Rumor Has It (14 page)

“Well if Ethan asks again, maybe I’ll consider it,” she said since he didn’t want to claim her for himself. Then he pulled into her driveway. “What are we doing here? I thought you needed a ride home.”

“I needed a ride to your house so I could get my car.”

“What is your car doing here?”

“I brought it so I could get home after I spent some time with you. You’ve never minded before, but I probably should have asked.”

“That’s okay, but why not just go to your house?”

He was quiet, and she felt like he was going to say something huge. She braced herself for it. “I like your house.”

“You do?” That statement didn’t seem like it needed all that thought to say.

“Yes.” The one word was filled with longing, and she was shocked again. Were they talking about her house?

She knew that was all she was going to get out of him about that.

“All right, then my house it is.”

He walked around and opened her door, and she took the time to appreciate the way he moved. She knew she was supposed to be thinking about where she was with this and why she was going to continue, but she didn’t have the heart or any other body part that didn’t want him there with her.

After she opened the door, she turned on the lights and went into the kitchen to get two glasses of water, then went into the living room, where Liam had made himself comfortable on the daybed.

“Did you want to talk to me about something?” She wanted to get this over with. Were they going to have sex or not? She really wanted it to be the former instead of the latter.

“I realize you didn’t appreciate what I said when we came back from the wedding. I don’t want you to get hurt. I know I said that we were to have that one night and then we were supposed to be done. Somehow I keep finding ways to come back over. I’m having a hard time staying away from you.”

“What do you think we should do about that?” She moved closer to where he was sitting.

“I’m not sure. I want more of you, Raina, but I don’t want to lose the friendship we have. My track record with relationships isn’t great.”

She felt emboldened by his request for more and straddled his lap.

“Raina, are you listening to me?” He put his hand in her hair, took out her clip, and fisted the hair at the nape.

She’d had no idea this was a true hot spot for her until they’d talked about it the other day, but she definitely thought he might have been right about it. She felt this tug all the way in her core, and she ground herself against the firm bulge in Liam’s pants.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, kissed his firm, sexy mouth, and felt the answering tingle throughout her body.

He brought one hand down and lifted up her T-shirt, pinching her nipple through her bra. She rubbed herself against him harder, and a low moan from Liam’s throat kicked her libido up another notch.

He flipped her so he was on top. “What have we started?”

“I don’t know, but I really want to finish it.”

He helped her remove her shirt as he continued to kiss her like she was a fragile flower, and while that had always been one of her pet peeves, she had to admit that now it made her feel treasured and special.

He took off her shoes and massaged the arches of her feet with his large thumbs, and she could feel tingles throughout her body. It was like he had a map of all the erogenous zones in her body and could locate them at will.

“Do you like that, Raina? Come on, you have to tell me. How else am I to know what you like?”

“Why do you want to figure me out?”

He contemplated that for a minute and then moved over her to kiss her. The kiss wasn’t like any other kiss he’d ever given her; it was a kiss meant to take all he wanted and give what she needed. It felt deep and spiritual, and she clung to him, trying to guess what he was saying to her without words. She opened up her eyes to find him looking at her, and she broke the kiss as she tried to catch her breath.

He removed her bra and began learning how she liked her breasts to be touched, fondled, stroked, and licked, using her moans and gasps to pick up on the particulars. She didn’t think anyone had ever spent so much time working her up like that; she was on the brink just from the homage he was paying to her nipples. When he rolled one between his finger and thumb and lightly scored the other with his teeth, she held his head so he couldn’t stop the voltage that seemed to be connected from his mouth on her nipple to the throbbing between her legs.

“Liam.”

“Let me watch you, baby.”

He laved her breast with the flat of his tongue and then sucked hard on her nipple. Her eyes were closed so tightly she actually saw multicolored stars when her body jerked and grinded against the air.

“That was so sexy. I knew you could come with just breast play.”

