Because of His Heart (For His Pleasure, Book 27) (3 page)

“That’s what you say now, but—“

“No buts,” he interrupted. “I’m going to be strong for you. For us. And if that means fighting back against my brother and sister, there’s nothing I’d rather do than prove my love to you and get some sweet revenge for how they treated you, Grace.”

She was completely flummoxed. “I don’t understand,” she said, shaking her head, refusing to accept his change of heart. It was too crazy, and beyond that, she wanted it to be true so badly that her heart couldn’t stand the disappointment if he backed out on her yet again.

“Just trust me,” Liam said.

But she couldn’t simply trust him. “When they cut you off financially, it will be a different story,” she said. “You’ll change, you’ll get depressed and you’ll leave me.”

“When they cut me off? Let them try. I don’t care about any of it!” he cried, and now his cheeks flamed with passion and his eyes were wide as he stared at her.

Liam dropped his blazer, and then he began unbuttoning his shirt and then he was ripping at it, tearing it open.

“What are you doing, Liam?” she shouted, confused but also somehow turned on by the display of his muscular flesh, slick from the rain as he opened his shirt.

“I’m proving myself,” he said. “You don’t believe me?” he said. And then he was tearing off his shirt and throwing it to the ground. Now he was bare chested in the middle of the sidewalk. “I’ll lose everything—I’ll give away the shirt off my back—if it means I can have you, Grace.”

“You don’t need to strip to prove something to me.”

“But I do.” He laughed. “I really do.” And then he was pulling out his wallet, opening it and taking out a credit card that flashed gold as the sunlight peaked out of the clouds above. “You think I care about this little piece of fucking plastic more than you?” he said.

“No, please—I don’t think anything,” she said, desperate to stop this crazy display.

But Liam continued. He cupped the credit card in his hand and squeezed it until it snapped in half. “Fuck that card.” He pulled out another credit card and did the same. And then he dumped half a dozen business cards on the street, into a puddle.

“Liam, stop it!” she yelled.

People had come back into the street now that the worst of the storm was over, and many of them were staring at Liam Houston.

Even for the bizarre streets of New York City, this was strange.

Besides, Liam Houston was a well-known public figure and surely he was being recognized even now.

“I’m not going to stop until you take me back, Grace.” His chest rose and fell, expanded and then contracted as he waited.

“I—I—“ she stuttered.

“Grace Knowles,” Liam called out loud enough for everyone within earshot to hear his words. “I love you more than life itself. Please take me back.”

“Take him back and shut him the hell up!” someone with a distinctive New York accent shouted from somewhere nearby.

Grace laughed and then she nodded, and he grabbed her in his arms.

They kissed, and she knew. Somehow she just knew.

She knew it was really real, and that Liam Houston truly did love her.

How can you be sure?
She wondered.

How do you know this isn’t just one more false alarm to be followed by the inevitable letdown, the inevitable heartbreak and disappointment when he leaves once more?

Grace didn’t know why this time felt different. Maybe it was the look in his eyes, or the way he held her, the way he kissed her.

She just knew that he had changed.

And maybe, sometimes that was enough.

W
hen they walked back
into the hotel that Grace had been unceremoniously kicked out of not long ago, she told herself not to feel embarrassed.

If anyone should be embarrassed, Grace decided, it was all of them. The people who’d made her feel like a criminal.

Liam and Grace entered the lobby and everyone—everyone in the room—stopped and stared.

In part because Grace and Liam were soaked to the bone, but also because Liam’s shirt was torn and he looked like he’d just fought off a tornado and only barely gotten away intact.

Liam nodded to the concierge and bellhops with familiarity as they entered, and Grace couldn’t be sure, but she thought that there was a look of distinct pride in the eyes of the hotel employees who saw them come in together.

Surely, these people all knew the gossip and understood the significance of Grace’s return to the hotel with Liam Houston.

He was making a very clear statement.

And that made her stomach dance and the butterflies were having a field day, but she no longer really cared. Grace smiled triumphantly at the hotel manager—the same short, curly-haired woman who’d kicked her out just days before.

