by Vivian Wood
She’d watched Liam and Jack both at practice earlier in the week, and it was readily apparent that there was a reason why Liam was so highly regarded by Atlanta Unified.
He was crazy good at the game, and he worked his ass off. He deserved to be the center of attention, in this context.
During dinner Liam had another player sitting to his left, with whom he promptly struck up a conversation, something about penalty kicks. Audrey understood roughly a quarter of what they said, and soon lost interest.
To Audrey’s left was the wife of one of the team owners, a beautiful young socialite named Emily. To Audrey’s surprise, the other woman turned out to be extremely smart and funny, and her banter about local politics carried Audrey through the whole meal.
A couple drinks later, the tables were cleared away and people started to migrate to the dance floor. Audrey saw that Jack and Macy were some of the first to cut loose, and boy did they ever. They were both drunk as skunks, but they seemed to be behaving and having a good time.
Audrey headed for the bar, then smiled at herself. It was hardly fair to pick on Jack and his new girlfriend for having a few drinks when Audrey herself was making a beeline for the booze.
Could she really blame anybody for knocking back a couple too many? So far, this gala event had proven to be fairly boring.
“You don’t have to babysit him, you know,” Liam whispered, suddenly just behind her.
Audrey stiffened and turned her head an inch, giving him a smirk.
“I know,” she said, turning back to accept her cocktail from the bartender.
“I hear you saying the words, but I don’t think you mean them,” Liam said.
“I do! I just… I worry about him, you know?”
“Yeah, but he’s the older of you. He should be caring for you, not the other way around.”
“Well, that’s not how it goes in our family. We didn’t come from some… posh London blood, okay?” she said, feeling a little prickly.
Liam gave her an amused look, like he was enjoying some inside joke.
“Maybe you just don’t give him enough to worry about,” he suggested, as if her snide remark had never happened. “I’m willing to bet that if you did, Jack would be there for you in an eye’s blink.”
“Maybe,” Audrey said with a shrug. “I don’t want to find out.”
“You’re such a prude,” he sighed.
“I— I am not!” she growled. “I just don’t want to be someone’s one night stand. That’s not a crime, surely.”
Liam signaled the bartender for another drink and picked up Audrey’s cocktail, taking a sip.
“Hey! That’s mine!” she protested.
“Yeah, but I’m the reason this event is happening,” he said with a grin.
“Full of yourself, much?” she snorted.
“Only because I have the goods to back it up,” he said.
Audrey’s cheeks flushed. “Don’t be crass.”
“I was talking about my skills on the pitch. What were you talking about, Ginger?”
“Don’t start with that again,” she said, taking her drink back from him.
“Mmm,” he said noncommittally, swigging back his whole dram of whiskey.
“Slam that back, let’s have a dance,” he said. “Or are you just going to stand here all night and fret about your brother?”
“No…” Audrey said.
“Up and back, then,” he said, mimicking chugging a drink. “Don’t be a little girl about it, Ginger.”
Audrey glanced at her glass, then shrugged and knocked the whole drink back in a couple big gulps. She winced and gasped at the end, and Liam swept the glass from her hand with a grin.
“Atta girl,” he said, putting the glass aside. “Now let’s hit the dance floor.”
“I don’t really dance,” Audrey said as he led her toward the band.
“Oh, you forget. I know for a fact that’s not the case, because I’ve seen you dance. Up close and very, very personal, I might add.”
Audrey went beet red. “Is there ever going to be a point when you stop teasing me about that? It was one silly mistake.”
“Never,” Liam said, and he looked entirely serious. He twirled her with ease, then pulled her into his arms just as the band started playing a sultry jazz number.
“Well, I wish you would,” she said.
To her surprise, Liam was a very good dance partner, leading her with ease.
She supposed it shouldn’t be a surprise at all. He spent half his days doing agility drills on the soccer field, and he was naturally dominant in personality.
Liam pulled her closer by degrees, until they were pressed hip to hip, until he seemed to take up all the space in Audrey’s world.
“I’m convinced that I saw the real you that night, or a part of you at least,” Liam said.
“Sorry?” Audrey said, blinking.
“I think you spend all this time buttoning yourself up, trying to control everything in your life.”
“Thanks,” Audrey said sarcastically.
“I wasn’t finished. I think you do that because there’s a wildness inside you, and the harder it fights to get out, the more you shove it back down.”
Audrey laughed. “Oh, how very deep and insightful. I think you’d like me to have a wild side.”
Liam leaned down a couple of inches, bringing his lips to Audrey’s ear.
“Why would I want that, Ginger?”
When his lips grazed her throat Audrey shivered, letting her head fall back so that she could watch him. He straightened, his big hand splayed low on her back, pressing her into his body.
“Ummm…” she said, trying to answer his question. “Because you’re a man whore?”
She could feel him growing hard against her belly, and the way he stared down at her, his eyes going dark as pine needles…
Something wild did stir within her, just then. A wicked grin spread over Liam’s face, and he slowed, then pulled her off the dance floor.
“What are you doing?” Audrey asked as he towed her toward the ballroom’s exit.
