“Taking me so well, like I knew you would,” he praises, starting to roll his body against mine. I clench around him and that spurs him on.
“Tell me what to do,” I say.
“Right now, you’re going to lie there and take everything I give you, and then, if I survive your pussy long enough, I’m going to pull you on top of me and you’re going to ride me until you have everything you need.” As he speaks, he thrusts. Slow at first, but rapidly turning frenzied. His eyes pinch shut and something riding the line between utter anguish and pleasure consumes his face.
I claw at his back and my legs wrap around him as I’m pressed into the bed. Behind us, the headboard pounds against the wall.
When he pulls fully out of me, I whimper at the feeling of emptiness, but then I’m flipped around, straddling him.
Need takes hold in the place of nerves and I position myself over him. He grips my hips as I sink onto him.
Without me having to ask he starts to talk me through it, anticipating my over-active brain before I have time to panic. “Perfect. Now roll your hips.” He gulps and groans as I rock tentatively. “Use me, Henri. Chase what feels good. I’ll tell you if I need you to change something.” He takes one of my hands and places it on his chest, where I’m met with his thundering heartbeat. “Brace yourself against me. You won’t hurt me if you put some weight there.”
I rock forward and back, testing what works and swallow a moan. “It’s so much more, like this.” Not just him inside me but the stimulation on my clit pressing against him that sends bursts of pleasure streaming through me.
I move faster, taking exactly what I need, embracing the heady rush that blocks everything else out. Just feeling him and me—all that matters.
He shifts, sitting up, arms around me as his mouth crushes against mine. But I don’t stop moving—I can’t, as he groans against my lips and I drink in the sound. His pleasure is a euphoric catalyst. The simple knowledge of what I’m doing to him is the final push. My body quivers as I orgasm, legs locked around him.
With few final jerking thrusts against me, he comes too.
We collapse against the soft flannel sheets of his bed, limbs limp but still touching.
Minutes drift by like lazily floating clouds. We clean up and take turns in the bathroom, but return to bed. Liam trails fingersdown my side, as if tracing an outline of me, and I lie against his chest, counting freckles.
“Has it hit you yet?” he asks.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever believe it’s real until I’m in the classroom.”
“It’s all working out.” His chest rises in a sharp inhale that’s not quite a laugh. “Honestly, I didn’t think it would. This article almost didn’t get off the ground.”
“I thought they were pushing for you to do it?”
“They were, but when I talked to Fallon about the budget, she was only able to cover the flat fee and none of the incidentals, so I’ve been paying for everything else. The flights, the rental, the dates we went on.”
I shove away from him, crawling back off the bed. “You what?”
“Shit.” The realization of what he’s admitted seems to cut through the blissful post-sex haze that lulled him into revealing the truth as he jerks upright, eyes going wide in a mix of shock and terror. “It’s not a big deal. You needed this.”
I scramble for my clothes. When I can’t find my underwear, I just grab my pants from where they’ve landed halfway under the bed and yank them on. I need to get out of herenow. “I told you how I felt about you paying for shit. How that makes me feel, especially now that we’re sleeping together.”
Shirt. Where the hell is my shirt?
“If you were actually dating me then I’d pay for all of this anyway. It’s not like I’m paying for anything extra.”
“You don’t get to decide that type of shit for me. I thought you were all about communication. Or is that something you only preach about when I’m naked?”
“Henri,” he says and I can hear the pain in his voice even as I refuse to look at him. I kick his pants aside and find my top. “Please just let me explain.”
“No. You said to tell you when to stop. Stop. I’ll finish this out for the article because that’s what I agreed to, but don’t you dare think what’s between us will continue.” I pull the shirt over my head as I storm out. I don’t know where I’m going, but I can’t be here in this house alone with Liam for another second.
Heat scorches the back of my throat as my eyes start to sting.
I’m on the last step of the stairs when the front door flies open. Ally is there, blocking my exit, arms full of aluminum food containers.
“Oh, Henri, could you give me a hand?” she asks.
Rushing to her, I catch one of the containers just as it starts to fall. “What are these for?”
