With a rasping moan, Liam branded savage kisses against her damp skin.
“Tell me we belong together,” he demanded. “Admit it, princess.”
“No.”
“Tell me, Holly.” He pounded deeper, faster. “Tell me.”
“It’s nothing more than…” Her body bowed and the chains of the handcuffs rattled as the shattering bliss clutched at her body. “Lust.”
***
The huge bed in the center of the room wasn’t actually meant for cuddling. The mattress was hard, and the sheets designed for an easy cleanup, not comfort.
Still, Liam heaved a sigh of pure contentment as he held Holly tightly in arms, her head resting on his chest.
The sex had been…
He struggled for the words to describe the cosmic orgasm that had rocked through him.
Hell, he’d nearly blacked out as he’d climaxed deep inside her.
And even while he’d gently tugged off her blindfold and unlocked the handcuffs so he could carry her boneless body to the bed, he’d continued to savor the tiny quakes of pleasure that made his knees weak.
Still, as much as he’d enjoyed making love to this woman, and as enthusiastic as he was to repeat the shattering experience, nothing could match the simple beauty of this precise moment.
For the past year he’d waken in the middle of the night, his arms aching with loneliness.
At long last, he felt…complete.
Pressing his lips to the top of her hair, he allowed his fingers to skim down the curve of her spine.
They’d rested in a sweet, silent peace for nearly half an hour.
Thirty minutes longer than he’d dreamed possible.
But just when he was hoping that Holly might actually accept that she was precisely where she was supposed to be, he felt her stiffening.
“I should go.”
His arms tightened around her. “Forget it.”
She lifted her head to glare at him. “I warned you about giving me orders. I’m not on the clock.”
His body instantly hardened.
God almighty, she looked insanely beautiful with her dark hair tousled around her flushed face and her eyes still smoldering from the intensity of their earlier passion.
Exactly as a woman should look after she’d just been thoroughly satisfied.
“Thank god,” he growled, rolling until he was perched on top of her. He groaned as his cock settled against her lower stomach. His powerful orgasm had taken the edge off his hunger, but he was far from sated. Hell, he wasn’t sure there’d ever come a time when he wasn’t desperate to be inside this woman. “Despite my vivid fantasies, I do at least pretend to be a professional at the office.”
She sucked in a deep breath as her hands lifted to press against his chest, her cognac eyes shimmering with a golden beauty in the muted lighting.
“It’s late.”
His gaze moved to the pulse that fluttered at the base of her throat.
As much as he’d enjoyed taking her from behind, he couldn’t wait to watch her expressive face while he made her come.
“Do you have somewhere you need to be?” he asked.
She licked her lip, making his arousal twitch. Oh hell. He wanted those lips on him.
On his mouth. His skin. His cock.
A flush of arousal touched her cheeks, but predictably she tried to hide behind her walls.
Nothing with this woman would ever be easy.
Which was exactly why he’d gone to such drastic measures.
He grimaced, refusing to allow himself to recall exactly what those drastic measures had entailed.
That was a worry for another day.
“Back to my apartment,” she muttered.
He bent his neck to brush his lips over her wide brow, savoring the warm scent of vanilla that filled his senses.
It wasn’t perfume, or even lotion, but just the natural aroma he always associated with her.
“Is there some pressing business that you have to take care of at this hour?”
“I just want to go home.”
“And I want you to stay,” he admitted with blunt honesty. “I’ve waited a very long time to hold you in my arms. I don’t intend to let you go.”
Her eyes widened, something that might have been panic rippling over her face.
“Don’t say that.”
“Why not?”
“Because…” She struggled to come up with one of her usual excuses. “We can barely stand one another.”
His lips skimmed down the narrow blade of her nose. “I think we proved we can stand each other just fine with the proper motivation.”
She turned her head, trying to disguise the way her eyes darkened with need.
“Sex.”
He continued to stroke his lips over her face, refusing to be tricked into losing his temper. She was a master at keeping others at a distance. Including him.
It wasn’t happening again.
“Sex doesn’t make the earth shake,” he murmured, tracing the curve of her ear with the tip of his tongue. “And don’t even try to pretend that you didn’t just have the best orgasm of your life.”
She kept her gaze averted, her nails digging into his chest.
“Arrogant.”
His lips twisted. Like that was a newsflash?
“Look at me, princess.” Palming her cheek, he urged her face back so he could study her wary expression.
She sank her teeth into her bottom lip, grudgingly meeting his steady gaze.
“This was a mistake.”
“No. No more pretending,” he rasped. “Tonight we stop the games and speak the truth.”
“I don’t play games,” she denied.
Liam snorted. Was she being serious?
He remembered the first time he caught sight of her across the crowded room in painful detail.
She’d been dressed in the mandatory little black gown with her hair pulled up to reveal the long, fragile curve of her throat and a meaningless smile on her beautiful face as she tried to disguise the same boredom that was driving him to drink.
Threading his way across the reception room, he’d hoped to ease the tedious evening with a bit of harmless flirtation. And if she could be convinced to take the party someplace more private…well, so much the better.
What he hadn’t expected to discover was that she was the illegitimate daughter of Vigo Angeli. Or that the minute he’d taken her fingers into his hands and lifted them to his lips, he would be lost forever.
“It’s all you’ve done since we crossed paths,” he reminded her, his jaw clenching as he recalled her instant retreat from the sizzling attraction that flared between him. “You knew as soon as our eyes met we could have something special, but the realization made you panic.”