Kim sighed and rubbed her temples. She was getting nowhere.
After an hour or so of trying to think and failing, Kim went to bed. Mistake. She should have been exhausted after rolling on the bathroom floor with Liam, but instead she was wide awake, her pulse speeding as their lovemaking played over and over in her mind.
She’d never, ever felt like this before. Kim should be sated after
that incredible sex, but she wanted more of Liam. And more.
“What is the matter with me?”
She sat up and snapped on the light. Three seconds later, her phone rang.
Kim picked it up, her heart pounding as Liam’s rich Irish tones rolled over her. “Kim. You all right?”
Kim wanted to sigh with happiness. “I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I wanted to make sure.”
“I am fine.” She lay back down on the pillows, feeling warm and content. “Really. Really, really fine.”
“Good.” He sounded as though it was the best news he’d heard all day.
Kim hesitated. “How’s Connor doing?”
“Still not happy with me, but he’ll be all right. Letting him watch Irish football has made you his superhero.”
“I’m glad he’s okay.”
“I’m glad you’re glad.”
Kim wondered if Liam was in bed talking to her, if he was stretched, naked, on top of the bed she’d slept in last night. Her heart beat faster.
“I’m going to my office tomorrow.” She said it firmly.
“I know you are. I wouldn’t expect you to do anything else.” Liam’s voice softened. “Good night, love. You call me anytime you need me, all right?”
He meant it—his sincerity came through loud and clear. All she had to do was say, Liam, I need you, and he’d be there. So different from Abel and his I’m busy, honey, I’ll call you later.
“Good night, Liam.” Kim made herself click the phone off and set it on the nightstand, but it was a long time before she snapped off the light.
Outside Kim’s big house, Liam tucked away his phone and kissed his fingers to her bedroom window. He faded into the shadows against the wall and settled in to guard her for the rest of the night.
Chapter Fourteen
The next morning Kim raced her car into her parking space at Lowell, Grant, and Steinhurst, half an hour late.
Late. On a Monday. Missing the Monday morning meeting. Kim scrambled out of her car, snatched up her briefcase, rushed for the front door, and stopped in dismay.
Liam leaned against the Harley he’d parked at the curb in front of the firm’s walkway, smiling his wicked smile.
“Morning, love,” he said.
“What are you doing here?” Kim demanded.
“Looking after you. Like I should.”
July sunshine gleamed on Liam’s dark hair and flat black sunglasses. With his black T-shirt and jeans, Collar around his neck, his jaw working as he chewed a piece of gum, he looked nothing less than a dangerous Shifter male. Which he was.
She made an exasperated noise. “Liam, I cannot bring a Shifter to work with me.”
Liam lifted his sunglasses, blue eyes dancing. “I don’t see any signs: ‘No Shifters Allowed.’ ‘Shifters Must Keep Off the Grass.’ ‘Absolutely No Territory Marking Anywhere.’ ”
“Very funny. Go home.”
“No.” He lowered the sunglasses and took her elbow. “If you work here, I stay with you. I’m your guard dog. You won’t even know I’m here.”
“Because no one will notice a six-foot-six Shifter in my office.”
“I’m staying, Kim. Or you’re coming home with me. Your choice.”
She jerked from his grasp. “You’re a pushy pain in my ass.”
“I’m not taking a chance that Fergus will leave you alone. He can’t touch you anymore, but that doesn’t mean he won’t order other Shifters to make trouble for you. Some of Fergus’s lackeys are…Let’s just say they’re fanatically devoted to him.”
“You all are crazy, you know that?”
Liam shrugged. “Hey, you’re the Shifter lover, which means you’re crazier than we are. Come on.”
Liam opened the heavy glass door and, Shifter-fashion, entered the building first. Once he determined that the polished granite and marble foyer was harmless, he nodded for Kim to come inside.
Kim knew of nothing that could make him leave, short of having him arrested, and even then the police would have to break out the tranquilizer guns. She also knew that, deep down inside, she didn’t want him to leave. Kim didn’t trust Fergus either, and Liam’s presence made her feel safe. Embarrassed, awkward, and confused, but safe.
As they moved through the plush halls, lawyers looked up through open doors or stepped into the hall in astonishment. Liam nodded at the head of the firm who’d stopped short in his doorway. “Top o’ the morning to you.”
Kim scuttled into her office suite where the secretary, Jeanne, who worked for Kim and two other lawyers, typed on a computer keyboard. Jeanne looked up, gawked, and lost her place. “Who the hell…?”
Liam smiled. “Top o’ the mornin’ to you.”
“It’s all right,” Kim said in a hard voice. “He’s helping me on the Shifter case.”
Jeanne looked as though she’d melt through her chair. “Can I get you coffee?” she offered Liam in an eager tone.
“Coffee would be grand,” he said.
Kim grabbed Liam’s arm, shoved him into her cluttered office, and slammed the door behind them. She pointed at the leather couch wedged between two bookcases.
“If you’re staying—sit.”
Liam grinned, removed his sunglasses, stretched out full length on the couch, and folded his arms behind his head. He looked good enough to eat.
Kim slapped her briefcase to her desk and popped it open. “What is this ‘top o’ the morning’ crap?”
“It’s how people expect the Irish to talk. That and ‘faith and begorra!’ I’ll throw those in later.”
“You are so full of shit.”
Liam chuckled and closed his eyes. He looked prepared to lounge there the rest of the day, reminding her every second of their thorough sexing in her bathroom. She’d dreamed about it all night, the main reason she’d been late. When he’d rolled her over and driven into her, his warm weight on top of her, she’d never felt more connected or intimate with a man in her life. She’d felt…complete.