Naked Flame

by Desiree Holt

“Thanks for all the advice.”

  Charity could tell the women were making him feel uncomfortable, despite their good intentions. She linked her arm through his. “Well, we have to be going. Right, Liam? Don’t we have reservations?”

  “Uh, yes, we do. See you all later.”

  Charity felt eyes at her back until they were outside and in Liam’s truck.

  “Whew.” She leaned back against the seat. “I don’t know those ladies really well, except for Amy. I’m sorry they were so tough on you.”

  Liam was silent as he pulled the truck out of the parking area and onto the street.

  “Some things you need to know,” he said at last, his voice uninflected.

  Charity’s stomach knotted. Was he going to reveal some deep, dark secret that would send her running back to the B&B? She clasped her hands together in her lap.

  “Okay. Let’s have it.”

  “I, uh, don’t date.”

  She turned to look at him. “Ever?”

  He gave a short laugh. “Not in a long time. I did two tours in Afghanistan. I got a medical discharge after the last one because I wrecked my leg.”

  “I’m so sorry. Should you—”

  “I haven’t been the most sociable person since I came home. In fact, I haven’t been that friendly at all.” He blew out a breath. “I have some issues. I guess you’d call them. A lot of shit happened over there.”

  “Liam, are you trying to tell me you have PTSD? A lot of people have that. In fact—”

  She was about to tell him cops suffered from it too, but he barreled right along as if she hadn’t spoken.

  “So I didn’t feel like making nice with anyone. Okay?”

  “O-Okay.” She made herself wait for what came next.

  “I don’t know what this is between us, but I feel like a train rolled over me. After you left, I couldn’t get you out of my mind.”

  She laughed softly. “Same goes. I don’t usually act the way I did this afternoon.”

  “You mean waiting tables or locking lips with strangers?”

  “Well, I waited tables for a lot of years before I graduated, so I guess locking lips with strangers would be the thing.”

  He reached over and took her hand. His was warm and slightly rough. “This okay? Me holding your hand?”

  She gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “Yes, it is.”

  “This is so fast, Charity. Whatever it is stuns me. But there’s something here, right?”

  “Yes, there is.” And it scares me as much as it apparently frightens you. I’m so bad with relationships.

  “So it’s quick, but I learned that life can be very short. Let’s see where it goes, okay?”

  “Okay. I discovered the same thing. And, Liam, you don’t scare me a bit.”

  He couldn’t stop looking at her. It amazed him that this very sexy woman who kissed like a temptress was actually sitting across the table from him. Tonight, she wore a sweater in a rich-blue color that matched her eyes. She wore minimal makeup again, but he didn’t think she needed any. She had such natural beauty. Every time he looked at her lips, he remembered exactly how they’d felt and tasted, and he wanted to repeat that. As soon as possible, as a matter of fact.

  Dinner had been really nice. The nicest meal he’d had in a long time. They talked about everything and nothing. They liked a lot of the same movies and television shows, and discussing them took them through salads and entrees. Now they’d ordered a thick slice of chocolate cake to share for dessert. He watched her cut off a small piece, slide it into her mouth and swallow, her eyes closed in bliss.

  “Mmm. This has to be the best chocolate cake I’ve ever tasted.” She opened her eyes. “You’re staring at me again. Do I have a smudge on my face or something?”

  “A little chocolate frosting on your lip.” Before he could stop himself, he reached across the table and wiped it with his thumb. Her lips were so soft he just wanted to lick the chocolate off with his tongue. He couldn’t wait to kiss them again. He hoped she would be up for that too. The way she was looking at him, he figured there was a good chance of that. He licked his thumb, eyes locked with hers, and he was sure he saw heat flaring in them.

  Slow, he told himself. Don’t rush it. When the waiter asked if they wanted more coffee, he looked at her and she nodded. Holding the cup gave him something to do with his hands so he didn’t reach across the table again.

  “So.” He leaned back in the booth. “We’ve talked about everything but ourselves.”

