Chapter 35 Liam
LIAM
I ease Emma onto the bed, and before she can reach for me again, I hold up a finger.
“Stay right here.”
I return from the bathroom with a warm washcloth, kneeling beside her and running the cloth slowly between her thighs, lingering just long enough to make her exhale in a shaky, desperate sound; she’s already trembling.
Her legs fall open instinctively, like her body is reaching for me without permission.
I toss the cloth aside and lie beside her, dragging my fingertips to trace the line of her throat, soft and slow.
Her pulse jumps under my touch. I follow the path down across her collarbone, the dip between her breasts, the rise of her ribs.
Her skin breaks out in goosebumps, her nipples tightening instantly, begging to be kissed, bitten, and worshipped.
She closes her eyes and turns her face away when I reach her stomach.
“Hey,” I murmur, brushing my knuckles over her hip. “Why’d you look away?”
“Oh, it’s just…” Her voice is barely a whisper.
“It’s just what?”
Her cheeks, already red from exertion, redden even more. “My belly is soft.”
I lean down, press a slow kiss to her navel, and smile against her skin. “Baby, it’s perfect. You’re perfect. Every inch of you.”
Her breath leaves her in a shaky exhale.
My hand drifts lower until my fingers find her entrance again—slick, warm, already aching for more. I pinch her clit gently between my fingers, and she gasps, her back arching off the bed.
“Do you like that?” I ask, my voice a low rasp. “A little sting with the sweetness?”
“A tiny bit,” she whispers. “Yes.”
Her answer makes my cock jump with joy.
I cup her pussy, glistening with desire again. My hand is large, and it covers her mound and then some. She pushes her hips up into my touch, grinding.
“I can’t get enough of you,” I growl against her ear, pressing the heel of my hand harder into her clit while my fingers slide through her folds. “I don’t think I ever fucking will.”
“Mmmm,” she moans, her hips pushing desperately against my hand. She’s right on the edge, her breathing fractured, her thighs trembling. She could come just like this.
But no. I don’t want that. I want her to come on my face, on my cock. Not just my hand.
I shift lower, settling between her legs, pushing them wider until she’s open for me completely. I take in the sight of her swollen pussy, so wet and ready to take me again.
“Christ, Em,” I growl. “You’re obscene.”
I drag one slow finger through her heat. “And you’re mine to taste.”
I bury my face in her pussy before she can breathe a word—tongue sliding through her folds, mouth sealing around her clit. She cries out instantly, her back arching off the bed, fingers tangling hard in my hair as she tries to grind against my mouth.
I give her what she wants and more.
My teeth nip her just hard enough to make her gasp my name like a plea.
I slide two fingers inside her, thrusting deep and curling them until she’s shaking under me. Then I add a third, stretching her around them, pushing her right to that perfect line between pleasure and surrender.
“Liam, oh God,” she whimpers, hips bucking helplessly.
Her orgasm hits fast and sharp, her pussy clenching around my fingers, her taste flooding my mouth as she shudders through it. I hold her there, licking her through the aftershocks, savoring every shake, every broken sound.
When she finally sinks back onto the mattress, I pull my slick fingers from her and bring them to her lips. Her eyes flutter open, and she takes them into her mouth without hesitation, sucking them clean, moaning around my knuckles.
She grabs at my hips, pulling me up her body with greedy hands. Her eyes are glassy, wild, hungry. She looks up at me and whispers, broken and breathless:
“Liam… I want your cock in my mouth.”
“Fuck. Yeah.” Grabbing the headboard with both hands, I fuck that pretty pink mouth of hers.
She takes me in, down her throat. She holds the shaft in one hand, my balls in the other, and she sucks.
She licks along the shaft, along the head, then takes me deep.
I pick up the pace, and she moans, the vibration pushing me too close to release.
Even though every part of me wants to come in her mouth and watch her swallow, I pull out before I can tip over the edge.
I need more than that.
I need to be inside her again.
So I flip her to her stomach and pull her ass up in the air. I smack her ass, and she yelps, then giggles.
She stops giggling when I shove my cock as far into her as I can. I fuck her hard, one hand snaking to press at her clit. Her noises are animal, primal.
I keep that friction on her clit, and she pushes to meet every thrust. And just when I feel she’s about to come, I pull out. She cries out in protest as I flip her again to her back.
“I want you to look me in the eyes when you come,” I say. “Because this is a promise, Emma. This? You and me? This is forever. You’re mine. I’m yours. You got it?”
She makes a nonsensical sound, her hips reaching, pushing, trying to get to me.
“Emma,” I say, a warning.
“Yes, Liam.”
“Yes, what?”
“Yessss,” she whimpers, her back arching, her head thrashing against the pillow. “Yes. Yes. I’m yours. I love you—”
That’s all it takes.
I drive into her in deep, greedy thrusts, and she cries out, coming instantly. It’s long, and it clenches around my cock, and I swear her eyes roll back in her head.