She was trying to calm her breathing down so she could add something to what he was saying, but she was happy that at least he sounded like he was having trouble keeping himself together. Thank goodness. She would hate to be in this alone.

“Playing with you has made me harder than I’ve been in a while. You do something to me, Raina.”

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“I’m still trying to figure that out.”

He helped her up, took off the rest of her clothes, and waited while she did the same for him. She could see he was impatient, which wasn’t like him. It made her want to go even slower. An opportunity to see him like this was rare, but she didn’t want to make him wait too long. She’d already been fulfilled once, and she knew more was on the way, but he had been a gentleman and let her come first; she shouldn’t make him wait too long.

She pushed him on the daybed, and he let himself fall back so he was lying down, but his cock, which was sticking straight up, drew her attention.

“I’ve always wanted to ride a cowboy.”

“Well, I can’t say I’m a cowboy, but you are welcome to climb aboard for a ride.”

“You’re originally from down south, right? I don’t think you’ve ever told me where, but you have a slight twang in your voice when you get extremely turned on.”

“Can’t say anyone’s ever asked about it before. I didn’t even know my accent ever showed up.”

“So where you from, Tex?”

“I was born in Oklahoma, but as you know, I’ve been up here in Pennsylvania since I was six.”

“They probably have horses in Oklahoma and cowboys too.”

“For the sake of what we’re doing right now, we can take some liberties. How about that?”

“Tell me if I do something wrong.” She watched him lie back and straddled his legs to get into position.

“Raina, don’t worry so much. You can’t really do much wrong. If it feels good to you, it will probably feel good to me.”

“But you’ll tell me if it doesn’t?”

“Absolutely.”

She moved up his lean hips and started to rub herself along the hard length of him, loving the way he let the expressions cross his face. This was a Liam she wanted to know. The unguarded one, the one who wasn’t always in control.

He reached up to cup her breasts in his hands and then pulled her down for a kiss. If she didn’t do this her way, this was going to be a short ride.

She backed away from his kiss to look into his eyes. “I want to watch you come.”

An emotion crossed over his face, but it was too fast for her to read. She really wanted to know what he was thinking, but she knew he wouldn’t share whatever that was with her.

“Whatever you want.”

She found the condom he’d placed on the side table and was attempting to put it on when Liam took it from her. “If we are going to have any longevity, I’ll need to put it on myself.”

“I liked playing with your cock.”

“My cock liked you playing with him too…but maybe a little too much.”

She returned to the position she’d been in before she had him suited up and placed the thick head at her entrance. It felt a lot bigger going in this way.

Having gotten the head in, she lowered herself little by little to take more of the large member that was trying to find a home within her.

“Oh baby, please.” He was fisting the cushion in one hand and the pillow in the other as he tried to let her go at her own pace, but she could see it was getting difficult. He looked like he wanted to take control and fill her with his aggressive thrusting. She was almost dizzy with the power she was taking into her body.

She dropped onto his body, taking him with one fast slide. The intake of breath and groan of appreciation made Raina more excited than anything. She increased the speed of her lift and the force of her drop and was enchanted. This Liam was holding nothing back, and it was magnificent.

“Does that feel good, baby?” To her ears, her voice sounded husky and eager, but she wanted to hear his response. She knew it would tip her right over the edge that was quickly approaching.

Raina watched his eyes open and his mouth try to form a response. He growled out, “Yes,” and then the bottom seemed to fall out of her control. Her rhythm was off, and she felt like she was spinning. Her body contracted in waves of pleasure that seemed to go on and on. When she could catch her breath, she opened her eyes to find she had been turned and was now looking up at a smiling Liam.

The smile was so open, her gut clenched again.

“So pretty,” he said as he leaned in to kiss her. He hadn’t stopped moving but had slowed down significantly. She pushed at his shoulders so she could see him as his orgasm overtook him. “You want to watch?”

“Yes. I want to see you come for me.”

