Chapter 9 Eden
Eden
“Now that’s a view.” She didn’t mean to sound so spoiled when she declared that upon sight of the river beyond Liam’s window. “How did you score a place like this? I’d think the wait list was a mile long.”
He poured them an alcohol-free nightcap in his kitchen – just one cup of hot herbal tea for them to share.
It was Liam’s insistence, and he started the kettle the moment they walked through the door.
I’m not saying no to hot tea. It was too late for coffee, and she wasn’t about to drink more alcohol.
Eden requested all of her wits about her as she enjoyed the evening.
“Believe it or not, I know the owner of the building.” Liam put the kettle back on its plate and stirred a little sugar into the cup.
“I made him a lot of money a few years ago. He owed me a top spot on the waitlist. Specifically for this unit.” He came up behind her, the steaming cup of tea in his grip as he wrapped his other arm around her.
“I go crazy for the way the sun rises right over that patch of trees over there.”
Eden clung to his arm as she followed his pointer finger. Granted, it was much too dark to see the trees on the other shore, but she could easily imagine how the sun’s rays spread across the tree tops when it rose.
“How could you have known about the view before you asked for this place?” she asked.
“Because I was one of the first to tour the whole building. At the time, I was living in LA with no plans to move, but I remembered thinking I wanted this place if I ever came back.”
“Is that where you’re from? Or are you from here?”
Eden accepted the mug of tea on their way back to the kitchen, where she hopped up on the island counter and sipped the herbal concoction while her date leaned on his elbows next to her. “I’m from a lot of places,” he confessed. “Born in Kentucky, though. Spent my first few years there.”
“Kentucky?” That was one of the last places Eden expected. “You’re kidding.” He didn’t have an accent!
“Fort Campbell, born and bred, baby.”
It took her a moment to put those two things together. “Oh. Military parents.”
“Just my dad. And as is the nature of these things, we moved around a lot. Texas, North Carolina, California, Hawaii… if that state had a base, I probably lived in it. We moved nine times between kindergarten and high school. Never got to live abroad, though. My dad was mostly domestic support.”
“Wow. So, you’re not really from anywhere?”
“The best times were in Texas and California. I graduated from high school in North Carolina. Literally moved there my senior year. Barely knew anyone I walked with.”
“That must’ve been tough.”
He helped himself to the mug. With the rim at his lips, he said, “Growing up like that made me gregarious, I guess.” Liam swallowed and placed the mug on the counter.
It took about three more seconds before he was between Eden’s legs, hands clamped on her thighs as he spoke.
“Always being the new kid in a school of other perpetual new kids, never mind who else lived on your block, either breaks you or makes you. This would have been right around the time of cell phones being more ubiquitous, not that you would remember those before times…”
“Oh, shush.”
“…But it made it easier to keep in touch with friends I really liked besides using email. I’ve kept in touch with a lot of them over the years. Been a groomsman in a few weddings.”
“They ever been one for you?”
“Is that your sly way of asking if I’ve ever been married?”
“I know you’ve been engaged, apparently.”
“Yes. But never married.”
His tone was slightly melancholic after saying that. Eden wanted to apologize for souring their romantic mood, but she was soon pulled forward, arms instinctively wrapping around his shoulders.
“Maybe one day, huh?”
Eden slightly melted when she heard that directly in her ear, which precluded the heated way Liam sucked on her lobe and covered the side of her neck in heavy kisses.
She sighed into the moment, remembering all of the easy-going good times they had back on the island.
Because while Liam could be just as intense as Benson, it was a very different kind.
Somehow, after all the traveling, he ended up living here. What were the odds?
“I want to say you’re the kind of girl I take home to my parents, love,” Liam said with that God-given growl that made Eden both giggle and groan, “but I dare not think how I would explain the way we met.”
Their noses touched. “Tell them we met on a tropical island in the middle of paradise. It was lust at first spray.”
“I can’t say that second part.”
“Bit conservative, are they?”
“To the point I haven’t talked to them in years. Not since I was engaged.”
“Really? I’m sorry to hear that.”
Liam winced. He thinks he’s being a bummer. A little. But Eden liked learning more about him, too. “They don’t approve of my lifestyle. I don’t approve of them being rude to me about it. So it’s best for all of us if I just keep my distance.”
