She whispered my name as her fingers twisted in my hair. My lips trailed down her warm skin until all I could smell was her need. It was sweet and feminine and it drove any remaining blood in my head to my cock as I sucked on her clit. She jumped, my grin ear to fucking ear as I held her thighs and indulged in her taste. Three years without this had been a prison sentence. She whimpered as I found all her secret spots, the ones only I knew about. She fought the grip of my hands on her thighs, her hips moving trying to gain more friction. I stopped and lifted my head. Her eyes full of fire as I crawled over her body and kissed her mouth with abandon. I smiled as her tongue darted out, always eager for her own taste… just like always… just like us.
Kelly grasped my shoulders, her mouth never leaving mine as she led me back onto my knees. We were chest to chest again. Her hot skin running along the length of my body. Every inch of her skin, every inch of mine, our fingers moved, dipped, scratched, and remembered. Kelly bit my jaw, my neck, her teeth sinking into the flesh. The sharp pain egged me on, pushed me… taunted me. I bit back as I gripped her waist and shifted my legs so that she was straddling me. I palmed her full breasts, and her eyes closed as her head tilted to the side. She rocked against me, and my heartbeat stuttered as my fingertips dug deep into the flesh of her hips holding her still.
Impatience flickered inside her eyes as they opened. “Why’d you stop me?” she asked breathless.
“Because I’d rather come inside you and not on your stomach.”
Heat spread across my chest as she lifted up onto her knees gripping my cock in her hand. She positioned herself over me, her hand working me as every muscle in my body tensed. I released my hold on her hip and placed my hand over hers. Guiding the head of my dick and soaking it with her arousal as her body pulled me in. She moaned as I slid in slowly, feeling every inch consume her. I swallowed as her eyes locked on mine. Our bodies molded together. Her mouth spread into a satisfied smile. She had won her throne.
She rolled her hips and every nerve ending in my body fought for survival. We watched each other, flame and ash falling behind her eyes as she drove herself to the edge. She pulled me in and out, reminded me why I should’ve never stopped worshiping her. Why I fucking needed her, how she was east and I would always be her west and, when we came together, the impact was all powerful.
The air was filled with our scent and our sounds… fuck, I never wanted to hear anything other than this… other than her. Everything in my life had turned dark and all I needed was to stay inside her bright as hell light. My hands in her hair, I lifted my hips, finding the rhythm that would bring us to an end. The end I wasn’t ready for. I pulled back, exposing her neck, and dropped my lips to the curve.
“Liam.” She was close… she was panting, begging.
Her entire body began to tremble, and I brought my hands to her waist, lifting her as I rose to my knees. She whined with a sexy little growl as I kissed her once and then spun her body, bringing her back to my chest in one fast movement. She gasped as I held her against me. My hand on her throat. I released her, dragging my fingers slowly around her neck, nipping her ear with my teeth. “Bend over.”
She lowered her chest to the mattress, resting on her forearms. My hand slid down her spine until I rounded the curve of her ass.
I leaned over her body, kissing her cheek as I breathed the word into her skin in hopes she would always know its truth. “Perfect.”
I kissed my way down the length of her spine, my hands just below the curve of her hips keeping her in place. She sighed as I kneaded the flesh of her ass and cried out when I bit it. Kelly was better than any goddamn fairytale and, as I pushed inside the wet heat of her body, I was defenseless. Her back arched as my fingers twisted in her hair and I drove into her with hard, powerful strokes. She groaned as I reached her limit. My pace increased as her body brought me to the brink. The locks of her hair slipped through my fingers and I lost control. My hand moved around her hips and between her legs. The length of my arms surrounded her, holding her close, keeping her. My fingers pressed against her clit as I kissed her neck, my tongue desperate for more of her taste. I was riding out the high, that dangerous fall, teasing me, coating my skin in sweat, torqueing every muscle and filling my chest with a searing heat.
