by Leann Ryans
He was surprised when he took his seat and noticed the amount of food on the plate in front of her. While it was still less than what he ate, especially since he started working, it was almost double the amount she usually put on her plate.
He quirked a brow at Annalise when she met his gaze.
“Hungry?”
Her eyes narrowed as she stabbed her fork into a roasted carrot.
“The doctor wants me to eat more.”
Liam bit his lip and ducked his head to hide the grin he couldn’t help. He could understand her needing to eat more, but he doubted the doctor meant such a drastic increase.
Once he had himself under control again, he looked across the table at her. There was still no outward sign of her pregnancy, though her scent had ripened to the point that there was no doubt. Anyone who came across her would know she was carrying.
“I take it everything went well?”
He tried to keep his voice neutral, but it was killing him not knowing. He assumed if there had been bad news she wouldn’t be acting so normal, but the knot in his gut wouldn’t loosen until he had confirmation. Whether he would be part of the baby’s life or not, it was part of him.
“Oh, yes. Everything is fine.”
She hesitated for a moment, looking down at her plate before her deep blues met his again.
“I have to get an ultrasound in a few weeks. You could come if you want.”
His breath caught in his throat and he struggled to swallow the sudden lump. He knew it was a bad idea. Seeing the baby would make it real and make it harder to walk away when he had to.
But he couldn’t say no.
“I’d like that.”
His voice came out rough, betraying emotion he’d rather keep hidden. Clearing his throat, he finished shoveling the last of his meal into his mouth and didn’t look up until he stood to take his plate to the sink.
Annalise had already eaten more than she usually did but was lifting another bite to her mouth, giving it a disgusted look as her other hand rested on her stomach. He could tell she was full and didn’t want to eat anymore by how slowly she chewed and how difficult it was for her to swallow, but she moved to take another bite.
Reaching out, he gripped her wrist and stopped her hand in its path. Awareness tingled through his fingers at the feel of her smooth skin, and it took a moment for him to clear his mind to say what he’d meant to.
“Forcing yourself to eat more than you need will only make you sick. Smaller meals eaten more frequently is better than stuffing yourself.”
Her brows drew together like she was going to argue before her eyes moved back to the food hanging from the fork. With a sigh she set it down, giving a small nod of acknowledgment before pushing the plate away.
He took her dish and headed to the sink. Annalise waited at the table until he finished cleaning up after their meal and moved to the hallway. When she stood to follow him, he could tell something was on her mind.
“Is everything okay?”
Too many emotions to describe flashed across her face before her calm mask settled. He hated how she buried her feelings and, not for the first time, wondered why she felt the need to hide behind a façade.
“I’d like—”
She stopped and heaved a sigh, clasping her hands in front of her. Moving her gaze over his shoulder, she sucked in another breath before continuing.
“Would you knot me? Please?”
28. Annalise
“I realize my request last month may have been… off-putting. And I apologize. I thought I was making things easier for us, but I realize it’s only caused a strain.”
Her gaze darted to Liam’s face, but it was hard to tell what he was thinking. There always seemed to be heat in his eyes when he looked at her, but the crease between his brows and the way his lips were flattened left her wondering if she’d messed things up further.
Each time he gave her what she’d asked for and nothing more had been agony. She realized it could be a ploy he was using to punish her, and she had to admit, it worked. At least the first time had been mutually beneficial and enjoyable; the subsequent encounters had seemed more and more like she was forcing him to do a distasteful chore.
She had no idea what she’d do if he refused.
Her nipples were tight buds aching inside the cups of her bra. Her thighs were already wet in anticipation of what was coming, and her mouth salivated at the scent of him. She couldn’t take the almost clinical detachment any longer.
“I need you to be clear about what you’re asking of me Annalise.”
The rumble of warning in his voice sent a shiver down her spine as her nipples began to throb. The clenching of her core accompanied a wave of heat that rose beneath her skin, making her want to strip away the irritating cloth covering her.
“I was wrong. I want things like they were before. Like the first time.”
She already felt lightheaded, and when he took a step into her space it was like all the oxygen in the room evaporated. She panted, every inch of her aware of how close he was as a wordless rumble left his chest.
“Tell me you want me.”
His deep voice poured over her like molten lava, increasing the heat burning her from the inside out. She’d wanted him since she first saw him, and she couldn’t think of a valid reason to keep denying it.
“I want you, Liam.”
His hand was in her hair, lips crashing over hers before she could pull in another breath. Ignoring the need to breathe, she threw her arms around him and pulled him closer, opening to his tongue as he demanded access.
Her head reeled as he plundered her mouth, core clenching as slick seeped from her slit. She’d been touched so rarely in her life, and never the way his hands gripped her like he’d never let go.
Liam shifted without releasing her lips, his arm sweeping behind her knees and lifting her in the air. She tightened her grip on him even as he crushed her to his chest to take eager steps down the hall to his room.
He didn’t waste any time, crawling onto the bed to deposit her in the middle of his messy blankets. It usually bothered her, but she was too caught up in the Alpha above her to even notice except for the increase in his scent surrounding her.