The manager was standing inside the lobby, her mouth hanging open as they walked by her together.

Together.

Grace was floating as they got to the elevator and stepped inside.

As the doors closed on the first floor, Grace made sure to keep smiling at the manager, whose face was a mask of pure disbelief right up until the doors obscured her from view.

Grace giggled as the elevator began smoothly shuttling up.

“What’s so funny?” Liam asked.

She shook her head. “Nothing. I’m just enjoying this so much right now.”

He glanced at her and then suddenly, like a lion, he pounced, and his lips were on hers and his hands were sliding up her hips and then over her tender breasts.

She gasped. “Liam.”

“Fuck, I need you right now,” he whispered, leaning his forehead into hers.

“I need you too,” she said, as his warm hands tried to move beneath her rain-soaked clothing to feel her cool skin.

“I want to feel you from the inside,” he said.

“Liam, the elevator—someone could see us.” She tried to push him off, despite the fact that she wanted him so badly.

Liam turned away and suddenly his hand shot out, and like a flash, he’d pressed the emergency stop button on the elevator.

A moment later, the elevator lurched and then came to a grinding halt, and Grace stared at Liam with her mouth open.

“Now nobody can interrupt us,” Liam told her, moving closer.

“We can’t do it here,” she said.

“Why not?”

“Because,” she said, but already his lips were upon her, and then his hands were working up and under her shirt and pressing into her breasts.

“I have to have you now,” he murmured, and then he was spinning her so that she was facing away from him.

His lips kissed the back of her neck and his hands gripped her breasts as she pushed back against him.

She could feel his hardness, feel him pressing towards her.

Grace was ready for him—so ready that she couldn’t think straight anymore. Just hours ago, she’d honestly believed that Liam Houston was gone forever from her life. And it had left a gaping hole, a wound that she’d been trying to ignore.

Now she was with him, back in his warm, strong embrace, and her lust for him was infused with the love she felt coming from him.

Before she knew it, he’d unzipped his pants and gotten Grace half-naked as well—naked in the elevator of his hotel—her pussy wet and excited for him to enter her.

Somehow, despite its wrongness, its dirtiness, this felt right. Grace no longer cared what anybody thought, or whether something was respectable or miss manners would approve of it.

What Grace cared about was Liam.

She no longer worried that she wasn’t good enough or perfect enough for him.

Liam was all she needed and right now she wanted him here in this elevator, and as his hard cock penetrated her from behind, splitting her folds, the engorged head of it stimulating her inner walls.

She cried out, not caring if the sounds of their lovemaking echoed down and into the lobby or any of the other floors.

Liam’s cock was slick as it filled her hole, and he groaned in pleasure.

“God, you feel so fucking incredible,” he gasped, stopping momentarily to rest inside her, his hips pressed directly up against her backside.

She moaned. “Oh, Liam,” she cried.

He pulled her tits free from the bra that had held them, and they spilled into his hands, as he tugged her nipples and began fucking her in earnest, slapping his hips into her ass while driving his stiff cock inside her over and over.

She dripped her pussy juice down his root as he fucked her.

They were both over-excited after their time apart, and Liam was kissing her as she turned her head back to give him access to her mouth.

She stretched her hands out and leaned into the wall, letting Liam screw her as hard and fast as he needed.

He was sliding in and out quickly, pounding her bare wet pussy with his enormous dick.

Liam’s hands moved down her torso, hugging her form as he finally settled his hands on her hips.

Now he was fucking her rhythmically and steadily.

They moaned in unison.

“I’m going to come soon,” she gasped.

“Me too,” he said, almost breathless now.

And then he was pounding harder and faster than ever, and her pussy was clenching him, tightening and tightening, and she felt herself readying to explode.

When the orgasm hit, it was intense and she cried out, her eyes opening wide.

Her legs shuddered and her pussy felt like it was just pure pleasure, pure ecstasy, as he began coming deep inside, filling her with his own liquid.

