by Mia Caldwell
Liam looked bemused as he obediently tied the apron around his neck. "I'm...not sure."
"Here, try it," she handed him a pink handled paring knife.
He eyed the chef's knife she wielded with aplomb. "You could have at least given me the big one."
"You said you weren't sure about your chopping," she said in her professor-voice.
"Right, okay, valid point." He bent to his tomato, more mashing it than slicing. The knife looked ridiculous in his huge hands, and I smiled.
"Hot hot hot," chanted Kiki, bustling through the kitchen with a brownie pan. "Where can this cool out of the way?"
I brushed some mail to the floor and grabbed a hot pad. "I got it," I told her, spinning in place to put the pan down by the toaster.
"Liam, can you slice a little thinner, I only grabbed two tomatoes," Jazzy asked.
"Sure."
"Hey Jazz, where are your forks?"
"I got them, want me to set the table?"
"Hey, what are we having, anyway?" Liam wanted to know.
"Steak, mashed potatoes and salad," Jasmine barked, attacking the mound of potatoes like they had insulted her mother. "Kiki also made brownies for some reason."
"Dessert! You always need something sweet to finish," Kiki called from the sink, shaking out the head of iceberg.
"Need me to mix the salad dressing?" I asked, after I'd finished setting the table.
"Just grab the bottles off the door," Jazzy called over her shoulder.
Liam looked down at his mutilated tomatoes in triumph. "I did it!"
"You did your best and that's what's important," Jasmine teased, sliding them into the salad bowl and tossing them with the lettuce.
"You wouldn't let me use the big boy knife," Liam complained. "My skills were hampered."
"The only one of us who had medical training is Kiki, and hers is limited to patching skinned knees and kissing snotty noses," Jasmine replied archly. "I made the right decision in keeping sharp knives away from you."
"You'll get it next time," Kiki patted Liam encouragingly.
Liam shot me a helpless look and I bent double with laughter. I laughed even harder as the two of them herded him into the cramped dining room, bickering over who should sit where.
In the five minutes Liam had been here, they had already put him to work, teasing and bantering like he belonged here. I felt more comfortable with Liam meeting my friends than I had in four years with Tre.
"I supposed you can sit next to Shay," Jazzy conceded to Liam's pleas. "But no funny business under the table."
"What about on top of the table?" Liam asked, perfectly innocent. I slid next to him and he squeezed my thigh.
"You're so bad!" Kiki shrieked.
"Are you going to send Kiki a zillion flowers for hurting her virgin ears?" Jazzy huffed, winging a steak onto his plate.
"Just give me your address, Keysha," Liam nodded.
"I like daisies," Kiki said primly as she smoothed her skirt and sat down.
"What do those mean?" Liam asked me.
I smiled. "Innocence."
"Which you just robbed her ears of," Jasmine sat down at the head of the table.
Kiki sighed. "I actually just like the way they look. So cheerful. I could use some after today."
"What happened, babe?" I asked, a bite of steak poised on my fork.
She heaved another sigh. "Remember I told you about Trevor?"
"He sat in your lap," I nodded. Jasmine leaned forward, nodding too.
Her eyes glittered as she blinked rapidly. "His parents pulled him from the program!" She viciously stabbed a forkful of steak and jammed it into her mouth.
"Oh shit," Jazzy muttered.
Liam looked quietly at me. "Trevor's one of her preschool kids. Special needs. She made a breakthrough with him recently...."
"And now it's for nothing." She coughed into her napkin. I could tell she was trying to keep from crying.
"Did they give a reason?" Liam asked.
Kiki looked at him, seemingly startled that he would be interested. "They did. They said the therapy worked and was no longer necessary."
"Well that's good, right?" Liam asked. His gray eyes blazed with hope.
Kiki set down her fork. "No. It's deluded. Their child needs the full complement of therapies; OT, PT, speech... We had him with three different therapists three days a week, plus small group time. The only reason they saw this progress is because we were working our collective asses off with him." I had never seen Kiki so furious.
"Can you get them to reconsider?" I wanted to know.
Her shoulders slumped. "I can try. But they're bound and determined to force him to be 'normal.' Whatever that means." She looked around wildly. "I mean, who here can claim to be normal?"
Three heads swiveled to stare at Liam. He looked alarmed and set down his fork. "Me? Why ladies, I don't know whether to be flattered or insulted."
"A bit of both." I patted his shoulder. "Sorry, killer."
He wiped his mouth with his napkin and leaned in. "Do you work for the school system or a private practice."
"Schools," Kiki replied, wrinkling her eyebrows in confusion.
"Then you'll be able to follow him, so long as he stays in the district, right?"
"I can, theoretically."
Liam nodded forcefully. "Keep on him. Check in, show interest...just keep being present for him. I can tell you from experience how important it is for a scared kid to have an adult who cares."
The three of us stared at him. Kiki's mouth was hanging wide open.
