Kim remembered Liam’s words to the boy—“you look after your brother, now.” Kim realized now he’d not been making an offhand remark. Liam, who had lost a brother, knew the importance of taking care of those you loved.
Liam took care of everyone in Shiftertown, even more than Dylan did. Kim had always sensed that, and she knew that Dylan had too, and had let it happen. Not because Dylan feared losing to Liam, but because Dylan loved him.
“I wish I’d never come here,” she said.
Liam stroked her bare leg, his fingers sliding beneath the hem of her skirt. “Why is that, love? Me, I’m glad you walked into my bar.”
“Because you’ve messed up my mind. I was independent, didn’t worry about anyone but myself. When I went home at the end of the day, I could do whatever I wanted. Hang out with friends, watch TV, be alone, whatever. And now I’m worried about you—and Sean, and Connor, and your father, and Brian and Sandra, and every other Shifter in this damned Shiftertown. Even Glory.” She glared at him. “Stop making me care. It’s annoying.”
Liam’s fingers moved farther under the skirt. “Then you do care?” His eyes held heat. “I’m not dreaming that?”
“Of course I care. Who could help caring about you? But we’re still not married.”
“No,” he said softly. “Not in the marriage license kind of way. You’re my mate, Kim. I have you and no other.” Liam rubbed the small of her back, his body warmer than the Texas sunshine. “Will you have me, and no other?”
Kim’s heart pounded. Forsaking all others, as long as you both shall live. “There is no other for me.”
“Maybe not now. But what if some human male, some high-powered lawyer in your firm, decides to make you his wife? His prize? So you can flash your beautiful legs at his parties and draw people to his side?”
Kim shook with nervous laughter. “His prize? Thanks a lot. Besides, I don’t like high-powered lawyers. They take credit for cases I win.”
“Good.”
“I liked you when I met you, Liam, but what I feel now, it’s gone far beyond like.” Kim leaned against his chest as his seeking fingers found the elastic of her underwear. “But you’re asking me for commitment.”
“I don’t need to ask. The mate-bond does it for us.”
“Maybe it does for Shifters. Not for humans.”
“Shifter-human pairings happen sometimes. We’d never have survived all these centuries if the gene pool had remained pure. Inbreeding makes for weakness. Mongrels survive.”
“Mongrels. You sweet talker.”
“I think we’re doing too much of the talking.”
The leg band of her panties moved aside, and strong fingers touched the moisture between her legs.
Kim glanced around. “We’re outside.”
“Are we?” He sounded amazed.
Kim didn’t object to sex, and in college she’d once done it in a car, but that had been late at night in a deserted parking lot. This was broad daylight in the middle of thriving Shiftertown.
Liam leaned down and pressed an openmouthed kiss to her throat, making Kim’s body hotter. She was wet, she was naughty, and she loved it.
Liam drew his tongue up her chin and kissed her mouth. His kissing skills had certainly progressed. He knew how to part her lips, how to stroke his tongue inside her, how to make her mouth tingle.
“This is bad,” she whispered.
“No. It’s good.”
“I want to unbutton your pants right here on the street,” she said. “I’d call that bad.”
“Our notions of bad and good are the exact opposite, then.”
Kim gave in and popped the button of his jeans. His c**k was hard behind his underwear, the tip reaching past the waistband. Kim slid her fingers inside the elastic and grasped the full shaft.
Liam groaned. “You’ve got the touch, love.”
Kim slid her thumb over the crown, and Liam’s fingers moved between her legs. She’d never thought she could get turned on sitting on a wall, but Liam also had the touch. More than the touch. She found herself rocking back, closing her eyes.
“Liam.”
“I’m right here, baby.”
He was, all eleven inches of him. Not that she’d measured, but she could guess. She ran her hand along Liam’s penis, gripping it all the way down. He moved his hips, face softening in pleasure.
“Love, you don’t know what you do to me.”
“I have a pretty good idea. I make you stiff and hard, and when I touch you, you want to screw me.”
His eyes were slits. “You’re close.”
“You mean you don’t want to screw me?”
“I mean I want to screw you all the time, whether you’re touching me or not. I want to lift your pretty skirt and do you right now.”
Excitement spiked through her. “Right here on the wall?” she asked in an innocent voice.
“Right here on the wall.”
Liam half stood, and she lost her hold of him. The next thing she knew, his jeans were around his thighs, her underwear was gone, he was sitting on the wall again, and he’d pulled her down to straddle him. Her skirt hid their mutual bareness, but only just.
She opened her mouth to admonish him, but he kissed her. The wicked look in his eyes both excited her and made her want to laugh.
She’d never gone out with a man as in-your-face as Liam. He was a Shifter, restricted and shunned, but he was better at doing whatever he damn well pleased than anyone she’d ever met.
Right now, he was doing her on a wall in the middle of a park. In broad daylight. As he went deep, he pulled her close and kissed her.
Words flew through Kim’s mind, then dissolved. This wasn’t about words. It was feeling, pure, basic, raw feeling.
Liam was opening her like he never had before. The sun on her thighs excited her as much as his hardness inside her, a hardness that stretched and widened her. This was free and wild and strange. Sweat rolled in a bead between her br**sts, and he leaned forward and licked it away.
His breath came fast, and so did hers. Liam’s fingers were hard points on her thighs, then her back, her bu**ocks, her face. He pressed into her, fast, faster, his mouth twisting in pleasure.
Kim’s head dropped back. She bit back her scream, not wanting people to come rushing out to see what was going on. Liam licked between her br**sts again, his breath scalding. “I’m coming,” he whispered into her skin.