It was his turn to hiss in his breath.
She nibbled his neck while her hand stroked his rock-hard flesh with a teasing caress. On screen, Clark was stringing up a blanket to separate him from Claudette.
Knowing that they were making out in the balcony of a movie theatre, that any minute an usher could walk in and find them, was beyond exhilarating. It was forbidden, yes, but that’s what made it so awesome.
Liam felt the pulse in her wrist leap hard and fast against the head of his penis and Liam knew Katie was just as turned on as he was.
“I want you,” he growled. “Now.”
“Wait,” she said huskily.
He felt her fumble around in the darkness, heard the sound of something being unwrapped. Condom, he thought, and then she was rolling the rubber on his burgeoning cock.
She straddled the arms of the chair he was sitting in, wrapped her hands around his neck and slowly eased herself down on the length of him. Instinctively, his hands went to span her waist, holding her in place and letting out his breath on a long, controlled exhale.
Her wet moistness engulfed him and he was inside her. “Ride me.” His voice was gravel.
“My pleasure.” She rode him hard and fast until they were soaring together, mindless of the noise they were making. Beyond caring who could hear.
Liam was so crazy with desire for her he couldn’t stop himself. He had to do this. There was no other way out.
Their joining was quick and urgent and very, very dangerous. Everything was borderless, open. They rolled into infinity, and every blissful inch felt right and good and true. Liam couldn’t distinguish who was inside whom. They were both inside, occupying the bones, skin, muscles, cells. Together, they spun.
The tasty expanse of their union multiplied, swelling beyond comprehension. A harmonious, voiceless galaxy whirling quicker than the speed of sound.
Past thinking, with no coherent thought in his head, he was nothing but cock and ass and balls.
Alive with sensation.
Relentlessly, Katie rocked into him. He was aching, gushing, throbbing. He had to bite down on his lip to keep from letting loose with a primal cry. To keep from begging for release from this glorious torture. From the rapture he could almost touch.
Tingling. Humming. Rushing.
Soon. Please, please let it be soon. It had better be or he’d implode.
And then, just like that, it was upon him.
Liam tumbled. Jerking and trembling into the abyss, hurtling. Lost. Enveloped by the chasm. The earth, the sky, the air, the ocean exploded in a ball of white-hot come.
He blinked, befuddled.
Katie collapsed. Sank her head against his.
He wrapped his arms around her and they sat there, sweating, shuddering, panting for breath.
The urgency was gone. His cock emptied. But his mind was one speeding thought after another. Adrift in a darkened world of squeaky theatre seats, red velvet curtains and the smell of buttered popcorn.
They had traveled so far together, had shared such a forbidden intimacy that when they settled back into their separate selves, a fierce melancholy fell over him.
Their lovemaking had been so remarkable that Liam did not know what to do now.
They did not know each other. Not really. They possessed no common ground. No shared history or background in which to salvage their separateness. In the confines of the old theatre, with Clark kissing Claudette on screen, they navigated unknown terrain.
Then, before he could make a move, Katie decided for him. She rose up from his lap, slipped from his grasp. “Give me a two-minute start before you follow.”
Then she was gone.
Several minutes later, as Liam left the theatre on legs so shaky he was amazed he could walk, he realized that this movie would always be branded in his brain as It Happened One Forbidden Afternoon.
LIAM WAS SITTING in his office, scrunched down in his chair, staring out the window when a soft knock sounded and his door opened a crack.
“Liam?”
“Huh?” Liam jerked upright and blinked at his secretary Vanessa Gomez. She studied him with a look of motherly concern. “What is it?”
“I don’t mean to overstep boundaries, but is there something unusual going on in your personal life?”
“Why do you ask?”
“You’ve been very distracted lately and your moods are all over the place.” Vanessa was an impeccable employee. Forty-five, caramel-skinned, always professionally dressed and well put together. She also didn’t pry into his private life, not usually. But that could have been because up until now he hadn’t had much of a private life.
“Sorry, my mind was elsewhere.” On his wild lunchtime encounter with Katie.
“On the warehouse-condo renovations?”
“Yeah,” he lied, “that’s it.”
She crossed the room, settled some files on his desk. “These contracts need your signature.”
“Thanks.” He nodded.
Vanessa started to leave, but stopped at the door. “Oh, and one other thing.”
“Yes?”
“Finn Delancy’s secretary called from the mayor’s office.”
“What?” He planted both palms on his desk and shot to his feet. Irrationally, his first thought was, He’s finally calling to acknowledge he’s my father. “When?”
“Just a few minutes ago.” Her eyes narrowed. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine,” Liam said curtly, his pulse pounding in his temple. “What did Delancy want?”
“Why, to invite you to a dinner party at his house. That whole Young Bostonian thing has the city buzzing about you. Plus, he might want to put the squeeze on you for a campaign contribution.”
Here it was. A second chance to confront Delancy in public. Honestly, he’d been so wrapped up in Katie that he’d almost forgotten about his vendetta against Delancy.
Almost.
“When’s the party?” he asked.
“This Wednesday at eight. Should I tell him you’re available?”
Liam swallowed hard, curled his hands into fists. “You bet.”
“I’ll let his PA know.” Vanessa headed for the door, but paused when she reached it and turned back. “Oh, he’s expecting you to bring a date.”
EMPOWERED BY the bold thing she’d done during her lunch hour, Katie called Lindsay Beckham the minute she sank into the chair behind her desk at Sharper Designs.
“Chassys bar.”
“Is this Lindsay?”
“It is. Who’s speaking?”
“Katie Winfield.”
“Yes?”
“I did it.”
“Did what?” the unflappable blonde asked. Even over the phone, she sounded cool and utterly in control.
“My Martini dare. You know, I made love in a forbidden place.”
“Good for you.” Was it her imagination or was there a self-satisfied note in Lindsay’s voice? “And the object of your affections? What did he think about the dare?”
Katie grinned, thinking of the wiped-out expression on Liam’s face. “I’m quite confident he liked it, too. Although I never told him that he was part of a dare.”
“Excellent. As you know, you’re sworn to secrecy about the details of your Martini dares. Are you ready for the next one?”
Katie sucked in her breath. Was she? Her encounter with Liam had been so intimately erotic she wasn’t sure she was emotionally ready for another dare.
“You have to complete all three dares before next month’s Martinis and Bikinis meeting,” Lindsay reminded her.
“Yeah, okay, sure, send it my way.”
“That’s the spirit.” Lindsay chuckled. “I’ll put the new dare in the mail today.”
“What was that all about?” Tanisha asked, after Katie had hung up.
“Um, nothing,” she hedged.
“You’ve been acting very odd lately,” Tanisha said. “Ever since Max made you art director. I think it’s going to your head.”
“It’s not going to my head,” she denied.
“No?” Tanisha looked as if she didn’t believe it for a second.
“No.”
“Well, something’s wrong.”