Chapter 13
“Excuse me,” I say quickly, forcing my voice to sound normal and not like I’m still trembling from what Liam just did to me under the table. “Sounds like the vegetables are ready.”
“Let me help you, honey,” Liam says, standing smoothly, his chair scraping back with an easy confidence that makes my already wrecked body clench.
I don’t know if I should glare at him or kiss him senseless. Maybe both.
Teddy leans back in his chair, a knowing look in his eyes as he watches us head toward the kitchen like a man who’s seen it all and enjoyed every second.
The second we’re out of sight, Liam’s arms are around me. He pulls me in against him and captures my mouth in a rough, hungry kiss that steals the air right out of my lungs.
I sigh into him, melting for a split second before smacking his chest with a mock glare.
“I can’t believe you did that,” I whisper fiercely against his lips.
Liam just smirks, completely unrepentant.
“I can’t believe you let me.”
That earns a startled laugh from me, and before I can stop it, we’re both snickering like a couple of kids caught sneaking out past curfew. God, he makes it so hard to stay mad at him. I shake my head, grinning helplessly as I turn back to the stove to plate the food.
Liam doesn’t let me go. He just slides in behind me, his hands claiming my hips possessively, his mouth dropping hot, lazy kisses along the curve of my neck.
“You’re not helping,” I mutter, trying to concentrate, even as my whole body lights up under his touch.
“Not trying to, honey,” he murmurs against my skin.
Before I can retort, Teddy’s voice floats in from the doorway.
“Ah. Wondered what was taking so long.”
I jolt, trying to step away, but Liam just tightens his grip slightly, steady and infuriatingly calm. Liam lifts his head, flashing Teddy a perfectly innocent smile.
“Couldn’t help myself,” he says, no shame whatsoever in his voice. “We’ll be right there.”
Teddy chuckles, waving a hand. “I’m gonna take a leak. No rush.”
The second he disappears down the hall, I sag against the counter, laughing under my breath.
“This night is so bizarre,” I mutter, running a hand through my hair.
“Maybe,” Liam says, nuzzling the side of my neck with slow, lazy intent, his voice thick with hunger. “But, lord, is he giving me ideas.”
“Oh? Like bending me over your desk?”
His teeth graze the sensitive skin just below my ear, and a shiver rockets down my spine. I’m in so much trouble. And I’ve never wanted anything more.
We pull ourselves together and carry the plates to the dining room just as Teddy strolls back in, humming under his breath like he didn’t just leave us teetering on the edge of total chaos.
Dinner passes in a blur of small talk and business. And through it all, Liam’s hand never leaves me. Sometimes it’s resting innocently on the back of my chair. Sometimes it’s a casual brush against my knee under the table. But every touch is deliberate. Every glance simmering.
And the longer it goes on, the harder it is to breathe.
Teddy leans back in his chair after dessert, dabbing at his mouth with his napkin.
“Well, I have to say,” he drawls, smiling at us both, “This little dinner convinced me more than anything else.”
My heart stutters.
“What do you mean?” Liam asks, his voice deceptively calm.
Teddy stands, setting his napkin down.
“I mean, I can tell when people are bullshitting me,” he says simply. “And you two? You’re real. I trust real.”
He grins at us both, tipping his hat as he heads for the door.
“I’ll have my lawyer call yours tomorrow. Let’s get the ball rolling, and, with luck, we can sign when you’re in Texas in a few weeks.”
Relief crashes through me so hard I have to grip the edge of the table. Liam stands, shaking Teddy’s hand, thanking him, but his eyes never leave mine. Not for a second.
The second the door clicks shut behind Teddy, sealing us alone again, Liam turns to me.
And the look in his eyes steals the breath right out of my lungs.
Wild Hungry Unleashed. Before I can say a word, he’s on me, grabbing me by the hips, hauling me into him, slamming his mouth down on mine with a brutal, claiming kiss that has me gasping.
I clutch at his shirt, barely managing to stay upright as he walks me backward, through the living room, toward the bedroom.
But we don’t make it.
Halfway down the hall, he spins me, pinning me against the wall.
His mouth is at my throat, his hands shoving up the hem of my dress with rough, desperate motions.
“You’ve been so fucking good tonight,” he growls against my skin, voice low and ragged. “Sitting there, letting me touch you, letting me wreck you while you smiled and pretended nothing was happening.”
I whimper, arching into him, my body already vibrating with need.