“Your lifestyle?”
“Why, bringing lovely women like you home for my own companionship.”
“Uh-huh.” Eden’s legs swung to-and-fro as her arms continued to hang loosely around his neck. “Is that what we’re calling it?”
“Calling what?”
She pressed her forehead against his. “Me coming to your place, knowing exactly what we’re gonna do.”
As if to prove that she was correct, Liam laid a big kiss on her lips and lulled her into the sweetest makeout session of her weekend. And it’s a high bar to clear.
The thing about this new life she had found herself in?
Eden always lived in the moment. She didn’t think about yesterday.
She sure as hell didn’t think about tomorrow.
There was only right now, with her body wrapped around the man of the moment, every inch of her craving for more as she ran her hands up and down his arms and cinched her legs around his waist.
“Right here,” she sweetly muttered on his lips. “Let’s do it right here.”
“Why? My bedroom’s like ten seconds away.”
It didn’t stop him from pushing her skirt up her thighs, though. “Because it’s what sluts do, Liam.”
“I was wondering if you were gonna lean into it.”
“You have to understand my position.” She lowered her arms from his shoulders, flinging them back behind her so her hands splayed on the marble countertop, and her breasts were pushed up toward his face.
“It’s been nonstop action from you two since last weekend.
I’m dating two guys who don’t even care that there’s another guy.
For Heaven’s sake, you both get off on it. ”
“We do?”
“Well, don’t you?”
Liam’s hands hooked beneath her ass after they finished their ascent beneath her dress. “I’m not talking about me. I’m very open about what kind of slut I am, if you haven’t noticed.”
“Mmhmm.”
“I’m asking about this other mysterious man I may or may not get to ever meet. Come on. When do I get to tag-team you, this time knowingly?”
“You just want to high-five him in the Eiffel Tower.”
“Every weekend, love. Give me his address.”
Her toes wiggled in the air after she let her shoes slip off and land on the floor. “Maybe that can be arranged. I’d have to ask what he thinks, first.”
“He thinks it’s a super hot idea.”
I wonder… Benson would probably be up for it once in a while.
But what if the moment came along where he wanted something more serious from Eden?
What if he wants to marry me? Then what?
She was getting ahead of herself. She wasn’t quite in the Bridget Jones quandary yet.
I loved those movies growing up… The first one was released right before she was born!
“You and me first,” she teased. “Right here. On your kitchen counter.” Eden sat up again.
This time, she toyed with the hem of his sweater, antsy to pull it over his head and to get to his solid yet soft chest. Can’t wait to feel it pressing against me again…
“Think about all the nasty things you want to do with me while you fuck me.”
He pulled her toward him again. This time, her thighs were locked on his waist. Tingles spread through her body – the kind that readied her for the oncoming onslaught that was sure to make her come right here on the counter. How many women has he screwed in his kitchen, anyway? She’d bet not many.
Liam kissed her. Kissed her so hard that she was almost knocked back again.
Yet Eden held on, her tongue slamming against his as they felt one another up on the counter, careful not to bump into the hot mug of tea until Liam shoved it to the other end of the island.
As his lips made love to her throat, leaving a haughty little hickey right next to where Benson had been only the night before, Eden reveled in how wanted she was by these men.
They didn’t just want her in the moment… they had pursued her. Asked for her. Done things to her, again and again, even though there were other women out there.
Eden moaned when Liam reached between her legs and liberated her mound from her underwear. Soon enough, he was one knuckle deep, amping up her hunger for more.
He broke the kiss, panting, his head resting against hers. The air was thick with the scent of their arousal. His fingers, still slick with her wetness, retreated. She shivered at the sudden loss. Surely, he'd rectify this soon.
“Look what you do to me,” he murmured.
His hand found hers, guiding it down between their bodies. He pressed her palm against the hard bulge straining behind his zipper. With a flick of his wrist, Liam unzipped himself. The sound of metal teeth parting was shockingly loud in the quiet kitchen. He was hot. Hard. Ready.
But he didn’t enter her. Instead, he wrapped her fingers around his thick shaft. “Make me ready for you,” he demanded.