Liam grunted and shifted in his chair. "I'm sorry, did I just kill the light-hearted mood?"
Kiki leaned forward and patted his hand. "No, honey, I'm pretty sure that was me." She smiled at him. "Thanks for that."
"It was the truth," he said shortly, before turning back to his steak.
"I like him," Jasmine announced suddenly. "Shay? Get it, girl."
Chapter Twenty
A good friend is always there when you need them. An even better friend knows when to go the hell away.
"I'm going to run Kiki home now," Jasmine told us casually. Liam and I were sitting on the sofa, trying our best to keep our hands off each other. "She was going to show me that video I was asking about at dinner."
I had no recollection of any video, but I still nodded eagerly. The full length of Liam's thigh was pressed against mine and it was driving me insane. "Have fun!"
"You too," she said primly. I nearly threw something at her as she walked out the door.
"I feel like I should ask her permission for your hand or something," Liam whispered.
I watched the door close behind her. "I honestly think she would like that," I whispered back.
Jasmine began to whistle obnoxiously loud as she thumped her way down the main staircase. I swear I could hear her slamming the front entry door from two floors away. "Is that supposed to be our cue to start making out like teenagers?" Liam asked.
I looked at him. "You mean, you weren't planning on making out like teenagers? Damn, I really misread the room."
"A teenager would have no idea what to do with a woman like you, Shay."
I tried to hide my thrilled little shiver. "And you know what to do with me?"
His eyes darkened. "I know what I'd like to do to you."
This time I couldn't hide it. I shivered. "What would you like to do to me?"
His hand had been resting lightly on my thigh. All at once he turned, lightning fast, gripping my arms and pinning them above my head. With a light, feathery touch, he grazed his fingers underneath my shirt. "Everything, Shay," he rasped. "I want to do everything to you." He squeezed his hand a little tighter against my pinned wrists, making me gasp. He swirled his other hand lightly against my belly, drawing goosebumps. The contrast in touch; rough and gentle, pain and pleasure made me exhale sharply. He nodded. "And I think I'm going to start now."
With a sudden, violent jerk, he yanked me to my feet. A ro
ugh stab of a kiss, and then he whirled me around, pinning my arms behind me. I could feel him along the entire length of my back, but I couldn't see him, and somehow that made what he was about to do to me all the more delicious. I could feel it, the need I had, throbbing and clutching inside of me already...and he hadn't even begun.
He lifted my shirt over my head, letting it fall in a heap on the floor. The cold air hit my skin, making me shiver. He pulled me even closer to him, still holding me tightly pinned with one hand, while with the other, he lightly touched me everywhere....my shoulders, my neck, my belly.
As I shivered under his hand, he leaned over and brushed his lips against my neck. "I need you to trust me," he breathed, leaning us forward and settling me down on the couch, belly first. "You need to trust me...and let me do what you want me to do so badly."
I trembled as he gently pulled my jeans down over my ass. His gentleness seemed barely contained. Lurking under the surface was an animal hunger that both thrilled and terrified me.
"Ouch," I gasped as my zipper dug into my skin.
"I'm sorry." He pressed his lips to the scratch. The combination of sensations was exquisite.
I liked that.
I wanted him to do that again.
I wanted this time to be different. And while I couldn't quite put my finger on what I wanted from Liam, I trusted that he knew what I wanted. That exquisite combination of rough and gentle. The push/pull of soft sensuality with rough dominance. I craved something I couldn't name, not really. I knew I didn't want it to hurt. But I wanted to feel it. To have it linger, later, marking me. I wanted to have little reminders of him being here when he was gone. I wanted to still feel what he had done to me...was doing to me. "More, Liam," I demanded, turning to face him, urgency making my voice rise. "I want more."
"Roll over," he ordered me. I needed his bossiness too. For some reason it made it simpler.
He helped lower me to my stomach. I could feel the fabric of the sofa biting into my flesh. The corduroy would leave lines. I liked that too.
He reached for my panties and I dutifully lifted my ass in the air. There was something delicious in not looking at him while he undressed me. I couldn't see what he was doing next, could only anticipate. The less I knew what he was going to do, the more I trusted him. I squeezed my eyes shut and was rewarded with a sharp gasp as Liam saw my naked ass.
"My god. Look at you," he said thickly. He gripped me a little tighter, a little more roughly. His fingertips sank into the fleshy parts and just as quickly as he grabbed me, he started smoothing his palm all over my skin.
I moaned as he went on like that, mesmerized by his touch. Grabbing and smoothing, grabbing and smoothing, drawing out the touch. Each time he rubbed his palm over my cheeks, he spread them widely - opening me up.
I quivered and buried my face in Jasmine's sofa. My whole body was tense. Every muscle was poised and ready.
He swirled his hands upward, dragging his fingers so that his short nails dug in just a little. Scratching me, just how the zipper had. I let out a sound.
