by Elle Thorpe
A blush spread across my chest. I could feel it heating my skin as it went. “Liam…”
He ran his thumb over my bottom lip. “Does that embarrass you?”
“Maybe a little bit.”
“You want me to tell you?”
I let out a shuddering breath. Desire raced through my body, and though I had exactly zero experience with the way this man was talking to me, I wanted to see where he was going with it. “Yes.”
“I can’t stop staring at you. All I can think about right now is reaching around and undoing that clasp on your bra that’s stopping me from seeing what shade of pink your nipples are.” His fingertips brushed past my arm and he did exactly that. He didn’t ask this time. His fingers made quick work of the clasp, and then he was dragging my bra down off my arms.
He groaned the cups falling away, exposing me to his greedy gaze. He drank me in with slow, extravagant sweeps of his eyes that started at my face and ended with my nipples tightening with his attention.
But just as I was beginning to feel self-conscious, he speared one hand into the back of my hair, tilted my head back, and claimed my lips. My eyes fluttered closed and Liam’s tongue delved inside my mouth, harder and faster than he’d kissed me last night. This was a kiss of need. A kiss that promised more than just butterflies in my stomach. It was the sort of kiss that promised a night of banging headboards, take-me-now sex, and screaming orgasms. I drowned in it, soaking it in, when his free hand cupped my breast to tease my nipple.
Blindly, I groped for the buttons on his business shirt, but he pulled away, out of my reach.
“Just let me touch you. I’m not going to be able to concentrate with your hands on me.”
He didn’t even give me a chance to answer. He just lowered his head, kissing his way down my neck, across my collarbone, and over the swell of my breasts. “Put your hands on the stool behind you. Lean back. Relax. I got you.”
I did. I gripped the stool behind me, fingers digging into the padded surface. Liam continued his slow, sexy path across my chest, until he reached my nipple. With one hand he teased and pinched the tip into a hardened point. And with his other hand, he held my breast, covering me with his hot mouth.
“Oh,” I moaned. The warm wet heat of him at my breast was delicious. I shamelessly grasped the back of his head, lightly holding him to me.
His tongue didn’t let up for a moment. He licked and sucked until I was mewling like a kitten. Then his hands dug into the sides of my hips, sliding my ass forward until I almost fell right off the seat, stopped only by my core ramming into the hard thickness behind his suit pants.
I gasped at the sensation of having him between my legs like that. He thrust himself once against me, and the nerve endings in my clit went wild at the contact. They roared, sending messages of delight through my entire body, building the anticipation of what was to come.
All too quickly he moved away.
I mourned the loss of him. I needed him there, between my legs, pressed to my core. I needed him there in that spot the most. “Liam…”
“Shh. I told you. I got you.”
His phone on the benchtop buzzed, an earsplitting alarm piercing through the room.
Liam’s groan was full of sexual frustration. “Fuck. What’s the time?” He let out a shuddering breath when he glanced at the clock on his oven. “Seriously, just fuck. Apparently, I don’t have you after all.” He gazed at me with an expression full of regret and longing.
“What’s wrong?”
“I had no idea what time it was. I’m so sorry. I’ve got to go.”
I sat up straight. “Oh. Okay.” Except it was anything but okay. I didn’t want him to leave. Not just because I’d been building up to the first non-solo orgasm I’d ever had. But because somewhere in the last few days, I found myself actually kind of liking Liam Banks. He was fun to be around. And when I was with him, I didn’t feel quite so sad.
I grabbed my shirt from the floor and found my bra on the countertop, then dressed quickly, fully aware Liam paused and watched me do it.
I liked that.
“Before you go,” I said. “Tell me one true thing about you. I feel like I spilled my guts today, and you gave me nothing.”
Liam stopped and stared at me. His gaze calculating, like he was debating whether to distract me off with one of his jokes.
But I must have passed the vibe check.
He nodded once. “Okay. You want to know something truly real? Get your stuff and come with me. I want to show you something.”
25
Liam
I couldn’t just ignore that alarm, I knew exactly what it was for, and it was important. But dammit. I’d never wanted to ignore something so bad in my life.
I’d barely had my fill of Mae’s lips, her neck, her tits. I’d forced myself to go slow with her, wanting to savor every inch of her body. But now, with my dick hard as steel, and no chance of getting it anywhere near her for the next four hours at least, I was kicking myself for not tasting her.
I parked the car out the front of the homeless shelter in the middle of Saint View and scrubbed a hand through my hair, breathing deep and trying to think of anything except the feel of her nipple beneath my tongue and the heavy weight of her tits in my hands.
So fucking beautiful. Even more than she had been in high school. Teenage Mae had been smoking hot, but Mae now was all woman. A woman I wanted to bow down to, taking my rightful spot on my knees in front of her.
I’d spend all day on my knees, with my face between her thighs if Mae would let me.
“I thought you didn’t do pro bono?”
“Hey?” I blinked out of my thoughts.
Mae pointed up at the sign above the shelter door. “Isn’t that why we’re here? Are you meeting a client?”
“No. I volunteer here. Four hours, once a week, every week.”
