, then reaches for me, his hand finding my wetness. His pupils consume his eyes as he works me with his fingers, the sound of it making me blush even as I’m consumed with the pleasure from what he’s doing to me.
“This is for me,” he says in a commanding tone.
I find myself nodding.
His lips skate across my collarbone, dropping kisses as he moves his fingers, and then he leans in and softly bites my neck. That sensation, paired with what he’s doing with his fingers, makes my knees weak.
“Liam…”
“Wait here for a second.”
He pushes the bench we were on up against a wall made of old white concrete blocks. There’s some kind of schedule taped to it, but Liam wrenches it off the wall and tosses it aside before turning toward me, hand outstretched.
“I want you to take your stockings off and stand on this.”
I’m so mesmerized that I don’t even ask why. I pull them off the rest of the way, and then I let him give me a boost I don’t need. Peering at me with an intense gaze, he gets down on his knees in front of me. “Wrap your leg around my shoulder.”
“I usually can’t come that way,” I tell him, my knees practically buckling at the thought of him burying his head there while I’m so exposed. “It’s okay. You can—”
“Any man who doesn’t work for it doesn’t deserve it. Wrap your leg around my shoulder.” He runs his hands down my calf as he says so, the feeling surprisingly sensual.
So I do as he said, my whole body quivering with how much I want him to touch me, but also now with worry. He’s going to think it takes too long. That it’s too much to ask, and I’ll feel like I have to pretend…
His mouth moves up my slick inner thigh, and soon every worry leaves my head as he kisses my leg, inching up slowly. He’s acting as if he’d happily sacrifice everything for the opportunity to lick and suck and taste me until morning.
A shudder of pleasure works through me as he reaches my center, his tongue moving over me without hesitation.
He traces the area where I’m so sensitive that every brush of his lips and tongue makes my body quake.
He barely pauses to breathe as he throws himself into it, giving it everything.
The same way he gave that bag his all, his muscles flexing and bunching as he beat his fists into it.
I’d stopped punching my own bag so I could devour the sight.
He’s so physical…and it makes me want to exist in my own body more. I’d like to enjoy it with someone else. With him. I’ve been thinking about that possibility ever since that night in my office.
No, that’s not totally true.
I’ve been thinking about it since our first day at Silver Star, when we started that list together.
But something inside of me ignited when his lips touched mine.
I feel it every time he looks at me, every time his fingers brush mine—and the sound of my name in his voice sends shudders of need through me.
It’s also been so long since anyone has lavished attention on me and cared about my pleasure.
My body is starving for it.
Just for tonight. He can be yours tonight.
He surprises me by wrapping a hand around my hip, burying his face between my legs as he continues to suck and stroke me with his tongue. A tingling sensation washes through me, and I lean my head back into the wall, suddenly afraid I won’t be able to keep my feet.
What if I tumble off the bench and onto the floor?
What if he gets tired of kneeling there?
What if putting his mouth on me secretly disgusts him?
“You don’t have to do this, Liam, you—”
“Do you want me to stop?” he asks, lifting his head but taking over with his hand. He makes delicate circles and thrusts a thick finger inside.
“I’m going to fall.”
“I’ll catch you.”
“I’m worried it’s too much for you.” I pant as he moves his finger inside of me.
“Then you’re worried about the wrong thing, Princess,” he says, his pupils still dilated. “Because it’s not nearly enough.”
He stares up at me as he presses his mouth to me again, sucking in and swirling with his tongue—and I reach down and grip his hair. That anchor to him calms me and allows me to lose myself to him.
I let the sensations take over, and it’s barely a minute later that I feel a gush of deep, overwhelming pleasure that has my mouth falling open and inhuman sounds tumbling out.
I press into his mouth rather than worry I’m going to smother him.
When the quaking finally passes, he gently guides my leg down and then lays one final kiss before getting to his feet.
His smile is smug as he leans forward and kisses me.
I thought I’d be disgusted. No one has ever kissed me after doing that before. But it makes the need inside of me burn hotter.
“I thought you should know how good you taste,” he says in a fevered whisper as he gathers my hair in his hand and kisses me more deeply, pulling me against his body with a command that makes my knees go weak again.
He lifts me off the bench easily, our mouths still connected, and sets me on my feet.
I reach down for the button of his pants, and he smiles against my mouth as I fumble with it before getting it loose.
I tug down the zipper, and seconds later he has his pants and underwear pushed down.
He springs into my hand, already so hard it takes my breath away.
He’s big, not that I’m surprised. Everything about him is big, and I’ve felt him against me, nudging me, telling me without words how much he wants me.
“I have an IUD,” I whisper, “and I got tested after…” His jaw clenches. “Well, you know. But you…maybe we shouldn’t.”
“I haven’t been with anyone for months,” he says. My breath catches. From the way Hannah talked, I thought he was sexing women up left and right, but I’ve never known Liam to be anything but honest.
“Does this mean you want me to fuck you, Briar?” he continues. “I need to hear you say it.”
“I…want you to fuck me.”
His mouth closes over mine, and I whimper into it when he finally unclasps my bra, on the first try.
He pulls back and just looks at me for a long moment.
“What are you doing?” I ask softly.