“I’m gonna ruin you for anyone else, honey,” he mutters, hooking a hand under my thigh, hiking my leg around his waist. “Make sure you never even think about letting another man touch you like that again.”
“Please,” I gasp, nails digging into his shoulders.
He chuckles and yanks my panties down with one brutal tug, letting them fall somewhere between us. Then he’s there, thick, hard, pressing right where I need him.
“No teasing this time,” he rasps against my mouth. “No holding back.”
And then he drives into me in one long, deep thrust that steals the world away.
I cry out, clutching him desperately as he fucks me against the wall like a man who finally, finally has permission to claim what’s his.
Liam drives into me with a force that rattles the pictures on the wall, his hands gripping my hips so tightly it borders on bruising and God, I want the marks. I want all of it. His mouth crushes mine again, the kiss filthy and desperate, all teeth and tongue and raw need.
He pulls back just enough to pant against my lips, his voice a guttural rasp.
“Fucking heaven,” he growls. “You feel like heaven, honey.”
Each brutal thrust slams me harder against the wall, my fingers clawing at his shoulders, at his hair… anywhere I can anchor myself against the wild, beautiful onslaught of him.
He braces one hand high above my head, caging me in completely, his other hand slipping between us to thumb at my clit in tight, ruthless circles.
I sob into his mouth, my whole body shaking as he drives me higher, faster, harder.
“You gonna come for me again, pretty girl?” he rasps, dragging his teeth down the side of my neck, his hips never slowing, never faltering. “You gonna make a mess all over my cock?”
“Y-yes,” I gasp, voice breaking, tears stinging the corners of my eyes from how good it feels, how right it feels.
“That’s it,” he mutters, nipping my jaw. “Take it. Take everything.”
His hand clamps tighter on my thigh, pinning me wide open for him, grinding into that perfect spot inside me that has my head snapping back against the wall with a cry.
And then he says it… low, filthy, devastating.
“Been wanting to fuck you like this since the first goddamn night, Olive. Since you stood there looking at me with those big fucking eyes, all sweet and shy with your tits begging to be sucked. Been dreaming about making you mine.”
The words tear something open inside me.
I shatter around him with a scream, my nails dragging down his back, my body convulsing and clenching so hard around him he groans deep.
“Fuck, honey,” he bites out, his hips losing rhythm, pounding into me harder, faster, chasing his own release with raw desperation.
He slams in deep one final time, holding there, grinding against me as he pours himself into me with a guttural sound that’s half growl, half worship.
We cling to each other, trembling, gasping, the aftershocks rolling through us so violently it’s all we can do to stay upright.
Liam presses his forehead to mine, his breath ragged.
“I love you, Olive.”
The world tilts and I break again, holding onto him.
“I love you, too,” I breathe, the words trembling on my lips. “So much.”
For a moment, we just stay there. Pressed together.
Still joined. Hearts thundering in sync.
Staring at each other like we’re seeing the future and it’s us.
Something shifts between us then. Something deep, irrevocable.
And as we cling there, still shuddering from everything we just survived, I feel it.
Him.
Thickening inside me again.
A soft gasp slips from my mouth, and Liam’s gaze darkens, his hands smoothing down my sides, like he’s grounding himself in the reality of us.
This time we don’t stay against the wall. He lifts me easily, carrying me to the bedroom like I'm something precious. The sheets are still a wreck from earlier, but neither of us cares.
We stop at the edge of the bed, and he sets me down, cupping my face in his big, calloused hands. There’s a reverence in the way he looks at me now, like I’m his whole damn world.
And then he undresses me. Piece by piece.
The dress slides over my head, pooling at my feet.
The locket catches on the fabric for a moment, but Liam gently untangles it, letting it fall back against my chest where it belongs.
He presses a kiss to it first. Then to my heart. And then he removes my undergarments.
He kisses his way down my collarbone, the swell of my breasts, the soft curve of my belly like he’s memorizing every inch of me.
When I'm bare before him, trembling and open and his, he stands back just long enough to strip out of his own clothes. Every movement slow. Every second thick with meaning.
By the time he steps back to me, naked and glorious and mine, my whole body is shaking with anticipation.
He slides onto the bed, pulling me into his lap so I’m straddling him.
This time when he sinks into me, it’s slow. Deep. Devastating. We both gasp, clutching at each other, feeling the difference… the forever layered between every touch, every kiss, every breath.
Liam cups the back of my neck, his forehead resting against mine as he moves inside me with slow, relentless strokes that make me feel everything.
