Chapter 17
SEVENTEEN
The upstairs hallway was quieter than the chaos below, but I could still feel the bass vibrating through the floorboards as I slipped into the bathroom at the end of the hall. I locked the door behind me and leaned against it, my heart pounding so hard I could feel it in my throat.
What was I doing?
The bathroom was nicer than I expected for a frat-adjacent party house—shiny white tile, a big mirror over the sink, and hand towels that actually looked clean. Someone’s mom had probably decorated this place.
I caught my reflection in the mirror and almost didn’t recognize myself.
My cheeks were flushed and my eyes bright.
This was the most reckless thing I’d ever done, and the exhilaration was written all over my face.
This wasn’t the Ava who played it safe, who edited herself to fit into whatever box was most convenient for those around her.
This was the Ava who’d written a bucket list and was diving in headfirst.
A soft knock made me jump.
“It’s me.” Liam’s voice came through the door, low and rough. I unlocked it and he slipped inside, clicking the lock back into place before I could even take a full breath.
For a moment, we just stared at each other.
The bathroom suddenly felt very small. He seemed to take up all the oxygen in the room, all broad shoulders and dark hair and those green eyes that were looking at me like I was the only thing that existed.
I wasn’t sure who moved first, but the next thing I knew, his hands were in my hair and his lips were on mine.
He kissed me like we had all the time in the world, even though we didn’t. Slow and deep, his tongue slid against mine in a way that made heat pool low in my belly. I grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling him closer, needing more.
When we finally broke apart, we were both breathing hard.
“What are you doing to me?” He said it so low I wasn’t sure he meant for me to hear it.
Then he kissed me again, harder this time, backing me up against the bathroom counter until the edge dug into my butt. I didn’t care. All I cared about was the feel of him—his mouth, his hands, the solid weight of his body pressing against mine.
But I didn’t want to just receive tonight. I wanted to give.
I’d been thinking about this for weeks, ever since I’d added it to my list. Item number two: Make a man come from a BJ (swallow it).
But it wasn’t really about the list anymore.
It was about Liam. About the way he made me feel powerful and desired.
About wanting to see him lose control because of me.
I pushed gently at his chest, breaking the kiss. His brow furrowed in confusion.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” I held his gaze as I slowly sank to my knees on the cool tile floor. “I want to try something.”
His breath caught audibly. “Ava, you don’t have to—”
“I know I don’t have to.” I reached for his belt, my fingers steadier than I expected even as desire hummed through my veins. “I want to.”
He stared down at me, chest heaving, looking utterly wrecked and I hadn’t even touched him yet.
“No objections,” he managed. “None at all.”
I smiled and went back to work on his belt.
I freed him from his boxer briefs, and my breath stuttered at the sight of him.
He was already hard, straining toward me, and the knowledge that I’d done that—that my kiss, my touch, the mere suggestion of what I wanted to do had gotten him like this—made me feel powerful in a way I’d never experienced.
I’d given blowjobs before, but I hadn’t been into them. They’d felt like something I had to do. But with Liam, I wanted it as badly as he seemed to.
“Ava.” His voice was barely more than a rasp. “You’re so fucking beautiful.”
I wrapped my hand around his velvety hardness, and he groaned, his head falling back against the bathroom wall, his throat working as he swallowed.
“Tell me what you like,” I said quietly, stroking once, twice. “I want to make this good for you.”
“It’s already good.” His hand came down to rest on my head, not pushing, but resting there. “Anything you do is going to be good. I already know your mouth is perfect.”
I leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the tip, tasting salt. His body jerked.
Emboldened, I took him into my mouth.
“Fuck, Aves.”
The first thing I noticed was how he responded to every little thing I did.
When I swirled my tongue around the head, his fingers tightened in my hair.
When I took him deeper, a sound escaped his throat that I felt all the way down to my toes.
He was so responsive, so vocal, and it made me want to learn every single thing that made him lose control.