Kelly’s hands gripped the pillow in front of her as she cried out, her moans muffled into the mattress, and the muscles in her back gave way to the relief. I chased her release with my own, spilling inside her, relishing in the feel of her, in the feel of us, coming together. My voice was strained as I swore and brought my lips to the crook of her neck. We stayed like that. My chest to her back and I drew my fingers up and along her waist and then down her arms and back up again. Her legs shuddered as I pulled away from her and we both crashed—surrendered to the descent.
She had a small smile on her lips, and I traced it with my thumb. Kelly threaded her fingers through my hair, around the back of my head, and pulled me in. Our lips were slow and lazy, feeling the cool down, but our eyes stayed open, and I wanted to just keep looking at her. Forget that when I left this room, the night I’d escaped would be waiting.
Kelly’s fingernails tickled the back of my neck before she slid them around and traced the lines of the eagle tattoo on my throat. Her brows dipped and she asked, “Did you ever really feel free?”
I shook my head. “I’m owned by my responsibilities. My family.” My throat narrowed as that looming shadow neared. I exhaled a long breath and pulled Kelly closer, needing her warmth, her breath on my mouth.
“Your mom only ever wanted your happiness, for you and your brothers to be happy.” She cupped my cheek, and I closed my eyes, fighting the sting that was pressing in behind them. “Let it happen… let her wish be a reality.”
Kelly kissed the crease between my brow and I let my eyes open. I pushed a few tangled strands of her hair behind her ear. She smiled, her full lips breaking across her face, her eyes brimmed with our history, and I couldn’t help but hope for a future. “I’m free with you.” My admission left me raw and weak below her blade, but I wanted to bleed for her.
Kelly kissed me again and the salty taste of her lips made me pull away. She was crying and my heart sank. “I’ll never let you go again. I want that reality, Kelly… I want that wish. I want you.”
A few tears snaked down her cheeks as she locked her arms around my neck, her smile easing across her lips as she pulled me in tight. Nose to nose, she whispered, “You promise?”
I brought my lips to hers and smiled against her mouth. “I fucking swear it.”
Once Upon a Present
“I fucking swear it.”
It was amazing how those four words meant more to me than all the times he’d ever said “I love you” over the years. Liam loved hard, and he fought for what he wanted. He’d always had to. It was in his bones, just as my need to feel free was in my own. We were never going to be perfect, and he would never be a prince charming on a white horse. He had always run hot, and I could pretend all I wanted that I wasn’t that way, that I didn’t need his heat, but that was like denying the sky was blue. To lie to myself was like breathing under water. My night had always needed his sun. Liam was mine. We were sewn together, heart and soul, patched up with steel thread and leather patches.
I let my hand drift through his thick, dark hair, his scent coating my lungs as I breathed him in. “When do you have to leave?” I asked and reluctantly sat up.
He fell onto his back with a long sigh. “Shit. Like an hour ago.”
Liam’s taste for me hadn’t been sated, and he’d made love to me again. My legs ached, but if he asked it of me, I’d give him my body as many times as he wanted. That ache was a privilege. We’d gone too long fighting against our tether and I wasn’t ready to let go again. We still had so much to repair, and I wanted time to be on our side, but the worn lines of his face, the responsibility that etched his features, returned. Our reunion, his moment of peace, was gone.
“I have o
ne of your old Avenues Ink t-shirts, bottom drawer, left hand side. It’s hidden in the back.” I stood from the bed, my eyes on the floor. I’d hidden it in L.A., too, but I’d never gotten rid of it. I guess I’d always wished it would one day be a treasure instead of a knife. “You can take a shower before you leave, I’ll make you some coffee… I’ve got cereal and—”
“Kelly.” He chuckled as he stood, the sheet falling, exposing all that muscle, all that ink… He was the perfect one, not me. “My family is already at my mom’s place…” He winced and his smile drifted and then faded away completely. “Dex and Paige stayed with Kieran, and I should’ve… I couldn’t have gone back there, not yet.”
I walked to the other side of the bed and took his hand. “You did what you needed… and this time it was for you… just you, and that’s okay. Liam, you didn’t let anyone down.”
