Chapter 56
LONDON
Next to Liam under the stars, I felt like I was toeing the edge of a cliff, and frankly, I was terrified of the fall—but I was even more afraid of walking away from it. My heart was about to beat right out of my chest as I stared up into his eyes, their color almost silver under the moonlight.
Before I could even really wonder what kind of adventure he had in mind, I found myself placing my palm gently in his. He wrapped his strong, warm fingers around mine, pulling softly as I stood up.
Barefoot on the cool grass, I was confused about what he was up to until I heard the quiet ripple of water through the trees. “Wait, are you dragging me to the creek?”
He chuckled. “Only if you’re brave enough for a nighttime swim.”
I side-eyed him. “I’m not wearing a suit.”
“That’s your problem, not mine.” He shrugged, smirking. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m not wearing a suit either. Underwear covers the same stuff, right?”
I huffed out a breath. “Yeah, but it doesn’t dry as fast.”
“Do you care?”
I was about to say yes, but then I paused to think about it and I realized that I really didn’t. “I’ve swum in this creek a few times. The water’s cold, but I suppose that’s your problem. Not mine.”
He chuckled, the sound low and sexy in the dark as we weaved our way through the trees. “How is that a problem? I have you to keep me warm, don’t I?”
“I don’t know,” I mused out loud, my heart back to hammering against my ribs. “Do you?”
“Only you can answer that question.” We broke through the tree line and carefully made our way onto the rocks.
A few months ago, just before we’d left Texas, Charlie and his brothers had built a small dock out here so that it would be easier to climb in and out of the water when they eventually brought Lizzie swimming. Liam and I walked to it and he let go of my hand to peel off his shirt.
Without hesitating, he kicked off his boots too. The soft zip of him undoing his jeans raced through the air. Moonlight shimmered on the water and the scene was so beautiful and peaceful that it gave me pause, but it clearly didn’t do the same for him.
Without a word, he poised himself at the edge of the dock and dove right in. The surface rippled around him as he disappeared into the inky depths. I rolled my eyes, stripping off my outer layers until I was left in my bra and panties.
“This is such a bad idea,” I muttered under my breath, but I refused to be outdone and I wasn’t finished with that conversation we’d been having earlier either.
I’d admitted to having missed the guy and he’d said it back, but then he’d gotten up and dragged me all the way out here. I didn’t know what to make of that and I didn’t do well with uncertainty. Being vulnerable wasn’t exactly my favorite thing in the world either.
So no. He and I were finishing that conversation, even if I had to jump in after him to do it. As I hit the water, it was cool and sharp around me, but it also gave me a thrill.
Here we were, in our undies at night, in a creek on a ranch so big, I didn’t even know how far the nearest neighbors were, and it was exhilarating. It felt like freedom. I surfaced, chilled but elated enough that it didn’t matter.
“Okay, maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea after all,” I murmured as I spun to find him lazily swimming closer to me. “I might even go so far as to say it was a good idea. This is really something else, isn’t it?”
“Yep, but you’re something else too.” He wrapped an arm around my waist, and on instinct, my legs wound around his hips.
We pulled each other closer, my arms looping around his shoulders and our faces suddenly only an inch apart. He drew in a breath as we drifted. The tension between us was so thick that it hummed.
“You said that you rely on me.” He lifted a hand to my hip and ran it to the small of my back, sending a shiver through my entire body. “But I’ve already bet everything I have on you, London. Whether you’re ready or not, whether I say it out loud or not, you know and have known it to be true.”
My heart pulsed and skipped, fear and joy entwining in my insides in a dangerous dance that pushed me closer. Despite the fact that I’d thought I would be backing off, I found it impossible to follow through.
I also didn’t have the right words, so I leaned in and pressed my lips to his. Slow, intense, no games. Just us in the dark, doing our own thing while I tried with all my might not to fully give in.
Liam groaned as his tongue swept across my own. His muscles tensing, he started swimming us toward the edge. We came out of the water breathless and dripping, and he pulled himself onto the dock first, grabbing my dress and his shirt to wrap them around my shoulders once he’d helped me out too.
Ours hands found each other’s in the dark and they were still linked when he led me into the house. It was dark and quiet, the others fast asleep as we made our way upstairs. When we reached my room, I didn’t hesitate to pull him inside with me.
My arms went around his neck again, the two of us crashing together with our skin still sticky and cool since we hadn’t dried off properly. On the walk back, my hair had stopped dripping and I could feel it glued to my head, but I didn’t give a darn.
I heard his jeans and shoes drop to the floor when he released them from his hand. Then he pushed his shirt and dress from me. I didn’t even pretend to try to fight.
