I shiver, my whole body clenching with anticipation. I’ve never been spanked before, but damn, I have thought about it, a lot. It’s just, like, not something I’ve ever felt I could ask for before. The guys I’ve been with here and there, no way I’d throw out a casual, hey, mind spanking my ass? request. Besides, I haven’t exactly been super confident in all scenarios, but with Liam, I feel bold and brass and daring.
I do as he says, get on my hands and knees, and he’s right behind me, his hands around my waist, undoing the tangles of my towel so that it drops to the bed beneath me. I go to move my leg up so I can move the towel away, but before I can move an inch, his heavy hand lands on my bare ass.
Smack!
My body rocks forward, my head goes down, and I let out a squawk before biting my lip. I can feel his handprint on my skin. The sting lingers. I brace myself for another slap but instead let out a moan when his fingers slide along my slit. He rubs against my clit, pressing hard enough to get me rocking. I put my head down on the bed, my ass up higher, shamelessly rolling my hips as he pumps his fingers inside of me.
“You’re a naughty girl, aren’t you?”
I moan and nod then gasp when he slaps my other cheek, hard enough to move me forward. Then again, same ass cheek, practically the same spot. It stings and my skin grows hot there. He smacks me again, and again, alternating between cheeks, punctuating with his fingers in me, working my body into a frenzy of intense sensations. Pain. Pleasure. Both mingle together until I can’t tell where one ends and the other begins. My skin is on fire. I’m writhing, moving back seeking his touch, moving forward away from it.
“What do you want most this weekend?” His voice is so gruff I almost don’t hear him.
“The most?” I croak.
He swats me again, rocking me forward, taking my breath away with his fingers and his hand.
“Maggie, answer me. What do you want the most?”
I can’t think. Not now. So I blurt out the first thing that comes into my head. “I want to dance with someone.”
He pauses, like my answer catches him off guard. He leans into me, his chest rubbing against my hot ass. “You want to dance?” He pulls back and runs his fingers along my pussy lips, spreading me like he’s going to slip his huge cock inside…and I want him to, badly.
I nod. “At the reunion party Monday. I just want to dance with someone…with you.” I pause. Gulp. “I don’t want to be stuck dancing with the kids or with my dad like I usually am.”
He pulls me back and up, holding me around the waist with one strong arm, his other hand cupping my breasts, teasing my nipple. Everything on my body is primed, ripe, ready to explode. He kisses my neck, his breath warm, his lips soft.
“I’d love to dance with you.”
My heart skips a beat, I swear.
He moves his hand down and slips over my clit, dipping deep inside me once again. I collapse backward, my body too heavy to hold up.
He knows how to work me, his thick fingers deep inside, grinding against my clit, pushing up against that tender spot, rubbing intensely, revving me to the brink of ecstasy.
My brain misfires, and my stomach tightens. My body coils, and Liam doesn’t stop, like he knows how close I am, how much I crave his touch. He nudges my sore ass with his hard cock. Pain. Pleasure. I’ve never felt anything like this before, and I like it…I like it a lot.
Sparks flash across my vision, his fingers curl inside of me, rubbing my g-spot, and I just can’t take it anymore. I let go, unfurl completely. Pleasure takes over, an orgasm rips up my body then back down again, and he pumps me relentlessly until I cry out as everything explodes in ripples of desire.
I collapse onto the bed, the mattress cushioning me as I pant through the last spasms. I never knew I could feel this way. This intensely. The dangerous feel of it.
I smile. He laughs. “You might not be smiling later when you try to sit.” He squeezes my ass.
And yep, sure enough, that throbs. But not in a bad way.
“You should get some sleep so I can keep you up all night.”
I smile. “Only if I get to keep you up, too.”
His lips curl so that his dimple pops, and I reach up to touch it.
I like making Liam happy.
…
I do actually fall asleep, which is surprising to me because naps and I parted ways somewhere around second year of college. A shame, really, because there’s nothing better than an after-meal snooze. I come to consciousness just like I left it, slowly, comfortably, with Liam’s scent in my nose. I realize too, though, that what I don’t feel is his heat at my back. I do hear the clickity clack of typing.