  “I didn’t think you were up for personal discussion. I’m sure talking about Afghanistan isn’t the most pleasant thing for you.”

  “Let’s talk about you.” He studied her over the rim of his cup. “I don’t know anything about you except you’re a friend of Amy’s and decided to hang out in Saddle Wells for a while. Do you have a job somewhere?”

  She cut off another bite of cake in a very deliberate motion, chewed and swallowed it slowly.

  “You might say I’m between careers.”

  “Oh, now you can’t just leave it like that,” he told her. “That brings up all kinds of questions. What did you do after you quit waitressing?”

  She put the fork down, wiped her mouth and sat back. “I’ve been a cop for the last ten years.”

  Of everything she could have told him, that was the last thing he expected.

  “A cop?” He hoped he didn’t look as stupid as he sounded.

  Her laugh held little humor. “Shocked you, right?”

  No kidding.

  “Let’s just say, of all the careers I’d have guessed, that’s not one of them. I think of female cops as—”

  “Hard? Not feminine? Butch?” Her face hardened and she pressed her plump lips into a thin line.

  Liam held up his hands. “No. Not at all. Don’t take this the wrong way, Charity, but I see you as a warm, sexy female that I’d love to—” He stopped himself before he got into more trouble. “A warm, sexy female,” he repeated.

  When she smiled at him, he relaxed.

  “It’s okay. A lot of times, I had to prove that I was tough enough.”

  “So why’d you quit? I assume that’s what happened or you wouldn’t be here. Unless you’re taking an extended vacation.”

  He watched a slideshow of expressions wash across her face as she decided how to answer him. Was she in trouble? Had something bad happened to her?

  “Actually, I was really good at my job. Even made detective.” She shrugged. “But after ten years and some broken relationships, I decided it might be time for a change.” She took a sip of her coffee. “Truth to tell, I was worn out. Maybe even burnt out.”

  He studied her, waiting for her to say more. When she didn’t, he said, “There’s something else, right? You can tell me whatever it is. I’m the last person to be judging anyone.”

  She lifted a shoulder. “It’s not that. I just don’t like bringing ugliness into a nice conversation.”

  “Let me be the judge of how ugly it is.”

  “My last case, we took down a major drug dealer in Dallas. Paco Morales. One of the most vicious ones, as a matter of fact. There were a lot of long days, not much sleep, tense moments. A lot of energy went into building the case and arresting him. And then…” Her voice trailed off.

  “Let me guess.” He reached across the table and closed his hand over one of hers. “He threatened you.”

  “Big time.” She shook her head. “I’ve had criminals promise vengeance before, but Morales has a wide-reaching organization. I took what he said very seriously. So I decided it was time for a change of scenery and a change of jobs. Right now, I’m considering my options, as they say.”

  “I’m guessing Morales is locked up tight?”

  Charity nodded. “He’s in the county jail until they transport him back to the courthouse
for sentencing. Then he’ll be sent to Huntsville. Good riddance.” She took a sip of her water. “Let’s not talk about unpleasant things anymore, okay? In fact, let’s get out of here.”

  “What are you thinking?” Charity looked at Liam, sitting next to her on the quilt. They’d been stretched out, leaning against a tree trunk, for more than an hour.

  “I’m thinking how strange it is at my age that I don’t have a place to bring a woman home to. That I’m sitting out here under a tree like some horny teenager and grateful for the full moon so I can see you.”

  She burst out laughing. “You do have a home, Liam. A big one that you share with your dad.”

  “Exactly,” he grumbled. “I’m thirty-five years old and live with my father.”

  He picked up one of her hands and drew circles on her palm with his thumb. Shivery sensations cascaded through her from that simple caress, making her want the same things she’d wanted when he’d kissed her that afternoon.

  “Well, I sure can’t invite you back to the B&B,” she pointed out. “Even if we just sat and drank coffee in the kitchen, we might as well take out an ad in the Hill Country Herald.”