Reaching for the soaked waistband of his boxer briefs, I pulled them away from his hips and pushed them down, struggling with the wet fabric clinging to his skin. I lowered myself to my knees in front of him.
Liam was fully naked now and I had gotten down despite telling him just a few hours ago that I didn’t do that.
None of it seemed to matter right then, though.
I was doing all kinds of things I usually didn’t like and others that I never thought I would do, but with him, I felt safe and secure enough not to resist my own instinct.
I looked up into his eyes, not saying anything, and ran my palms along the lengths of his cold thighs. A soft sound hummed in his chest when I reached up, and up, and up. Finally, I wrapped my hands around his icy skin, bringing my lips to the silky tip of him and sucking him into my mouth.
He was rock hard but so cold that the inside of my mouth probably felt unbearably hot to him. His groan confirmed my suspicion. Almost immediately, his fingers slid into my hair and his hips started rocking gently.
Quietly, husky groans escaped him. He dropped his head back.
I kept my eyes on him, a rush of heat between my thighs and an ache in my core I couldn’t deny, but I wanted to do this first. To watch him.
To feel him as I pushed him to the edge I’d been dangling on ever since I’d realized that it was possible I was in love with him.
Liam took it like a champ, his fingers tightening in my hair every time I backed off just as he swelled, but he didn’t protest or try to encourage me to keep going.
I watched his full lips part in the silvery moonlight and I saw his throat working, but even as his thighs turned to stone under my palms and his stomach dipped, he didn’t let go.
My panties were drenched all over again, liquid heat and ice cold mingling to create an oddly arousing sensation against my skin. I moaned around the length of him, and strangely, that was when he finally stopped me.
With a swift step back, he pulled out of my mouth and bent over to reach for me. His arms snaked like coiled pythons around my hips and he picked me right up, lips slamming back into mine, and he walked us to the bed.
He didn’t throw me down on it like I thought he might, instead setting me down for a moment without breaking the kiss. He unhooked my bra and then it was sliding it off, my panties following close behind. When I was naked, I braced myself again to be thrown onto the bed, but it didn’t happen.
He lifted his face from mine without any warning, abruptly breaking the kiss and leaving me confused and breathing hard. He spun and stalked away from me. I watched his ass flex and release, blinking. I tried to figure out what the heck was going on.
In a rush of understanding, I realized what he was doing as soon as he reached for the comforter and flipped it back. A shiver raced down my spine again, but it wasn’t only arousal this time. It was the realization once again that this man was always taking care of me.
I’d felt him swell and quiver. I’d watched him fight and yet he was thinking of me. Of my comfort.
As worked up as he was right then, he was opening the bed so I could get warm.
I climbed onto the mattress on my knees, shuffling across to him and then taking his hands to pull him to me.
He came willingly, his lips back on mine in a heartbeat, his kisses hungry.
Then he laid me down and covered us both with the blanket.
Bringing him down on top of me, I wrapped my legs around his hips and moaned into the kiss. His tip slid through my folds. He let out a shuddering breath and pulled away again, speaking quietly. “We need a condom.”
“I have one, but you’re going to have to get off me.” I smiled against his lips. “I’ll be back, though.”
“I’ll be waiting.” He smacked another kiss on my mouth and then rolled onto his bed, not bothering with the comforter for himself as I climbed out of the bed.
Hurrying across the room on wobbly knees, I grabbed the condoms from my vanity bag in the bathroom and wondered why on earth I’d left them in there anyway. The answer was pretty simple, however.
When I’d packed these, it’d been on the off chance that I changed my mind about the last time having been the last time. Now, I wasn’t sure if there would ever be a last time. In fact, this was starting to feel more and more like one of the first times.
I strode back into the room and saw him lazily stroking himself as he waited. My teeth sank into my lower lip and I suppressed a groan, abandoning all thought in favor of simply being with him. Simply feeling.
Liam didn’t move when I got back to the bed, but I felt his eyes on me.
I climbed on top of him, biting open the foil package before I handed it over with a harshly whispered warning.
“Just so you know, I’m definitely planning on saving the horse and riding the cowboy tonight, so I hope your energy levels are good. You want another s’more?”
His teeth flashed white in the moonlight as he smirked at me and rolled on the condom. “I can go all night long and the only s’more I want is s’more of you. Sound good?”
He gripped my hips.
“Yes,” I hissed through clenched teeth.
He thrust into me and I lost every train of thought except for one.
Liam was a hell of a friend and an even better lover, and I was a fool for risking losing him as one or even both of those things, but I’d read somewhere once that if you were going to do foolish things, you should do them with enthusiasm—and that was exactly what I spent the rest of the night doing.