Liam paused to grab two glasses of champagne, then gave her a devilish grin. “I don’t feel like dancing anymore.”
Audrey couldn’t find it within herself to protest, so she let him lead her out of the crowded exit.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“Damned if I know, I’ve never been here before. This looks promising, though…” he said, leading her through a set of double doors.
They stepped out onto a small stone balcony, only a story up from the street but quiet enough.
“Perfect,” Liam said, pulling her over to the railing. He released her hand and gave her one of the wine glasses, then raised his own. “A toast?”
“To what?” Audrey said, glancing nervously away to the street below.
“To discovering just what you’re meant to, when you open yourself to the possibility.”
Audrey’s gaze snapped back to Liam’s. He was entirely serious, not teasing her in the least. He raised his glass another inch, and she chimed the rim of hers to it.
“Cheers,” she said. She took a long sip of champagne, closing her eyes and letting her head fall back, as the tart bubbles burst over her tongue.
In the next moment, Liam took the glass from her fingers. He wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her close. Her eyes opened as Liam lifted her, and she leaned in toward him.
Their lips crushed together, and they both moaned. Audrey’s fingers knotted at Liam’s nape; his free hand ran up and down her side, exploring her ribs and hip before dipping back to shape her ass.
They kissed as if their lives depended on it, starving for each other, as if they were condemned to hellfire and the only salvation lay in one another. When Liam cupped Audrey’s breast through her dress, finding and rolling her nipple with deft fingers, she gasped and pushed up onto her tiptoes to nibble at his ear.
Liam’s lips on her collarbone, his teeth
scoring the sensitive spot below her ear, his hard body pressed against hers.
Yes, she thought. Maybe I am a little wild. Just right now, just with Liam.
“I’d like to rip this bloody dress off you,” Liam growled, running a hand down her side and tugging at the skintight fabric. “If I could do it without anyone else seeing you later…”
He reached up to pinch her nipple again, and Audrey blushed a little as she melted into him. The timbre of his voice, the darkness in his gaze, the roughness of his touch when he handled her…
No one had ever made her feel this way. No man had ever managed to get her this excited, and she had the feeling that Liam had barely begun.
When his fingertips trailed down, down, to brush closer and closer to that aching place between her thighs, Audrey could feel her panties grow damp. If Liam stripped her bare and touched her right now, made her come the way he had at the club that first night…
If he did, she’d give him everything. She’d fuck him, right here and now, repercussions be damned.
To discovering just what you’re meant to, when you open yourself to the possibility… his toast rang in her head, and she felt drunk with the rightness of his words.
Just then the door behind them swung open and a well-t0-d0 gentleman stepped outside with a cigar between his lips. Audrey sprung back from Liam, brushing at her dress.
The gentleman in the suit looked between Liam and Audrey, pulling the cigar from his mouth. “Apologies. Am I interrupting?”
“Yes,” Liam said at the same time Audrey blurted, “No!”
There was an awkward moment. Audrey cleared her throat.
“So, um, that’s all I needed to tell you. About that work thing,” she said.
Liam arched a brow, making her flush even redder.
“I’ll, um… okay,” she said, then turned and fled from the balcony.
To her relief, Liam didn’t follow her. She went straight to the bar again, but this time she ordered two bottles of water and drank them both down on the spot.
What had she been thinking? A wild side, discovering possibilities?
That was probably the kind of crap that Liam said to every single girl he met, and she was a fool for listening to it. Just because he had a sexy English accent didn’t mean he was genuine.
You’re a fool, Audrey Cross. Guys like Liam… they’re not after girls like you. And even if they were… all they’d want is a night in bed, nothing more. Get that through your thick head, she scolded herself.
“Miss Cross?”
She looked up and found their limo driver standing in front of her.
“Mr. Packham and the rest of the party are waiting for you in the car, ma’am,” he said.
“Oh! Right.”
Audrey rushed to collect her coat and purse, then headed out to the limo. Liam was standing by the car, waiting for her.
“There you are,” he said.
“Don’t,” Audrey said, holding up a hand to stop him. “Seriously, Liam. Just leave it.”
His smile dropped away, and he shrugged.
“As you like,” he said, opening the door. He offered her a hand in, which she ignored in favor of awkwardly launching herself into the car.
She ignored Liam’s pained sigh, and ignored his presence through the car ride home. Liam didn’t push it, chatting with Jack, who held a passed-out Macy on his lap.
The ride was over soon enough, as the driver dropped Liam and Audrey off first. The second she hit the front door, Audrey practically ran for the sanctity of her new bedroom.
“Audrey!” Liam called, his voice tinged with steel.
She paused at her door, then turned to glance at him. “Yes?”
“Do we need to talk about this?” he asked, giving her a suspicious glance.
“There’s nothing to talk to about, Liam. It was just the champagne.”
He stared at her for a long beat, then shook his head and turned away. A few seconds later his bedroom door slammed.
Audrey walked into her room, kicked off her heels, and shut the door. After painstakingly peeling herself out of the designer dress, she took a couple minutes to wipe her makeup off and brush her teeth.
