Chapter 34
LONDON
“Dominic and Jenny are so great, don’t you think?” I felt all swoony and dreamy after spending time with them.
It wasn’t really like me. Normally, their sweetness would have given me a toothache. Maybe it would give me heart disease in the long run, but right then, I just couldn’t get over how perfect they were.
“Like Olivia and Charlie?” Liam suggested as we walked back into the hotel after dinner. “They’re pretty great together too.”
“Exactly.” I sighed happily. “Abi and Simon too, but I’m not ready to admit that just yet. He’s an asshole.”
“You have to let that go.” He dragged out most of the words in the sentence and shot me a stern look that said it was time. “They worked it out. She forgave him. You can’t hold a grudge on her behalf.”
“Of course, I can.” I knew I sounded like an indignant brat, and for a moment, I was okay with it, but then I thought about how happy she’d been on their wedding day and I sighed.
“I’m working on it. I promise. It’s just…
people think Abi’s the loyal one and she is, but she’s too loyal sometimes.
Me? I’m loyal too, but if you take advantage of that, it’s game over. ”
“Yeah, I think you should keep working on it,” he teased, but paused when we walked past the lobby bar. “Am I reading that right?”
On a blackboard outside the entrance was a sign that read 50% Off Margaritas!!
I looked at him and he grinned. “Oh, you known I’m down, girl.”
We ordered a couple pitchers to take up to our room.
Then we sat on the balcony overlooking the water park all lit up at night.
It was gorgeous. The swimming pools looked like glowing crystals whereas the slides loomed like giant tree roots.
Strategically placed lights illuminated them to reveal their vibrant colors.
“It’s different out there at night,” I murmured, sipping my margarita on the chair beside Liam’s. “Strangely peaceful if you think about what a hive of activity it was just a few hours ago.”
It was completely quiet now, with not a soul to be seen and the sound of waves lapping at the shore in the distance, punctuated only by the faint drone of evening traffic nearby. “Yeah, I know what you mean. I could just sit out here and stare until morning. Why is it so relaxing?”
“Because neither of us are used to this.” My voice was still quiet, almost reverent, but that was the way I was feeling right then. “Just sitting around, staring at nothing and being. I like it, though. We should do it more often.”
He let out a rumbling, low chuckle. “I’d love that, but we’d have to do it between the hours of two and four in the morning. I don’t know about you, but I don’t see any other open spots in our schedules.”
“Yeah, well, who needs sleep?” I joked, kicking my feet up on the little coffee table in front of us and leaning back in my chair. “Can I tell you something? But you’re not allowed to make fun of me for it.”
“Not a chance,” he said without hesitating. “You know damn well I can never agree to that.”
I let out a soft sigh, wondering if admitting this was the right idea, but I was going to do it anyway. “I’m really grateful to you for understanding why I am the way I am.”
“A weirdo? I just assumed your parents dropped you on your head a lot.” He was still looking out at the water park. “Should have gotten you a helmet.”
“I’m serious,” I said. “Look at me.”
He turned and I could feel his attention wholly focused on me. “Okay, I’ll be serious.”
I nodded. “I always feel like I have to be a boss girl, you know? A girl who can and will take the world by storm and not let anything stand in her way. A girl who has to have it all together and isn’t allowed to have her quirks or vulnerabilities because she has to be strong in the face of it all, but sometimes, I just want to be a girl, and you allow me to be that. Without making me feel bad about it.”
He smirked but it lacked its usual devilish fire. “Yeah, deep down, you’re soft.”
“And you can’t be serious for more than thirty seconds,” I retorted.
He laughed. “I wasn’t joking and I didn’t say it to be mean. It just so happens to be true, London Walker. You’re a big ol’ softie and you don’t want anyone to know, which is cute sometimes and hot as hell at others.”
“You really think so?” I asked, hating how needy I sounded. “I feel like such a chump sometimes because of it. I can hold my own and I can go to war in a corporate setting, but there’s so much pressure to be that way all the time, and why? What for?”
“Fucked if I know.” He reached over and gave my forearm a squeeze, his fingers lingering on my skin for several seconds longer than necessary, but I really liked him touching me so casually.
“Everyone feels pressure about one thing or another. For me, it’s my family.
The way I know they’re right there out of sight, but waiting for the moment I fail.
