Getting Off

by Abby Green

  ‘You know...earlier...’ She trailed off and her cheeks suffused with colour. Liam had to ball his hands into fists to stop himself from pulling her into his lap. She looked so embarrassed now, she could only be thinking of one thing.

  ‘When I spanked you?’

  More colour. And then she looked at him defiantly, ‘Yes. When you spanked me. How did you know I’d like it?’

  That mix of shyness and spikiness made Liam’s libido surge.

  ‘Because I saw something familiar...I recognized those looks you gave me. Your interest.’

  She frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

  Jesus. Truth-serum time again. He wondered vaguely if she was spiking his drink. And yet, it was surprisingly easy just to talk. To let the words spill out.

  ‘My first girlfriend...’ He grimaced when he thought of Julie. ‘That’s not entirely accurate, we were never boyfriend and girlfriend. Julie was older than me, a grad student. Blonde, icy cold and more beautiful than anything I’d ever seen. A WASP through and through, from the Upper East Side. I was seventeen, as green as they come, and she came into the bar with a group one night, they were slumming it on the Lower East Side.’

  * * *

  I wasn’t really sure I wanted to hear this story and I already hated Julie. Liam looked at me but he was seeing something else.

  ‘She seduced me. I hadn’t a hope. I’d never met anyone like her.’

  ‘So you said,’ I muttered caustically.

  His gaze narrowed and I cursed my mouth, but he went on. ‘Anyway, she was into kink, and dominance. I hadn’t a clue about any of this stuff and it blew me away...at first. I think because there was so much going on in the bar...with Dad...that I revelled in handing over control to her.’

  His mouth tightened. Now I hated Julie even more.

  ‘I grew to resent her for it, though. Things got heavy. I wasn’t a natural submissive. Once the novelty had worn off, I didn’t like feeling out of control...so it ended.’

  Something dark made me blurt out, ‘Have you done what we did...with anyone else?’

  Liam’s gaze rested on me and he was back in the room. He shook his head. ‘No.’

  I didn’t like how relieved that made me feel. Feeling acutely shy, I said carefully, ‘I think...I liked it because I’ve always been the good girl...never stepped out of line.’ My heart sped up to realize I was unlocking the reason why I’d found it so hard to come before now.

  ‘I’ve never really let go...since my folks died and Mary and Johnny went to war, I always felt like I had to lock something inside me, not let it out in case it tore us apart completely.’

  I was almost afraid to look at Liam, but when I did he just said softly, ‘I know what that feels like.’

  His gaze dropped to my mouth. He made a jerky move and reached across to wipe his finger against my lower lip. When he took it away I could see a smidgen of sauce. He put his finger to my mouth and lust surged inside me, hot and intense. Immediate. A blessed distraction from a confessional I’d never intended giving. The revelation that still made me reel slightly.

  I sucked his finger into my mouth and ran my tongue around it, wishing it was his cock. Heat filled his eyes and he muttered shit, and took his finger away. I released it with a wet sucking sound. Liam said shit again.

  The sky had darkened around us, lights were coming on in the windows of the tall buildings and on the bridge, making it sparkle. I felt slightly disembodied. Liam started clearing up our impromptu dinner and then he stood up and held out a hand, ‘Come on, let’s get out of here.’

  Fueled by lust and excitement, Liam brought us back down to the lobby where Ramon was waiting to see us out.

  Ramon winked at me and said, ‘Watch this one, he’s defective.’

  ‘Shut it, man,’ Liam growled, and Ramon put up his hands and backed away comically even though he topped Liam’s not-inconsiderable height by about three inches.

  I didn’t want to acknowledge the tug to realize that I wouldn’t be meeting Ramon again. One weekend. And it was almost over.

  Chapter Ten

  The bike ride back to the apartment felt otherworldly. The late-Saturday-evening streets of Manhattan were empty and Liam took a backstreets route where I could see people sitting outside buzzing cafés laughing and talking. And as much as I was seduced by those scenes, I was more seduced by the idea of being alone with Liam again.

