Chapter 6
Chapter Six
J ade stared back at Liam, wondering what he was thinking. He’d hoped for sex, that much was obvious, yet here he was, talking about stars and now, clearly with great reluctance, his childhood. She’d withdraw her question, but he fascinated her. She wanted to peel back that defensive layer, get to know as much as she could about him. ‘You don’t have to tell me.’
‘I’m aware.’
His guard was up, but she’d never been one to give up easily. ‘I did admit that I’m jealous of my sister, though, which has to be way more embarrassing than anything you have to say, so you kind of owe me.’
He gave a shake of his head, but his mouth, the one it was impossible not to keep staring at, not to imagine pressing sensuous kisses down her body… twitched with amusement. ‘Ten-year-old me wished he didn’t have to go to boarding school.’
Warmth spread through her at his tacit agreement to continue a conversation he clearly would rather not be having. ‘I hated school, too, but at least I could get away from it at the end of the day. What about twelve-year-old you?’
He hesitated, and she could imagine him carefully selecting his words to reveal as little of himself as possible. Unlike her explosion of the first words that came into her head. ‘Twelve-year-old me wanted to fit in with his classmates. Be part of the gang.’ He exhaled sharply. ‘I don’t know what I’m doing, telling you all this. I don’t talk to people.’
‘Well you seem to be managing just fine.’ Finding his hand, she wrapped her fingers around it, feeling a zing down her spine at the contact. ‘We’re strangers, remember? No judgement, no repeating anything we say tonight to anyone else. Girl Guide honour.’
He eyed her sceptically. ‘You don’t look like you were in the Guides.’
She smirked. ‘I was, for a few weeks. Until I was kicked out for spending too much time with the Scouts. And before you ask, it was because they did cooler stuff. So anyway, what did fourteen-year-old Liam wish for?’
He inhaled, letting the air out in a long, slow breath. ‘To buy his grandma a house.’
And this was why she’d wanted to keep talking. To find these precious nuggets of information that set him apart from any other man she’d met. ‘Are you sure you’re not just saying that to get one over on me?’
‘You want me to phone her and prove it?’
She sat up, swivelling to look at him, and felt something shift in her chest. Guarded, cool at times, but when he allowed her a peep beneath that aloof mask he wore? ‘Did anyone ever tell you, you’re dead sweet?’ Laughter peeled out of her at his expression. ‘I figured that wasn’t what you were aiming for.’
His jaw tightened. ‘Fourteen-year-old me also wished for power. And revenge. Neither of which are sweet.’ He stared directly at her, eyes a flinty grey. ‘I still do.’
And there was the hint of ruthlessness that made him so compelling. ‘Maybe sweet is the wrong word, but I think behind the brooding front you put up, there’s a warm human trying to get out. And I’m not just saying that because you wanted to buy your grandma a house. I gave you plenty of chances to make me feel stupid tonight, but you didn’t.’
‘We all spill drinks from time to time.’
‘What about mistaking a luxury yacht for a resort transfer?’
‘Some might say that was cunning.’
She eyed him curiously. ‘I bet you get women trying to pick you up all the time. Which I wasn’t trying to do, by the way.’
‘I know.’
She gave him a playful smile. ‘At least not then.’
His long, powerful body stilled. ‘And now?’
Her pulse jumped, a sharp thrill arrowing through her at the deep gravel to his voice. ‘I’m crazy attracted to you, that much should be obvious, but I’ve only just got here and I don’t want to make a mistake. Not when I’m jet-lagged and sloshing with cocktails.’ She gave him a wry grin. ‘Inside and out.’
He nodded, but his eyes didn’t leave hers. ‘What about if we kissed again? Would that be a mistake?’
A shiver skated down her spine. ‘No. Definitely not.’
His hand reached to clasp her face and her belly did a long swoop as she stared into eyes that had darkened with desire. Then his mouth descended on hers and she couldn’t hold in her moan of pleasure. This time he was less gentle, giving her a taste of his hunger, his need. On a groan his tongue pushed past her lips and plunged inside her, licking, tasting, firing heat through her blood. The weight of him pressed her onto the sunpad, his hands sliding from her face, down her arms, then across to her chest.
‘Is this okay?’ he whispered.
She couldn’t speak, could only nod, her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth as his fingers toyed with her breasts, kneading them, teasing the hard points of her nipples beneath her dress.