“For you,” he whispered as he began to thrust his hips faster and deeper. The low growl started so deep she could almost feel it in her belly. Watching him splinter was so stunning she could almost climax again just from watching. He fell against her when he was finished and rolled them both so they were face-to-face on their sides.

“That was quite amazing, Mr. Prescott.” She was so full of emotion that was all she was going to allow herself to say.

“
You
are quite amazing, Ms. Gibson.” He kissed her mouth, then her forehead, and then folded her within his arms.

It was quite a while before she could fall asleep. It felt like something had shifted, and she was closer to him than ever—but better still, she could feel him reciprocating.

* * * *

Waking up with Liam was such a wonderful treat. He was so caring and thoughtful. She looked at the clock and realized she’d slept for five hours. He was such a sexy man. Powerfully built and hard working. No wonder women lined up to get at him and even asked her for help. Like she’d ever help anyone else out. Raina desired, craved, and coveted Liam—she needed to stop telling tales to herself at least and own up to what was going on with her and probably had been for a very long time. She wanted him for herself—there, she’d admitted it.

There had to be a way to make him see he wasn’t as opposed to commitment as he thought. They’d been friends for over four years; that was a commitment. He didn’t have to do things for her, remember her birthday or send flowers every once in a while, but he did. His beautiful face looked like it was Photoshopped most of the time, but when he was sleeping, he looked like a gentle angel…a fallen gentle angel…a fallen angel whom you wanted to do dirty things with, but still an angel.

She’d found out something about herself last night, something she wanted to share with the one person she shared so much with, but she was afraid this might be more than her friend could handle. She looked at his sleeping face and whispered her secret into the dimmed room.

“I love you, Liam, and I think I always have.” Now she could feel like she let that off her chest and he wouldn’t be freaked about it. It was a win-win. She snuggled into him. It would work out somehow. If not, they could always just stay friends. That might kill her, but what were her options? No Liam in her life at all? She didn’t like the sound of that. She wasn’t going to be able to figure it out right now anyway, so she might as well go back to sleep. She closed her eyes and breathed in the sexy smell of Liam and slept the sleep of the content and exhausted.

WHAT THE ENTIRE fuck was he going to do about this? Waking up at a moment’s notice was what Liam did for a living, so when he felt Raina moving at his side, he was awake and wondering what she wanted.

He could feel her staring at him, but he also knew she had to be pretty sore since they’d been going at it like bunnies for the last week or so, and there didn’t seem to be any slowdown in sight. Her whispered confession warmed his heart at the same time his mind seemed to constrict under the seriousness of the information. Raina wasn’t one to profess love for anything. He knew women who loved their coffee or this new fashion, but she wasn’t like that. Hell, he didn’t remember her telling him she loved Theo, and they’d been together for a little over a year.

He believed her, but he didn’t know what to do about it. They both knew he didn’t do commitment. He could see where she’d think he’d been singing a different song as of late, but still, she claimed she knew him so well. Why was she letting this happen? He’d known this wasn’t a good idea, but he just wanted her so badly. He let his very good instincts take the backseat to his libido, which was always chanting Raina…Raina…Raina…even when he knew she shouldn’t have been an option.

There had to be something he could do to get them off the love boat and onto the friendship bus. He lay in the dark, listening to her breathing and smelling her soft, sexy scent, and wondered how badly was this going to hurt both of them when he did what he had to do.

He caught a few more hours of sleep, but when he woke up, he was resolved to get this over with as quickly as possible. She was up and making breakfast, setting up quite a homey scene for their morning after. He turned the corner and watched her hum and cook a breakfast she knew he’d like. She’d made it before when he had just come from home and not from her bed.

She caught him standing there, and she came over for a kiss, which he gave her. She tried to pull away, but he wanted this to last him since this was probably going to be the last one he got from her. Her kisses belonged to another man, and he’d have to work on how pissed off that made him. He tasted her lips and savored the flavor of her mouth while holding her face in his hands. When he finally released her, they were both breathing heavily. Her whiskey eyes were sparkling, and her soft mouth was open with an invitation to continue.