by Mia Caldwell
I half moaned, half yelped as he swirled his hips around. He had positioned me at the perfect angle, his cock buried deep within me while his pubic bone ground against my clit. And all the while he kept up that steady stream of bossy dirty talk. "I want it to be so good for you," he promised me. "I want to watch you as you come around my cock."
I gripped the couch tighter as he began fucking me. The angle left everything concentrated right at my swollen clit. The blood rushing to my head had me seeing stars, and each shallow thrust sent a squeaking gasp out of my lips. I felt myself reaching the cliff-edge, poised to fall over and I let go of the couch, but Liam caught my arms up in his hands, gripping me tightly. He yanked me upward, kissing me savagely before throwing me back onto the couch, then lifting my ass even higher to thrust into me more deeply than before. "You're coming now, aren't you Shay? I can feel you getting all tight...."
I shrieked like a wildcat. Utterly at his mercy, I plunged over the brink. Hot lava coursed through me as the ache I had felt from the day I first saw him was finally, wonderfully, sated.
Liam drew a ragged breath and the rest of his words were lost in an animal snarl. I watched him with slitted eyes as his face contorted, eyes wide, then a sharp grimace. When he fell forward, he roared out my name in my ear and the force of his thrust nearly broke me in two.
I moved my hands from gripping the couch to touch my face and they came away wet. Was I crying?
Liam touched the trail of tears, swiping them gently away. "Shay?"
"It's good," I told him. Which was the truth. "It's so good."
He grinned widely then, dimpled, boyish and pleased with himself. The rough, dominant man of moments ago was transformed back into the gentleman, eager to have his lady pleased. The transition was enough to give me whiplash and I laughed out loud. "You are the most interesting man I have ever met."
He kissed my shoulder. "And I'm just getting started."
Chapter Twenty - One
It was a good day. And it was payday, which made it even better.
I still owed my divorce lawyer money. And she was starting to get a little snippy about that fact.
But even that couldn't dampen my good mood. I caught myself smiling, private, contented smiles as I remembered how it was last night. Jasmine had come home later than she ever had before, and gone straight to her room and shut the door. She was a good friend. I knew she wouldn't press me...yet. Besides, I wasn't sure if I was ready to talk about what had happened. That rough, dominant side...I wasn't sure she'd understand. Hell, I wasn't sure I did. When I peeked at my ass in the shower this morning, the marks made me smile. And the swollen lips of my pussy were so sensitive I gasped in pleasure when I sat down in the office chair at Young's florist.
When I said I wanted to feel it, my wish came true.
"Now that is a look I don't even have to be straight to recognize." Kit was leaning against the doorway, watching me with a Cheshire cat smile. "The look of a woman who has been fucked and fucked well." He looked at his cuticles, shook his head and walked away muttering, "Lucky bitch."
I bit my lip to keep from laughing and following him. I didn't want to tell him what Liam had done to me...but I also did. I wanted someone to tell me that it was okay to like it and I had a feeling Kit would do exactly that. I wanted him to explain to him...and myself... that Liam's roughness, his dominance, made me feel safe. Cared for. Cherished.
Trusting.
That was it. I finally trusted him. The realization made me laugh as I sat back on my stinging ass. Somehow all the flowers and talking couldn't resolve what a simple, primal, smack on the ass cleared right up. I let him spank me because I trusted him not hurt me. I gave up control because I knew he'd give it back the second I asked.
I shot up from the chair as the sudden burst of clarity propelled me to my feet. "Whoa!" Kit cried as he nimbly sidestepped to avoid me jumping straight into his chest.
"Sorry!" I blushed. My ass stung, which made me blush even harder.
"Shit, I was hoping you'd stay sitting down so I didn't have to say this." Kit was holding an envelope in his hand and his expression was more serious than I had ever seen him wear.
"Say what?" I asked.
He cleared his throat. "Shay, would you please sit down?"
"Kit, I don't like you when you're being serious. Freaks me out."
He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Honey, I don't like being serious, period. But right now I'm in grown-up mode. " He looked down at the envelope in his huge hands and looked for a moment like he wanted to cry. "Shay, honey, we can't pay you today."
I stammered. "Really? I went over the books...pulled in all those old delinquent accounts...."
"I know you did, but...." Silently he handed over the envelope.
I looked at the front and saw the postmark was from two days ago and it was addressed to Mrs. Young's home.
Inside was a new lease agreement.
"They're jacking our rent," Kit sighed heavily as I read the words myself. "Look, I'm on it. I'm already looking for a new space, but mom? Well, she's pretty upset."
I exhaled heavily. I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. "She's been here...forever! Since I was a kid!"
