As she looked into his eyes, she knew he saw her for who she really was. He saw past the flirtation and the fun and the flair for the dramatic. He saw the vulnerable Katie who was hiding behind a live-for-today motto. He knew her.
To the very essence of her soul.
Tears rolled slowly down her cheeks. Liam dipped his head and kissed them away. Then he gently lifted her up into his arms again and took her back to the bed.
This time, she didn’t protest.
“Just look into my eyes until the fear passes,” he said. “You’re safe. I’ve got you.”
Katie smiled up at him through a mist of tears. He settled her against the pillows, tenderly brushing his fingers through her hair.
He was watching her, his eyes taking in every curve and dip of her body. His glance traveled from her shoulders, to her breast, to her waist and lower, up and down the length of her legs. Then stopping to linger a moment at the blond apex between her thighs.
Awareness and a dazzling heat prickled her skin. She’d never felt so exposed. She’d thought that night he’d taken her on top of the Lamborghini was sexually charged. But that time, because he’d taken her from behind, she’d been unable to read his reaction to her body. Now, she saw every erotic thought that crossed his face.
And she understood fully the power she held over him. It simply blew her away.
Her body ignited with the heat of his gaze. That unabashed stare of appreciation caused her heart to knock against her rib cage.
He kissed her lightly, sweetly, drawing it out.
“That’s it sweetheart,” he said when she moaned softly. “Relax and enjoy every minute of this. We’ve got all weekend and then some.”
Lowering his head, Liam pressed his lips to her bare belly and then kissed his way back up to her nipples, which were aching with desire.
She quivered at the luscious sensation.
“How’s that feel?”
“Mmm.” It was all she could manage.
He flicked his tongue over one straining bud and then carefully bit down. Reedy blades of pleasure sliced deliriously throughout her breast. She moaned louder.
“You like?”
“No.”
“No?” He stopped.
“I love,” she purred.
He grinned and went back to work-his mouth suckling, his tongue caressing, fingers tickling.
Brilliant. It felt like shooting stars.
After a long, leisurely exploration that left her hauling in shallow gasps of air, he left her nipples and traveled downward. He spent some time at her navel, playing with that little gold hoop, teasing it in and out of his mouth. The gentle pulling sensation produced crazy, erotic ripples in her belly that undulated all the way down into her throbbing clit.
When his lips reached her straining, hungry clit, he stopped short of touching her with his tongue. His breath was hot against her sensitive flesh, inflaming her beyond understanding.
She arched her hips again, trying to bring his mouth and her clit into contact but he moved with her, keeping his mouth just out of her reach.
“Brute.”
He laughed.
“You enjoy torturing me.”
“Oh, yeah,” Liam admitted. “Stick with me, sweetheart. We’ll get there and I promise you it will be worth the wait.”
She didn’t want to wait. She wanted him to make love to her with his mouth right this very minute. Her brain glazed with lust, her blood pumped feverishly.
Gingerly, Liam spread her thighs wider and moved his body around so that he was positioned between her legs. “So beautiful,” he murmured.
The head of his cock throbbed against her knee as he leaned forward. Katie’s excitement catapulted. What sweet, desperate pressure.
His big fingers caressed her clit as his tongue probed her folds. Katie’s eyes slid closed, blocking out everything except his touch.
“Yes,” she whispered. “Yes.”
His tongue captured her hooded cleft.
Never in all her life had she been pleasured this way. It was rapture. It was ecstasy.
Liam seemed to know exactly what she needed even better than she knew herself. He reveled in her and he made her feel cherished. It was dangerous territory, these tender feelings, but she couldn’t stop them, so she rode, letting the anxiety build, experienced it and then allowed it to drop away.
While he toyed with her clit, Liam slipped an index finger into her slick, wetness. The walls of her womanhood tugged at him, gripping and kneading him in rhythmic waves, pulling his finger deeper and deeper into her.
Sound was altered and she existed in the delicious void of ocean waves and heavy breathing. She floated, bodyless. She was total awareness, her entire being a giant throb of sexual energy.
She surfed his tongue, owned it. She hovered on the brink of orgasm, but he would not let her experience release. A steady strumming vibration began deep in her throat, emerging as a wild moan.
“Liam, Liam,” she cried his name.
“What is it, sweetheart?”
“Make me come.”
He let loose then, giving her everything, holding nothing back. His tongue danced, his fingers manipulated. She let go and allowed him to take over. It seemed he was everywhere. Over her, around her, in her, outside of her.
He was magic. He was wonder. He was amazing.
“More.” She thrashed her head. “More, more. Give me more.”
He gave it to her just the way she asked for it, pumping his hand into her with his fingers. His thumb pressed her clit like a trigger, shooting off the secret button of her release.
“Come Katie, come for me,” he coaxed.
She exploded.
The orgasm overtook her in great, writhing pleasure moans.
She cried out, her voice echoing around the room. Laying there, she trembled with the power of what he’d just done to her.
And she realized that making love in a bed hadn’t been boring or predictable or uninspired. In fact, it had been the most intimate, intense, moving experience of her life.
13
LIAM TOOK HER to dinner at an elegant restaurant, specializing in Pacific fusion, not far from the bungalow. Utilizing indigenous seafood, the chef paired French cooking and Asian flavors. Adventuresome Katie ordered squid and sushi. Liam, sticking with more traditional fare, went with the tuna.
They were seated at the best table near a romantic waterfall surrounded by exotic vegetation. He looked dashing in his suit, although she couldn’t wait until she could get him out of it again.
Liam ate like a man whose appetite had been whetted. Tilting her head, she watched him in the candlelight and couldn’t believe she’d underestimated his passion. This was a man who could really enjoy himself when he allowed his playful side to come out.
Briefly, they discussed both his ad campaign-which was almost finished-and the bungalow’s profitability. Liam’s opinion was that her family could make more by keeping the bungalow and renting it out than by selling it. Then, he presented the downside to renting versus selling. But this dinner wasn’t about business and they both knew it.
“Which way would you go do you think?” Katie quizzed. “Sell or rent?”
“When you’ve got something valuable, you should hang on to it.” He was gazing at her, and she knew he wasn’t talking about real estate.
“Is that the outlook that turned you into a tycoon?”
“No. What’s got me where I am today is recognizing a great opportunity when it falls into my lap.”
Katie felt a blush of heat radiate up her neck. The more she was around him, the more she found to like and admire. He was strong and masculine, but also tender and kind. And he made her hope for something she’d never hoped for in her life.
She savored her dessert of bananas foster while Liam sipped a brandy. He raised his glass and winked at her.