It’s a constant. It feels like living with a swinging ax over my head, just not knowing when that blade is going to drop. ”
My heart actually ached for him tonight, not because I was surprised he felt that way. I’d known it for a long time, but because I heard the raw emotion in his voice when he said it. Taking my turn to reach out to him, I slid my fingers around his forearm and didn’t pull back.
“I’ve been thinking about this a lot since the other night on the yacht,” I confessed softly. “I know you made a deal with your dad, Liam. I also know that you’re the kind of guy who honors his word, but you do know that it’ll always be your life, right?”
“Sure. I just really don’t want to get into another fight about how I want to live it. Especially not with my mom and Bella in the middle. The first time nearly killed them over what it did to our family. I don’t think I’d ever be able to do that to them again.”
I inclined my chin in acknowledgment and switched the topic to something lighter. It was hours later when we finally went inside for the night, washing our faces and brushing our teeth side by side at the his-and-hers vanities in our bathroom, and I really didn’t hate the domesticity of it all.
After changing into my pajamas, I climbed into bed and waited for him with only the lamp on my nightstand lighting our room. He came out of the bathroom after shaving, pulling his shirt off over his head before he flicked back the covers and climbed in next to me.
Without a word, I switched off the lamp and threw our room into darkness, but only for the time it took for our eyes to adjust to that ethereal glow from the water park outside. I burrowed into my pillow, trying to get comfortable, but I was so aware of him next to me.
So unsure about what to do but so confident in what I wanted. Come on, London. You can do this. Just touch him. He’ll do the rest. All you need is to give him the go-ahead.
My hand inched toward him under the covers, so painstakingly slowly that the journey nearly gave me a coronary, but finally, my fingers grazed against warm skin. Liam groaned. I expected him to ask what I was doing, but he didn’t.
In response, his fingers skated up the length of my arm and then he rolled over to face me, catching my cheek in his free palm in the dark and slowly moving his head closer to mine.
I felt his breath ghosting across my skin, smelled the wooded, spicy scent of his aftershave enveloping me, and then his lips pressed against mine.
I moaned, immediately surrendering to the magic of our very own bubble.
Liam kissed me hard and deeply, forgoing the usual banter and playfulness for something that stirred my very soul. He held me tight and undressed me slowly, our combined breathing the only sound in the room for the longest time.
There were no snipes or jokes, no shots fired and no making light of what was happening between us. He took me like I was his and I didn’t fight it, putty in his hands. He nipped, licked, and sucked whatever parts of me wanted.
In return, he lay back and let me do my own thing after I’d come apart for him a couple times, and I was in no rush. Finally getting to run my fingertips along the contours of his strong body, I committed the feel of him to memory and moved slowly when I took him into my mouth.
I relished every breathy groan and throaty whimper. I loved the sensation of his hands pulling at my hair and his hips bucking underneath me. When he eventually tapped out, I climbed on top of him and rode him like he was mine, and he didn’t fight that either.
When it was all said and done, I rolled away from him, panting but feeling strangely cold and empty without him. As if he’d read my mind, a gentle question broke the silence.
“You know I can hold you if you want, right?” he whispered, angling himself so I could feel the heat of him in bed with me but not close enough to touch me just yet. “I don’t mind if you want to be a girl, London.”
London. Not Walker. Interesting. I’ve noticed that a few times lately. I bit back a yawn, so sated and sleepy, but yet, I kept my internal fight going for a few more seconds before I scooted backward until my body was molded to his.
Rolling over onto his back, he slid his arm under my head and effortlessly moved me into a much more comfortable position. He chuckled. “Yep, I knew you were a softie.” My hand shot up to pinch his nipple and he laughed. “Ah-ah. Okay, okay. Not a softie. Dang, girl.”
I let out the girliest giggle that had ever escaped my lips, but I drifted off to sleep feeling happier than I had in a long time.
As I regained consciousness the next morning, I drew in a deep breath. The scent of fresh coffee greeted me, and the weight of something heavy on my side of the bed had woken me.
My eyes flew open to see Liam sitting on the edge of our bed, a mug in his hands and a soft smile on his lips. I groaned and sat up, rubbing my eyes before I squinted at him. “Do you always bring your ladies coffee in bed?”
He smiled. “A slight correction there. It’s lady, not ladies, and no. It’s just that if I don’t do it for you, you’re mean as hell. Same as when you’re hungry. Or bored.”
Sleepy, uninhibited laughter bubbled out of me, but in my groggy state, I also couldn’t help my mind from flashing to something it rarely ever did. He’s going to make a hell of a husband to someone one day.