April stood there, forehead pressed to cool glass, her thighs still trembling, the ghost of his fingers still pulsing between her legs. Deliberately not thinking. Not about what she'd just done. Not about whose hands had been on her.
Breathing.
Counting inhales.
That was Chad's brother.The thought flickered through her mind—not guilt, just awareness.This changes things. This doesn't change anything.
April turned and reached for him, needing his solid warmth, needing to be held while everything stopped vibrating.
Liam caught her in his arms and pulled her against his chest, wrapping around her like he'd been waiting for permission. April pressed her face against his shirt, felt his heartbeat through expensive fabric, anchored herself in the steady rhythm.
Liam's arms tightened fractionally, lips brushing her temple. "You were incredible," he murmured against her hair. They stood like that for a long moment, April catching her breath, Liam holding her steady.
“You don’t owe this a name. Or me one.” His hand moved slowly down her spine. “But thank you for trusting me with it. I want it to be more than—”
She flinched.
He stopped.
April wasn't ready to think about what had just happened.
Just that it had.
She pulled back to her own space.
Liam's arms loosened fractionally, then he stepped back slowly, gave her space to breathe. He moved toward the rack of gowns, focus shifting to the dresses like he was giving her a moment he could tell she needed. His hands moved over silk and tulle with casual precision. Not browsing, exactly. More like giving himself something to do while she came back to herself.
He pulled a champagne silk wrap from a nearby hook and brought to her.
She wrapped it around herself. Cool silk against overheated skin. Barely there, but enough. A line drawn.
Her pulse was slowing, breathing evening out, the heat fading to a warm hum under her skin.
The weight would come later. The thinking. The what-does-this-mean.
Right now she felt satisfied. Settled in her own skin in a way she couldn't remember feeling in months. She turned toward him.
Liam noticed immediately, gaze flicking to her in the mirror, reading the shift. He held it a moment longer, checking. Then he turned back to the rack.
"We still need to find you a gown," he said, tone shifting back toward practical. He pulled a dress from the rack and held it up. “Here.”
Emerald green silk. Backless. Held up by nothing but thin gold chains that would cross over bare skin like jewelry.
April stared at it.
It was nothing like anything she'd ever worn. Nothing like the modest sheaths Chad picked. Nothing like the careful neutral tones and appropriate hemlines.
This dress wasn't trying to blend in. It wasn't apologizing for taking up space.
"Chad dressed you like an assistant he wanted to keep small," Liam said, like he could see exactly what she was thinking.
He held the dress out toward her.
She raised her arms, dropping the wrap.
He slid the dress over her head with a gentleness that didn't match the hunger she'd just seen in his face. SThe emerald silk whispered down her body, cool against skin that still felt warm. The thin gold chains settled over her bare shoulders.
Liam's hands went to the gold chains, settling them over her collarbones like jewelry. Like an offering. His fingers brushed her shoulder, accidental, unavoidable, and April's breath caught like her body hadn't gotten the memo that they were done.