  “You got that right. And I don’t want to take you to a damn motel. That smacks of a quickie, and that’s miles from what I want this to be.”

  They were silent for a moment, his thumb still drawing circles in her palm with a sensuous stroke.

  “So if we had a place to go,” she teased, “what would we do?”

  “I’d rather show you than tell you.” His voice was rough with passion as he rolled her to the quilt, one arm beneath her, his free hand cupping her chin. “And then I’d start with this.”

  His mouth was just as seductive as she remembered from the kiss earlier, warm and firm, yet at the same time soft and pliable. He nudged her own mouth open with his tongue and she accepted the thrust greedily. He cradled her head in the palm of his hand, cupping it and tilting it this way and that to give him a better angle for the greedy kiss.

  Her body was on fire, the pulse in her cunt throbbing with the intensity of a jungle drum. What on earth was happening to her? This wasn’t like her at all. No man had ever affected her the way Liam Douglas did. He shifted position to give himself better access to her body, sliding his hand beneath her sweater to find her breast and gently knead it.

  She moaned into his mouth, his tongue still dancing with hers. She sucked on it avidly, loving the taste of him—coffee, chocolate and male. They were nearly out of breath when he lifted his mouth from hers and reached to tug her sweater over her head. He stopped just as he eased her arms from it, leaving it bunched for the moment around her neck.

  “This okay with you?”

  She nodded, unable to form words.

  His chuckle was low and warm. “I can’t believe that at my age I’m going to make love to a woman on a quilt in a meadow instead of a big comfortable bed.”

  “Is that what we’re doing?” she asked, breathless. “Making love?”

  “It’s sure a hell of a lot more than just sex. If I knew you for ten years instead of ten hours, I wouldn’t feel any different.” He stripped off her sweater. “I’ll say it again, Charity. I don’t know what’s happening here, but I’ve never connected with a woman like this in my life. It’s the first light in my darkness since I came home from fighting. Please don’t tell me to stop.”

  “I should say this is pure idiocy. It’s the most impulsive thing I’ve done since I was in high school.” She touched his cheek, the heat of him nearly scorching her fingers. “But guess what? It hit me the same way. So no. Don’t stop.”

  He made short work of the clasp on her bra and managed to slide the scrap of satin from her body and drop it on top of her sweater. Then his mouth was on a nipple, pulling on it, grazing it with his teeth and sucking on it until she thought she’d go mad. There seemed to be a live wire in her body connected directly from her nipple to her pussy, her internal muscles contracting at the intense erotic shock. She arched her body up to him, his mouth hot on her skin.

  Moving his mouth to the other nipple, he gave it the same treatment, using his lips and teeth until, like the other, it was hard and aching with need. Charity yanked his shirt from the waistband of his slacks and slid her hands beneath the fabric to touch the smooth skin, feeling the hard muscles of his back and the heat of his body.

  Liam rolled away from her long enough to unbutton his shirt and drop it to the side. She missed the contact, the soft slide of his lips on her body and the warmth of his mouth. But then he was back, holding her, the soft matte of hair on his chest a pleasant abrasion against her skin. He stared at her, a hungry look on his face before trailing a line of kisses down her neck, across her breasts and down her body until he came to fabric.

  “Gotta lose these.”

  Bracing himself on one elbow, he made quick work of the button and the zipper and then slid the slacks down her legs, grazing his knuckles over her skin in a sensuous glide. When she was completely naked, the night air kissing her overheated skin, he knelt between her legs and went back to work with his mouth.

  Using the tip of his tongue, he traced the circle of flesh around her navel then licked a slow path down to her mound. She shivered in anticipation and then moaned when he spread the lips of her pussy and drew a line the length of her slit with his tongue. Her inner walls were tightening in anticipation of his invasion and he didn’t disappoint. Closing her eyes, she gave herself up to the feel of his tongue as he drew it slowly through her slit, fluttering it against her heat and swirling his tongue around her now-throbbing clit, over and over again. She bucked up into his mouth when he closed his lips over that swollen knot of flesh and anchored herself to the quilt with her fists.