A flash of some hidden emotion crossed his eyes, and he rubbed the back of his neck. “Go get cleaned up, I’ll be right behind you. I need to call Kieran.”
I leaned in and kissed his cheek. “See you in a minute.”
The bathroom floor sent a shiver up my spine as I turned the water on in the shower. Giving it a second to warm up, I pulled my hair into a bun. The room filled with steam, and once I was under the hot water, any lingering worry washed away. The smell of my sugared lemon body wash hovered in the dense fog, soothing and bringing me back down to Earth. Liam had always been good at making me forget the world. When he worshipped my body, I didn’t care about anything other than his lips, his hands, his touch teaching me what it felt like to live without regret or fear.
The citrus air pulled past my lips, down my throat, and spread through my lungs as my eyes closed. I let the familiar scent ground me and I pushed away the negative thought that had begun to wheedle its way into my happy place. Where do we go from here? All I needed to do was be there for him, in any capacity that I could, and I wanted to be. I was all in. The future I’d planned, the one without Liam… it was a lie, and the way the universe kicked and screamed and shoved, there was no way I could deny it to myself. Us. It was written on my skin the day his ink penetrated my flesh.
We were a spectacular inevitability.
There was no more exhaustion in that simple fact.
Cool air invaded my bubble and when my eyes opened, Liam’s smirk made the butterflies in my stomach take flight. That smirk had always promised mayhem, and the heat it conjured pooled low in my belly.
“Get in,” I chided as I crossed my arms trying to conserve some warmth as he slid in and shut the glass door behind him. I squealed as his cold hands grasped my waist, and his laugh, even though it was tinged with sadness, reminded me that not all of his edges were sharp. Liam’s softness was rare, and absolutely stunning. It was an honor to really know him.
“I’d say I’m sorry but—”
I pushed his chest. “But, you’re not.”
Liam’s grip guided me as we turned. His back now under the comfort of the water, he leaned down and rested his forehead on my shoulder.
“How’s Kieran?”
Liam exhaled and lifted his head. “He’s wrecked.”
I grabbed my loofa and handed it to him. He held it as I dotted it with soap.
“And Declan…”
Liam ran the soap over his colorful skin as he said, “He’s quiet… always the fucking ticking time bomb. Kieran said Paige is making breakfast and we should head over soon.”
I swallowed as I asked, “We? I mean, maybe I should give you guys some space.”
His jaw clenched and he shook his head. “Fuck that. Regardless of the stupid shit we’ve both put each other through, you’re family, too.”
“I don’t want to make anything harder for you… if staying away helps, I’d understand.”
His mother had been important to me, too. She’d been there for me so many times when my own was too busy trying to pay bills. Her loss, for me it cut deep, but this was their mom. Liam’s reason, his hope and his life, I didn’t want to take anything away from them.
Liam held my face in his hands. “You not being there will make this shit harder, Kelly. I need you by my side.”
I brought my nose to his, our mouths almost touched as I spoke, “Then that’s where I’ll be.”
He nipped my lip and then pulled away. “Good.” His fingers drifted down the line of my waist and hips.
“Just let me know what I can do to help, I want to—”
“I just need a few more minutes. I don’t want to have to think about anything. I want a couple minutes of just me and you.” His fingers trailed down until he palmed my ass and pulled me against him.
“I can do that,” I said a little breathless.
Liam’s teeth pulled at my bottom lip and then his tongue licked and soothed his bite. He pressed himself against me, the planes of his stomach hard against my own, and the right corner of his mouth lifted. “Good,” he repeated and then claimed my lips.
The bike came to an abrupt stop in Liam’s mother’s driveway. Liam’s Harley roared its last breath before he cut the engine. I’d forgotten how much I loved being on the back of his bike. I’d missed that numb sensation on my thighs and fingers from the vibration, from gripping his shirt so tight. The adrenaline coursed through me as Liam dismounted and then helped me by taking my hand. My legs wobbled as I found my footing and removed my helmet. Liam had gone without so I could have protection. There was still a part of me that wanted to make him wear it. The insecurity I’d always have, that had been beaten into me… I wasn’t worth it. But Liam had always read me like an open book, and he’d said his life was forfeit if I no longer existed. I wore the helmet, and that small part of me had gone silent, at least for the moment.