  The finiteness of the weekend weighed heavily now, and when we arrived at the apartment and got off the bike, he pulled me into him to kiss me. I clung to him and kissed him back with a fervour that felt more than a little desperate.

  He even drew back and said, ‘Hey, slow down, Ryan.’

  I made a face at him, but when we got into the apartment he was the one who was desperate, yanking and pulling at clothes until we were both naked and panting. He led me to the shower and turned the spray to hot, pulling me under with him.

  Steam surrounded us in seconds, the hot water sluicing down over Liam’s taut muscles. He was mouth-watering. All over. His thick unruly hair lying flat against his head.

  ‘Turn around.’

  I did, with a delicious shiver, and saw him take some soap from a container. When he stepped close and those big hands cupped my breasts, I bit my lip. Then he was reaching down, between my legs, long fingers moving back and forth along where I was slick again with arousal.

  ‘Liam,’ I protested weakly, ‘I don’t think my legs—’

  ‘Shh. Stop thinking or talking.’

  My mouth clamped shut. My arse cheeks quivered at the thought that he might spank me again. Obediantly under the pressure of his hands, I moved my legs farther apart.

  Fingers pinched a nipple and two fingers plunged deep inside me. I moaned, my hips moving of their own accord. Those wicked fingers moved in and out with ruthless precision.

  I could feel Liam’s cock, hard, moving against my bum. As if reading my dirty mind, he took his hands away for a moment and came closer. I had to spread my hands on the wall of the shower to brace myself. He pulled my cheeks apart and thrust up between them. It felt shockingly close to him thrusting into my ass and for someone who’d never even contemplated anal sex, my lower body certainly seemed to be very curious. But he didn’t go further. I wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or disappointed.

  And then his hand was back on my breast, squeezing the sensitive flesh, and those fingers were making my legs tremble as they thrust deep into my pussy again.

  That delicious tightening feeling was taking over.

  And then Liam turned me around. I was breathing hard. I hadn’t even noticed that the shower was turned off. The steam surrounded us in damp heat. He caged me in with his hands over my head and kissed me. I was hungry, ravenous for him, hands looking for and finding his cock and gripping it, stroking him.

  His mouth moved down, trailing over my jaw, the side of my mouth, my neck, shoulder...and then my breasts. He lifted each one and sucked my nipples deep into his mouth, rolling them, flicking, nipping gently.

  And then, gently, he took my hands off him and disappeared from my eyeline. He was kneeling at my feet. His expression was intent. Gorgeous. The hard bones of his face stood out.

  His cock was heavy between his legs, awesome. I wanted to slide down the wall.

  But then Liam took my leg and lifted it, hooking it over his shoulder, opening me up to him. I put my hands on his shoulders, breath quickening. He pressed his mouth against me, and for a moment I held my breath and then I felt his tongue, rough, licking all along my sex.

  Both of his hands came to my ass and cupped it, forcing my legs more apart and thrusting me forward, into his face and onto that wicked tongue. My hands were in his hair, tangling, gripping.

  His tongue laved me, exploring through the folds of my sex, finding
where my arousal was oozing and thrusting to taste more. The tightness inside me was escalating. Coiling deeper and deeper, gathering intensity.

  He flicked my clit with his stiff tongue and I shuddered. I was vaguely aware that I was making noises, like some kind of animal but didn’t care.

  Then Liam slid one hand around from my ass, to between my legs, working two fingers inside me. I could hear the sound of my own desire as he slowly started to thrust them in and out. I was moaning now, hips circling impatiently. His mouth was on my clit, sucking it, making the nerves quiver and throb, meanwhile those fingers were thrusting faster and faster, deeper.

  I wanted more but I couldn’t speak. My buttocks were clenching, my whole world was reduced to right here and now and this man and his wicked tongue and hands.

  When he reached up to pinch a nipple, a violent orgasm ripped through me. And just when I thought it was over, Liam’s fingers were replaced by his tongue and I looked down to see him staring at me with those searing blue eyes as he took the essence of my climax into his mouth. And then I came again, in a dizzying sweeping rush, hips bucking uncontrollably.

