Chapter 3 #2
Rotating, I follow his gaze. Down below, at street level, the fountains of the Bellagio are dancing, lighting up the water in all kinds of patterns and waves. There’s no music to accompany it from this far up, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t dazzling.
“Oh my god,” I murmur, a smile radiating from ear to ear as we watch. “I didn’t realize you’d be able to see the fountains from here.”
For a few minutes, we’re both silent, taking the sight in, but the longer we stand there, the windier it gets, until I’m shivering in my spot.
Apparently a strapless minidress isn’t the attire one should wear at the top of the tower.
I don’t want to leave, though, completely captivated by the show below.
Liam must feel my body shaking because he moves behind me without a word, wrapping his strong arms around me, covering me with as much of his chest as he can.
This isn’t like the elevator. There’s no sexual innuendo; no hard bulge pressing against my ass.
This is just him being the type of guy I know he is. There for a friend when they need it.
He’s my comfort. He’s been my comfort for months.
Years. All the times I sat at the bar under the guise that I was there telling my brother everything about Paul, it was really Liam that I went to.
It was never Nate’s arm around me. It couldn’t be.
Nate was behind the bar. Liam was the one sitting next to me, drinking and commiserating with me.
Going down to the lobby bar tonight, I knew Liam would be the first one there. He was the one I wanted attention from, and I’ve gotten more than I ever expected.
The back of my head tingles as the memory of him with his hand in my hair flashes in my mind.
It was rough but gentle, and it sent shivers up and down my spine.
And the dance? The way he looked at me the entire time, like he couldn’t stop drinking me in, waiting to feast from every inch of my body?
My panties were on fire strictly from the way his eyes darkened, and his tongue ran along his lips.
If it was possible to come from the way a man looked at me, Liam would have had me hitting orgasmic levels over and over.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” I ask, mostly to interrupt myself. I need to stop this train of thought. Need to stop thinking that we’re going to end up in bed together, no matter how much I’m starting to admit to myself that I want it.
“Perfect,” he responds, his voice so low that my head whips around.
He’s not staring down at the fountains. In fact, I have a sense that he hasn’t been looking at them for a while. His eyes are trained on me, currently flicking between my eyes and my lips, before settling on my crystal blues.
Emotions war within him, plain as day in his honey brown eyes.
The loyalty to his best friend against what he’s feeling for me.
I know the battle because I’m in the same one.
Yet I realize that this is never going to change.
The battle is going to rage on until one of us does something about it.
There’s always going to be this push and pull.
Maybe, just maybe, if we scratch the itch, it’ll go away.
“Fucking perfect,” he repeats, and he’s not talking about the view.
I bite my lip, glancing down at his mouth as my body moves on its own accord, turning in his arms. “Liam…”
“I know.”
We both know. But I can’t find it in myself to care.
I love my brother with every fiber of my being.
I respect the hell out of him, and I respect this one rule he put in place back in high school because I know what it cost him the last time around.
But tonight I can’t pull my allegiance for my brother to the front and center.
I can only see the allegiance to myself, and what I want.
I want Liam.
Fingertips touch my jaw. Gentler than earlier.
Tender. Unsure but curious. His eyes move back to my lips, taking them in, memorizing them if I had to guess.
It pulls me in, my head tilting up to him, begging him without words, to kiss me.
His fingers slide along the length of my jaw, pushing back into my hair, his eyes flipping back to mine where I can still see the war within him.
He wants this just as badly as I do, but I understand the hesitation, and I don’t fault him for it.
I wouldn’t fault him if he took a giant step backwards instead of the leap of faith forward that I want him to take.
“Fuck it.”
The words have barely left his lips before he’s claiming me, his choice made.
Given his hand in my hair, I thought his lips would be gentle.
They’re anything but. Fast and hard, he takes my mouth, his body pressing me against the cage of the tower, the railing digging into my lower back.
I don’t care though. Not with his lips on me, moving over mine, demanding and taking, making me dizzy with need.
A kiss isn’t going to be enough. It was never going to be enough.
Wrapping my arms around his neck, I sink my own hand into his brown wavy hair as he tugs on mine. A moan slips past my lips, but he devours it, taking advantage of my open mouth to taste every inch of me he can get.
Abruptly he ends the kiss, pulling his head back, though his hand stays rooted in my hair while the other is still wrapped around my waist. We’re both breathing heavily, staring at each other, knowing what happened but not believing it at the same time.
A line crossed. A boundary broken. A promise shattered.
“Liam…”
“I know.” He licks his lips, removing his hand from my hair, running his fingertips along the length of my jaw once more. “I couldn’t stop it. Can’t stop it.”
Can’t. He can’t stop it. Does that mean…?
“Come back to my hotel room tonight,” he asks, dropping his forehead to mine. “Let me spend the night showing you how perfect you are.”