I started to find a rhythm, using my hand where my mouth couldn’t reach, sliding easily from the lubrication of my saliva. Liam’s breathing went ragged above me.
“Fuck,” he groaned, low enough that hopefully no one passing by would hear. “Sunshine, that’s… God, just like that.”
I hummed around him, and his hips jerked involuntarily. He immediately tried to still himself.
“Sorry, sorry—”
I pulled back just enough to speak. “Don’t be. I like it.”
And I did. I liked the way he was struggling to hold himself together. I liked the way his thighs were tensing under my hand. I liked the breathy sounds he was making, like every slide of my tongue was undoing him piece by piece.
“You’re so fucking good at this,” he said, his voice choked, and when I looked up, he was watching me with an expression that made my chest ache. Wonder and heat and something else I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen on his face before. “Too good. Don’t want it to stop.”
I gave him a cheeky smile. “Then don’t come yet.”
He huffed out a breathless laugh. “You say that as if it’s easy.”
I took him deeper, relaxing my throat the way I’d read about but never actually tried, and Liam made a sound like I’d punched the air out of him.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck, if you keep doing that, I’m going to—” His hand tightened in my hair. “I’m so close.”
I didn’t pull away. Instead, I doubled down, moving faster, sucking harder, taking him as deep as I could manage, determined to see this through. This was what I wanted. I wanted to give him this. I wanted to be the one who made him fall apart. I wanted to taste him the way he’d tasted me.
“Fuck, Ava—”
His whole body went rigid, and then he was coming with a groan that he barely managed to muffle with his fist. I swallowed around him, tasting salt and heat, and kept going until he shuddered through the last aftershocks and gently tugged at my hair to pull me off.
“Come here,” he said, his voice wrecked.
He hauled me up off the floor and kissed me hard, not seeming to care where my mouth had just been. His hands framed my face like I was something precious, and when he pulled back, his forehead rested against mine as we both caught our breath.
“That was…” He shook his head, apparently unable to find words. “You’re incredible. You know that?”
I grinned, feeling lighter than I had all night. “So I can check that one off the list?”
He laughed, the sound slightly disbelieving. “Yeah, Aves. You can definitely check that one off.” His thumb traced my lower lip, still swollen from what I’d been doing. “Let me return the favor.”
“Liam, we’ve already been up here too long—”
“I don’t care.” His hand was already sliding under my shirt, fingertips skating across my stomach. “I’m not walking out of this bathroom until I’ve made you come at least once.”
“That’s very generous of you.”
“It’s not generous. It’s selfish.” He nipped at my earlobe, making me shiver. “Because nothing gets me off more than watching you fall apart. And I’m desperate to taste you again. I’m fucking addicted.”
How was I supposed to say no to that?
His hands were already working at the button of my jeans, and his mouth was doing wicked things to my neck.
His fingers found me already soaked, and his groan of approval vibrated against my throat. His thumb circled my clit while two fingers slid inside me, curling to hit that spot that made my knees buckle.
I bit down on his shoulder to muffle my moan, and he laughed softly against my ear.
“Gotta be quiet, Aves. Can you do that for me?”
Having to be quiet so I don’t get caught. That was another item on my list. I was two for one tonight.
“Yes,” I gasped, even though I wasn’t sure I could.
He made it his mission to test me. Every stroke of his fingers, every press of his thumb, every filthy word whispered against my skin pushed me closer to the edge. I buried my face in his neck, breathing in the scent of him, and tried desperately not to scream as the pressure built and built.
“That’s it,” he murmured. “Come for me, Ava. Let go.”
I shattered, a far too loud moan piercing the air as my body shook through an orgasm that left me boneless and trembling in his arms. He held me through it, stroking me gently as I came down, and when I finally lifted my head, he was looking at me with that expression again.
The one that made me feel like I was the only woman in the world.
“Hmm, I don’t think that one should count as being quiet,” he said softly. “I think we’ll check that one off later.”
I wasn’t going to argue. It meant I got more time with him.
Although I was starting to worry that the time we had left would never be enough.