Wicked Pleasure

by Taryn Leigh Taylor

  “He got a year in jail. Out in six months because of good behavior. Made my life hell, threatening me and breaking into the apartment while I was out. I had to change my whole life because of him. I moved. I stopped going out. I changed. Hid. And I hate him for that most of all.”

  Liam’s arms tightened around her, not so much protectively, but like he was pissed off, braced for a fight, and the show of solidarity made her feel better. Not pathetic or as though she needed taking care of, but supported, like he was ready to battle beside her. It helped her catch her breath.

  “Please tell me you made him pay.”

  AJ’s final sob ended on a slight laugh, and she pulled back enough to wipe her eyes with the back of her hand, without breaking the circle of Liam’s embrace. “Credit score decimated, bank account emptied, and some incriminating surveillance footage might have ended up in the hands of the police.”

  Liam’s hand stroked comfortingly along the base of her spine. “You let him off easier than I would have. Where is he now?”

  She sniffed, confirmation that her tears were finished. The hollow ache in her chest, the one she feared would fill up with emotions—the twisted, red-hot ones that made it hard to sleep sometimes—wasn’t banished so easily. “He died two years ago in a botched robbery. And I’m still...” She trailed off. AJ couldn’t make herself admit how fucked up she still was. She’d already said enough. More than enough.

  “Hey.” She looked up at him, and he cradled her face in his hands. “She’d be proud of you, you know that, right?”

  “Who?”

  “That girl who hid in the closet. She’d be so impressed to see what a kick-ass warrior she was destined to become.”

  She could taste the salt of her tears on his lips when he pressed his mouth to hers in a sweet, chaste kiss before he looked down at her again, but this time, something had shifted in his eyes. He was looking at her like he saw her, the real her, and it chilled her to the bone.

  The urge to run seized her, tightened her muscles.

  Desperate to get out of the moment, AJ entertained the notion of jumping into the dark water below, but she settled for her usual verbal parry. “I heard fancy college boys knew how to talk good. Guess the rumor is true.”

  “I was wondering how you’d trivialize the moment.” He thumbed the tracks of moisture from her cheeks. “I should have guessed it would be by taking a swipe at me.”

  “Well, you’re an easy target.”

  He chuckled as he tugged on one of her curls. The soft touch made her anxious. She didn’t confide in people. She didn’t want whatever this was. She turned her whole body toward the railing, breaking contact. The lap of waves was soothing as she stared at the lights of the mainland.

  “I’m allergic to earnestness. It gives me hives.”

  “That is such total bullshit, but it might be the most honest thing I’ve heard you say.”

  He wasn’t wrong. She’d spent her whole life keeping her head down and her mouth closed. That was how she survived. And now, after a blow job, an orgasm and a ride on a fancy boat, she was spilling her guts like she was in a slasher flick. She’d admitted more to Liam Kearney after two days than she had to anyone else in the world. The worst person she could possibly give ammunition to. Hell, she’d loaded the gun for him.

  “Well, if I’ve resorted to honesty, there’s only one thing for it.”

  She ran her hands up his chest, pulled him close. His skin was warm against hers, and she ignored all the shitty feelings in the pit of her stomach and focused on that connection. The one that prickled her skin and warmed her blood.

  “And what’s that?” he asked.

  AJ pressed her hips against his. Liam was right earlier. She was a fucking cliché, a badass in black, distracting a man with sex, but she didn’t care. Because she needed the distraction right now.

  She needed Liam.

  “Time to stop talking.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  LIAM LET HER kiss him, and AJ took full advantage.

  She licked into his mouth, nipped his bottom lip, soothed it with her tongue.

  She kissed him to distract herself from her bad memories and to remind herself she was a survivor.

  She kissed him like she meant it, and Liam stayed right there with her, giving as good as he got. By the time he pushed her back against the railing and anchored a hand on either side of her hips, she wasn’t sure if it was the ocean or her pulse rushing in her ears.

  She moaned at the loss when he pulled back so they could both catch their breath. “Don’t stop.”

  He laughed, deep and soft. “Not stopping,” he assured her as she ran the backs of her fingers along his stomach. She could feel the ridges of his abs through the soft cotton. “Just realigning operations. Because as fucking incredible as your mouth is—” Liam pressed his lips to hers, but before she could gain purchase, he pulled away again “—I have a lot of other places—” he dropped a kiss against her jaw before dragging his lips along her skin “—that I’m dying to get my mouth on.”

  AJ made a noise in her throat that stopped his intimate exploration of her neck.

  Liam straightened up, stared down at her.

  “What was that?”

  Her frown dripped with disdain. “That was a scoff. I scoffed at you.”

  “Yeah, I picked up on that, actually. I was looking for the story behind the scoff.”

  AJ exhaled. “I guess I just gave you more credit than that. I know you’ve got this playboy CEO reputation in the media, but I guess I didn’t think you’d be one of those guys who pretend they give a shit and go around bragging about making their partner come a bunch of times just to bolster their own ego.”

  Liam blinked. “Please tell me you’re kidding right now.”