God, she was so turned on right now. And that was before she felt the rigid length of his erection against her thigh. She wanted it in her hands, to see the girth of it, feel the weight. Wanted him as excited, as hot, as he was making her with his mouth, his drugging, sensuous kisses, the glide of his hands.
Disappointment flooded her as he broke away, her skin instantly missing his heat, his touch. With a groan he slumped onto his back, his breath coming out in uneven pants, the muscles of his chest rippling beneath his T-shirt as she watched it rise and fall. Unable to help herself, her gaze travelled lower, to the huge tent in his shorts.
Between her legs she felt a delicious tug.
‘Thank you,’ she said. He raised a brow and she smiled. ‘For stopping. I… um… I’m not sure I’d have been able to.’
‘Another minute and I wouldn’t have been able to, either.’ She watched the sensuous glide of his Adam’s apple as he swallowed. ‘I know all about making mistakes. I don’t want to be one for you.’
She’d had two serious boyfriends and a couple of other less serious ones, yet she’d never felt so cared for as she did in that moment. ‘I don’t think you’d be one.’ When he stared back at her, she shrugged. ‘My mistakes were believing I was in a relationship with guys who liked me, respected me, then finding out I was wrong.’ It hurt to admit it, to hear the reminder of how foolish she’d been. ‘If we were to have sex, I’d know it was a one-night stand.’ She paused, watching him. ‘I bet you have a lot of those.’
‘Some.’
‘I’ve never had one. In a way I wish I could, because I love sex, so how great to be able to live in the moment and just enjoy the act with an attractive stranger?’ She sighed. ‘But for me to really enjoy sex, I have to be relaxed, and I can’t do that if I’m not with someone I have an emotional connection with. Someone I trust.’
His expression turned guarded again. ‘I understand.’
‘No, I don’t think you do, not fully.’ Her heart thumped as she sat up and looked down on him. ‘I do trust you. Enough to know you won’t take advantage of me if I ask you to kiss me again.’ His eyes flared, sending goosebumps scattering over her skin. ‘I’m not ready for sex, but I want to touch you. And feel you touch me.’
* * *
Liam saw Jade’s cheeks flush and would have smiled, had he not been busy trying to control his breathing. Trying to control himself, because fuck, now his dick was raring to go again. ‘I won’t take this any further than you want to go.’
She nodded, and his pulse quickened as she got hold of the hem of her dress and pulled it over her head. Tits bouncing gloriously in front of his face.
The spike of lust was so savage it was painful. ‘Gorgeous,’ he murmured approvingly, gazing at the luscious globes, barely contained in the gossamer-thin bra. He slid his fingers up and down its straps, then around the edge of the lace before slowly pressing a kiss to her cleavage. Arousal hummed through him as he inhaled, savouring her smell, the softness of her skin. More. He shifted his attention to the swell of her breasts, kissing, licking though the wispy thin material.
She pushed herself further into his mouth. ‘I can take it off.’
His gaze lifted to hers, finding her watching him. ‘No.’ He pushed himself up into a sitting position and smoothed his hands over her, cupping, feeling. ‘I like to take my time.’
‘I can see that.’ Her breath hitched as his fingers toyed with her nipples. ‘Most men just want to rip off the packaging.’
He ducked his head, tasting the skin of her cleavage again. ‘Maybe they’re more used to opening presents than I am.’ Shit, why had he said that? To distract her from asking any questions, and to get his head back in the game, he deftly twisted the clasp of her bra, letting it fall to the deck. And now it was his turn to draw in a sharp breath. ‘Fucking perfect.’
She laughed, which jiggled her tits and made him even harder. ‘Not perfect, but they are all me.’
He could see that. Plump and round, they hung naturally, soft to touch, the skin around them paler– clearly she didn’t sunbathe topless– the nipples a rose pink. ‘I want to lick them, suck them, play with them for the rest of the evening.’ He palmed them, burying his face in her cleavage, inhaling her; coconut, something citrusy and a hint of the sweet cocktail.
She moaned, shifting restlessly, fraying his control even further. ‘That sounds way too tempting.’
Because he couldn’t help himself, he sucked again at her nipples, tugging with his teeth until she cried out his name on a breathless whimper.
‘Liam, please.’
‘Please what?’ He was hard to the point of pain. ‘Tell me what you want from me.’
‘I… I don’t know. Can I touch you?’
He groaned, afraid he was going to embarrass himself. ‘You can do whatever you want with me.’
Shifting so his back rested against the edge of the sunken sunpad, he lifted her onto his lap, hissing out a breath as the globes of her ass settled against his groin.
