Liam

by Katie Dowe

  “You do not reveal anything about yourself Amani,” he had accused her six months after they had started seeing each other.

  She had never taken him home to meet Hanson, even though he had begged her to let him meet her parents, as he wanted her to meet his. She had seen his parents come on campus. Middle aged white people who wore discreetly expensive clothes. She knew that Troy, being an only child, was their pride and joy. She had made the decision after that to break it off with him and when he had demanded an explanation, she had told him that he was too preppy for her. She had seen him weeks after that with a brunette, pre-med student and they looked happy together. It had broken her heart a little bit, but she knew it had been for the best. She had sworn to herself that she would never enter into another relationship again, not until she had found someone whom she could really and truly confides in, and someone who would love her in spite of her past and what she did! But then she had met Marcus, the tall and very attractive African American man who had stopped her as she was about to leave the bar she was having a drink at before heading home. They had started talking and he told her that she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. One thing led to another and they had gone back to his apartment where he had made love to her and she had stayed until morning. Then she had discovered that he was a cop, so she ended it a few weeks later without an explanation. She had spent weeks talking herself out of calling him back because she had really liked him! With an abrupt laugh she headed for the kitchen to pour herself a glass of wine to take into the bedroom with her. Liam’s problem was for another day.

  Chapter 6

  “You win.” The deep voice over the phone was very abrupt and for a moment Amani did not respond. It had been almost two weeks since he had hung up on her and she had been contemplating calling him, but had managed to resist the temptation. She was in the gallery dealing with a client when he called. Signaling to one of the others, she walked over to one of the seats at the corner of the room to take the call, her heart hammering when she saw who it was!

  “Pardon me?”

  “You win darling,” his tone was scathing and played on her nerves. “You have done what you set out to do, wanting you has become the focal point of my life and I have called to tell you that you have won.”

  “You arrogant, conceited –”

  “Be careful darling,” he interrupted her caustically. “Winning does not give you the right to talk to me however you please.”

  “Go to hell!” she told him succinctly and hung up the phone. Amani closed her eyes and forced the trembling from her limbs. This time he was not going to call her back and she had just blown her chance again! She sat there and smiled at several people who came into the gallery, and watched as they wandered around looking at the paintings and the sculptures displayed there. Hanson had gone out of town for the day and had left her in charge. She jumped as the phone rang again and she waited until the third ring before she answered it. “What?”

  “Now is that anyway to talk to the man who is going to be your lover?” he asked her softly.

  Amani closed her eyes and willed herself to be calm. “Your inflated ego is going to be your undoing one of these days.”

  “I am sorry,” he told her abruptly. “I am not used to this Amani and I have to confess that you are driving me quietly out of my mind! I cannot stop thinking about you and wanting you like I have never wanted anyone before. What have you done to me darling?”

  “I am the first woman to ever resist you Liam and that does not sit well with you. I have a feeling it is more your pride that is hurt than anything else.”

  “Maybe you are right but whatever it is I find myself thinking about you nonstop. I am even making a mistake that is costing the company millions.”

  “I am sure that is not true.”

  “Maybe not millions but costly enough,” he admitted. “I am languishing without you. How about taking pity on me and having dinner with me later, and afterwards spending the night in my bed?”

  “Yes to dinner and no to the other offer, as tempting as that is.”

  “Darling you are killing me,” he complained huskily. “I promise you that it will be very good.”

  “I am sure it will be.” She could not help but laugh! “But I will pass.”

  “Okay dinner then,” he sighed. “Tell me where to pick you up.”

  “Just text me the address and I will be there.”

  “I don’t know where you live.”

  “And I don’t know where you live but that’s fine with me.”

  “We will talk about this later.”

  “I am sure we will,” Amani said before she hung up. She leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes briefly. Hanson was right. She had waited long enough for him to call her. Somehow she had to get him to take her to his apartment and be done with it. She knew that when, and if he did, he would not just be taking her there for the tour. He would want something else and she was not prepared to give him that! She had the feeling that if they did make love, there would be no turning back for her!

  *****

  This time the restaurant was small and intimate. The manager was almost bowing as he guided her to the privacy booth where Liam was standing and waiting for her approach. Her breath caught in her throat as she stared at him! She had not seen him, except in the papers where he was escorting one woman or the other to some function. He was wearing a dark blue shirt, opened at the neck, and a striped sports jacket over tan trousers. He looked so achingly handsome that seeing him reinforced how much trouble she was in! He dismissed the man with a nod of his head and came forward to take both her hands.