She comes so hard that it wrenches my own release free in a raw, guttural roar, my hips driving into her, fast and hard and helpless, lost in the vision of Emma.
Emma Reyes. The love of my life. The mother of my child.
Emma Reyes. Wild mass of curls against white sheets. Sweaty skin, peaked nipples, and pink cheeks.
Emma. Emma. Emma.
We lie together, tangled in the sheets, catching our breath, for a long time. My hand is splayed between her breasts. Her hand is on my thigh.
I could fuck her again, I swear. My cock stirs from just this slightest touch. It’s always been that way between us.
I pull her against me, drawing the blanket over both of us. She makes a soft, sleepy sound and melts into my chest.
A tiny yawn escapes her. “God… sorry.”
A low laugh rumbles out of me. “It’s late… I think. Honestly, I have no clue what time it is. Are you working tomorrow?”
“Yeah. At six.”
She lifts her arm just enough to brush her fingers along the bruise around my eye. The touch is soft, slow, almost reverent.
“Have I ever told you,” she murmurs, “that I think black eyes are kind of… sexy?”
I let out a low laugh and rest my forehead against hers.
“No,” I say softly, “but feel free to tell me again.”
She smiles, sleepy and wicked, and something inside me tightens. I kiss her once, slow and lingering, but then, realizing what she’s said and panicking a little, I twist to grab my phone and check the time. “Shit, it’s midnight. You should get some rest.”
She groans softly. “Yeah… probably.”
“Where does Laddie go while you’re at work tomorrow?”
“He’s going to his friend’s house,” she says, tracing lazy circles on my chest with her fingertips. “It’s New Year’s Eve. They’ll host a kids’ party overnight. I’ll pick him up in the morning.”
“Overnight?” I ask.
She smiles against my throat. “Don’t say it like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you’re picturing me all alone in this bed,” she whispers.
I swallow hard. “Maybe I am.”
Her breath catches, and she snuggles closer, her leg sliding between mine in a way that makes every nerve in my body wake up again.
“He likes it,” she continues quietly, pretending she didn’t just ignite every inch of me. “And they are oddly good at managing a group of kindergarten boys and keeping them entertained. The ER will be a zoo. Always is on holidays where there’s drinking and fireworks involved.”
The silence settles between us for a long time, long enough that I think maybe she’s fallen asleep. But then she suddenly whispers, “I’m kind of afraid to ask how your contract negotiations are going.”
I exhale, staring at the ceiling before looking down at her.
“Oh. Um… okay, I think.”
My voice is low. Honest. A little raw.
“I think the team’ll renegotiate.”
I slide my hand into her hair, tugging gently.
“But… I also think they might trade me.”
Emma stiffens in my arms. “Really?”
“Yeah,” I say quietly. “The only way to make real money in hockey is to be a superstar. To stack the stats. To hit bonuses. I can’t do that on the Reapers.”
“You can’t?” she asks, frowning.
“No.” I brush my thumb along her hip, grounding myself. “Because the team isn’t always trying to win. They hold certain players back. They… manage outcomes. If a loss benefits a few powerful people, that loss happens.”
She stares at me. “Are you serious?”
“Mmhmm,” I hum. “I didn’t see it at first. Some of the guys are trying to push back, but… I’m done. I want a fair shot. So honestly? Apart from having to move wherever, I kind of welcome the trade.”
Emma exhales slowly. “Yeah, I mean… that makes sense. It’s just—”
I kiss her forehead gently. “I know. A trade could take me anywhere. California, Florida, Texas. Every mile is too far from you two.” I swallow hard.
“Would you ever… consider coming with me? We could start fresh. All three of us. A real family. I mean, there are nursing jobs everywhere, and Laddie’s young, he’s got friends here but not roots yet, and I—”
She cuts me off with a kiss.
A soft, sure, silencing kiss.
When she pulls back, she whispers against my lips, “You’re babbling. And yes. I’d consider coming with you.”
My heart almost explodes.
I kiss her again. And again. Like I can’t get close enough.
“I love you,” I breathe, unable to hold it in. “Fuck, Emma… I love you.”
“I love you too,” she whispers back.
“And I love our son,” I add, kissing her forehead, her cheek, her jaw. “I love both of you. More than anything.”
“I’m so sorry for how much time we lost,” she says, and starts crying again. “Shit, I hate how much I cry.”
I kiss away her tears, salty against my lips, and my cock is hard again. Her legs part instinctively and trustingly, letting me inside, and we’re front to front on our sides, moving in sync, our bodies totally aligned.
Our foreheads touch. Her breath mingles with mine. We move together in a slow, aching rhythm that feels like forgiveness, hunger, and home.
“I love you,” I say again. I can’t say it enough.
We make love slow, deep, unhurried, as if we’re learning each other all over again and claiming each other at the same time.
When we’re spent, we fall asleep tangled together, warm and safe.
And for the first time in weeks…
No one wakes from a nightmare.