Her head snapped around, and she blinked at me. “You? You volunteer here? Like, actually voluntarily? Or did you get caught for drunk driving and this is community service?”
I chuckled. “Thanks. I’m really glad you think so highly of me that you’d assume I’d do something like that. I barely even drink.”
She held hands up in mock surrender. “Sorry, sorry. I just didn’t expect this from you.”
“Why? Because I’m such a douche canoe?”
“Something like that.”
I couldn’t really blame her. I had been pretty secretive about my role here. Nobody knew. Not the guys on my baseball team. Not the people I worked with. This place was special. And it was a part of me I didn’t share lightly. “Guess I’m just full of surprises then, huh?”
She studied me carefully. “I’m beginning to wonder if I know you at all.”
“That’s probably a good thing. Because the me you thought you knew, you didn’t like. Remember?” I couldn’t help but inject a little humor into the situation. Because she was fun to tease. “Though you did seem to like me okay when I had your nipple in my mouth.”
“Just for that smart-ass comment?” She opened the car door. “I’m going to let myself out of the car.”
She got out and slammed the door behind her, grinning at me across the roof.
I prided myself on my manners. And more than that, it wasn’t just manners that had me wanting to open doors for Mae. I liked making her smile. I liked treating her like she was special. Because she was. She didn’t even need to tell me she’d dated a bunch of dickheads in the past. Guys who didn’t know how to treat her right. I’d seen her with Mathew Jorley in high school. The guy had treated her like his gym bag. Only useful when he needed something and dumped in the corner the rest of the time. Maybe I wasn’t perfect for her either, but the very least I could do was make her smile by holding a door once in a while.
I walked around to her side and slung an arm around her shoulders. “You cut me deep, Mae.”
I liked the way she fit herself to my side, her arm wrapping around my lower back, her fingers t
ucking into my belt.
We strolled inside the homeless shelter like we were a real couple. We weren’t, of course. Mae had made it pretty clear there was something between her and Heath that she wasn’t giving up on, even if he was behind bars for the foreseeable future. That should have been fine with me. I never got serious with women. Hell, I rarely even remembered their names. The women I’d been with were a blur of nothingness, an attempt to fill a void that wasn’t fillable.
And then Mae had strolled back into my life and reminded me that once upon a time, I’d wanted more. More than just a warm body for a single night. I had a full life. I had my job, my friends, baseball, volunteering. I liked women. I liked sex. But there was a reason I’d never brought anyone here.
I’d never been interested in anyone enough to show them something real.
Mae was different.
She’d always been different.
I didn’t deserve her then, and I didn’t deserve her now. She was right to keep some distance between us. It was good that Heath was in the picture. It would keep me from thinking this could be more than what it was.
I was a fill-in, while she waited for him. I could be that for her. I could kiss her, and touch her, and not need more. I just had to keep my fucking head in the game.
Easier said than done.
I punched in the security code on the shelter door and waved to Junie on reception. She raised her head from the form she was helping an elderly man fill out, but when she saw it was me, she waved me on through.
I led Mae down the corridor toward the kitchens, passing the shelter regulars.
“Hoo boy, Mr. Liam looking fine today! All dressed up in fancy pants.”
I grinned at Linda, a fifty-something woman who had been in and out of the shelter so many times I could barely keep count. I was sad to see her return two weeks ago, sporting a black eye from who knows where. It could have been a partner. It could have been a dealer. She might have just been in a fight. I hated that she was here, but here we could help keep her safe. And that was better than being on the streets. She was a favorite of mine, and I wished there were more I could do to help her. But making sure she had full belly and warm clothes on the nights she came to us for help was something. “Thought I’d make an effort, since my best girl is here, right?”
Linda fake preened at the compliments. But then she eyed Mae who I tugged along by the hand. Linda smiled at her warmly. “Looks like I’m not your best girl anymore, huh?”
Mae stepped forward and took the older woman’s hand. “I’m Mae. It’s lovely to meet you. And I don’t think I’m his anything just yet. So you can keep the best girl title for a little bit longer.”
Her comment shot disappointment straight through my chest.
Linda linked an arm through Mae’s and pulled her tight, whispering loudly, “Girl. Are you crazy? That man walked in here holding your hand. Have you seen his face?” She stepped forward and patted me on the cheek but then spoke like I wasn’t even there. “He’s very handsome. And he’s a good one. Always here, helping out when he could be off working his important job.”
“No job is more important than this one,” I told Linda. I meant it. Money was important to me. But this job, and the people here, had a hold on my heart that grew stronger with every shift I worked. They eased the guilt of the sins on my conscience. If I did some good here, maybe it helped make up for some of the bad I’d done in the past.
I rescued Mae from Linda’s clutches and steered her into the kitchen. A chorus of hellos were shouted as we entered. I went straight for a rack full of aprons, taking two out, handing one to Mae.
She slipped it over her head, tying it at the back. It somehow looked good on her, stretching tight across her breasts and accentuating her narrow waist and the flare of her hips. While the others were all busy preparing food, I took the opportunity to pull her close and brush my lips over hers. “I might have to bring one of these aprons home. You’d could wear that and nothing else.”
She grinned against my lips. “Funny. I was just thinking the same thing about you.”