  “I have missed you,” he told her throatily as he leaned forward to brush her cheek with his lips, his fingers tightening on hers and his spicy expensive cologne enveloping her and titillating her senses. He released her and to her consternation he waited until she had slid into the padded sofa like seat before taking a seat next to her and crowding her in. They had been given the most private table, far away from the other diners and private enough for anything to happen between them. His nearness was already unnerving her!

  He turned sideways to stare at her, his slate gray eyes wandering over her flawless face and lingering on her bold ruby red lipstick, which highlighted the fullness of her lips, before dipping to the swell of flesh revealed by the stunning blue and white striped shirt she had worn over her denims.

  “Stop!” she demanded huskily.

  “Stop what?” His eyes met hers and she could see the banked fire there before he stared at her lips again. “Stop wanting you? I am afraid I cannot do that Amani. My body responds to yours in the most annoying and unusual way.” His tone was baffled as he continued to stare at her. He reached a hand out and tilted her chin up, his eyes scrutinizing every inch of her exquisite face. “I am looking for flaws,” he murmured huskily. “Something to assure me that you are not perfect.”

  “I am not perfect.” She wrenched her chin away and pressed back further into the corner, not caring how that looked. She almost sighed in relief when the waiter materialized with a bottle of wine and the menu. She spent that few minutes composing herself, determined to be her most casual and amusing self. He waited until the waiter had left and lifting his glass in a toast he smiled at her mockingly.

  “Now tell me why you had not called me. And I want the real reason.”

  Amani sipped her wine and looked at him, her eyes twinkling in amusement. “Would you believe me if I said that I was not interested?”

  “No,” he told her without hesitation. “You are interested, that much I know. But for some reason you are hesitating. Why is that?”

  Amani laughed softly as she put her glass away. “Oh I don’t know! Maybe it’s because I am not interested in being a notch on your belt.”

  “I happen to treat the women I get involved with respectfully and I am never unfaithful to them. I show them an amazing time and they leave the relationship far more financially and ph
ysically sated than when they enter it.”

  Amani stared at the beautiful and spoiled man next to her in amazement! He really believed that it was a privilege to be his lover and she had a feeling that the women in his past had given him that impression! She hid a smile as she realized that she was going to have to be the one to shake that core of unbelievable arrogance that surrounded him! “Undoubtedly you are an excellent lover.”

  He nodded, his gray eyes searching her face for signs that she was being sarcastic.

  “And you are very generous as well.”

  “I am.”

  “For the short time that a woman is privileged to be yours, that woman is the center of attention and is well provided for.”

  “Undoubtedly.” Now he was staring at her uncertainly, as if he did not know what to make of the conversation. “I respect and love women and happen to think that they are amazing, and so I always bear that in mind.”

  By this time the waiters had come with their meals and the conversation was suspended until after they had left. Amani waited until they were halfway through the delicious serving of veal before she continued. “What would you offer me?’

  Liam finished chewing his meat before he responded. “Anything you want.”

  “An apartment? Money in the bank, jewelry? A car?”

  “That and more.” He told her solemnly, his eyes on her lips as she used the tip of her tongue to touch the corner of it. He felt his body tightened at the movement and had to quell the urge to bend his head and take her lips with his. Damn! He wanted her!

  “For how long?”

  He frowned a little at that and continued eating before he spoke. “I don’t know. I already told you how much I want you and I have never wanted anyone the way I do you, so I have a feeling that it will last a lot longer than usual.”

  “And then what?” Amani found that she was fascinated by his reasoning, even if she felt a little more than repugnant by it!

  He shrugged his broad shoulders and picking up his wine glass he took a sip. “I would hope that we would be friends.”

  “Does that usually happen?”

  He took a deeper swallow of the wine. “I make that clear at the beginning but sometimes it does not work out that way.”

  “Why?” she persisted.

  “You are certainly a curious one.”

  “Why Liam?”

  He shook his head and sighed. “It happens when the person is expecting more.”

  “Like a marriage proposal?”

  “Something like that,” he told her casually. “But you are not only beautiful, you are smart as well and you know better.”

  “Do I?”