I roll over and let my eyes adjust. He’s drawn the blinds so it’s darker, and he’s sitting at the desk with his back to me, hunched over a laptop I didn’t know he’d brought. I slide to the side a bit so I can see his profile better. His brow is furrowed, and he’s worrying his bottom lip.
Doing work on the weekend? For some reason, I feel a strong aversion to that, and a jolt of jealousy. I want him all to myself, so I quietly slip out of bed and tip toe up behind him, ready to rub his shoulder and his neck. But he must sense my approach because before I get close enough he lifts his hand and closes his computer top, killing the glow from its screen in that instant.
I freeze, unsure of what just happened. He didn’t want me to see what was there, obviously. Not that I had any right to, anyway.
His shoulders are still bunched as he turns to face me. “Sorry, had something I needed to do.” And I see that there’s worry in his eyes and that easy smile I’ve been seeing all day is nowhere to be found.
“Everything okay?” I cross my arms over my chest, suddenly feeling very exposed.
He nods, rubs his hand over his face, and gets up. “It’s almost nine. You want to go downstairs and see if there’s a pool table or something?” There’s a chill in his voice that makes me shiver.
He’s towering over me as he always does, and I’m looking up at him realizing just how much more there is to learn about him.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt you. If you need some privacy, I can get out of here for a while.”
Liam’s frown deepens, and he shakes his head. “Nothing I can do about it now, anyway.” Then he realizes I have no idea what he’s talking about, so he tries to smile and adds, “Just some family shit I needed to respond to. It’s better out of mind, anyway.” He pulls me into him and kisses the top of my head.
“Well, we could go search out a pool table—I’m sure there is one—or we could go for a night walk and see the stars.”
“I haven’t done that since I was a kid.” He lets me go so I can get dressed but not before I notice him glancing at his laptop.
“If you’d rather stay in…”
“No, let’s go outside. Fresh air will clear my head.”
The resort has paths for night walking. A low-light series of lamps marks the way, but I take us off the path so we can get the most star exposure in the darkness. I snagged a blanket on our way out of the hotel room so we can lie on the grass once we’re far enough away from the resort.
The stars are breathtaking in such darkness with the city so far away. It should be relaxing, a way to get Liam’s mind off of whatever is bothering him.
“What is so appealing about Marketing?” His voice startles me out of my thoughts.
“Huh?”
He laughs, takes the blanket from me, and motions to the hill in front of us. “There okay?”
“Yeah, perfect.”
“Marketing, why that focus at school?” He unrolls the blanket and lets it fall to the ground, straightening the corner before slipping his shoes off and sitting down.
I follow him, slip my shoes off, then get on the blanket. The ground is soft, the grass lush underneath us. The smell of the forest, the flowers,
just the fresh outside smells in general make my muscles ease and my mind clear.
“I took a course in high school, like an Intro to Marketing, and the teacher had it structured in a project-learning kind of way. We worked in groups to ideate, develop, and essentially launch a real product. The only limitation was that it had to benefit someone or something in the community.”
“Sounds cool and practical.”
“It was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. I fell in love with marketing that year and knew it was going to be my destination for post secondary.”
“What was your product?”
“One of the group members was a wildlife activist and wanted to design something that would help towns install animal-friendly pathways and tunnels for highway crossings. We ended up pitching our idea to a not-for-profit wildlife organization that agreed to take our prototype to some vendors. It was a good idea, didn’t totally work out the way we wanted, but it was enough to give me a taste of things.”
“I’d love to look at your work sometime.”
I feel a rush of pride when I think of my portfolio. I’ve been working so hard to put something together that will wow potential employers, but so far nothing has worked. “I’ve gotten good feedback from professors, but the real world is not as impressed with me, it seems.”
