Intertwined (Redemption #2)

by Sasha Brümmer

  “We have our moments. Wade has issues with me whenever I make a comment in regard to Hadley that isn’t innocent. I don’t blame him, though.” I decide to give her a half-truth because I don’t need her disappearing on me just yet.

  “You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself, Liam.”

  “Thanks, doll, but it is what it is.”

  The elevator door opens and we walk across the lobby to the entrance and wait for the few minutes it takes for valet to pull up with Isla’s Porsche.

  After we’ve gotten my shit into the trunk, I get into the driver’s seat and head over to her place. As I drive, the interior of the SUV remains silent as words that I struggle to speak aloud swarm my mind.

  I’ve made my bed, and I’ll lie in for the remainder of my life, but what I need is someone who will be there regardless of my past and my actions. I fucking know that my actions have spoken louder than my heart, but fuck, this is my fresh start, and I’d appreciate it if others saw it that way as well.

  Isla’s hand moves over mine on the steering wheel, taking me by surprise. “Liam? Are you all right? I feel like you are hundreds of miles away.”

  “I don’t have a choice but to be, do I?”

  “Okay, listen,” she says as she shifts and turns her body to face me as I slow to a stop at a red light. “I know that these years haven’t been kind to you, but you need to stop being so hard on yourself. Please, Liam, be that positive dickweed who showed up at Blended yesterday.”

  My eyes are focused on hers and the gold flecks that seem to glitter when she smiles. Her fingers intertwine with mine as she lets out a heavy breath.

  “Please?”

  I nod and run my thumb along the top of hers. “You’ve got yourself a deal.”

  Instead of letting go of me and relaxing back into her seat, she unbuckles and moves onto my lap, straddling me in the driver’s seat.

  “Isla, what the fuck are you do—”

  I’m cut off when her lips come down on mine, and she bounds her arms around my neck, drawing my mouth closer to hers. Her chest is pushed up against mine, making my cock stir with need. She startles when the car behind us honks, interrupting the deadliest of kisses. She pulls back and places the palms of her hands on either side of my face. “Stay with me in the present and don’t disappear into the past.”

  “Got it.”

  It’s something that I used to say to her when we first met, when she divulged all of her insecurities that her past had saddled her with. Her saying my same words back to me hits me in the gut, and I know that I need to get my shit together now more than ever.

  Her lips move down to mine once more as the vehicles behind us honk and give me the finger as they fly by on the wrong side of the road. She climbs off of me and buckles up before I start to inch the SUV forward again.

  Somehow having her with me makes me feel complete. God, this woman is fucking trouble, and I have to let her go before she starts to need what Adriana did. I don’t have the want or the will to put myself in the arms of a woman who needs something more from me than what I am willing and able to provide.

  Once we’ve gotten settled back into her loft and I’m about to doze off on the couch, she comes bounding down from her bedroom in the shortest black spandex shorts, sneakers, and a long-sleeved shirt. She pulls a sweater over her head and grabs her headphones from the kitchen counter.

  “I’m going for a run. It’s gorgeous outside, regardless of the chill.”

  When she turns around to grab a bottle of water from her fridge, my eyes roam down her legs and then back up, stopping on the tattoo on the back of her left thigh, and I groan.

  “When did you get that finished?”

  “What?” She glances over at me and notices what I’m looking at. “Oh, my tattoo?”

  “Yes.”

  It’s fucking incredible. I get up and walk toward her to get a better look at it. I don’t know how I overlooked it through our naked antics, but I did. It’s a black and white detailed inking of an octopus pulling a ship under. I run the backs of my knuckles over it, and I feel her stiffen underneath my touch.

  “Would you mind if I joined you?”

  “Joined me?”

  “Yeah. I know that your runs are personal and that you don’t share that alone time with others, but I’d like to be a silent partner for you this afternoon.”

  I watch her process my question and shrug. “Sure. Hurry up, though. I want to catch the sunset.”

