“What sort of thing?” he teased.
“You know, the damsel in distress saved by the sexy doctor. Kissing on my bed. Kissing at all.” She pulled the pillow from behind her back and lay supine on the bed, smothering her face with the downy covering to escape the look of amusement dancing on the experienced man’s face.
“Molly,” he chided, removing the pillow from her. His shoulders hovered above hers as he waited for her to calm down. “Do you want me to kiss you again?”
“Yes, but I also want to run away so I can die of embarrassment somewhere private. It’s a tossup right now. I can’t decide which seems like a better option.”
“How about we let your ankle decide? I don’t think it wants to run.” He touched her nose, and then ran his finger down to her chin. He traced the slope of her neck, reveling in how easily her body arched for him. A shiver ran through him as goosebumps broke out on her skin at his touch. “Just relax,” he cooed, leaning down toward her. His arm snaked under her back, elevating her torso so he could kiss her at a more perfect angle. Cradling her did nothing to erase the age difference, but it did cocoon her in his scent.
Liam’s lips brushed against Molly’s to test their want for him. When he sealed the kiss, her need was clear. Her mouth moved with his in a slow rhythm that melted them both with its tenderness and desire.
Liam could not recall his first kiss with much accuracy. It was more than seventeen years ago when he began collecting the seasoned experience that made Molly gasp in breathless wonder at the world she had been missing.
He would show her. He vowed that he would make her first kiss a thing to be remembered until she was old and gray. If her memories slipped from her aged mind, he made sure that would be the last remembrance to go.
Deeper he drove the kiss when she summoned up the courage to weave her hands through his short brown hair. She pulled him closer. His muscular arms now wrapped all the way around her slight frame, pressing her chest to his.
Then it happened.
An explosion of kinetic passion burst from Molly and ricocheted through Liam, intensifying their fervor for each other. Her delicate fingers transformed and scraped across his neck and back, increasing the barometer of passion with little warning. Years of pent-up sensual urges culminated in the kisses they ravished each other with, panting and silently begging each other for more. Her tightly held body became pliable in his arms. Liam’s tongue danced with hers – not a waltz, but a tango. They tasted, moaned, clawed, licked and bit until clothing became a nuisance that separated them by unwelcome millimeters.
Without thinking it through, Liam pulled back and tore his black t-shirt off. The momentum was broken at Molly’s wide open mouth that could not make sense of the solid muscle hovering above her. His hands were on either side of her, locking her into the submissive position on her back as he kneeled between her legs that had somehow fallen open in invitation.
She was suddenly reminded of the vast difference between them. He was a well-built football star who worked all over the nation as a doctor for the best athletes in the country. She was an interpreter who, apart from her stellar finger and brain muscles, could not see her body or herself as anything but average. “I… I… You’re…”
She motioned to his chest to indicate their difference, but Liam did not take her meaning correctly. He placed his hand over hers and moved it to caress his taut pectoral muscles. “Do you feel that?” He ghosted her short fingernails over his left nipple, hissing at the disproportionate electricity the simple stimulant caused. “If you want me to keep going, do that. That’s the green light.”
Molly’s eyes widened when it suddenly dawned on her the insane things she was contemplating. Who was she to him? They knew next to nothing about each other, and yet here he was, hovering over her, half naked and ready for the more she could not give him just yet. She retracted her hand to slam on the brakes at the red light.
Liam’s labored breathing began to slow when he took in her fear. “Hey, it’s okay. That’s fine. We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. My fault for rushing things.” He sat up next to her legs and placed his hand over his heart to slow the excited rhythm. “Whoa. That was a crazy kiss. Who knew you had that in you?”
Molly shook her head to indicate she had not predicted the intensity either. Using her quaking arms as leverage, she sat up, leaning against the headboard as she stared at the beautiful man in her bed. “I’m sorry,” she began, wishing her ineptitude was less of an issue. “That was my first kiss. More than that is maybe too much in one day for me. Especially a kiss like that. I had no idea what’s what I’ve been missing out on. Incredible!” she breathed
He held up his hands in surrender. “That’s perfectly fine.” He felt his heartbeat again, amazed at the difference twenty minutes alone with her made. “Honestly? Hands down, best kiss of my life just now.”