“You just haven’t gotten the right opportunity yet.” He moves closer so that he can put his arm under my head and pull me into his side. There’s no one around to impress, and yet he’s doing it anyway, like we’re a real couple. It’s nice. “Sometimes it’s just a lightning strike we’re waiting for.”
“Luck? That’s how I feel about it these days. Like if I could only find that one person out there who needs my work. We’ll click and then, well, I get to do what I love.”
“It’ll happen.” He sighs. “What is it about lying outside that is so damn relaxing? I think I could fall asleep out here.”
I laugh. “I think we’d regret that. The bugs might find us very tasty.”
“True.” He points up to a cluster of stars. “You know anything about astronomy?”
“Nope. Not a thing.”
He laughs and drops his hand. “Neither do I.”
I slip my hand under his shirt and run my finger along where I know his tattoo is. “What do the words mean on this?” It’s the only tattoo on his body, and it’s stunning. It’s too dark to see right now, but after our shower, I admired the vibrant blues, golds, and reds that made up the crest design. The script was too hard to make out with all the swirly filigree, though, and there was no family name at the top like most crests have.
“Fortitudine vincit? It means to conquer by fortitude.”
Sounds fitting. “It’s a family crest, right?” Of all the things I now know about Liam, having a family crest tattooed on his body makes perfect sense.
“Mmhmm, my dad’s side.”
“Does he have a tattoo like yours?” He puts his hand on top of mine and flattens my palm against his chest. I can feel his heart thudding away under my fingers.
“No. I got it after he had a stroke.”
Oh God, all the things this man has endured. “I’m sorry.” It makes me feel like I’ve lived such a blessed life.
“He’s still alive but non-communicative now. I’m not even sure if he’s lucid most of the time.” He’s staring up, his eyes shifting here and there. “He was such a powerhouse of a man when he was younger and always the center of attention no matter what he was doing.”
“It must have had a huge impact on your brothers and you when he got sick.”
“It did, and it continues to. My brothers and I took his illness hard. Dad always knew what to do when there was a crisis, and when he got sick, we just weren’t sure what the best plan was. Shawn stepped into Dad’s business deals and took that over as well as the rest of the family stuff that needed handling.”
And the way he says it makes me think that that wasn’t a good thing for the family. He wanted to come outside to get his mind off of his brothers, and even though I don’t know what is going on, I know that a change of subject is what Liam needs. Better to think about the future instead of dwelling on the past.
“What does your dream home look like?” I ask. “Like if you could live in any kind of place you wanted, money is not a barrier, what would you choose?”
He smiles. “Mmm. That’s easy. A cottage, deep in a forest, off of a huge lake where no one will bother me. Where I can go outside and see the stars just like here.” He waves his arm around. “And where I don’t have to listen to the sound of traffic and police sirens.”
“Sounds tranquil.”
“What about you? What kind of place would you want to live in?”
“Well, I like my loft. I mean, I’d like it a lot better if it didn’t leak and wasn’t freezing all the time. And I don’t mind the noise of the city, for now.” I sigh. “But in the future? I think I’d like somewhere quieter, too. A little removed from everything. Somewhere that a family could feel safe and be comfortable.”
“A family?” His voice cracks.
“Sure, one day.” I feel my cheeks heating, and I don’t want things to get awkward. I’m not thinking of a family with Liam. Okay, that’s a lie, I’m totally thinking of a family with Liam.
Time to change the subject. Again.
“If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you go?” I blurt.
He rolls onto his side, and I can feel him looking at me. “There’s nowhere I’d rather be but here, with you.”
My heart thuds, and everything in my body melts. I shift onto my side and touch his face. “Me, too.”
He gets quiet and lifts his hand to my hair, tangling his fingers in my curls. “Being here with you is giving me something to be happy about.”
“I’m glad. I like it when you’re happy. Those dimples, they’re killers.” There are other words welling in my brain, ready to spew out. Words like “falling in love,” like “keeping you forever.” I smirk, forcing myself to downplay the moment. “I mean, I also like your brooding dangerous look, too. It’s definitely fantasy inducing.”