  I straighten up and head up the stairs to her bedroom to get changed before meeting her back down in the living room.

  “All set. Let’s go.”

  Minutes later, we’ve stretched on the front steps of her building, and now our feet are slapping the unforgiving concrete beneath us. We’re keeping pace with each other as my lungs start to dry out from the fresh fifty-degree air. I glance over at Isla, who is lost in her own world with her headphones in and her black strands swinging wildly behind her. A sheen of sweat covers her forehead, and she must feel me staring because she glances over and me and throws me a radiant smile.

  I shake my head, pulling myself away from her sexual allure to focus on each step I take. I pick up the pace, knowing that it will be grueling for her due to our difference in leg length, but she manages to keep up with me. My heart begins to throb inside of my chest as we leave the first two miles behind us. Together, we avoid the leftover snow from yesterday as we push harder. We might be pounding the sidewalk, but Isla takes each step gracefully.

  She quickens her pace until she’s sprinting, and pulling ahead of me. I watch her take a few long strides before I put forth more effort and go after her. She glances over her shoulder and squeals when she sees me taking faster strides to close the distance between us. I’ve barely broken a sweat because I’m used to running in the Australian sun, but when I catch her, my fucking heart jolts as I pick her up and keep running as I pull her onto my back.

  “What the fuck?” she yells at me and smacks my shoulder blade.

  I let out a breathy chuckle. “Hold on tight, doll.”

  She locks her ankles around my torso before pointing to an alleyway, which I take, and it opens up onto North Avenue Beach. Instead of stopping and allowing her to climb off of my back, I keep running until my feet are hitting soft sand instead of the taxing concrete.

  I finally come to a stop where the waves are kissing the sand and set her down. I raise my arms and place both hands at the back of my head to catch my breath and to cool mysef down.

  “Dickweed,” she snorts and shoves me.

  “What? I needed a little more weight to complete my workout. Although your buck-twenty didn’t do much.”

  “Sure, you did,” she says with a smile and sits down in the sand and starts to untie her sneakers.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Cooling off. What does it look like?”

  “In there?” I ask as I look up at the waters of Lake Michigan.

  “Yup,” she says as she uses my shoulder as a post to take her sneakers off.

  “Yeah, fuck no, that’s not happening.”

  Her golden eyes find mine, and she blinks a few times while biting the corner of her lip.

  “Fine. Hold my shit, you pussy.”

  I watch her as she strips down until she’s only in her sports bra and a black silk thong. She takes a step away from me, but I reach out and grab hold of her forearm.

  “Hold on,” I tell her as I place her sweatshirt on top of her sneakers and pull my sweatshirt off, tossing it on top of the pile.

  Once I’m down to my black boxer briefs, I walk up beside her, and hip-check her.

  “Have you done this before?”

  She looks up at me and shakes her head. “Nope, but the beach is empty, and the sun is about to set, so it’s now or never, dickweed.”

  “I’m glad that my dick gets you high,” I tell her as she takes off running. I’m quick to follow behind her as the water hits our feet before splashing up against ou
r calves. She yells out and starts to retreat, but I grab onto her waist and pick her up, hauling her the remainder of the way into the water until it’s deep enough for me to sink down below a wave. She squeezes my bicep as we surface together. I can feel her petite frame shivering in my arms, and I don’t blame her. This water is fucking glacial at best.

  “Liam! Let go of me, I’m turning blue,” she shrieks at me and holds up her fingers, all the while giggling.

  “Shit.”

  I cradle her and run as best as I can out of the water and onto the sand next to our things. I sit down and place her between my legs, locking her in before grabbing her sweatshirt and helping her to pull it over her head. I pull my shirt on and then drape my sweatshirt over our legs.

  “That was possibly the rashest thing that I’ve ever done,” she says, and I cannot help but laugh with her as her teeth chatter. She’s right: it was fucking senseless, but I enjoyed the moment with her.