  “Why would I be kidding?”

  “Because you just made it sound like you think the only reason men perform oral sex is for bragging rights.”

  Something about the way he was looking at her gave her a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, and when he narrowed his eyes, she could almost see him putting pieces together.

  “Jesus. Have you never had a guy go down on you before?”

  “I didn’t say that.” AJ crossed her arms and jutted out her chin.

  “You didn’t have to. You sidestepped it last night, and tonight you scoffed.”

  “So what does that prove?”

  “It proves that you don’t know what you’re missing.”

  “See? Bragging. And there’s nothing wrong with skipping the appetizers. Sometimes we ladies just want to get down to business.”

  He gave her that assessing look again—like she was a feral animal he was trying to tame. She hated that fucking look. “What?”

  “That blow job just makes a lot more sense now. You make a lot more sense now.”

  “What was wrong with the blow job?”

  “Nothing. It was unreal. I’d take ten more just like it. But it was also a hostile takeover.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “You were asserting dominance. You wanted to teach me a lesson. Right?”

  AJ’s gaze flickered to her bare feet. A shiver went through her, and she wished she hadn’t taken off her jacket.

  “You remember when you said you were here because you wanted to be?” He leaned in. “I believe you.”

  AJ didn’t mean to turn her face toward him. She just couldn’t help it.

  “And I’m asking you to trust that part of you that didn’t turn off the countdown clock. The part of you that craves more of whatever the hell this is between us.” His breath rushed along her neck, raising goose bumps in its wake. “That part of you that wants my tongue between your legs. Wants the free fall I can give you. All you have to do is take it.”

  “Pretty words, but I know who has the power in
moments like these. It’s the person on their knees.” There was a quaver in her voice when she spoke.

  “I understand your need for control, AJ. You’re right about my motivation. You ran out on me last night, so I brought you here so you couldn’t do it again. But it’s not a loss of control that scares you right now.”

  He sounded so sure. Dread prickled along her spine.

  “It’s the intimacy.”

  AJ rolled her eyes, but she’d deployed her sarcasm shield too late, and the blow landed. It hurt, too. Worse than any black eye or bruised rib she’d ever gotten from Troy. Because those had healed. And when they had, she’d told herself she was okay. That she was still there. That she was tough. But now, standing across from Liam, she understood that she might have survived, but it wasn’t without some scars. She might have been a thief, but life had stolen things from her, too, not the least of which was her ability to trust her heart.

  Despite the doubt, she couldn’t bear the thought of showing more weakness in front of this man, who’d held her while she cried. AJ swallowed down the terror crawling up her throat. “I told you last night. I’m not afraid of anything.”

  Liam stared into her eyes. Stepped closer. Tucked her hair behind her ear. Each move was slow. Precise. He gave her time to adjust. It was sweet...caring, and she loathed him for it. She wasn’t fragile. She didn’t want his pity.

  “Then prove it.” They were the perfect words—a life raft. Action in a sea of overthinking.

  She stared at him as she reached for the hem of her T-shirt, breaking eye contact only when the black cotton obstructed her view as she pulled it over her head.

  He didn’t move. Her mind was spinning. Too many warring emotions, grappling for dominance. Guilt over this betrayal of Max. Fury at Troy. And Liam, she didn’t know what to feel about him. And that made him the worst of the three.

  As though he could tell, he swooped in and pressed a hard kiss to her mouth that stopped the spinning in her brain. Focused her scattershot emotions.

  Lust.

  She could deal with lust.

  “I’ll stop whenever you want me to.” His voice was low and rough, and so damn sexy.

  Even so, she almost pressed the escape button when he popped the button of her jeans open. And again when he dragged the zipper down inch by inch.

  Liam kissed the hollow of her throat, dragging his lips down her sternum, between her breasts, pressing a kiss just above her navel as he settled onto his knees.

  She could hear her heart thudding in her ears, drowning out the surf as the boat cut through the water below. Liam peeled her jeans past her hips, down her legs. Arousal diluted her earlier panic. Her pulse was heavy between her thighs. She could feel his breath on her stomach as she balanced so he could tug the denim off one foot, then the other.

  AJ’s knees shook, a weird mix of lust and panic, but when Liam’s fingers slipped under the waistband of her black undies, the panic won out, and her hand clamped over his.

  He looked up at her, and when their eyes met, she felt a connection there, an understanding she didn’t expect. There was no recrimination in his hazel eyes. None of the guilt or jeering that a guy sometimes used when no wasn’t the answer he wanted.

  Liam was still. Solid. And he didn’t look away.

  Slowly, her grip on his hand relaxed.

  “You okay?”

  “Yeah, I just...”

  “We can leave them on.”

  AJ nodded.

  It was stupid, the way that calmed her. She had the strange feeling that he’d somehow known it would. Layers. He’d mentioned them earlier, with the sunglasses. She’d shed a lot of layers today, but stupid as it might be, a pair of black boy-cut panties felt like security right now.