He brings my head forward and kisses me deeply, like he knows what I was thinking. It’s so tender, it takes my breath away.
Which is good, because I’m seriously in danger making a fool of myself and telling him how I really feel.
Chapter Fourteen
Liam
Croquet…it’s a game that you hear about, maybe, but you don’t actually think people play. The way Maggie’s family goes about it, you’d think they were competing for an Olympic medal.
Maggie’s got some serious skills. She’s totally kicking ass—mine and everyone else’s. I’m not going to lie…it’s turning me on.
The aunts have set things up tournament style with tiers of players competing in various games. Hitting a little ball through an obstacle course may not seem difficult, but I realize pretty quickly that there’s strategy involved. Hitting it as hard as I can doesn’t get the results I need, but it does make Maggie laugh, and that’s fucking gold as far as I’m concerned.
All the same, I’m knocked out of the game pretty early and get to watch from the patio area as Maggie cleans up.
She’s totally into this, bouncing around and full of energy, cheering when things go her way, which is often. She stops to give pointers or suggestions that will help an opponent but doesn’t hesitate to take a shot against someone, either. She’s a fair player, gives everyone a chance, but doesn’t apologize for being awesome at the same time.
She’s a paradox. Shy and quick to blush at the Coffee Hut, darting glances, no eye contact, making it seem like she’s a wallflower and an introvert. But there’s another side to her. The bold, loud, daring side that she shows other times—times, I realize, when she feels safe.
I make her feel safe.
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She’s comfortable in her body with me. She’s responsive and spontaneous, sensual and lacking inhibitions. She likes me in control but then takes control when she wants to.
Knowing all of this does things to my heart. Makes it thud in a way that I wasn’t expecting, in a way that makes me uneasy. I don’t want to hurt her. I don’t want to lose her, either.
When she started asking about my family crest last night, I had a moment of panic. I purposely didn’t put a banner with Doyle above the tattoo so that I wouldn’t be identifiable by my ink. The Doyle name carries weight, yeah, but it also comes with a shitload of negativity among the police thanks to Shawn and his business deals. They know he’s up to no good; they just can’t catch him, so it’s better not to self-identify.
I feel bad for keeping all this from Maggie, more so now even than I did only twenty-four hours ago, and I felt pretty bad then. I know that it’s for her safety, sticking to the plan and keeping her in the dark. But still—
She lets out a whoop-whoop and fist pumps, flashing a quick smile my way before turning back to her game. I smile back, and my heart hammers harder. I’m a no good ex-con; she’s the daughter of a fucking cop. There is no future for us. Not according to her father. No way my brothers will tolerate it, either.
You’ll get to keep the memories, at least.
I lean back in my seat and spread my legs out a bit, relaxing more than I thought possible, especially considering that I’m at a table with Detective Chandler. Sure, we’re drinking cider, which, according to the waiter, is perfectly legal and acceptable to drink at ten in the morning, and staying silent but for the occasional grunt of approval at the game, but still, would I have ever thought I’d be sharing a drink with the man who wants to bring my brother—hell, my entire family—down?
No.
Maggie whoops again, and I can’t help but smile wider. I like watching her, and not in a creepy stalker sense. While I have had a thought or two about a fun game of strip croquet, my voyeurism isn’t all sexual. I’m drawn to her like a magnet to metal. My eyes are always searching for her if she’s not by my side. I feel a deep craving to be near her, to touch her, to talk to her, to hear her laugh. She’s brought this beam of sunshine to my world, and yes, I know how corny that sounds, but it’s true. Maggie is the opposite of all of my experiences, and she’s given me a taste of a world that I didn’t know existed but that I want to be apart of very much. A fantasy world that doesn’t really exist because our relationship doesn’t really exist. All of this is happening in the safety of knowing that, after this weekend, we’ll part ways, and that makes my stomach clench and my chest tighten. None of this is real. I can’t keep her because my life, my real life, her father, won’t allow me such lovely things.
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