Liam must have liked what he heard, because he did it again. And again. Lightly scratching my back and hips, trailing his nails down into the soft flesh of my inner thigh. Raising heat everywhere he touched. I hissed and moaned, feeling myself growing wetter and wetter.
When he asked me, his lips were against my ear, so that I could hear nothing else but the ragged desire in his voice. "Shay...do you need me to spank you?"
Need? How could I know what I needed anymore? My needs were not my own, they were in his hands. I was lost. I didn't know what I needed except for more of his touch. He raked his nails up again, harder this time, raising little welts on my back which he immediately smoothed out with his palms. It was the same as before, scratching and soothing, alternating rough with gentle. Each sensation dragged me closer to the brink of madness.
When I feared I could no longer stand it, he bent his lips to my ear. His lips brushed my sensitive lobe as he asked a second time, "Do you need me to spank you?"
I whimpered and lifted my head. If I looked at him, what would I see?
Eyes, stormy gray and piercing. Naked, open desire, barely contained. His jaw clenched tightly, the muscle at his temple throbbing the same rhythm that beat inside of me. With his lips parted, he looked at me worshipfully, and any suspicion I had ever had of my beauty was resolved in his gray eyes. There was not a being on the planet for desirable than I was to him right now.
I nodded.
He opened his palm and pressed it against my ass. "You want this?"
I nodded again. I was pressing into his hand, arching my back, waiting.
He sliced his hand through the air, landing with a loud smack on my ass and his eyes blazed. "Say it, Shay."
Stinging warmth flooded through me, letting loose another flood within. "Yes," I moaned.
His palm connected with my skin a second time. I gasped and buried my face into the sofa so that when his hand cracked across my ass a third time, my scream was muffled by the cushion.
"That's it. Let go." His voice crackled with energy as he brought his hand down on the other side. I screamed louder this time, more desperately. It hurt, but in such a strange way. And I wanted more.
He bent forwarded and pressed his lips to the stinging skin with such tenderness that my whole body quaked. I felt the trickle of wetness down my thigh, and my hand moved down of its own accord.
"That's right," he gasped. "Touch yourself. Let me see you." He moved his hand over mine, covering it so that it was like he was guiding me as I rubbed desperately. "I want to know exactly how you like it. Fast? Slow? No, you don't want it slow. No, you want it rougher, don't you gorgeous girl? You're not holding back on me anymore, are you?"
Quicksilver flashes whipped through my veins as my whole body stiffened. Liam growled and buried his face between my legs as my fingers danced along my clit. His tongue found my center, swirling and lapping and the combination of that with my own fingers sent me over the edge in an instant. I screamed into the couch again, shuddering blindly as the pleasure took me.
I heard the wet snap of the condom and my whole body quivered in readiness. I arched my back and felt Liam press himself against my entrance.
"Now you definitely want this, don't you Shay? Look at you quivering. You're so ready. Do you want to feel it now? Do you want to beg me to let you cum?"
His bossy dirty talk was no match for the feel of his cock as he dipped the head inside of my entrance, then pulled away. I let out a long, loud moan as he denied me what I craved. "I want you," I begged, moaning into the sofa.
He wrapped his hand around my ponytail and yanked my head back. "I didn't hear you."
"I want you!" I screamed into Jasmine's empty apartment.
He thrust himself inside of me, the whole hot length of him, and I practically sobbed in relief.
"I want you too, Shay," he growled into my ear, releasing my hair as he began to pump slow and deep. The whole length of his body was pressed against mine. When he wrapped his hands lightly around my throat, I felt like they belonged there. "Can you tell how much I've wanted you?" he asked, pumping himself harder. "Can you feel how hard you make me?"
I could feel it. He was impossible hard, throbbing inside of me as he thrust slow and deep. I could feel him, and every place he touched inside of me. Places that hadn't been touched before, secret and shy, they all rushed out, quivering to meet him.
I moaned thickly, savoring the intense, almost painful feel of him. I was pinned, helpless under his weight, and yet I felt safe. Cherished, even.
Liam moved, pulling back for a moment. Deliriously, I moaned and clutched behind me, trying blindly to put him back. But that wasn’t what he had in mind.
"I want to look at you." He lifted me up, flipping me like I weighed nothing at all. "Reach behind you, the arm of the couch there." I reached up and held on like he asked, and bit my lip. "Now don't move."
I held on, clenching tightl
y as he lifted my ass and slid a pillow underneath. My ass was now higher than my head and all the blood rushed downward, making me dizzy. It made me even dizzier when I saw Liam for the first time.
In the low light, his body gleamed like cut marble, every highlight and shadow etched in his skin by some master sculptor. Whatever artist had crafted him had paid particular attention to the blaze of his gray eyes and the rock hard perfection between his legs. Perfection that he buried deep inside of me in one smooth thrust.