Molly scoffed. “At least I know what you look like when you’re lying to be nice. I don’t know what I’m doing.”
Before her pretty lips could utter another disparaging remark, his were on hers, lighting the fire anew. Her hands were back to tugging on his hair, driving him wild with lust for her innocent form. His arms went under hers, wrapping around her ribs and lifting a little so he could grip the headboard and press her lower back against it. She pulled him closer with her good ankle.
Liam broke from her lips to kiss a fiery trail down her neck, pushing aside the collar of her shirt so he could nibble on her shoulder. He loved the sound of her delicate moans and nearly inaudible noises of pleasure. It sparked a long-dormant desire in him to see what other kinds of utterances he could coax out of her. He had to know, to see how far he could make her back arch.
Different. She was not the same as the other girls he invited back to his hotel room for one night apiece. She could not be taken and cast aside. She needed to be gently worked out of her shell, and then treasured once she was exposed. There had been too much trampling done to her throughout her life for him to add his name to that wretched list.
Though her body was raring to go further, he was not sure her mind was completely onboard with this spur-of-the-moment decision. He slowed his kisses, gently lowering her back down the few inches he had lifted her. Like melting chocolate, he sucked on her tongue, introducing her to the sweet pleasures of tender seduction as opposed to the ravishing she was becoming well-versed in.
Her lips molded to his languorous rhythm, leaving her completely under his spell. She whimpered when he pulled back to lean his forehead to hers. Liam smiled at her dizzied expression. “Little Molly Luco.” He tsked her and shook his head. “You might just be my undoing.”
Molly could not form words, but responded by slumping forward into his strong arms. The urge to both laugh and sob came over her, and she did not trust her mouth to open.
He dispersed delicate kisses into her hair and on her cheeks as he spoke. “If I don’t get some air, it’ll be very bad for my self-control. If you have any off-putting bulky sweaters, or perhaps a clown Halloween costume, now’s the time for it.”
Molly sniggered, her eyes still closed. “Would you believe my clown costume’s at the cleaners? I was using it just yesterday to entertain the masses.”
He shuddered. “Clowns are terrifying. I always expect one’s going to pull a bloody knife out of his pocket and come after me.”
“What? The great Liam DiNatali’s afraid of clowns? What’ll the other kids say?”
“No more clown talk. I’m already too shaken up by you as it is.” He felt her cheek against his stubble, and he ran his fingers across her ponytail. “You alright?”
She nodded, her breathing still unsteady. “I’m just embarrassed. I’m not like this, I promise you. I don’t know what got into me.”
Liam grinned with pride. “Truth? You’re getting under my skin, too. Why I need a breather. Got to figure out what to do with this. With you.” He kissed her mouth lightly, just once more before pulling away. “I�
��m going to bring up some Chinese. I feel like I could eat a horse now.”
“I’m going to jump in the shower, so just let yourself in when you come back up.” Molly swung her legs off the bed and hobbled to her dresser to pick out the least unappealing pajamas she could find. Cotton tank top and shorts. Not terribly sexy, but also not flannel pants and an old ratty t-shirt of Kyle’s, which was her usual nighttime attire. She turned around and found Liam staring at her longingly. “What?” She looked down at herself to make sure the cuts on her knees had not started bleeding again.
“Nothing.” Liam swallowed the lump in his throat, but the obvious desire could not be as easily pushed aside. “I just like the look of you.”
Chapter Eight
Gina’s Retaliation
Molly got dressed after her brief shower, feeling like a new person. When she glanced in the mirror as she brushed her hair, she found she was smiling without meaning to. She looked down at her body, which had many unladylike marks on it, but Liam somehow still found her attractive. A large bruise on her bicep from a couple days ago yelled at her, so she yanked the thin dark purple robe from the hook on the door and pulled it over her shoulders.