  “It was unbelievably ill-advised, but I liked it.”

  She leans her wet hair against my chest, and I lock my arms around her, rubbing over the material of her sweatshirt to warm her up.

  “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

  “You shouldn’t be so fucking sure of yourself.”

  She slaps at my hand and points to the sky. I look up and stop in my tracks. I’ve been so preoccupied with warming her up that I completely missed the peach, pink, and orange colors taking over the sky.

  “Damn.”

  “This is why I love running out here. I can’t ever get enough of it. The only thing that rivals this feeling is my relationship with whiskey.”

  “I don’t doubt that.”

  Her entire body relaxes back against mine as she curls into a smaller ball. I fold my legs around her and move her wet hair to one shoulder before placing my lips to the cold column of her neck. A shiver runs down her spine, causing me to smile because I’m an ass, and I’ve been enjoying her reactions to me over the last twenty-four hours.

  She turns to face me, and I don’t hesitate to lean into her and link my mouth with hers. Our lips brush against each other’s in an innocent tease, but I can tell that she’s holding back the more demanding and fiery side of her need. I know what she likes, and it’s usually fast and heady, not this passionate and slow tease.

  “Isla,” I say against her lips, prolonging each syllable.

  She shifts her body until she’s comfortably straddling me with the sunset to her back. I jolt when I feel her fingers run down my spine and pull her closer until there is no space left between the two of us . . . until I’m able to feel the beat of her heart against my chest. I don’t have a moment to react as our lips meet again, and she takes what she wants, intermingling our breath until we labor for oxygen. I roll my tongue along hers, which causes her to unexpectedly inhale sharply.

  I’m completely unprepared for the warmth that encircles us. It’s uncontrollable, yet the faint feeling that swims through us as we share our lips with each other is penetrating. This right here might just be my salvation, but I know that this is all we can be because I don’t trust myself to be more to her or anyone else.

  If I could start this entire thing over with Isla, then I would. I wouldn’t allow any of it to happen because by the way she’s holding onto me and the shy look that she gives me when I pull away, I know without a doubt that I’ll have to fucking hurt my best friend when I tell her that I don’t want anything more.

  I hesitantly pull back and look down at her, sliding a strand of hair behind her ear. She leans into my touch, and I know that I’ve already fucked up any form of anything between us. I can still feel the warmth that radiated in the spots where her body was touching mine, though, and it’s messing with my head.

  With a slightly shaking hand, she cups my jaw and leans into me, taking my mouth again. The sun has set, and we’re surrounded by darkness as I lie back on the sand, bringing her down on top of me.

  “We can’t do this here, Liam,” she says breathlessly as she grinds her hips onto my cock.

  “Fuck it, it’s something to do.”

  “Uhh, nope.”

  She gets up and starts to get dressed while I push myself up and off of the sand. “Rejection stings, doll.”

  “I’m sure you’ll survive until we get back to my place.”

  “I might, but I’m not so sure about my cock.”

  “I am.”

  She gives me a glare that challenges me in her own little way. Fuck Netflix and chilling. With Isla, it’s all about whiskey and adventure. Regardless of the amount of whiskey, though, she catches me off guard every time she’s close, and instead of the whiskey, I often find myself to be intoxicated by her. I mentally chastise myself at the direction of my thoughts and get up without another word to pull my sneakers and sweatshirt back on.

  By the time we arrive back at her loft, I’m exhausted from our run and then our sprint up the stairs. Both of us fall onto her couch and sprawl out.

  “I don’t think that I’ll be able to lift my legs for the next couple of days.”

  She laughs and reaches over, bringing her palm down on my thigh with a heavy sting.

  “What the fuck was that for?” I call out as I grab her wrist.

  “For being a prick.”

  “Classic, doll.”

  “You like classics with red lipstick,” she counters and puckers her lips, blowing a kiss my way.

  “I could think of better things that mouth could be doing right about now.”