"Since before that," he said grimly. "She watched the neighborhood change around her. It's getting too gentrified here, too trendy. The landlord is no fool. He sees it. If he gets rid of us, he can rent to some gourmet frozen yogurt stand. Or a dog boutique."
I felt my lip quiver. This was straight up injustice. Both to me and to Mrs. Young. "Kit...I need my paycheck. I have bills."
"Honey, I know. I'm going to the bank right now. I'll open a line of credit today. Hopefully payroll can pick up with no issues."
I felt goosebumps march along my arm. I did the books here. I knew how in the red we were. "A line of credit? Another one?"
Kit just shrugged helplessly.
"Fuck," I exhaled, sitting back. "We can't take on another payment, Kit."
"I'm out of ideas here, babe. No credit line, no paycheck. At least until we can move somewhere cheaper." He stood up. "I understand if this doesn't sit right, Shay. You don't owe us anything. You've done amazing things with our delinquent accounts and we're grateful as hell. But there's no reason you need to go down with this ship."
His tread was as heavy as my heart as he stood up and walked back into the front of the store to wait for the customers that just weren't showing up any more.
*****
"You look anxious." Liam settled his hand on my thigh as the car rolled through the city streets. The sound of slush ssshed against the undercarriage soothingly, and I rested my head on his warm shoulder.
"Bad day at work," I sighed, nuzzling up to him.
"Want to talk to me about it, or do you want me to help you forget about it?" Liam asked, his voice clogged with meaning.
I looked up at his incredible face. The passing streetlights darted across in patterns of light and dark. "Help me forget," I whispered.
He tilted my face up to his. "Watch me. Eyes only on me."
I did what I was told, biting my lip in anticipation. Every little move he made was erotic. The anticipation of what he might do to me next made me wetter than I thought was possible.
He slid his hand over my thigh and in between my legs. "Ah, you're so warm here," he said, pressing his hand upward. I gasped to feel the downward rush. My body was already craving him.
"I want to play a little game, Shay. No, no, don't close your eyes. I want them open and on me, you understand? The game is called, 'how many times can Shay come before we get to my building?'"
I liked the sound of that game, and I liked what his hand was doing. Rough and precise, he was touching me in exactly the right spot. I sagged against him, but he grabbed my face with his other hand, cupping my cheeks. "Eyes on me. I want to watch you. I want to see you right at the moment you go wild."
He rubbed harder now, pressing upward almost painfully. With nowhere to look but int
o his eyes, I lost myself in the gray depths as he wrenched an orgasm out of me almost by force. "Liam!" I gasped sharply, sinking my fingers into his thigh and gripping with all of my might. "Holy...shit...," I gritted as the violent sensations wracked my body.
"That's one...," he growled, pulling his hand away. "Beautiful. But I want to take it to the next level." His hand was at my zipper already. I gripped his thigh again, shifting to give him better access.
When his thigh began to buzz.
The sick sense of deja vu smacked me upside the head. Tulips, the kiss, the ruined night...I stared up at him as he pulled his phone from his pocket and looked at the name, frowning.
"Is it Lily?" I asked.
He looked at the name, then back at me. "And if it was?"
I swallowed. I trusted him, I reminded myself. "Do...do you need to go?"
His face contorted. Whether it was relief or something deeper, I couldn't tell. "No," he replied gently, and slid the phone back into his pocket without answering. "I don't have to go anywhere."
Chapter Twenty - Two
I walked into Liam's penthouse on unsteady legs. He had made me come two more times before Darius had finally pulled into the underground garage.
But even if I hadn't been suffering some kind of orgasm-hangover, this place would have still made me feel unsteady. For one thing, we were so high-up it was vertigo inducing. His building was at 23rd Street, right up against the banks of the Schuykill River with a west facing view out over the low buildings of West Philadelphia and the suburbs beyond that. The sun was sinking below the horizon, shining through the haze of snow falling in the northwestern sky up near Manayunk and Roxborough. Down south near the airport, another snowsquall was marching through. To be able to see both at once was incredible.
I reluctantly turned from the view to take in the apartment itself. It took up the whole floor and had a distinctly designer tough. It looked like he paid someone a lot of money to choose everything and put it in place, and since then had never moved or touched a single thing.
As far as I could tell, there were no personal effects; no pictures on the exposed brick mantle, no battered paperbacks on the built-in shelves. It looked like it came from a catalog and the effect was closed off and eerie, but I didn't know how to put it in words. "Hey Liam, your apartment...it's too nice, what gives?" No, that would hardly work.
Instead I turned to look at him.
Only to see that he had been watching me all along.
"What?"
He leaned back on the leather sofa and raised his eyebrows. "I like looking at you."
"Yeah?" I was blushing already. His voice had that dangerous rasp. And in spite of three successive orgasms, I was still greedy for more.
"There's a small problem though."
"What's that?"