The skirt of her dress had risen when he carried her, leaving nothing but the scrap of silk covering her mound and the sweatpants he’d put on after his shower between her swollen folds and the ridge of his erection. Winding her legs around his waist, she ground herself against it, gasps falling from her lips.
Large hands curled around her hips, pushing up under the material of her dress as he pulled back to make her sit up. Releasing her mouth, he whipped the dress over her head and tossed it aside before giving his shirt the same treatment.
The sight of him bare never ceased to cause a twinge of need deep in her belly. His muscles had become more defined in the month since he started working at the construction site, his skin taking on a deep tan that made his pale eyes glow.
He pressed her back to the bed again, trailing his mouth down her neck as his fingers worked the straps of her bra off her shoulders. Pulling down the cups, he captured one stiff peak in his mouth, sucking it deep as Annalise let out a moan.
Gripping her other breast in his massive hand, he pulled off the one he’d captured.
“I’ve wanted to do that for so long.”
The growled words sent a thrill through her as he took the other between his lips and flicked his tongue over the tip. Each tap sent a bolt of electricity straight to her clit, causing her to squirm and lift her hips.
“I’ve wanted to taste that, too,” he murmured as he slid down her body.
She was breathless as he hooked his fingers over her panties, pulling them down and tossing them aside before pushing her thighs apart. He held her stretched open, staring at her pussy until she wiggled and let out a whine. Her body was on fire and she needed his cum to quench it.
Hands moving to clamp around her hips, he rolled them over
and spun her, Annalise letting out a squeal at the abrupt motion. Liam moved her knees into place, spread wide around his shoulders, before pulling her hips to put her sex directly over his mouth.
The first swipe of his tongue had her trembling. Nothing she’d done to herself in the past month had felt as good as Liam’s tongue delving between her folds to circle and tease her clit. Pressing her cheek to his stomach, she clamped her arms to his sides and held on as he tormented her.
It wasn’t long before her hips were moving with his motions, chasing the little bit extra she needed to reach her peak. Digging her hands into the blankets on each side of them, she raised her head as she pressed back, his clothed erection unavoidable when she opened her eyes.
The scent hit her out of nowhere, causing her mouth to water as her gaze locked on the twitching length hidden beneath grey cloth. Lifting one hand from the bedding, she grabbed his waistband and pushed it down to free it.
His flared head pointed directly at her, a bead of fluid already collecting on the tip. Unable to resist the call, she leaned forward to lick it up.
Liam’s cock jumped as he released a growl into her folds, the vibrations adding to the sensations caused by his tongue and the stubble on his chin. Forgetting the chase for her own satisfaction in the need for his cum, she scooted forward to capture the ruddy head in her mouth.
29. Liam
He couldn’t stop the groan that came out when her lips locked around him, the heat of her mouth a blissful burn that made him thrust up even as he tried to pull her pussy back to his face. Tipping his head up, he pushed his tongue into her channel as she took more of him into her mouth.
Her happy little hum almost undid him right then, but he locked his muscles, refusing to have this end so soon. He’d been dying to have all of her again, and he wasn’t going to waste the opportunity in case she went back to the way things were.
It felt like a punch to the gut when she asked him to knot her. The air rushed from his lungs, diaphragm refusing to pull in more as he blinked at her. It took a moment for his mind to recover from the shock, catching up in a rush that had his cock swelling so fast it hurt.
He didn’t know why she’d changed her mind, but he wasn’t going to question it until he’d satisfied the need coiled inside him. Holding back his Alpha instincts for so long meant they were barreling through him at full tilt now. Annalise was going to submit to him, fully, before the night was over.
Slick ran down his chin to drip onto his chest as she rocked atop him. The feel of her taking him deeper, gagging herself on his cock in her eagerness, increased his own desire to see her choking on his release.
He flipped them again, kneeling over Annalise’s head as he thrust into the wet heat of her mouth. A groan ripped from him when he looked down to see his shaft disappearing between her plush lips. As distracting as the sweet scent of her cunt was, he couldn’t peel his eyes from the erotic display of her swallowing his cock.
Balls drawing tight, he bit back a snarl as she let her teeth scrape along his length as he pumped it into her. Sitting up, he moved a hand beneath her neck and upper back to tip her head further. Gripping his swelling knot with the other hand, he refused to allow it to grow as he began to cum.
Liam watched Annalise’s throat work as she swallowed gulp after gulp of his release, the offering far more than he had produced for her with his hand. She alternated between hums and whines, tongue and lips working to get every last drop from him.
Pulling away, he turned his body to cover her, taking her lips with his. She lifted her hips and ground herself against him as she struggled to impale herself on his still throbbing length, but he wasn’t ready for that yet.
Shackling her throat with one hand when she tried to chase him as he pulled away, he sucked one pert nipple into his mouth, rolling it between his lips as the fingers of his other hand found her dripping folds. He thrust two inside, Annalise’s back bowing and pushing her flesh deeper into his mouth. Biting down, he curled his fingers to dig into that soft spot just behind her pubic bone.