  “Oh yeah? Such as?” she taunts and lifts her sore body off of the couch.

  “Shutting up so I can sleep,” I spit at her, and she gasps.

  “See. You’re more than a prick than you dare to realize.”

  “Oh, I realize, doll. I just don’t have the soul to care.”

  She shakes her head at me instead of replying and walks upstairs. I hear the water in the shower turn on while I lay my head back and pass out into unconsciousness.

  The next four days pass quickly with the amount of work I’ve been doing on Isla’s body and my personal life. I met with a realtor, and she showed me a couple of places in the city, but I insisted that I needed to work from the ground up, and she’s finally found a lot of land for sale that overlooks the lake. I haven’t gone to see it, but it’s on the Gold Coast, so I told her to send the papers over, and I’d make an offer on it.

  Another day passes before I hear back from her, informing me that my cash offer was accepted and that I’d need to meet with her once more to fill out the remainder of the paperwork.

  Energy transcends the bounds of my body, and I need to do something more than just sit here in Isla’s living room and impatiently wait for her to get back from her shift. Instead, I decide to call an Uber and head out to Blended.

  For some reason, I have the need to tell Isla before anyone else and celebrate with her, and it is something that should give me pause, but I choose to ignore that nagging feeling in my gut and go for what I want.

  When I arrive, it’s past ten in the evening, and my eyes find her as soon as I pull open the front door. She’s on a wooden ladder that leans against one of the shelves, to retrieve a bottle of whiskey. I watch her body move up the rungs and cast a quick glance around the room, taking note of how many of the men present are watching her too.

  My long strides take me across the large space to her in no time at all and I move behind the bar, despite the argumentative look that a few librarians give me. I spin Isla around just as her foot hits the floor and her eyes go wide, not expecting anyone to be close to her.

  “Liam. You can’t be back here.”

  “I do what I want, and you should already know that.” She bites the corner of her lip and tries to push me out of her way. “Ah, she is getting sick of having me around. Well, it shouldn’t be too much longer before I’m out of your hair. All I have to do now is hire a contractor and get some blueprints drawn up.”

  “Wait, what?” she asks as she pours out tw
o fingers of amber.

  “I got the lot.”

  The masterpiece that is her dark red lips part and she inhales a deep breath of air before responding. “Are you kidding me? That’s incredible! Congratulations, Liam,” she shouts and leaps into my arms as I grip onto her trim waist.

  That odd sensation pulls at my insides, but I choose to ignore it just as her lips come down on mine. We have not had any public displays of affection other than on the beach a couple of days ago, but how can I count that when there wasn’t another soul in sight?

  She must realize her mistake because she pulls back and pushes herself out of my arms when I lower her back down to the wooden floor.

  She wipes her mouth off as if it will, in some way, help erase the kiss. “That never happened,” she snaps at the bartender beside us and strides past me with the bottle of whiskey in hand to her office in the back.

  I follow her lead and close the door behind us. “If my lips revolt you enough to wipe—”

  She moves toward my direction and reaches past me to lock the door before wrapping her arms around my neck as she stands up on her toes. My automatic response is to grant her my lips as I lean down and take hers forcefully. I shift my head to the side, allowing me better access to her mouth that will let me make her lose her mind as our tongues wrap around each other.

  Her greedy hands move into my hair, tugging at the strands with more than the mere excitement of my purchasing a piece of land in the city should garner. She quickly pulls away and covers her mouth.

  “Fuck. I don’t know what has gotten into me. I’m sorry,” she says with a frown before she steps away from me and takes a seat at her desk. I stand there, watching her for a minute while she pretends to occupy herself with something on her laptop, but I know that she’s full of shit.

  “Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine,” she spits out too quickly for my liking.

  “I’m going to call bullshit on that, but I’ll let you be. Come on, let’s grab something to eat and then you can get some fucking rest for your day off tomorrow. The Cubs won’t wait for us if you sleep the day away.”