CHAPTER TWO
LIAM
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I’ve never been one to sleep in. For as long as I can remember, I felt that there wasn’t enough time to do all the things life had to offer.
A few times, when I was on active duty, I wondered if my life would be cut short, and that’s why I’d been like I was. Or perhaps it was because I lost my father when I was ten.
I know life is meant to be cherished.
Twenty-eight years and counting, and I’m still here despite being a pilot in the United States Air Force and being on active duty.
The greatest risk to my life is the blonde-haired, blue-eyed monster currently sleeping under my roof.
I swear she will be the death of me.
She would if her brother, Jayden, knew the thoughts I’d had about his sister for as long as I can remember.
He’d kill me. A bullet, point blank in the middle of my forehead.
He adores Jessie.
We both do.
She’s been like a little sister to me. Someone I’ve protected and loved in ways that have evolved over time.
Jessie knows she’s sexy, and I’m almost certain she knows I’d fuck her until she could barely breathe under different circumstances.
Which is very dangerous.
She’s not certain, and that’s been the only thing keeping me from crossing the line.
Well, that and the promise I made to Jayden after my dad died. I was ten, my mom wasn’t able to look after me because she went into a state of shock, and so Patricia and Donald Rogers took me in.
Jessie was six and so little.
I slept on a roll-out bed on Jayden’s floor, we went to school, and I became part of their family. It’s been the same since, with Mom growing close to the adults soon after.
Jessie would climb onto my lap, eat her little snacks, and ask me to read her stories.
“Look how adorable that is,” Patricia Rogers would say. “Just make sure you don’t annoy the boys.”
“I’m not,” Jessie cried. “Right, Lim?”
“You can sit on my knee whenever you want.”
I tickled her.
One night when we were lying in the dark, Jayden rolled over and said my name.
“Yeah?”
“Promise me you won’t ever hurt Jess,” Jayden said.
“Of course not.” I was offended. “Why would I hurt her?”
“Dad said she adores you, and we have to be careful when she grows up.”
At ten I didn’t fully understand what he was saying, but I sort of did. I guess Jayden felt the same.
“Doubt it.” I screwed my face up. “She’s a baby.”
“Yeah, but when we are adults. You’re my friend.” He flopped back onto his bed. “Okay?”
“Yep.”
That conversation weighed heavily on me, especially having just lost my dad. I didn’t want to lose my best friend, either.
I think it almost made me hypervigilant of how I felt about her from that day on. But it didn’t stop me protecting her and stealing moments because Jessie Rogers had stolen my heart, and nothing has ever changed that.
I simply can’t ever tell her.
Especially right now as I lie in my damn bed, knowing if I get up she’ll be in my kitchen wearing a
pair of panties and T-shirt, and I’ll have to use all my strength not to bend her over the table and slam my dick balls deep inside her.
Jessie knows exactly how I feel about her, and she’s tried many times to get me to show my hand.
And failed.
What is she doing here?
Did she know Jayden was traveling this week?
Jesus, he’s away for two damn weeks. What company holds a conference for two whole weeks?
I doubt he’s extending his time there for a vacation in Atlanta.
No offense to Atlanta, but it’s not exactly Waikiki.
I suspect he’s going to meet the gamer girl, MissBehave, but he’s being super vague about it.
“Fine, you can stay in my room for a few weeks while I’m in Atlanta,” Jayden said when Jessie showed up. “That okay, Liam?”
No, it’s not fucking okay.
But what choice did I have? I couldn’t think of a single reason why she couldn’t hang out. She was twenty-four, didn’t need to babysit, and his room was empty.
My cock was the only reason I could come up with—pun not intended—and I couldn’t voice that.
So the decision was made.
She was staying in my damn house.
His parting gift was asking me to take her to the birthday party for famous actress and my colleague Ryder’s wife, Savannah Sinclair last night.
I did.
Then tried to ignore her all night.
Try ignoring a gorgeous five-foot-six blonde that you’ve wanted to fuck for what feels like a thousand years.
With all the BHS guys at the party I’d had to watch her like a goddamn hawk. Jessie knows how protective I am of her and had played it up.
Then I’d driven her home and handed her a key when we were in the living room. “Jayden’s bedroom is on the right down the hall. No parties. No loud music. No...just stay out of trouble.”
Stay out of my bedroom, is what I meant.
The little hellcat swiveled on her heels, flicking her long hair over her shoulder. “Is that the room you really want me to sleep in, Liam?”
Yes.
I did.
Her insistent flirting, out of the view of our parents and Jayden, over the years was exhausting. She knew I couldn’t fuck her. Yes, both of us wanted to, but there are some things in life you can’t have.
You’re my friend. Okay?
There had been other conversations about Jess over the years, but Jayden had drawn a line in the sand between my friendship with him and anything that may have been possible with Jessie.
