I licked my lips and opened my mouth to answer, but words stuck at the back of my throat. With the craziness of the food truck, I hadn’t had time to work on my marketing business. I was either working the truck, or doing PR for Beefcakes.
His arms fell on either side of the counter around me, and I almost couldn’t hear his next words over the thunderous rush of blood in my ears. “I’m not going to allow you to give up your dream so that I can accomplish mine.”
Silence settled between us like a weighted blanket. I studied his face; his strong jaw and intense, moss-green eyes. His broad nose, a strong, razor-sharp line that pointed directly to full, sensual lips. “Do you have to be so perfect?” I asked, my voice breaking.
He scoffed, and even the snorted huff managed to be masculine and sexy. “I'm far from perfect.”
I reached up and brushed my finger over that sexy chin dimple of his and was rewarded with his guttural moan. The sound did strange things to me. Hot, gooey, carnal things that resonated at the apex of my thighs. I clenched them together, aching for even more of that feeling while clinging to whatever shred of restraint I could hold onto.
Elena's words tickled the back of my mind. You two are good together. If you like him, you should go for it.
God, I wanted to. Despite being Tasmanian Chloe. I wanted to wrap myself around Liam and drag him into my depths. I wanted to drown us both with reckless abandon.
My eyes refocused, shifting from his chin dimple back to his eyes, which were locked on me with an intensity I had never felt before—from him or any other man.
With his arms still caging me against the sink, a million questions were reflected back to me within his eyes, but he was also looking at me with the exact same hunger I was feeling.
I didn't want to blink. I didn't want to look away. I was afraid that the moment I did, I'd lose my nerve. Or he would.
"Chloe," he warned, as I slid my hands up the warm sinews of his chest.
If he was trying to deter me, he failed miserably. Hearing my name on his lips did the opposite. It was the accelerant on an already burning flame.
I pushed onto my toes and brushed my lips to his. Just this once. I needed to kiss him. I needed to feel his lips on mine. What would the harm be? One night together to see if there was something good here between us.
The kiss was slow and lingering, and I gasped as I pulled away, the moan that escaped from my lips surprising us both.
“Promise me nothing will change,” I whispered as his lips brushed just below my ear causing a violent shiver to tear down my spine.
His face shifted, dipping into a frown. “I can’t make that promise.”
My throat went tight. I was the girl who jumped from one relationship to the next. The girl who didn’t know how to be alone according to the Maple Grove gossip mill. But I wanted Liam… even if just for tonight. I wanted him more than I wanted anything.
His breath was hot on my ear as his kisses drifted there. “But I can promise you, it’ll be worth it.”
Oh, God. My knees went weak at his words and I didn’t doubt them for a second. “This is only for tonight. This one time.”
A shield passed over his face, his expression unreadable. Liam’s face was rarely unreadable to me anymore, and the feeling unnerved me to my core. “Then I’d better make it damn good, huh?”
In a swift movement, he tilted my head back, claiming my mouth. The kiss was intense, passionate, and everything I had hoped it would be. His mouth was firm and hot and I tasted remnants of buttercream from when he had sampled his own cupcake earlier. He parted my lips, and licked into my mouth, devouring my moan with gentle strokes of his tongue.
Heady breaths streamed into me as his strong, hard muscles pressed me harder against the counter. My thoughts twisted with that kiss. Right was left; up was down; and what should be bad was so freaking good.
I’d known Liam was a good kisser. I knew it back when we were sixteen and I knew it back on that first night we spent together at my house after Dan broke up with me. But this? This was different. Liam’s lips transported me to a different world. One where I didn’t have money concerns or a shitty cheater of an ex-fiancé. With that kiss, he not only fused our lips together… but also our hearts.
With a pinch of his fingers, he untied the apron around my neck, slipping it off my body first. Then my shirt. His thumbs found my hipbones, pushing the elastic waistband of my shorts lower around my hips until they hit the floor in a puddle at my feet.
It was a damn good day to go commando, and as he palmed my damp cleft, he grinned, mouth still on mine. “You took a page from my book, I see… going sans underwear.” Oh, God. Did that mean… was he bare beneath his jeans? My body clenched with the thought.
A shuddered breath robbed me of any answer as his thumb circled my bundle of nerves and I tore the shirt from my body, tossing it aside as well. My muscles were quivering as he slid his touch along my slick opening.
In contrast, Liam was still way too dressed, whereas I was completely naked.
His hands clenched my ass, hauling me up his massive body and carrying me across the kitchen. With a kick, he opened the office door and gently lowered me to a cot that was set up in
