I shake my head, “I still need to stop by the studio, my studio!” I grin and my sister joins me. “Weekly classes schedule. Ashley, the new instructor I hired still needs to learn how to work with the system and I need to review it, make sure there’s no overlap with the others.”
Vicky hugs me. “Drive safe. Night, Bean.”
By the time I get home, I’m tired and in a bit of a strange mood. I’m not down or anything, just this underlying semi-gloomy sort of feeling. Maybe it’s just the feeling you get when you miss someone. The kind of mood that requires a warm blanket and an early night in bed.
I close the door, hang my coat, and throw the keys in the bowl, my mind on a few things for work that I need to get done before going to sleep. Absorbed in my thoughts, I step into the living room. I shriek and send my hand to my heart, noticing someone on the floor.
When I make sense of what’s in front of me, my heart swells. Liam is sitting on the floor, still in his scrubs, leaning on the sofa, his legs stretched in front of him. He puts the book in his hand on his lap. My heart hurts with the sweetest of pains as he smiles at me and it’s the most loving smile. Like me coming home, the vision of me is all he ever wanted. I feel the same way, like he belongs here, waiting for me at the end of the day, happy to see me.
“Hi.” Liam smiles at me.
“Hi,” I return and walk over to him. “Best surprise.”
His smile grows. “I swapped a shift with someone, had to see you.”
My throat tightens with the deepest of feelings I have ever felt for anyone. So intense it’s at the brink of painful. Liam places the book on the floor, reading my moves. I crouch to straddle him. His hands move to my face. “When did you get in?” I ask running my eyes between his, drinking in his beauty.
“An hour ago,” he says, his stare stroking my face. “Was waiting to take a shower until you got back,” he says and slowly leans in to softly touch his lips to mine. He inches back. “Did you have a good time with the girls?”
A cheeky smile takes over my lips when I say, “Yes please, Doctor, please treat my lady parts, please.”
“Say again,” Liam says through a chuckle. His smile, the sound of his laughter. I can’t. I really can’t, this is everything. When you found your guy . . . all those Hallmark movies were kind of accurate. My own smile evolves into something more sentimental; it doesn’t carry humor anymore, it’s an expression of utter affection.
Liam’s thumb gently caresses my cheek while he’s still framing my face. He opens his mouth to say something and I beat him to it with, “I missed you.”
His lips seal on mine for a long tender stretch. He pulls back a little, eyes making love to mine. “How about that shower?”
I kiss him, a kiss that is a prelude of things to come, and ease off him to stand up. I offer him my hand and when he joins me, I lead us both down the hall and into the bathroom.
We undress each other in silence through scorching kisses and no less heated looks. All the longings gathered within us in the past few days explode into the steamiest of showers. Water cascades over us, seeping through our fused mouths, trailing over heated skin as our hands touch with untamed urgency to get closer. With our mouths still fused, Liam gently guides us to the floor where he sits with his back to the wall, helping me gently onto his lap, onto him. We hug so tightly, nearly becoming one as he moves in me. Water is cascading over us as he takes my breath away with the way he touches me, moves in me, and kisses me. It’s so intimate and intense and impossibly incredible.
Later, in bed, on his chest, wrapped in his warmness and Liam scent, feeling loved, I raise my head to look at him. He gifts me with a special smile, one that’s full of everything we shared and a promise for so much more. I need to swallow over the emotions in my throat before whispering, “I love you.”
Liam smiles at me wholeheartedly and tips his head to kiss me tenderly. When he eases back, I return his smile, mine a mix of flirt and sass as I say, “Congratulations, you managed to become my number one person off and online!”
Liam wiggles his brows, whispering low and heated “Well, where’s my reward?” he teases, to which our lips unite again.
(Poison & Wine, book II)
Read about Vicky And Ricky’s story in by Chance.
Two’s Company; Three’s a Crowd – Never!
“You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on,” he says with a predatory grin. At first glance, he looked like a successful businessman with a pinch of sin. At first glance, I understood why Pandora, one of my closest friends, thought he might be my type. I can’t completely overlook the cheesy come-on, a bit of a turnoff, but surprisingly this guy intrigues me enough for me to not walk away . . . yet. I have a very low tolerance for cliché, pompous bastards, you see.
I check my watch and take a sip of Rosé. Cocking my head, I say, “That so?”
I follow his motion as he shifts his hand from his thigh to rest just over his heart and mouths, “Honestly.” Stare not leaving mine; he takes a swig of his amber drink.
I lick my lips, returning his daring stare. “Flattery will get you everywhere.” I seal my response with my lips tipped at the side.
He chuckles, slightly tilting his head back. I watch him, smiling to myself. Nothing beats the thrill – the promise of a new beginning. The flirty exhilaration, sensual buzz; I live for this.
He picks up a couple of peanuts from the small bowl and flings them into his mouth. He watches me as he chews. Dark inviting eyes, a chiseled jaw, quite the vision in his bespoke navy suit.
“So, tell me, Victoria Nielsen, what can I do to convince you to have dinner with me?” His lips tip a little higher. “See, the twenty minutes you offered aren’t nearly enough.”
I smile at him, a cheeky, thin smile. “I don’t think that you know what you’re getting yourself into. You sure you want to do that, Mr. Howard?”
His eyes run over me. Lazily, from my black heels, over my crossed legs, up the hem of my skirt. I slowly uncross my legs and cross them on the other side, giving him a peek at the hem of my garter. His stare heats up, and his Adam apple descends. He throws me a scorching glance and continues drinking me in, resuming from the pearl-pink silk shirt to the solitaire diamond necklace, over my rose-tinted lips, and back to my eyes.
He shakes his head slowly. “Nothing I want more.” Then, “And it’s Jack, we can drop the formality.”
Bring it on, Ace.
I nod once and take another sip of Rosé. “See, Mr. Howard,” I lift my eyes to his. He shakes his head, seeming amused. “I currently see two other gentlemen, James and Filippo.”
He raises a surprised dark brow, parting his lips to respond. I hold my hand up, signaling; I’m talking.
“I don’t mind having dinner with you, but I want you to know that I don’t do exclusive. We can have dinner and see where it leads. I’m open to getting to know someone new.” I smile at him economically. “Another suitor.”
He frowns, considering my words, his lips set in a hint of a baffled smile.
Didn’t see that one coming, did you, Mr. Howard? I just love their reaction when they realize that the leader role in this little flirty dance we’re having is taken.