"You're verygood at that?"
Liam laughed. "You tell me." He knew damn well he was.
"Well, I haven't got anything to compare it to, but if I had to make an educated guess, I'd say yes. You're very good at that." Skye rubbed one slimfinger against his lips, then nodded. "Good. My friends tellme a good kisser means a man's good...elsewhere."
Liam half-smiled. For someone who'd just hired a whore to devirginize and school himin God knew what kinds of lessons, it was amusing that Skye couldn't seem to say the words. "In bed. At fucking. Say it, Skye. You want me to do it; I want to know you know what you're askingfor. You're askingme to fuck you."
Skye stiffened, thenlifted his china bit. There was a definite stubborn, almost imperious tilt to it. "No, I'm not asking you to. I believe I hired you to. Let's keep things honest here. No sugarcoatingor tiptoeing."
Liamshrugged one shoulder. "We have a lot oftime left tonight, professor. How about we get started?" For the first time in a good while, a customer truly intrigued Liam. And whenhe was intrigued, he could be everybit as methodical about learning everything there was to know about the source of that intrigue. In this case-
Skye.Skye blinked, and it was such a cute, funny
expression. "Oh. Well, yes. Right." He glanced at the clock on the wall, then back at Liam. "There are two hours and five minutes left in our session. Is that enough?"
Liam grinned. "You really are innocent. Yeah, Skye, two hours is enough." He pushed to his feet and held out his hand. "Come on. I won't bite, I promise."
Skye swallowed, gaze flicking between Liam's hand and his face, then he took a deep breath and stood, taking Liam's hand. "I suppose the proper response is 'unless I ask you to,'" he said, dark eyes sparkling a little.
Liamslid his armaround Skye's waist, then bent to nuzzle his mouth. "Maybe I won't make you ask," he said in a low, husky tone. As expected, that earned him a deep shudder from Skye and Liam grinned. He was goingto love this job. No questionabout it.
Chapter 2
Skye had already been in the bedroom, but stepping in there with Liam, it seemed different. Shadowed. Like the scene for something seductive, not just a hotel room with sheets smelling like laundry detergent and a bowl of fruit no one would eat. Liam's presence shrunk the room a bit, even though as a man he wasn't terribly large--tall, but not some behemoth. Maybe it was that he drew one's focus. He certainly had Skye's attention.
The curtains were open and there was enough light from the Strip and the neon outside not to need to turn on any lamps. So he didn't and, gratefully, neither did Liam. Maybe it was cowardly, but the illusion of safety inthe dark was hard to shake.
Skye chewed on his lower lip as Liamstopped next to the bed, still holding his hand. "I have, um...I have condoms and there's lubrication on the nightstand there."He'd bought themearlier at one of the many sex shops inVegas.
It had occurred to him too late that he could have gotten the same items at the local Wal-Mart. Maybe he'd wanted, on some level, to experience the seedy a little bit. Either way, the result was the same. He was prepared.
Liamsmiled and ignored the items, instead drawing Skye up against him. He kept doing that, as if he liked having him close. Of course, that was ridiculous. Skye was just a job to him, but it added to the illusion the other man was methodically fostering. Liam was very good at this, and Skye let out a breath, allowing himself to leaninto his embrace for a moment. It was nice, even ifit wasn't real.
Then Liam kissed him again, and Skye mentally pulled out all the notes he'd made during the last kiss and applied that informationnow. He parted his lips and he kissed Liam back using all the same techniques the other man had shown a preference for earlier. And when Liampulled back, Skye was pleased to note that he looked somewhat stunned.
"Wow. You're a fast learner, professor."
"I'm not actually a professor, you know. I have no inclinationto teach."
Liamgrinned and reached up to take Skye's glasses from him, setting them on the bedside table. "You take everythingveryliterally, are youaware ofthat?"
Skye's cheeks heated and he was grateful for the dim light of the room. "I apologize. It's just how I am. Veryanalytical. I realize youdon't think I'ma professor. Do you?"
Liamlaughed and shook his head, bringing his hand up to run his fingers through Skye's hair. "No. I think youneed some distraction."
Before Skye could protest that--quite the opposite, he wanted to remain fully cognizant so he could make the same sort of mental notes for the sex as he had for the kissing--Liam's mouth was on his again, and Skye couldn't seem to make himself pull back. It was becoming apparent that keeping his head was going to be difficult. But trying to stay fully detached wasn't going to work and would defeat the purpose altogether.
Sex was a very delicate balance, it seemed. Lesson number three.
This time, though, Liam didn't just kiss him. His long-fingered hands came up and began unzipping Skye's hoodie, peeling it down his arms and dropping it to the floor. Oh. His fingers itched to pick it up and at least drape it over the chair, but then Liam's tongue did this very clever twisty thing that Skye scrambled to try and copy himself. That earned him a very nice rumble that made himtingle allthe wayto his toes.
When Liam slid his hands under the hem of Skye's faded, somewhat ratty Frankie Says T-shirt, he jolted, not expecting it.
