30. Devious Dalliances #2
“You keep reaching for things that are unattainable. Like becoming a dean, for example. You missed out on your opportunity to discover a new species on that expedition. And now your silly little proposal. None of that is going to help your career. So why don’t you stop chasing something you’ll never have and let me do it? ”
My hand trembled as I stared at him, trying to hide the shock on my face. “Let you do it?”
“Your mother didn’t tell you? The position of dean of my department is opening up in a couple of months. And it’s been offered to me. You can move in with me and I’ll get you a teaching job.”
“Move in with you?” I tried not to raise my voice, but a couple members of our table glanced our way. “You presumptuous bastard. I told you I’m done. After tonight, I never want to see you again.”
“Don’t you ever speak to me that way, Cerise.” He leaned in, eyes menacing, as his hand wrapped around my arm just above my elbow, squeezing…hard.
I yelped, standing from my seat. Everyone nearby looked my way, including Liam, his face painted with concern.
“Sorry,” I scanned the people around me. “Excuse me, I need to use the ladies room.”
I turned and hurried away. Lifting my dress so I wouldn’t trip on the hem, I rushed down the dark wood hallways and turned a corner. Gripping the handle of the first door I found, I shoved it open and shut it behind me, slumping against it with a sigh.
I was in some type of storage room. Stacks of cloth-covered furniture had been shoved against the walls. Old paintings leaned against each other on the ground and the only light entered through a small round window high above.
A mirror hung on the wall to my right. I pushed off the door and stood before it, bracing my hands on either side as I tried to slow my breathing.
“Pull it together, Cerise,” I said, staring myself down in the reflection. “You are not one to lose control of your emotions. You will get through this night unscathed and then go back to the way things were. It will be fine.”
The door opened and I turned to meet Liam’s concerned gaze. “Who are you talking to?”
“Myself. What are you doing in here?”
He locked the door behind him and leaned against it, hands in his pockets. “What’s going on? You looked upset when you left the table. Are you back with Ambrose?”
“What? Of course not. Why would you think that?”
His face was a mask of calm, but something churned in his eyes. Jealousy?
“You’re sitting next to him. After you refused to sit next to me.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “You can thank my mother for that. It was her doing. And no, I would never get back with Ambrose.”
“Good. What did he say to you? Why did you leave the table so upset?”
I subconsciously rubbed my arm where he had grabbed me. It still hurt.
Liam’s eyes widened, noticing the movement. “Did he put his hands on you? Cerise...” His voice went low, dark. I’d never heard him sound like that before. “…did he hurt you?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Liam went still. “I’ll kill him.”
I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped. “You’ll what? Mister ‘I broke my hand because I’ve never punched anyone before’ is going to kill Ambrose Yearwood?”
He had the sense to look a bit chagrined. “You’re right. Of course I won’t kill him…but if that happens again…” He ran a hand down his face. “Are you injured?”
“No. I’m fine.”
Liam tilted his head. “What did he say to you?” he asked again.
“He was just being his typical egotistical self. Why? Are you jealous? You and I are just friends, remember?”
He pushed off the door and stalked toward me, shaking his head. “I never agreed to that.”
I backed away as he approached, but he didn’t stop until I hit the wall behind me. His hands landed on either side of my head and he smiled at me.
“Well,” I said, ignoring the way my breathing sped up at how he caged me in. “That’s what I want.”
“Is it?” He reached out and touched my hair, rubbing it between his fingers. “Is that why you wore your hair down?” He lifted it to his face and inhaled.
“I just felt like it.”
“All right then.” He leaned in close. “Would a friend give you orgasms that made you see stars? Would your body react how it is now if I was just a…friend? The way you subtly clench your thighs when I come near? Or how your pulse races right…here…” He placed the gentlest kiss on the pulse point on my neck.
I shuddered, my traitorous body warming at his touch, his breath on my neck. Of course I didn’t want to just be friends. And he knew it.
Pulling back, he pressed his forehead to mine and gripped my jaw. “Tell me you don’t want this. That you don’t want us. Tell me right now and I’ll stop. I’ll walk away. Permanently."
I was quiet.
“Say it, Cerise. Say that you only want to be friends.”
I shook my head. “That’s not what I want.”
“I know.”
Then his lips were on mine, his hand on the side of my neck while the other gripped my hip. Oh, how I’d missed this. Even though we’d really only spent one night together, I’d been craving his lips on mine and his hands on my body ever since.
I let out a whimper and he kissed me harder, his tongue diving into my mouth as he took control. My hands moved up his chest to his neck. Digging into his hair, I tugged. He growled.
He moved to my jawline, tilting my head as he worshiped my neck. “Gods, you smell divine.” He ran his nose up the column of my throat, then kissed his way down to my collarbone.
“Do you have any idea what you do to me, beautiful?” His hands were everywhere. Skimming my hips and my waist, one cupping my breast and squeezing.
His mouth moved back up and met mine in a searing kiss.
“Did you know…that I can’t get you out of my head?
” He nipped my bottom lip and tugged. “That I think about you when I’m teaching…
when I’m grading papers…when I’m alone at night with my cock in my hand…
I imagine your breathy sighs and pretend it's you. Your hand…your mouth…your perfect pussy…”
Oh my gods. I could never get enough of this man’s dirty talk. It was so unlike me.
“Liam…” I moaned, looking at him with half-lidded eyes. “My mother’s speaking soon. We have to go back out there.”
He glanced at his watch. “We have fifteen minutes. That’s plenty of time.”
I panted. “Plenty of time for what?”
“For me to help you relax,” he murmured against my lips before kissing me hard again, pressing me against the wall.
Breaking the kiss, he took a step back. “Take off your panties.”
I shivered at the authoritative tone in his voice. “Here?”