He’d been there for me when Dad died, and I owed him. I owed all the Rogers. Fucking their daughter was not the way to repay them.
Jessie was way too young back then to understand any of this. So, it was up to me to be the responsible one...and jerk off in the shower instead.
Running my palm over my morning wood, which was twice as big today, approximately, I gave it a squeeze.
“Not today. Not with Jessie in the house.” I groan.
Out of principle, I wasn’t jerking off with her anywhere within a mile of my dick. When I closed my eyes, it would be her I saw.
And all the other thousands of times.
Letting out a sigh, I toss back the covers and reach for a pair of jeans. I need a shower, so forgo the shirt and head to the kitchen for a glass of water and my morning supplements.
Jessie’s door is open, and I pray she’s left a note and headed to Mexico or something.
No such luck.
I smell the coffee before I reach the end of the hallway. Closing my eyes, I draw in a breath, wrench my head left and right to loosen my neck, and then step into the kitchen.
Jesus Fucking Christ.
“Jessie!”
She spins around and straightens from her inappropriate, and I suspect purposeful, position.
“Oh. Good morning.” Her eyes drift over my chest and down to the top of my jeans.
I stifle my groan and head to the tap, reaching for a glass and my vitamins.
I swallow them down.
“The appropriate response is good morning, Jessie.” She hates being ignored.
I drink half the glass and turn.
“Let’s get some house rules in place.”
She props out a hip, and I keep my eyes above her chin.
My voice is gravel when I add, “No leaving your bedroom in panties. And no bending over the kitchen table when you are wearing fucking panties.”
Jessie smiles.
I’d wipe that fucking smile off your face, little girl, and have you begging me to stop.
My nostrils flare, and her smile falters. Heat simmers between us, and I know that’s my cue to leave. Fast.
I curse, down the rest of the water and turn to drop the glass in the sink.
“That’s it?”
“What?” I turn.
“Those all the rules?” Jessie asks as I narrow my eyes.
I’ve missed something and am now racking my brain to figure out what she’s up to. So, I give myself an out. “No. There will be more. See if you can remember those two.”
Her smile is back in full force. “Oh, I will. No leaving the bedroom in panties. Got it.”
My brows dip.
That was too easy.
I pour oats into a bowl and add Greek yogurt, berries, and full cream milk. As I start walking out the door, Jessie flicks her hair, and it catches my attention.
And has me hard as a rock.
Two goddamn weeks. How am I going to survive?
“So, what’s there to do around here?” Jessie asks, as if I’m her new tour guide.
Not happening.
“Here? As in Los Angeles? Gee, I don’t know Jessie, it’s a real boring town.”
I feel like a jerk, it’s a rude thing to say, but this woman needs boundaries...correction, I need boundaries. Really big boundaries.
She huffs, then strides over to me...and let me remind everyone: She. Is. Wearing. Panties.
“Stop,” I growl.
More huffing.
“Liam, get over it. I’m not naked.”
Thank God for small fucking miracles.
“Nor am I contagious.”
Says the girl with the pussy I’ve been wanting to fuck for far too many years.
“We can’t avoid each other while I’m staying here.” She flutters her eyelashes, tilting her pretty little head, challenging me.
Yes, we can.
I’m going to try my hardest.
Don’t say hard.
“I’m busy, Jess. I have a job. I have...things to do,” I bluster.
“Can I come?”
No.
No, fucking, no!
“You can’t come to work with me.”
“It’s the weekend. You aren’t working today. Come on. I am new and have no idea how anything works here. Please.”
Goddamn her.
She’s always been able to get what she wanted out of me. Almost. Not my cock but I’m not dead yet.
No.
It’s her or my friendship, and there’s nothing to say that if we did end up together temporarily, it would last. It’s not worth the risk.
I shove a spoonful of oats into my mouth and start chewing so I don’t say what I want to say. It’ll either be hurtful or something along the lines of begging is the fastest way to get either my tongue or cock inside your dripping cunt.
I eat another spoonful because now that I’ve thought those words my dick is thickening, and I feel trapped. Which says something, given I was a pilot in the Middle East and fired at heavily on one mission.
This is scarier.
Much fucking scarier.
As the blood returns to my brain, I realize two things; One, I can’t say no to Jess. And two, when Jayden calls, he’ll ask what she’s been up to.
Jessie is a terrible liar.
He’ll expect me to look after her as I always have, so not taking her out will raise suspicions. I’ve spent years making sure he doesn’t suspect I have feelings for his sister.
Fuck it.
So yeah, I’m trapped.
“Fine. Get dressed—” My eyes run over her body. “In something decent. And meet me out here in thirty minutes.”
“Thirty minutes! I need sixty,” she cries.
“You have thirty-five,” I mutter as I head back to my room.
Two weeks.
If I can resist her for twenty-eight years, I can do two weeks.
Surely.