Then she crawled into her new bed. The comforter, at least, was her own. She’d owned it for years. Wrapping herself in it, she closed her eyes and sighed.
Images of her kissing Liam began to play in her head, like a movie detailing the night’s mistakes. She blew out a breath.
It would be easy to drown in self-disappointment and recriminations, but it would be better to just make a simple promise to herself.
“It will not happen again”, she said aloud. “I will not kiss Liam again. I know it’s bad, and wrong. I deserve someone who will think I’m special, not some hot guy who will never call me again.”
She closed her eyes and tried to relax, but it was a long time before sleep dragged her down into darkness.
6
Liam
“Why are we even here?” Jack asked, looking past the hostess stand and into the posh Japanese restaurant. “This doesn’t look like someplace you’d like, Liam.”
“Because we’ve had a long, hard week, and we’re branching out to try something new, eh?” Liam said, clapping his friend on the shoulder. “I got a recommendation from a friend, all right? Plus, they have sake. Nectar of the gods, I promise you.”
They stepped up to the hostess stand. Liam looked over his shoulder, then back to the hostess. “That’ll be seven of us, sweetheart.”
The pretty brunette hostess blushed, gathering menus and peering through the doorway. “One moment… all right, follow me please.”
She led them into the restaurant proper, which was dominated by a huge dark wood bar in the middle, done up to look like a pagoda. The restaurant’s walls were all dark wood, the floors bamboo mats, and the tables were built low and squat so that they were the right height for kneeling.
Jack was completely right, it wasn’t Liam’s kind of place. He preferred a pub with great fish and chips. Failing that, he’d go for a steak.
Sushi was definitely low on his list of favorite foods, but that wasn’t why he was here.
“Hey,” Jack said, nudging Liam. “Look, it’s Audrey and her girlfriends.”
“What do you know?” Liam asked, pretending surprise.
Of course, he wasn’t surprised. He’d planned this, knowing exactly how it would go. Knowing that if he brought Jack and a few other players, Audrey’s girlfriends would pressure her into inviting them over to share a table.
“Damn, that girl Britta’s here, too. We should go say hi.”
“Don’t want to seem rude,” Liam agreed.
“Is that the soccer guy?” he heard someone say as he and Jack walked over to the private area where Audrey and her friends were laughing and sipping sake.
Audrey glanced over. Her eyes went wide when she caught sight of him, followed by an immediate glare.
Yeah, that seems about right, Liam thought. Audrey had iced him out for the past three days, barely speaking to him past the bare necessities.
Like it was his fault that she’d kissed him back on the balcony, his fault that she’d been every bit as turned on as he was. If it weren’t for an ill-timed interruption, Liam was pretty sure he would have found some way to get her out of that jaw-dropping dress.
And Audrey would have loved every second of it, if he had. Even now, the sparks she was throwing, it was just more of her wildness coming out.
She simply didn’t know it yet.
Liam couldn’t fucking wait to show her, though. She was going to be bloody spectacular in bed, no doubt of it.
“Audrey! Hey!” Jack jumped in, clearing Liam’s path for him. “This is a nice surprise, huh?”
Audrey rose and came around to hug her brother, glaring at Liam over Jack’s shoulder. “Yeah, imagine that. How fortuitous.”
“Uhhh… okay,” Jack said, picking up on her sarcasm but not grasping the meaning of it. “L
ook, I’m here with a bunch of the guys. Is it cool if we get this big table next to y’alls?”
Audrey’s lips thinned, but then her friends started to stand up and chime in.
“Yeah, Aud, let them come hang with us!”
“Guys, let’s pull the tables together!”
“Someone get a server, we’re going to need more drinks!”
Two of Audrey’s friends came right over to Liam, introducing themselves and chatting with him. “Sit with us!”
Audrey looked like she was about to die of spite, which in turn made Liam grin at her. When she huffed and went back to her seat, Liam was careful to get himself a place right next to her.
Everyone settled in, chatting happily. Liam had intentionally picked five of the best-looking single guys on the team to accompany him and Jack to dinner, just to make sure he’d have plenty of time to chat with Audrey.
He couldn’t help but laugh. Audrey’s friends kept shooting her wide-eyed glances, disbelieving at their luck. And Jack already had his arm around the pretty little blonde, the one he’d called Britta.
Which was good, since Jack had dumped the girl from the other night. On the way over to the restaurant, Jack told Liam he was thinking of asking Audrey to move back in…
And that simply would not do. Now that she’d started settling into his house, Liam didn’t want her to leave.
Who would keep fresh juice in his fridge? Who would he catch standing in her pajamas at midnight, drinking wine out of the bottle in the kitchen?
She’d even unpacked all his things into the new furniture that kept arriving. She was as efficient as she was alluring, though she didn’t seem aware of either. Her prim attitude seemed to clash with her sexy body, which kept him on his toes, kept him curious to see what she’d do next.
She was a riddle wrapped in pretty paper, on top of the fact that she was managing his affairs quite well.
Over his dead body would Liam let this assistant go.
“What are you doing here?” Audrey asked, leaning over to whisper in his ear.
“Careful, sweetheart, or people are going to think we’re flirting,” Liam said with a big grin.