But Liam said today is mine, so I say, “How bad do you want it?”
His mouth grazes mine. “Bad.”
“Bad enough to beg?”
“You think I won’t?”
“Iknowyou will.”
His eyes light with pleasure and his hands frame my head. “Please.”
That one little word makes up for every single morning I went without this.
Liam rests our foreheads against each other, and our eyes fall closed as we calm down.
But only a little.
“Please,” he whispers again, more gently this time. “I’m begging you.”
He’ll make me pay for this later, because it’s always like that between us—a balanced scale—but right now, I feel like I’m his object of worship. His reason for being. His heartbeat.
“Yes,” I whisper.
A featherlight kiss—a quiet, simple thank you—and then he’s rolling off me.
I finally get a good look at him as he rips the covers away. Liam goes on his knees, looking over my body as I gaze at him. His broad chest, his wide shoulders, the outline of the scar from his surgery. His boxers are tented, and he rubs gently while he stares at me.
“All of it, off,” he says.
I peel my shirt over my head, then my shorts and panties down my legs. Liam grabs the clothes and flings them, dipping his mouth to my calf. His hands and lips glide up my thighs, unhurried.
“You’re so soft,” he murmurs.
“You’re the athlete,” I retort.
“That’s not why I’m hard.”
My brain sifts for a snarky retort when his fingers dance nearmy core. His hand flattens to my inner thigh, slides easily. “Fuck, Paige.”
He pushes up under my knees to bend them toward the ceiling, then drops his head to kiss below my belly button.
“You’ll talk to me while I do this.”
I never felt any good at that, and after so long, I don’t know if I’m ready for it. “Use your fingers and talk instead,” I suggest, breath faint.
He hesitates, eyes flashing up to mine, the stubble of his chin rubbing my stomach. “Compromise?”
“How?”
“I use my mouth how I want, and you do the same.”
I nod, biting my lip. Liam’s mouth drops back to my skin and his hands grip my upper thighs. He closes over me with little fanfare, an immediate and instant friction, and a whine expels from me.
The truth is, I know it’s better for him when he can hear me, and I want him to have that.
“Feels—so good,” I mumble.
His answering hum sends a frisson up my spine.