He gestured impatiently. "All those clothes."
I looked down. I was still bundled up from head to toe, but I was feeling overheated for an entirely different reason.
"Take them off, Shay, " Liam ordered softly. "One by one. Starting with your scarf."
I unwound the scarf from around my neck. "Very good. Now the jacket please." He was focusing on me with such intensity that I imagined myself in a spotlight. The jacket fell to the floor. "Boots now." I leaned over, unzipping my boots one by one, wobbling unsteadily. "Very nice, have I told you those are my favorite pants of yours?"
"No."
"They are," he growled. "Now take them off, please."
I unzipped them and stepped out. The cool air of the apartment hit my soaked panties and I shivered. "You'll be warm soon enough, Shay. Those socks need to go too."
I yanked them off, hopping from foot to foot on the cold floor.
"Now the shirt."
"Don't you want to do that?" I asked him with a grin.
"I just want to look at you," he repeated. The tightly restrained desire in his voice made my breath come quicker.
Yanking the sweater over my head, I threw it across the room. My hands went to my bra strap. "Ah, not until I say so," Liam corrected me.
I let my hands drop to my sides and waited, quivering, while his eyes raked up and down my flesh. There was something so sinful about doing what I was told.
He waved his hand. "Now."
I reached behind me and undid the clasp, letting my generous breasts swing free. Liam inhaled sharply. He rose from the sofa. "Stay there," he instructed as he walked across the room.
His bedroom, if you could call it that, was an open alcove off the main room. He stood at the edge of the bed and turned, crossing his arms deliberately.
"Come here. " He cocked his head at me. Wanting to watch me obey.
I lifted my chin and walked to him. The cool air of his apartment swirled around my overheated skin. The way he looked at me made my nipples tighten and constrict.
I stood in front of him, waiting.
He didn't touch me.
"Take off my shirt," he instructed.
My fingers shook as I undid the buttons one by one. His chest rose and fell in measured breaths, and the heat coming off of his skin was incredible. When it fell to the floor, I waited, shivering, for him to tell me to take off his pants.
"Kiss my neck," he ordered me instead. His voice had gone over to that tight whisper. God, it just went right through me like an electric jolt, overloading my circuits. His voice alone made me a marionette, moving without input from my brain. I lifted my lips to his neck. My nipples brushed deliciously against the light dusting of hair on his chest. I pressed my lips to his neck, wondering if I would feel his pulse racing like mine was.
But it was slow and steady under my lips. He was till completely in control of himself and it drove me absolutely wild.
"Kiss my chest," he exhaled and only the raggedness of his breath betrayed him.
I trailed my lips down. His skin was warm, so warm. I pressed my hands in the center of his pecs, my thumb and forefingers meeting, and kissed the little window that formed between them.
"Kiss my stomach."
I couldn't do that without bending down. Which was what he wanted. For me to get on my knees in front of him.
I knelt down on the cold marble tile and cupped my hands around his ass. As I kissed his flat stomach, I cast my eyes upward, so he could see me doing it.
His belly hitched and his abs tightened. I felt the throb of his desire and moved my hands to his zipper.
But he caught me by the wrists. "Go lie down," he told me firmly.
He wasn't ready to lose control yet.
Walking naked across the wide expanse of his bedroom while he watched - still covered - felt vulnerable as hell. The kiss in the dark of his car, the dark in Jasmine's apartment, those times were very different.
Now I was on display in the bright lights. And he could see everything.
"All the way up," he instructed. "There, now grab the headboard and look at me."
I did as he told. The bed dipped as Liam knelt over me. Through his hands ran a length of shiny white rope. He must have seen the question in my eyes. "I bought it the day I first kissed that sweet pussy of yours," he explained. "I knew how incredible it would look against your skin."
I remembered that day well, how his hands had held me so firmly in place. It suddenly made sense "You've always wanted to tie me up, haven't you?"
"It was all I could think of as I had you on that counter. But I had to wait for you to want it too."
He brushed a kiss across my lips and the impish dimple popped out for a split second before his eyes turned intense again.
He was right. Now I wanted it too.
He slid the rope around one wrist so that the center lay against it and wrapped the length around twice. Then he caught the other wrist and did the same, finally catching them both with the same knot. The long tendrils of rope trailed down on either side of my body as he pulled me tight to the headboard. I could feel the silken slide against my skin, but I couldn't move my arms at all.
&
nbsp; "Is it too tight?" he asked, running his finger down the inside of my arm.
I caught my gasp in my teeth. "No."
He caught the trailing lengths that pooled on either side of me. With great care, he lopped them around and around each other and then across my chest, catching each loop in an intricate knot that formed at my breastbone. My breasts were on full display now, and when I saw him look down at me with his lips slightly parted, I could tell he liked me this way.