  My standing leg gave way, my other leg fell off Liam’s shoulder and I slid down the wall, Liam catching me into his chest, where everything went fuzzy.

  * * *

  Liam looked at the prone figure on the bed and felt tense. He should be feeling sated. At ease. Relishing the thought of walking away. This was only meant to be a weekend of sex, to scratch an itch.

  But it felt as if he’d barely scratched the surface. Caitlin was breathing slow and even and deep. And he wasn’t surprised, he was gritty eyed himself from an overload of sexual pleasure. It had been forty-eight hours of pure sin and decadence. Stopping only to eat and sleep. They hadn’t been outside the door since he’d taken her to the rooftop of the old hotel on Saturday evening.

  With this woman...he climaxed...looked at her and got hard again. Like an out-of-control teenager. He’d spanked her. He’d been with plenty of lovers since Julie who had asked him to do similar things...but dominating them hadn’t appealed to him.

  But somehow with Caitlin, it had been liberating...and playful in a way it never had with Julie.

  The sheet covered the lower half of her body, but her upper body was tantalizingly exposed, arms raised by her head, the swells of those plump breasts just visible. That glorious russet hair spread around her head, glinting in the dawn light.

  He forced himself to move and not do what he wanted to do, which was to strip off and wake her with a long deep kiss and slide into that slick tightness again. Make her come again. He’d never forget those shocked sounds she’d made after he’d made her come the first time. The way she’d looked in the shower when he’d tasted her very essence.

  He bent down and kissed her, on the cheek. The chaste kiss made his chest tight. She murmured something indistinct.

  ‘I have to go,’ Liam forced out.

  ‘No.’

  The tightness intensified. He told himself it was from lack of eating properly for two days. Dark eyelashes fluttered. A glimpse of those brown depths. Dark and mysterious.

  ‘Don’t go.’ She turned over and reached for him and pulled his face down, finding his mouth, pressing her sweet soft one to his. Not so sweet when he recalled how it looked around his dick.

  Liam jerked back, control slipping out of his grasp. And quite frankly, annoying the crap out of him.

  ‘I have to go.’ It came out more curtly than he’d intended and he cursed inwardly when he saw Caitlin’s eyes widen. Awake now. Guarded.

  ‘What time is it?’

  She sounded husky. Sexy.

  ‘After six. I have an order arriving in an hour, I need to get back and shower...change.’

  Caitlin sat up, hair tumbling around slim shoulders. She pulled the sheet up to cover herself. It made Liam want to snatch it back. He stood up.

  ‘Wait, I’ll see you out.’

  ‘No, stay there, get some sleep. You’re working later.’

  ‘So are you,’ Caitlin pointed out, already scrabbling for clothes.

  Liam walked out to the main living area and willed his body to calm down. Fuck’s sake, what was wrong with him? He’d become a walking woody.

  He’d just picked up his bag when he heard a sound and looked around to see Caitlin framed in the doorway. A large T-shirt drifting to the tops of her thighs, thighs he could remember clamped around his hips short hours before as he’d surged into her again and again.

  Fuck. That was the last image he needed right now.

  Her voice was still sleep rough and hesitant. ‘I had a really nice time this weekend.’

  Something dark inside Liam reacted to her words. It compelled him to move across the room to her and force words out past the constriction in his chest.

  ‘Caitlin...the weekend. It’s over. Let’s not complicate things by thinking it can be anything more.’

  * * *

  I looked up at Liam and just like that any sleepiness left and I was wide awake. Shit...I thought of what I’d just said. Unfiltered, sounding like the biggest sap. Had I been looking at him like some lovestruck groupie?

  I blinked and crossed my arms and felt a surge of anger at his placatory tone. ‘Relax, Liam, I’m not into complicating things, either, believe me. I’m in New York for lots of reasons. Falling for the first guy I sleep with is not one of them.’