I chuckled and linked my fingers between hers, leading her through the kitchen, and out to the serving area where I normally worked. The eating area doors were already open, and the residents were streaming in, impatiently waiting in the cafeteria-like space with their brown trays, ready to receive their meals for the evening.
“You ready to do this?” I asked her. “It’s pretty basic. The kitchen staff makes the food, we serve it up. It will get pretty busy in here for a while. This is the only shelter in Saint View, and it’s generally at max capacity.”
She nodded eagerly. “I’m glad you brought me. I’ve never done this before, but I’m glad to help. That lady back there, she seems lovely. They all seem to really like you.”
“Do you?” The question slipped from my mouth before I could get a hold on it.
She grabbed a soup ladle, stirring a pot of chicken broth in a pot. “You fishing for compliments, Liam?”
I breathed out a sigh of relief. She’d taken it as a joke. That was better. I could work with that. “Maybe I just like knowing I’m adored.”
She shook her head. “I liked how you made me feel last night. And earlier today. So I’ll give you that. As for if I like you as a person? Jury is still out.”
I sniggered. “Fair enough. Quit dripping soup all over the tray.”
She elbowed me, which made my ladle of soup slosh, too. We went on like that for a while, serving up food, Mae chatting enthusiastically with each and every person she served. In between, the two of us teased each other. Nudging, elbowing, taking any opportunity to touch the other. It was the sort of fun I hadn’t had in a very long time, if ever. She was cute, and flirty, and she didn’t seem at all put out by the fact that we were in a shelter full of people who didn’t smell particularly good, often had no manners, and some who were just downright rude. She took the good with the bad, and she took it all in stride. Two hours into my shift, I was more impressed with her than I had been as kids when she almost beat my grade point average.
Put short, Mae Donovan was still the most impressive woman I’d ever met.
As the line died down to a trickle, the rush over, Mae rested her hands on the countertop and glanced over at me. Her teasing smile from the last few hours morphed into something more serious. “Thank you for bringing me here, and for showing me this side of you.”
Heat crept up the back of my neck. “No big deal,” I lied.
Mae covered her hand with mine. “No. It is a big deal. This place is special to you. I can see that. How many other people have you ever brought here?”
“None.”
“See? Special.”
“I don’t like to make a big deal of it. My reasons for coming here aren’t purely selfless.”
Mae cocked her head to one side, considering my words. “Does anyone ever do anything for purely selfless reasons? I mean, I love teaching seven-year-olds, and I believe wholeheartedly in education for everyone. But I also really like to get paid. So that’s not entirely selfless. I took a job at the prison partially to help inmates, but mostly to ease the guilt over my part in Heath being in that place. That’s what people do. We help other people, sure. But none of it is completely selfless. No one says it has to be.”
She tapped a finger on the table when I didn’t answer. “What makes this selfish for you?”
I blew out a long breath. “It eases my guilt,” I admitted. “I’ve done some bad things in the past. I don’t feel good about them, but this place makes me feel a little better.”
She leaned her hip on the countertop. “You’re a lawyer. You get justice for people. Doesn’t that make you feel good?”
“Sometimes. Sometimes it makes it worse. Depends on the case. But the things I’ve done as a lawyer aren’t the things I’m trying to make up for.”
“What then? What could you have possibly done, pre-lawyer, that has you feeling this bad about yourself?”
/>
She seemed bothered by that, like my pain was tangible. And maybe to her it was. She cared about people in a way that most didn’t. That was clear in what she was doing for Heath. And in the way she’d addressed each person in this shelter, treating each of them with respect.
Something squeezed around my heart. A sudden urge to tell her everything. To spill all the lies. All the secrets. Everything I’d kept inside since I was just a child. Mae was actually interested in getting to know the real me. The one I locked behind the cocky, arrogant exterior. It had always been a farce. A wall. A way of keeping people out because I didn’t want them to know the truth.
It was the whole reason that even though I’d been desperately attracted to Mae throughout my entire high school experience, I’d never asked her out. Because even back then, I knew she’d be my undoing. She watched in a way that the other kids hadn’t. Maybe it was because we were always competing for the same things. We were so far ahead of all the other kids, nobody else could touch us. Nobody else studied me the same way she did. I was just another one of the popular crowd. I fit in. I made sure of that. Nobody paid attention to you when you were always surrounded by friends. I wasn’t as brave as her. Her ability to stand alone, to be different, to not need to fit in the way that I did… I envied her. I always had.
“Do you remember before, when you asked me, why I’d taken Heath’s case?”
“And you told me it was just because you wanted a date?”
I grinned at her ruefully. “Well, I did want the date. But you were right. There was more to it than that.”
She waited patiently.
“I see me in Heath. If things had been even slightly different, it could have been me in Heath’s shoes.” I shrugged.
Mae frowned. “How? Your life and Heath’s are not even remotely similar.”
I bit my lip. I wanted to tell the truth. God. I wanted to tell the truth so bad. But a cold sweat broke out across my skin. I’d spent half my life keeping these secrets, the secrets of who I really was. And suddenly opening them up to someone was terrifying. I couldn’t force the words out of my mouth.