When she emerged from the bathroom that joined her room to Kyle’s, she did not expect to find her bed occupied by Gina and two of her lackeys, Steph and Kitty. Gina was sprawled out on her stomach atop the covers, like she was waiting for salacious girl talk at a slumber party to begin. Molly had never been invited to a slumber party, so she knew the pretense was false.
“Hey, Molly. So, you and Liam, huh? Who knew?” She let out a fake laugh that made Molly wince. She twirled a lock of her hair around her finger, sizing up the threat Molly presented. “So, what’s he like in the sack?”
“I have it on good authority he’s packing eight inches,” Kitty claimed.
Molly grimaced, chagrinned that this was what girl talk was to Gina. She’d had higher hopes that women talked about less scandalous things when they got together. “What? I wouldn’t know anything about that. We only just started talking tonight. What are you doing in my room?”
Gina tossed her high ponytail over her shoulder and laughed coldly. “Well, that’s not what Liam was saying downstairs. Came down grinning like a teenager. He knows exactly how you like it, that’s for sure.”
Shrinking inside herself, Molly’s voice quieted. “He was talking about what we did up here? That was meant to be private.”
Gina grinned like the evil cat she was. “Oh, that’s just precious. You actually think you’re special, that you two have some sort of love connection.” She giggled to her friends, who sniggered back like the serpents they were. “That’s too cute!” She stood off the bed and walked steadily toward Molly, backing her up against the wall. She used the three inches she had on Molly to physically intimidate her. Her hazel eyes flashed with sudden malice, all feigned playfulness gone. “You’ve had your turn on the merry-go-round. Now it’s time to step aside. Let the big girls play for a while.” When Molly moved half a step away from the wall, Gina slammed her back into it. “Stay out of my way, or I’ll mess you up.”
“Don’t touch me,” Molly warned. Don’t hit her. You hate being hit. It’s never right to hit someone.
Gina laughed heartlessly as her friends got off the bed and stood at her sides, boxing Molly in. Kitty and Steph looked like makeuped henchmen with their sneers.
Molly gulped. You’re not a twelve-year-old in high school anymore. You can do this.
Kitty made the first move, pushing Molly into Steph, who caught her and held her still while Gina delivered a vicious slap across the face. Molly’s heart raced as fear and rage bubbled up inside of her. It was not the first time she had been smacked around, but she did not care for the three-on-one odds. The girls had far more cruelty in a single slap than she possessed in her whole body.
When Gina wound up for another blow, Molly decided she did not want the one unmarked part of her body to be abused. She took a chance and put her full weight on her sore ankle, using her good foot to stomp down hard on Steph’s instep. Molly popped her backside out and used the leverage her short body provided to fling Steph over her shoulder down on the floor in the middle of the brawl. It was part of her self-defense class she’d taken years ago, but never had the courage to put into practice.
Molly said nothing. Gina was the one with the trash talk that was currently failing her. Kitty lunged at Molly. “That was the wrong move, you little bitch!” Kitty grabbed her by the throat and squeezed hard, her acrylic nails digging into Molly’s flesh.
Molly managed to extract herself and stumbled back, tripping and falling to the floor. Her screaming ankle was silenced when she came down and hit her head hard on the corner of her dresser.
The room spun, coloring her surroundings in various shades of Gina and her henchmen with their lipsticked sneers. Molly wondered for a moment if having her first kiss had been worth getting beaten up for. She held onto the image of Liam and counted it as one shining moment in a sea of abuse. She wanted to cry out, but once again words failed her as the world went dark.
Chapter Nine
Permanent Marks
The world came back to her in bits and pieces. Liam shouting. Nate pleading with her for… something. Molly could not make sense of the words.
Has the ceiling always been this white? She wondered as several other errant thoughts in different languages darted through her semi-consciousness. Her eyes shut again as the room spun.