  He hummed his satisfaction at her response, blew warm air on her inflamed flesh and slid two fingers into her soaked, waiting channel. Curling them, he dragged against her sweet spot, sending more sparks shooting through her body. In and out, slowly, steadily, he pushed her higher and higher. She wanted him as naked as she was, wanted to feel the rest of his body, the shape of him, but she was too caught up in the orgasm building inside her to do anything but whimper and let herself fall into the erotic whirlpool.

  Her climax broke without warning. One minute, he was stroking and licking, sucking and rubbing. The next, he drove her right over the edge of the cliff, her body shuddering and shaking with the tremors. He stayed with her the entire way, his mouth and fingers never leaving her body until she finally relaxed, weak, on the soft fabric of the quilt.

  Liam moved up her body, cradled her in his arms and pressed a kiss to her lips. She could taste herself on his lips and his tongue, the flavor sharp and not unpleasant. She threaded her fingers into the thickness of his hair, loving the rich feel of it, and held him in the kiss until she needed to stop to breathe.

  Moonlight reflected in his eyes as he looked hard into hers.

  “Good?” he asked.

  “Better than.” She gave a giddy little laugh. “But you still have too many clothes on. I want to see every bit of you.” She let out a slow breath. “Touch you, taste you.”

  “Darlin’, if I get naked, it will be all over before I even get my pants off. I won’t even tell you how long it’s been since I was with a woman. Any woman.” He licked her lips again. “And for sure not one like you.”

  “Um, is that a good thing or a bad one?”

  “Definitely good.”

  “I don’t care.” She stared into his eyes. “I want to see every inch of you. Right now.”

  He ran his tongue over her lip again. “Okay, but don’t blame me if it’s over before you even get started.”

  “Oh, I think you’re up to the task.”

  Fire danced in his eyes. “Up being the operative word?”

  “Uh huh.”

  The moonlight highlighted every ridge and flex of muscle as he ri
d himself of his shoes, slacks and boxer briefs. She had never drooled over a man before, but she felt saliva literally pool in her mouth as she looked at him.

  When he reached into his wallet, removed a foil packet and tossed it to the quilt, she had to laugh.

  “You were pretty confident.”

  He grinned. “Optimistic.”

  She noticed that he stood so his injured leg was away from her.

  “Come here.” She reached out her hands to him.

  “I’m right here.” He came down next to her, lying on the side with the bad leg.

  She sat up and pushed him down flat. “No secrets, okay? I can handle anything but secrets.”

  “Charity, I—”

  She pressed two fingers to his lips. “Hush. If I’m willing to give all of myself to you so quickly, you can’t hide any part of yourself from me.”

  He closed his eyes. “I don’t want you to see the ugliness.”

  “How could it be ugly when you aren’t an ugly person?”

  Her breathing choppy, she knelt beside him and ran her fingers over his left leg, the long scars discernible in the moonlight. She ran her fingers gently over them, feeling the rows of scar tissue.

  “Someday, I hope you’ll tell me how this happened.”

  “I can hardly stand to think about it myself.” The emotional pain was evident in his voice.

  “Then we won’t discuss it tonight. No bad thoughts tonight.”

  She slid her hand along the length of his leg to his groin and over until she could close her fingers around his cock. His hard, wide, very large cock.

  Wow was all she could think.

  She gave an unsteady laugh. “I think you got your share and someone else’s.”

  He wrapped his fingers around hers and stopped her movement.

  “Two things. I know we’re going to make this work because I plan to make sure of it. And if I don’t get inside you in the next few seconds, that condom will be going to waste.

  “But we’ll have other times, right?” The tone of his voice was a mixture of hope and fear and hunger and desire.

  How had all this happened so damn fast? She, the cautious person who believed in building relationships slowly, had jumped in with both feet.