“I’ve got you, honey,” he whispers, voice breaking. “Not letting go.”
Tears slip from my eyes, and he kisses them away without stopping, rocking into me like he’s stitching all my broken pieces back together. And when we fall again, we fall together.
I must fall asleep in his arms, because the next thing I know, I’m waking up to the soft press of lips against my hip.
I blink down, still hazy, and find Liam settled between my thighs naked, beautiful, and wrecked in the best way. He meets my gaze as he presses another slow, reverent kiss to the inside of my thigh.
“Morning, honey,” he murmurs, voice thick with sleep and heat.
Before I can answer, he nudges my legs wider with his big, rough hands and settles in like he has all the time in the world.
He kisses higher, nipping lightly at sensitive skin, making me gasp and arch toward him.
“You don’t have to—” I start, still half-asleep, half-buzzing from everything we’ve already shared.
His eyes gleam when they lift to mine.
“I want to,” he says simply. “Need to.”
And then he’s there, licking a slow, devastating stripe through my center, humming low in his throat when he tastes me.
My head falls back against the pillows with a moan.
He doesn’t rush.
He savors.
Soft flicks of his tongue. Lazy teasing licks around my clit. Slow, filthy kisses like he’s memorizing every single reaction.
I reach down, threading my fingers into his messy hair, holding him to me.
He groans when I tug, the vibration sending shocks through my whole body.
“Liam,” I pant, hips canting toward him.
“Shh, honey,” he murmurs against me. “Just feel me.”
And God help me, I do.
When he finally sucks my clit into his mouth, swirling his tongue with maddening precision, I break apart with a sharp, gasping cry. He doesn't stop until I'm trembling, boneless, completely undone beneath him.
When he finally pulls back, he presses one last kiss to my thigh and crawls up the bed, gathering me against his chest like I’m the most precious thing he’s ever touched.
I nuzzle into him, heart pounding, limbs heavy with bliss.
He kisses the top of my head and whispers, almost shyly, “Been dreaming about a life with you, you know.”
I blink up at him, heart catching.
“What kind of life?”
He brushes my hair off my forehead, smiling so softly it guts me.
“Updating the house, so it’s the way you like it. Kittens in the house. Maybe a dog too, if you talk me into it.”
My throat tightens, tears burning behind my eyes.
“Maybe a wedding,” he says, voice rough but sure. “One you deserve. Big or small, I don't care. As long as it’s you at the end of the aisle.”
I press my hand against his chest, feeling his heart hammer against my palm.
“And babies,” he adds, kissing the tip of my nose. “As many as you’ll let me give you.”
Tears slip free before I can stop them, and he kisses them away with infinite gentleness.
“Hey,” he says, voice breaking a little, “you okay?”
I nod, too full to speak. More okay than I’ve ever been. Because this? This is everything I didn’t know I was missing. Everything I never thought I’d get to have.
He draws lazy circles against my back with his fingertips, the kind of touch that feels like a promise all by itself. The air between us hums with something so thick, so sweet, it feels almost sacred.
Still, I whisper into the quiet, “Tell me more.”
Liam’s chest rumbles with a soft laugh, his arms tightening around me like he’ll never let me go.
“I want a kitchen big enough you can dance around it while you're baking,” he says, voice rough with sleep and wonder.
“I love that idea,” I whisper, tracing idle shapes on his chest. “And we could plant an enormous garden. You know, so we don’t survive on gas station burritos and meatloaf alone.”
He laughs again, deeper this time.
“Yeah. We'll need that if we’re gonna have a whole herd of little ones running around.”
My breath catches. He tilts my chin up, forcing me to meet his gaze.
“I’m serious, Olive,” he murmurs, eyes burning with so much love it guts me. “I want it all with you. House, garden, wedding, babies. All of it.”
Tears slip down my cheeks again, but I’m smiling so hard it hurts.
“I want it all too,” I whisper.
He kisses me then, slow and deep, like he's sealing a vow between us.
By the time we pull apart, we’re both yawning, heavy with exhaustion but wrapped up in a bubble of pure, golden happiness.
“Sleep, honey,” Liam whispers, pulling the blanket higher over us, his body curved protectively around mine. “We’ll start building it once we’ve had a proper rest.”
I sigh against him, finally, finally at peace in his arms, dreaming of gardens, wedding rings, and laughter-filled kitchens.
I fall asleep knowing without a single doubt:
I am loved.
I am wanted.
I am home.