  Liam glanced up as he ran his fingers along her right ankle, up her calf, to the back of her knee. AJ shivered at the light touch as he lifted her leg over his shoulder. Her muscles drew tight at the new position, at the heat that flared in his eyes as she looked down at him. It was as though her body already knew what to expect, was already desperate for a release that only he could give her.

  His stubble brushed her inner thigh, unleashing the most exquisite ache between her legs.

  He pressed a kiss to the sensitive skin beneath her navel, and her abdominal muscles retracted in shocked delight.

  She closed her eyes tight in preparation, clenched her hands around the wooden handrail as she braced for impact, but he didn’t attack her like she’d expected.

  “AJ.”

  The sound of her name startled her, and she looked down at him.

  “I won’t let you fall.”

  And then he pressed his mouth against the wet cotton of her panties and she cried out as the sensation overwhelmed her, sizzling along her nerve endings like Liam was the human equivalent of a downed power line.

  Her leg tightened reflexively, her heel digging into his back, and he growled. AJ thought she might pass out from the pleasure.

  The sound of the waves under the boat filled her head and she tipped her face to the inky sky, her hair blowing in the breeze as Liam drove her higher, and then higher still.

  And then, when she was certain things couldn’t get any better, Liam tugged her underwear to the side, and the shock of his tongue against her clit sent her free-falling into orgasm.

  And true to his word, he didn’t let go.

  AJ was panting as she leaned against the railing, using it to support her as she eased her leg back over his shoulder, so she had both her feet on the deck.

  It took a minute for her to catch her breath, for her pulse to slow, for her brain to reengage. But when it did, it went full bore, cutting through the aftershocks of pleasure still dancing along her skin.

  What had she done? Shit.

  She’d come here for a reason. And she could pretend all she wanted that she’d changed her mind and jumped onto the SS Overcompensating for Something for altruistic reasons. Out of loyalty to Max. To find out if Liam was the one who’d hacked Whitfield Industries. But in the aftermath of a truly phenomenal orgasm, she realized the truth was much more selfish.

  Last night, she’d gone to Liam’s for Max.

  But today, she was here for herself.

  And as a result, she’d betrayed both her boss and his biggest rival.

  “I need to get off.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  LIAM GRINNED AT her as he got to his feet.

  “I thought you just did,” he teased, but before he could lean in and kiss her, she ducked down and grabbed her jeans, yanking them on.

  “We need to land.”

  “Dock,” he corrected absently, distracted by the way her breasts bounced as she shimmied the black denim up her thighs. She’d melted for him, given herself to him, to the pleasure, and it had been...incredible. There was some caveman pride there, about being her first, yeah, but it wasn’t just that. There was something else, too. Something all bound up in the story she’d told him about that asshole who’d hurt her. The one who was fucking lucky he was already dead, by Liam’s estimation.

  Trust. She’d trusted him. And it had made what just happened between them bigger somehow. More.

  He dragged a hand through his sex-mussed hair, a little embarrassed by the quixotic bent of his thoughts. He was still hard for her, obviously not thinking straight.

  “I don’t give a shit what you call it. Let me off the boat.”

  Something about the heat in her voice penetrated the haze of his arousal. He could see the gleam of panic, like she was trying to come to grips with what he’d done, what she’d let him do.

  “AJ?”

  There was a hint of cornered animal to her, and he could almost see her assessing her options in the quick dart of her eyes.

  “Not until you tell me what the hell is going on with you right now.” He wal
ked toward the loungers, where he’d left his phone.

  She pointed menacingly at him. “I will hack your systems and send you straight into an iceberg if you don’t let me off this goddamned boat.”

  “We’re in the Pacific, about a dozen nautical miles off the coast of California. If there’s an iceberg, then we’re dealing with apocalyptic levels of climate change, and you crashing us into it is going to be the least of our worries.” Still, he pressed the buttons that would summon McGee before stowing his phone in his pocket.

  AJ grabbed her shirt from the deck and dragged it over her head.

  “Sir? Is everything okay?”

  Liam looked at his steward, then back at AJ.

  Determination had fisted her hands. “I’ll swim to LA if I have to.”

  He exhaled. “Take us back.” He glanced at McGee, and the man nodded before leaving to let the captain know about their change in course. They weren’t far out.

  She set off across the deck. He didn’t follow. Just watched as she took the stairs on the starboard side that led to the guest cabin and disappeared from sight.

  Liam exhaled, wandered over to the railing.

  Her walls were back up, full force.

  He didn’t know her well enough to figure out if he should go to her or give her some space and wait for her to come back. Indecision kept him rooted there, watching the lights of the Port of Los Angeles get closer and closer, until they were about two minutes from docking. She hadn’t come back.

  Liam raked a hand through his windblown hair.

  If he wanted to figure out what had just happened, it was now or never.

  * * *

  Liam stopped in the wide-open doorway of the guest cabin, leaning a shoulder against the jamb. She was sitting on the edge of the bed staring blindly at the window. He waited a minute for her to notice him, wondering if she’d spent the entire journey like that. Lost in thought. Just like he had.