As the bustle of people started to thin, the concoction of tension, worry, and excitement in Liam’s stomach threatened to bubble over. Even though she’d sent a message to let him know she was on the train, doubts crept into his mind. Perhaps she’d changed her mind and changed trains to go home. Perhaps she was a big bellied Yorkshireman after all and had walked straight past him.
Then he spotted her. Wrapped in a bright red coat he had instructed her to wear, she was hunched over a small suitcase struggling with its handle. Her long, dark hair hung over her face and teased Liam by delaying a look at her face in the flesh for just a bit longer.
A young man stepped off the train and spoke to Beccy. Liam’s guts twisted. Had she come with someone...a boyfriend? Beccy stepped away from her luggage, frustratingly keeping her back to Liam, and held out her hands. The tension in Liam’s shoulders shot painfully up his neck as the man grinned at Beccy and crouched down next to her black suitcase. An imaginary conversation played out in his head,
“Do you have the hotel reservation details in your bag, darling,?”
“The one the on-line schmuck paid for? Yes, they’re here.”
Before Liam had a chance to finish their tortuous dialogue, the pull-out handle shot up and sent the young man staggering backwards. Liam stifled a laugh. Beccy bobbed her head and took hold of the newly-freed handle. She turned, leaving the man to watch lecherously as she walked away.
All thoughts about the pseudo boyfriend evaporated. Liam’s attention was fixed solely on Beccy. She stood out from the other passengers as if a glowing spotlight followed her. It wasn’t simply the brightness of her scarlet coat in a black and grey landscape that drew his eyes. Her elegant walk was mesmerising, somehow managing to be both confident and uncertain at the same time; she held her back straight and shoulders back but kept her eyes downcast.
A train pulled in at another platform and sent a funnel of wind pushing its way down their platform. Beccy’s raven-black hair whipped around her face, and she pulled the lapels of her coat together with long, delicate fingers. As she drew closer, the wind dropped, and her hair settled back onto her shoulders like black drips of paint down a bloody red canvas. Finally, Liam was able to look at her face for the first time in the flesh. The gentle slope of her nose, her sharp cheek bones and line of her jaw had been hidden in the few pictures she’d sent him. Her unique look stunned Liam and made his breath catch in his throat.
Then her eyes found him. Her expression froze, and her footsteps faltered. Liam’s stomach somersaulted. His biggest fear, and the one that had been the main fuel of his nervousness, was there would be no spark, none of the excitement he had felt when they had played on-line. However, as they stared at each other, a tingle shot down his body, ending in a pleasing tug in his groin.
Beccy veered from her course down the platform and towards Liam. Her eyes sparkled and a nervous smile appeared on her face as she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.
“Liam?” she asked. Her brown eyes widened, and a questioning crease appeared between her eyebrows.
Liam gave a slight nod, never taking his eyes from hers.
Her body relaxed and she beamed at him.
“Thank goodness. I was worried you wouldn’t be here, or you’d be...” Her voice trailed away.
Liam remained still and unsmiling. Lines appeared again on her forehead.
Liam tilted his head and raised an eyebrow.
“Is that any way to greet your master?” he asked in a deep but quiet voice.
Liam fought to keep the smile from his lips as Beccy’s eyes widened and darted nervously around.
“W—what...here?” she stammered.
Liam remained silent, only intensifying his steely gaze. His heart hammered in his chest, and he held his breath. It was time to find out if she was more than just a keyboard submissive.
She looked around at the sprinkling of passengers walking past then looked back at him. Her eyes narrowed. Liam could almost hear the angry insults going through her head. Finally, and thankfully before Liam’s chest exploded, a slight smirk appeared on her lips. A surge of excitement rushed through his head, and he battled against returning the smile. She understood it was a test.
Liam quietly released the tense pressure of air from his lungs as she bowed her head and slowly lowered herself to the ground until she was kneeling before him. At last he could smile.
“Is everything alright?” an annoying voice interrupted.
Liam dragged his eyes away from the beautiful woman at his feet to find her luggage helper looking worriedly at Beccy.
“We’re fine,” Liam snapped, angry at having their meaningful moment interrupted.
The man shot Liam a narrow-eyed look and then leaned down towards Beccy.
“Miss, are you okay?”
Without looking up, Beccy turned her head and hissed, “Fuck off.”
The man recoiled back. A look of shock and disgust filled his face.
He muttered, “Weirdos,” and marched away.
Liam’s heart swelled as he looked back at his submissive wildcat. He leaned down and lifted her chin gently with his finger. She looked up at him with wide, curious eyes.
Liam smiled at her. “Well done, Rebecca.”
He held out his hand, and as their skin touched for the first time, an electric-like spark tingled in his fingers.
“Thank you, Master Winters,” she said, getting to her feet.
Their fingers interlocked without awkwardness as if they had been holding hands for years.
“Hungry?” Liam asked.
Beccy shook her head. Liam wasn’t surprised. If her stomach was half as filled with nerves and excitement as his was, food was the last thing she would want.
“Perhaps later. Would you like me to take you to your hotel?”
Beccy looked away.
Panic surged through his body. Was she having second thoughts? Had he pushed her too far too soon? He gently pulled her around to face him and tried to hide his alarm from his face.
“Talk to me, Beccy. This will only work if we are completely honest with each other, remember?”
She peeked up at him through her long, dark eyelashes.
“I wonder if we could go back to yours instead?” Her cheeks flushed and she shuffled her feet. “If that’s okay with you?”
Relief surged through Liam’s body. He grinned at her as he picked up her luggage.
“I’d be honoured.”
They walked hand in hand through the station in an electrically charged silence. Their pace gradually quickening until Liam felt as if they would break into a run to his car.
Words flashed through his mind as he thought about all the possibilities of their coming time together—fun, intense, challenging, rewarding—but of one thing he was certain, they would not be boring.
Chapter Three
Sergeant Cook dutifully filled out a missing person’s report for Paul.
“We’ll look into it, Tommy,” Sergeant Cook said without looking up.
Tommy clenched his jaw and glared at the shiny bald spot on the top of the policeman’s head. He knew the report would never get to the top of the pile. They didn’t care about the likes of the Nichols family and probably thought Paul was on a week-long bender after scoring big in a robbery. Although being in a police station went against every fibre of his being, Tommy refused to simply walk away.