Liam laced our fingers together as I brought my gaze to the house. The worn vinyl siding was just as I remembered it. He was quiet as we approached the front door, and his face paled as we stood on the front stoop. He took a few even breaths. Inhaling and exhaling. His face, those lines, deeper than just two minutes ago. He was putting on his mask, he was becoming their leader, their hope, and I wondered if he’d ever know the true worth of his valiant heart.
He opened the door without releasing my hand, and the smell of bacon welcomed us home. The house was warm, and the ache in my chest grew as it hit me, really hit me, that Liam’s mother wasn’t here. She wouldn’t bound from the kitchen with her arms ready to embrace me. She wouldn’t ask me how I’d been, or where I’d run off to. I wouldn’t see Liam light up like he always had when she’d come out from the kitchen. Instead of life, there was an eerie calm. Kieran sat on the couch with his eyes glossed over, looking at nothing in particular. Declan sat in his usual spot at the dining table. No art book sprawled in front of him. No pencils. His hands rested on the wood surface of the table, his gaze trained on what I assumed was Paige in the kitchen. The crackle of grease sounded and I heard Paige swear softly. Liam’s hand strangled mine, his strength waning every step closer to his broken family. Tears wet my lashes, and the fingers of my free hand began to tremble, my voice stuck in my throat as the weight of my heart pressed against my sternum.
“Have you slept?” Liam asked, and Declan shifted his gaze.
“No.”
“What about you?” he asked Kieran, and he shook his head.
I watched as the guilt enclosed around his chest. Each breath Liam took was shallower than the last. My own lungs burned as I silently begged myself to keep it together.
“Paige doesn’t sleep much anymore, she’s too uncomfortable.” Declan stood from his chair, his voice just as dead as his eyes, and walked into the kitchen.
Kieran stared at our locked hands and his eyes relaxed as he asked, “You guys hungry? I think Paige is cooking enough for the neighborhood.”
“I am not, you guys need to eat,” she hollered, and I didn’t fight my smile.
Kieran’s lips twitched as he leaned forward and rose to his feet. Liam let go of my hand and took a couple of steps b
efore enveloping Kieran into a bear hug. Kieran was taller than Liam, but for some reason, today, he seemed smaller. Almost like he was a little boy again. A fissure of pain split my chest in two and my tears threatened to spill as I listened to Kieran’s fragmented sobs. Liam’s shoulders shook as he held his brother tight. When Kieran pulled away, his eyes were red. His cheeks were wet, and his voice thick as he said, “I’m so lost.”
Liam held his shoulders. “I’m sorry I left last night. I’m sorry I—”
“Don’t be.”
Liam dropped his hands and Kieran took a step back. He looked at me and then at Liam, his lips parting into a sad smile. “It’s about time you two figured everything out.” Kieran’s eyes locked on Liam’s, his voice strained, “Mom would’ve really liked that… that you guys worked through things.”
Liam exhaled and turned to face me. His brown eyes pooled with unshed emotion as he said, “I think Mom is what finally brought us back together.”
I took my place by Liam’s side, taking his hand and giving Kieran a warm smile. “She raised such amazing men, and I have no doubt she left this earth with pride in her heart.”
“She was a warrior,” Kieran whispered, and Liam squeezed my hand.
“Breakfast is ready.” Paige’s voice filled the room and lifted the mood.
Her cheeks were red from the heat of the stove, and her round belly seemed to make Kieran chuckle. “I think your belly grew since last night.”
Paige rolled her eyes. “Come eat this bacon before it gets cold.” She waddled back into the kitchen, and I heard her say to Declan, “I don’t care if he’s sad, he just said I look big.”
Declan’s quiet laughter made Liam smile. “He said your belly grew, not that—”
“Grab the plates,” she interrupted him, and Kieran’s flat eyes lit with a smile.
Kingdom (Avenues Ink Series Book 2) Page 21