“I just want to talk with you.”
“Leave me the fuck alone,bitch.”
A male voice sounded from over her shoulder. “What did you say to the lady?”
Liam was there standing next to Wade. Kate’s heart skipped a beat. His anger was clear as he moved next to Donny.
“Liam, it’s okay,” she said.
“No, it isn’t.” He addressed Donny. “I asked you a question.”
“And I’m not answering.” He looked Liam up and down. “By the way, you can piss off, too. I don’t need you jokers preaching or handing out pamphlets about sin and vice. I’m in the middle of something.”
Liam hauled him out of his chair and pushed him toward the doors. “Not anymore, you’re not.” Wade followed at the ready. Kate scurried after them.
“Hey,” shouted Donny. “Take your hands off me! Who do you think you are?”
Customers lifted their heads to check out the commotion. Well, some of them did. Others didn’t bat an eye, still focused on their activities.
Liam offered him a small smile. “Oh, no one important. Just the owner.” He shoved Donny toward the revolving door at the entrance. “Get out of my club and don’t come back.”
“But,” Donny stammered. “It wasn’t my fault. She interrupted me.” He looked at Kate as if seeing her for the first time. “Why are you here anyway? Shouldn’t you be at one of your precious New Horizons meetings, tearing families apart with your stupid New Age bullshit? Because of you, Lisa kicked me out. I’m fucking homeless because of you.”
“Don’t you dare,” she began. “Lisa couldn’t take your crap anymore.”
He broke free from Liam and made a lunge for her. She froze, remembering Hugo Vaughan’s attack. But Liam already had him by the scruff of the neck. “It’s okay, sugar. I’ve got him.”
“Sugar,” Donny spat. “Well, isn’t that just fucking heart-warming?” He glared at her. “Fucking the toast of Vegas, are you? Wonder if Lisa knows her little saint isn’t quite so saintly?”
She looked away, horrified. She’d completely lost track of Lisa and the folks at New Horizons. She’d only been able to think of Liam and her own situation.
He pushed Donny through the revolving door and told Wade to put Donny in a cab, and to bill it to the casino. Donny reluctantly left, with Wade’s help, shouting at her the whole way.
Liam now turned to her, grasping her hands, then stroking them. He ran a hand over her loose hair. “Are you okay?”
That was when the tremors hit. She couldn’t handle this…whatever was happening to her. The guilt, the desire, the feeling that she shouldn’t surrender to him. It was just too much. Liam took her in his arms and held her close.
“Kate, sweetheart. You’re okay. I’ve got you.”
Damn, that scent! She just wanted to be with him again in some small way. Was that so horrible? She felt horrible for wanting it.
Even as she fought the wave of guilt that washed over her, she decided she was tired of being a victim. To her dad, to men like Hugo Vaughan, and most of all, to her own desires. She wanted Liam Doyle, had to experience him looming over her in bed, even if only once. It might be wrong, but she no longer cared.
She let out a sigh and looked at him, feeling oddly better now. His roguish face, gentle and savage all at once, gazed down at her.
“I’ve tried to stay away but I can’t stop thinking of you,” he said. And then his lips turned up into a grin. “Let me take care of you.”
Her resistance shattered, she nodded. “I want you to do much more than take care of me, Liam. I want you. I want you to fuck me until I beg you to stop.”
His grin became a wolfish smile. “As you wish.” He grabbed her hand and led her back to the elevators.
Chapter Nine
Crazed hunger.
That was the only way Kate could describe the scene as Liam got her into her hotel suite. Not that she had time to stop and analyze their actions. This was a time for…well…vice. Dirty, nasty, fantastic sin. They both seemed to need it.
From the moment he shut the door, his lips were joined to hers. Feeding off her, drinking from her, opening her up and devouring her trembling lips. Claiming her mouth the way he would soon claim the rest of her.