Annalise screamed, a gush of slick coating his hand as her core rippled around the invading digits. Not relenting, he pressed them deeper, releasing the breast he held to latch onto the other.
Her body bucked, trapped between the hand on her neck and the fingers buried in her cunt. Each attempt to relieve the pressure in her core resulted in putting more on her throat, the bounce back driving the fingers into her anew.
She’d devolved to twitching and whimpers before he finally straightened the digits though he didn’t remove them from her. Letting go of her neck, he gave her nipple a final flick with his tongue before moving lower.
His hand trailed down her ribs and over her belly before running along her thigh to grip the back of her knee. Pushing it up toward her shoulder, he made room for himself to settle between her legs once again.
The fingers inside her pistoned back and forth with wet squelches, her hips rocking in slow rhythm. Liam took the time to draw in a deep breath drenched in her scent before extending his tongue to trace along her lower lips.
The taste of her was divine. An ambrosia he could drink for days, needing no other sustenance. He could have spent the rest of the night lapping at her if his cock hadn’t throbbed so insistently.
When her whimpers turned to gasps he increased the pace of hand, lashing her clit with the tip of his tongue. She hadn’t taken more than the head of him in weeks, and he wanted her good and relaxed when he finally gave in to the urge to mount her.
When the writhing of her hips grew more frantic, he added a third finger but went back to circling her little bud without touching it. Her fingers dug into his hair, nails raking his scalp as she tried to pull him back where she wanted him. The snarl of impatience she released when he didn’t budge finally snapped his resolve to wait.
Surging over her, he kept her knee pinned to her chest as the head of his cock replaced the fingers in her entrance. Only giving her a moment to brace, he slammed in, burying his length in one harsh push.
Annalise’s eyes flew open, lips parted in a silent cry as her back arched. Laying his free hand along her collarbone, he pinned her to the mattress and angled his hips to take advantage of how wide she was spread. Pulling back, he drove into her even harder, the weak fluttering of her channel doing nothing to keep him out.
“Is this what you wanted, Annalise? You wanted me to fuck you and give you my knot?”
The words were growled through clenched teeth as he continued to thrust into her, the little omega’s body rocking with each impact despite the hand holding her in place. The leg not pinned to her chest wrapped around his thigh, heel digging into his ass to pull him in harder.
She tossed her head and whined but couldn’t seem to form words to answer him. Her chest heaved as she gasped for breath, her pulse fluttering under his fingers around her neck.
He could already feel the tingle warning of his coming orgasm, but he snarled and clenched his teeth, determined to hold it back until she came. Leaning over her, he ran his nose along the column of her throat.
“This is how it’s supposed to be,” he whispered before biting into the muscle along the top of her shoulder.
30. Annalise
His teeth dug into her and she exploded. The guards didn’t stop it from feeling like a claiming bite, despite his inability to puncture her skin. She threw her head back, mouth wide open, but she couldn’t tell if she cried out over the rush of blood in her ears.
Her core clenched on Liam’s swelling knot though he continued to drag it in and out of her. The stretch of it burned, and she writhed to escape, but he forced it deeper until it locked inside.
His teeth released as he let out a roar when his cock kicked and began to pulse. She could feel the heat of his seed scorching her channel, flooding it with substance her body craved.
It was addictive.
The more she received, the more she wanted. Even with his knot locking them together, stuff
ed with his cum, she wanted more of it. Wanted to drink him down until her stomach couldn’t hold anymore before having him flood her core again.
The haze of pleasure began to clear as her hips complained about their strained position. Liam had collapsed to his elbows above her, removing his hand from her neck, but her leg was still trapped between them.
When she twitched and tried to move it he lifted himself to allow her to put it down before rolling them over. Tucking her atop his chest, he tugged the blanket over her back and let out a content sigh.
Annalise tried to keep herself from fidgeting as she waited for his knot to recede. As much as she’d wanted him locked inside her only moments ago, she now wanted nothing more than to escape to her room where she could ignore the turmoil building in her chest. She tried to fight it, but she couldn’t hold back the tears.
The worst part was she didn’t even know why she was crying.
She did her best not to sniffle or give any indication of her emotions, but Liam must have noticed her stilted breathing because he cupped her cheek and lifted her head to look at him. Blond brows furrowed over pale blue eyes visible in the dim light of his bedside lamp.
“Are you okay? Did I hurt you?”
Annalise shook her head, pulling away from his hand and wiping her eyes.
“No, I’m fine.”
She pushed herself up as he frowned at her, the disbelief plain on his face. Scrubbing her cheeks, she sucked in a deep breath and tried to settle into the calm mask she was so familiar with.
“Fine doesn’t equal crying after sex. What’s wrong?”
His deep rumble sent a shiver through her that caused her core to clench around his length, but the question brought a fresh prick of tears she had to blink away.
“I—I don’t know. It’s nothing.”
His frown remained, and for some reason that upset her more. She didn’t understand the way she was feeling and certainly couldn’t explain it to someone else. She wanted to run and bury herself in her nest, but when she tried to pull away his knot was still locked tight.