  “Of course you do!” He pushed away the rest of the meal and turned fully to face her, his knee brushing against her, sending the currents straight through her body. One long arm was resting on the back of the seat and much too near to her neck. “I am not ready for marriage yet and I would never go into that institution knowing that I am not. I love women Amani, different women, and I would never put any wife of mine through something like that. I am not the type to settle for one woman for long periods of time.”

  “And you tell that to all the women you are seeing?”

  “I do. I believe in honesty in a relationship, no matter how fleeting.” He gazed at her. “Is that something you can deal with?”

  “Of course,” she told him blithely, a smile playing around her lips.

  “Good,” his relief was so apparent that Amani almost laughed at the expression on his handsome face.

  “You have not asked me why.”

  He frowned a little at that. “Why are you okay with it?”

  “Because I do not want a relationship with you, Liam.”

  “What?” He stared at her as if she had sprouted two heads!

  “All I want is one night with you and that’s it.”

  “You want to be with me for one night?” His look of skepticism was so exaggerated that she could not help the laughter!

  “Is that so hard to believe?”

  “Darling it is impossible to believe.”

  “Why? Because if a woman spends one night with you she ends up wanting more?”

  “Something like that,” he told her lightly. “And I intend to prove it to you.”

  “One night Liam and after that you do not call me or ask to see me. We do not remain friends, but go our separate ways without seeing each other again.”

  He stared at her for a long moment. By this time the waiters had come by to clear the table and asked if they wanted dessert, to which he nodded yes and they were told the house special. “You cannot be serious.”

  “I am serious. One night. Is that something you can deal with?” Amani was taking a gamble but she had to play it this way in order to step up the plan and make sure that afterwards he would not want to contact her again.

  “I want more than one night.”

  “Then I am afraid this is the last time I will be seeing you.”

  “You are being ridiculous!’ he told her harshly, his gray eyes flashing.

  “One night Liam, agree to it now or I walk out of this restaurant right now.”

  “You did not strike me as being a one-night-stand woman,” he said coldly.

  “I am usually not, but for you I am prepared to make an exception,” she told him sweetly.

  Their dessert came, a delicious strawberry concoction that had Amani practically salivating as she tasted it, but he did not touch his and continued to stare at her broodingly.

  “I am going to do my best to change your mind,” he told her suddenly.

  She looked up and caught his eyes. “You can try but no matter how I feel afterwards; it will be just the one night. There is something that you don’t know about me Liam. I am very determined and very obstinate.”

  “Tell me why.”

  “Why what?”

  “Why just one night.”

  “Because you said yourself that you do not do long term. I don’t need a man to buy me things because I have enough money of my own.” And will have more when I manage to steal that painting from you! She added silently. “I have more clothes than I could possibly wear and enough jewelry. I find the concept of being kept by a man utterly distasteful, and in the very near future I intend to find myself a husband and settle down. I am attracted to you ,however, and I would like to know what it feels like for a man like you to make love to me.”

  “A man like me?” Liam’s thick dark brows lifted as he stared at her. He could not believe he was sitting here listening to her say those things to him! It was ludicrous and appalling and he should probably tell her to go to hell!

  “You are handsome, incredibly rich and very experienced. I never had that before.”

  “So to you I would be an experiment?” his tone was cold and his face was tensed.

  “More or less,” she said with a shrug. “You already said that we are attracted to each other and you are right.”

  “I certainly pegged you for a different person,” he told her icily. “I am not sure I can accept your very unusual offer.”

  “Why not?” she demanded. “You were honest enough to tell me what you want in the relationship and the minute I tell you what I want you have a problem with it. Really Liam? I thought you were an open minded person.”

  “I am not that open minded,” he told her grimly.

  “So the answer is no?”

  He looked at her in frustration, poured some more wine into his glass he downed it in one gulp. He wished he had something stronger to numb what he was feeling! “Do I get a damned day or more to think about it?” he rasped.

  “Take your time,” she told him.

  “Why thanks!” he jeered. “How magnanimous of you!”

  “Why are you angry?” she asked him innocently.

  “Oh I don’t know darling! Maybe it’s because I had plans for us. I wanted to do the whole works, take you to dinner, to the theatre, to Paris and other places. I had pl
ans for a real relationship, only to find out that all you want is a one night stand. If you had indicated that from the start I would have done it and gotten it over and done with by now!”