She could feel him shooting, penetrating her with his hardness.

“Oh my God, you fucking make me come so hard, Grace.” He slammed into her.

She cried out as her body was wracked with orgasms, one after the other.

And then he was finishing, and he stayed there, almost frozen, still inside her for a long moment.

They were both breathing heavily.

“I love you,” he said, between gasps for air.

“I love you too,” she said, leaning back against him.

They quickly dressed and straightened their clothing, and then Liam restarted the elevator. As it moved and began gradually climbing the flights, Grace gave Liam a look of disbelief at what they’d just done.

He grabbed her once more and pulled her into him, and nuzzled her, his breath hot on her collarbone.

“Grace, this is it, you know. You’re stuck with me now.”

She turned and hugged him. “You’re stuck with me, too.”

“That’s all I want,” he said, caressing her hair. “That’s all I ever wanted.”

The elevator brought them to the top floor, and then they went into his suite.

Liam and Grace took turns showering.

She changed into some of Liam’s clothes afterward—shorts and a t-shirt that was at least two sizes too big for her.

Liam was wearing sweats and a tank top.

They couldn’t keep their hands off one another.

They laid on the couch together, nuzzling and snuggling, and Liam whispering how happy he was to finally have her back in his arms.

His love was overpowering, all-encompassing.

The television was on a random station, and they were hardly even paying attention to it.

Both of them were so caught up in each other. She was smelling his skin, tasting him when he kissed her, closing her eyes and inhaling everything that was Liam.

Liam.

My Liam.

She smiled, feeling more blissful and happy than she could ever recall. Her entire body was relaxed, at peace.

“This is what it feels like,” she murmured, at one point as he snuggled her, wrapping his arms tightly around her.

“This is what it feels like?” he said. “What does that mean?”

“This is what it feels like to be home,” Grace said, and she knew it was the truth. “To be taken care of.”

“Yes,” Liam said. “We’re each other’s home from now on. Wherever we are, we’re always going to be together first. And our home will always be wherever the other person is. No matter what. You’re my home and I’m yours.”

“I love that,” she sighed.

Liam’s phone buzzed.

He ignored it, but then it started ringing and buzzing frantically, as if it was having some kind of phone seizure.

“What the hell,” Liam groaned, turning and fumbling to grab his cell. When he looked at whatever was on the screen of his phone, he grew anxious, sitting up and turning the television to CNN.

Wolf Blitzer was on air, talking about a new scandal that had just broken.

“This family can’t seem to catch a break,” Wolf said, his wizened face showing deep concern. “The Houston dynasty has been at the center of so many controversies lately, but this new one is perhaps the most serious yet.”

In the background of the CNN studio, it said DECLINING DYNASTY in enormous letters, with images of Liam, his brother and sister and mother and father floating beneath the title, their expressions seemingly pained or in various states of anger and despair.

“Fucking vultures,” Liam hissed, as he leaned forward and stared at the TV.

Wolf continued, sounding grave and earnest. “Todd Vangelis had been divorced from Anne Houston for many years before her recent and untimely death. But now, the highly successful and controversial attorney is being accused of sexually harassing one of his firm’s junior lawyers, Candace McArthur. McArthur claims that Todd Vangelis threatened her career if she didn’t agree to sleep with him. And she further states that she has proof of their illicit affair, as well as proof that the older attorney disclosed sensitive client information to her after they slept together.”

“This is bullshit,” Liam said, but Grace wasn’t so sure.

“In a wide ranging interview, Anderson Cooper discussed the emerging story with Candace McArthur. Here’s a brief clip,” Wolf stated, as the scene switched to Anderson Cooper’s sensitive, thoughtful expression.

“What made you decide to come forward now with this information?” Anderson asked.

Candace sighed and looked down. She was conventionally pretty, and very young. She couldn’t have been a day over twenty-five, but she looked even younger than that. “Working for Todd Vangelis was a dream come true,” she said, her cheeks reddening. “And he immediately gave me so much to do at the office. I was flattered.”