“I didn’t panic,” she protested. “I was already in a relationship. For some of us, loyalty happens to be an important virtue.”
His lips curled at the mention of her spineless fiancé.
“You were dating Ted to please your father,” he said. It’d taken him months to figure out why the exquisite beauty would waste herself on the worthless, narcissistic idiot. “You became engaged to him to protect yourself from me.”
Her eyes flared with a sudden fire. “It never occurred to you that I might love him?”
Liam tensed, his chest tightening to the point he could barely breathe.
“Do you?” he snapped, his voice suddenly as cold as the Artic.
Dammit. He was tired of Theodore Wentworth Junior being used as a weapon against him.
Her defiant expression faltered. “I—”
“The truth,” he warned.
“I…I cared about him,” she at last hedged.
“Christ.” He gave a short, humorless laugh. “I would almost feel sorry for the bastard if he wasn’t such a grade-A asshole.”
She scowled at him. “Why?”
“You would have made him as miserable a wife as he would have made you a husband.”
“You don’t know that,” she retorted. “We had a lot in common and we enjoyed each other’s company. That’s a far more intelligent basis for marriage than sex.”
“It’s at least safe, I suppose.” His hand stroked over her cheek before following the line of her neck. Then, almost absently, he traced the prominent thrust of her collarbone. His brief annoyance disappeared as he felt her tiny tremble beneath the soft caress. This woman had spent her entire life trying to earn the love of a man who had no heart. “And to be honest, I get it.”
“Get what?”
“Your father taught you at a young age not to offer your heart to a male.”
She snapped her lips together, but it wasn’t anger that darkened her eyes. No. That was pain. A lingering gift from her father’s betrayal.
“I don’t need your psychoanalysis,” she snapped.
“No,” he instantly agreed. “What you need is a man who isn’t afraid to bust through your walls with a good fucking and some painful honesty.”
She made a sound of disbelief at his blunt response. “Nice.”
He lowered his head to seal her lips in a kiss that held no hint of apology.
There was no more pussyfooting around.
“I don’t want to be nice,” he snarled against her mouth. “Or proper. Or pre-approved by Vigo Angeli.” His hand cupped her breasts, his fingers tugging at her nipples with a sharp urgency. “I want to be the man who makes your heart race and your knees weak. The man who challenges you to take risks. And to believe in your own self-worth. Ted would have chained you to mediocrity.” His head lowered to capture one of the tightened nubs between his lips. “I intend to help you soar.”
She shoved her fingers into his hair, her back arching in invitation.
He’d already learned her breasts were incredibly sensitive.
“Liam,” she groaned.
“Let me in, princess,” he husked, moving to tease her other breast with tiny bites.
Her fingers tightened in his hair, giving it a painful tug.
“What do you want from me?”
He allowed one hand to slide down her body, slipping between her legs.
“You.”
She released a shaky sigh. “My body?”
“Oh, I definitely want every inch of this delectable body.” His tongue traced the tip of her nipple as his fingers dipped between her folds. “But that’s not nearly enough. I want your thoughts. Your hopes. Your heart. Your soul.”
“Good…god,” she groaned as he thrust his finger into her damp channel.
Instinctively she spread her legs, offering him full access to her sweet honey.
“Most of all I want your future.” He kissed a path back up her throat, nuzzling just below her ear. “Does that frighten you?”
“Yes,” she muttered, at last speaking the truth.
Liam lifted his head to meet her passion-darkened gaze. “Then I’ll take what you’re willing to give.”
“And if it’s only tonight?”
He forced himself to shrug. It’d taken a year to get her into his bed. No need to frighten her away with the fact that there was no way in hell he was going to be satisfied with anything less than her complete surrender.
“I’d say we’d better make the most of it,” he assured her.
Just for a second she seemed to hesitate. As if she was torn between the trembling need of her body and the realization that this night was destined to alter their relationship on a fundamental level.
Liam choked back a curse, forcing himself not to plead.
Dammit. His pride had taken enough of a beating.
Then, almost tentatively, she reached down to wrap his aching cock in her fingers.
“You’re right,” she told him.
He groaned, pleasure exploding through him as she started to explore him with growing assurance.
“That’s a first,” he teased, leaning his forehead against hers. “You never think I’m right.”
Shit, that felt good.
“Hush,” she chided.
He arched a brow. “Did you just tell me to hush?”
“Tonight is a fantasy.” Without warning she was pressing her hands against his chest, insistently urging him to roll onto his back so she could perch on top of him. “Just let me play.”
His breath exploded from his lungs, excitement clenching his body at the sight of Holly straddling his waist, her hair tangled around her flushed face and her eyes darkened to a smoldering gold.
God. She’d never looked more beautiful.
His heart clenched with a stark male need. Mine, a voice whispered in the back of his mind.
This woman was meant to be his.
At the same time a sudden fear pierced his heart.
What if she discovered the truth?
Would she understand why he’d felt compelled—
“Is there something wrong?” Holly broke into his dark thoughts, her brow furrowed as she regarded him with a sudden uncertainty.
“Nothing,” he growled, shoving aside his brief hesitancy. Tonight was about the future. He slid his fingers over her thighs, lifting his hips to press his cock against the liquid heat between her legs. “I’m putty in your hands.”
“Good.” Holly leaned down to press her lips to his chest, just above his pounding heart. “Don’t move.”