“Get rid of the hood rats, Kyle, or I will.” Liam. Liam’s here. The thought should not have given her comfort, given how little they knew about each other, but it did. “If there weren’t drugs out downstairs, I would’ve already called the cops.”
Kyle’s noncommittal tone was infuriating, even when she was not able to fully concentrate. “I don’t know, Liam. Molly knows to stay in her room when I have friends over. She shouldn’t have pushed Gina’s buttons.”
Molly wanted to argue, but nouns were escaping her. Something like jackhammer? Assback? Shitshoes? She knew there was a right word for what Kyle was being, but she couldn’t focus enough to find it.
“You’re an asshole!” Liam shouted.
Asshole. That’s the one. Thanks, Liam.
“This is your sister! Did you see what they wrote on her? It was three on one, and Molly was alone in her room. You spineless idiot! Go downstairs and clean up the mess your ‘friends’ made. If I see those girls here again, it’ll be on you how I handle it.”
Picturing Liam’s towering form brought a warm and fuzzy sensation to her body. Here, in this house, someone was standing up for her! She was not the screw-up today. Someone was finally saying that Kyle was wrong. Her newfound affinity for Liam grew as her eyes fluttered open.
“Oh, thank God!” Nate’s voice had genuine relief in it. She knew all these years he had taunted her to be nice, not to make her mad, but in that moment of his grave concern for her, she knew they were actual friends. “Liam! Get over here!” Nate’s tone melted into the softest cooing. “Hey, Little Luco. You gave us a real scare, there. Nice and dramatic with the head wound. Well done.” The tease was coming back, but his hand held the compress on her forehead with firm authority. When she tried to sit up, he shook his head. “Not yet. You hit your head. Just sit tight for a minute until Liam looks at you.”
I’m fine, she said, but he still did not let her up.
“What gets out permanent marker?” Nate asked Liam.
Acetone. Acetone or rubbing alcohol.
“No idea,” Liam answered, kneeling next to her with a tortured look on his face.
Why does no one ever listen to me? I just said it! Molly’s irritation was usually better concealed. She blamed her loose tongue on whatever injury they were all fretting about.
“What? Molly, I don’t speak sign. I don’t know what you’re saying. Can you talk out loud?” Liam held one of her hands in his.
He was so gentle, his concern so real. Molly could
not remember ever being looked on with such love. She forgot the question and the urgency of the moment. The only response that came out of her was barely audible. “You’re so pretty,” she breathed.
Nate chuckled, breaking him out of his exigency. “That settles it. She’s touched in the head. Concussion for sure.”
Liam checked her neck for signs of misalignment and tested other vitals. He asked her question after question, checking her memory to see if she had a concussion.
“I’m fine,” she assured them, grabbing onto Nate’s shirt as leverage to help her up.
“No, no,” Liam protested, kissing her forehead. His arms cradled her as he lifted her body off the ground.
Molly felt like she was floating. Even as she was placed on her mattress, she could not fully grasp the cloud-like comforter that engulfed her or the warmth Liam radiated, solid as he was.
“What gets out permanent marker, Moll?”
“Huh? Rubbing alcohol or acetone. What do you need it for?”
Liam situated the pillows so she was sitting up somewhat comfortably. He closed her robe around her, cinching the gap all the way up to her neck. “Nothing you need to worry about right now. Just sit tight.” He looked around her room. “Nail polish remover?”
Molly directed him to the necessary tools with a shaking finger. He came back to her a few seconds later with a serious face. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?” She touched the gash on her forehead that had stopped bleeding.
Liam took a long breath and looked deep into her eyes. “Those whores wrote on you with permanent marker, but I don’t want you to see what they wrote. Can you trust me on this? I know we don’t know each other all that well, but no one should see their body like this.” He dabbed the nail polish remover on a rag, waiting for her to give her approval.
Molly fought the urge to tear off her bathrobe and examine the marks. She maintained eye contact with him and nodded, determined to keep her chin from trembling.
Unraveling Molly Page 5