Reaching for the hem of his T-shirt, she pulled it over his head, her eyes lighting up at the sight of his chest and giving his ego a powerful boost. His dick got a different boost as her fingers trailed across his pecs, rubbing at his nipples, all while her ass wriggled gloriously against his groin. ‘Your chest is beautiful.’
‘Yours is better.’
She smiled before sliding back a little onto his thighs. Just as he was about to complain, her hands dived into his shorts, finding him easily because he was that hard, that ready to burst out and take her. ‘Holy crap, boats and cars, it’s not the same.’
He grunted and pushed further into her grasp, his mind dizzy with lust. ‘What?’
‘You know, fast cars are driven by men with small dicks.’ Her hand ran up and down his length, her soft touch a direct contrast to his raging hardness. ‘But fast boats are clearly driven by men with frigging enormous ones.’
Christ, he was laughing, despite the fact his balls were ready to burst. ‘Not drive,’ he rasped. ‘We established that.’
‘Yes, sorry. It must be the fact I have this steel rod in my hands, it’s making me forget.’
Control officially snapped, he gazed into her eyes. ‘I want to make you come. Can I do that?’
She bit into her bottom lip. ‘Please.’ Her fingers grasped him tighter and he shuddered, full on shuddered like it was the first time a woman had held him.
Slipping his hands beneath her lacy underwear, he found her drenched core, igniting another bolt of lust. ‘You are the sexiest fucking woman I’ve ever seen.’
Red stained her cheeks and she ground down on his hands. ‘Thank you. But if that’s true, you need to get out more.’
Sex could be moody, at times strained, intense. Two people trying desperately to get themselves and each other off. It wasn’t fun. Wasn’t something to be laughed at, yet here he was, sporting a smile and an aching erection.
He wanted to lift her up and onto him, to plunge into her soaked depths. No, wait, he’d taste her first and then plunge. While his fevered mind ran through all the things he wanted to do to her, her hand began to tug at him, her grip the perfect combination of soft and hard, soft skin, hard hold. Fuck, this , having her on his lap, staring at the most amazing tits he’d ever seen, his fingers sliding in and out of her heat. It was more than enough.
She gasped as he added another finger, his pace quickening… No wait, maybe the hoarse sounds were coming from him? Never had he felt so connected to another human, so immersed in them that he couldn’t think straight. Restlessly he rubbed his other hand over the round curve of her gorgeous ass, squeezing, pulling her further onto him. He didn’t know whether to put his mouth on her breasts, lick at her nipples, or kiss her again. Before he could make up his mind, she made the decision for him, drawing his head to her glorious cleavage. ‘Please,’ she murmured.
As if he needed asking. As if he was doing her a favour. ‘Like this?’ He tongued the delicate pink nipples and she gave a moan of pleasure, her hips shifting up and down, driving him crazy. The more he sucked, the more he nipped at them, the harder her hand tugged him. And the tauter the final thread of his control stretched.
‘I’m going to come.’ Her expression turned fevered, her eyes heavy with desire. ‘Holy macaroni, I can’t stop.’
With a final gasp she came, her walls clamping around his fingers, the breathy moans she unleashed triggering his own release.
Seconds passed, minutes, as he drew her against his chest, both of them breathing heavily. He just about had the presence of mind to reach for his T-shirt and wipe his release off her hands.
‘You wrecked me.’ Dazed, he stared at her, taking in the puffy lips, flushed skin. The huge eyes that blinked up at him, all sated and gently amused.
‘Ditto.’
He ran a finger down the soft skin of her cheek. ‘I’ve never been with a woman who says holy macaroni when she comes.’
She smirked. ‘I bet the women you’re used to wear perfume instead of “eau de stale cocktail” and know that boats are sailed not driven. Though why have a steering wheel if you’re not going to drive?’
He let out a low laugh before sliding them both back down onto the sun pad. Of their own volition his arms locked around her, pulling her towards him, feeling her slot perfectly against his side.
‘Just a few minutes.’ She nuzzled his neck, her voice drowsy. ‘Then I promise I’ll go.’
He drew in a breath, felt his body give one long, satisfied exhale, all his muscles relaxed again, languid. His brain switching off as her curvy body nestled further into him. ‘No rush.’
They were the last words he uttered.
By the time he woke, the sun was already up and he was alone on the deck, his body covered by a throw from his bed. It was the longest he’d slept since he could remember.