  Something in Liam’s eyes flashed, making them look icy. And then he said, ‘Good, we know where we stand.’

  I forced a smile. ‘Absolutely. See you later.’

  ‘Yeah.’ He backed away, frowning slightly, as if not quite sure I meant what I’d said. ‘See you later.’

  He opened the door but turned back for a moment, and I couldn’t bear for him to feel as if he had to reiterate what he’d just said, so I called out breezily, ‘Don’t forget to give the main door a good slam, it sticks in the heat.’

  I picked up my jeans from where they’d been ripped off me at some point, as if ready to tidy away the weekend.

  Liam’s jaw clenched on whatever he’d been about to say and then he was gone, the door shutting behind him. And then a few seconds later a heavier slam. And then...the familiar throttle of his engine.

  I stood there for a long time, as if that might contain the gaping hole that seemed to be opening up in my chest. The realization that I had just been the latest woman treated to a Liam Sullivan Weekend Special.

  A little later as I rehung the line of feminists over the bed, I caught Eleanor Roosevelt’s gimlet eye and said defensively, ‘I did not fall for him, okay? I just fell for his...orgasm-inducing capabilities, that’s all.’

  The slightly scary thing was that I had a prescient feeling that if I had sex with someone else, I’d clam up again...but Liam had the magic touch. I saw my crestfallen expression in the mirror of the bathroom and scowled at myself.

  All the more reason to get back out there and prove that Liam Sullivan wasn’t anything special and definitely ignore the fact that this weekend had felt far too magical to be real.

  Two weeks later

  ‘So, if it’s okay with you I’ll be able to keep working here a few nights a week.’

  Toby clapped an arm around Caitlin’s shoulders and Liam wanted to rip that arm off. ‘Absolutely. There’s no way we can do without you now, Red, you can do as many shifts as you want.’ And then he whistled appreciatively. ‘An internship with DeLuca and Sons? That’s some coup, they’re a huge company.’

  Caitlin smiled and Liam wanted to kiss that smile off her face and turn it to something much more carnal.

  ‘I know, I’m thrilled.’

  With an indistinct sound of disgust at himself for eavesdropping, Liam pushed off the counter and went into his office, slamming the door behind him. He’d had to endu
re Candy and Caitlin poring over ads for apartments earlier, her ass wiggling as they’d bent over a counter almost too much of a temptation to take her upstairs and slap her until she was coming into his hand.

  Her aunt was due back soon and she’d have to move out of the apartment. Her New York life was taking off and he could see the excitement in her face.

  And yet, it made him feel black inside. Okay, so she was asking for a few shifts now, but soon she’d have a proper job and she’d be gone from the bar and swallowed up into the vastness of humanity that was New York.

  A knock sounded on his door and he curbed the urge to snarl like a wounded animal. Candy came in, shutting the door behind her.

  Liam did snarl then. ‘I’m busy.’

  She ignored him and perched on the edge of his desk, crossing one leg over the other.

  Liam sighed deeply and folded his arms across his chest.

  Candy’s aquamarine eyes narrowed on him. ‘You’ve been acting like a prize asshole ever since that weekend you and #irishhottie mysteriously disappeared off the face of the earth.’

  Liam scowled. ‘Her name is Caitlin.’

  Candy pointed a finger at him. ‘Aha! I knew it. You’ve fallen for that peachy butt. Listen, I don’t blame you. I hate to say it, but she’s as sweet as she looks.’

  Anger and sexual frustration was a potent mix inside him. ‘What do you want, Candy?’ he bit out. ‘I’m not in the mood.’

  Candy rolled her eyes and muttered something indistinct about men being so dense. She bent down so her face was close to Liam’s. He glared at her. She glared back, not intimidated in the least.

  ‘I’ve known you since you were still crapping your pants in school, Sullivan. I know how hard it was when your folks split up, and your mom took Ashling out West. I saw the way you held it all in, kept it together while your old man went off the rails. And I know you avoid any kind of meaningful emotional entanglement like the plague because you don’t want to get close to anyone so you can be hurt again.’