He’d anticipated her opening them and Katie only got a brief glimpse of him before she squeezed her eyes shut again, chewing and swallowing the delightful confection.
“How does that taste?”
“Like… mmm…” She licked her lips, already craving more. “Coffee… and chocolate… oh heaven… light and fluffy…”
“No words.” Liam brought the spoon to her lips, urging her to open, and she took another blissful bite. “How does that taste?”
“Mmmmmm.” The ladyfingers in the dessert were moist and sweet against her tongue. They made fantastic dessert here! She’d have to remember this restaurant-although she probably couldn’t afford to come here on her salary, even alone.
“I think you can do better.”
Liam fed her another bite, smaller this time. Katie was far too aware of the sounds of the restaurant around her, the clinking of glasses, the scrape of utensils on plates, the sounds of laughter and conversation reverberating in her head. She didn’t want to make so much noise she called attention to herself, but that was clearly what Liam was encouraging!
“Ohhhhhh.” She took his next offered bite with more enthusiasm and he gave her an even larger one. “Nnnnnnngggg!”
“More?”
She leaned forward, mouth open like a baby bird, eyes still firmly closed. “Mmm mmm mmm!”
Liam continued to feed her, encouraging her noises, and Katie soon forgot where she was. The chocolate and coffee and cream melted in her mouth, the taste so delicious she couldn’t get enough. And it was sexy, she had to admit, Liam feeding her dessert, watching her pleasure-and she knew that was exactly what he was doing. Her belly protested, but her tongue wanted more, more, until she was making noises she knew would rival Meg Ryan’s orgasm in When Harry Met Sally, with Liam rewarding her, bite after bite.
“That was the last one.”
Katie made a little disappointed noise, her throat constricting. That was it? No warning? Nothing? She almost opened her eyes in protest but then remembered he hadn’t told her to.
“Did you enjoy it, Kitten?” Liam dabbed her mouth with the corner of his napkin. “Did you really experience the perfection of that last bite?”
She sighed. “Well if I’d known it was going to be the last one…”
“But we never know, do we?” His words were profound and opened her heart immediately, moving her nearly to tears. Over dessert, for pete’s sake! She chided herself for her overreaction, but she couldn’t help the emotion welling up.
“Open your eyes.”
Katie did, meeting his, trying to discern what he was thinking, feeling. Then she became aware of the noise around her, far diminished. Had everyone gone? Glancing around, she found herself sinking lower in her chair. It was as if the entire restaurant had stopped eating and drinking and talking just so they could turn and watch them. She’d never felt so on display in her life.
Liam stood, tossing his napkin on the table, and leaned in to whisper one word into her ear.
“Worthy.”
Katie looked at the remains of the tiramisu-he hadn’t fed her all of it, there was about a quarter of the dessert left on the plate. She realized, looking up at him, that he’d actually stopped when he felt she was full. How?
“Come with me,” Liam said.
“But…where are we going?”
He cocked his head at her. “If you come with me, you’ll probably find out.”
“Don’t we have to pay the bill?” she inquired, looking around for the waitress.
“I have an account here.” He sighed. “Come with me, Katie. I won’t say it again.”
She practically jumped out of her chair to follow him.
“Do you ever wear appropriate footwear for the weather?”
Katie shivered, hugging her coat around her, eyes closed as directed. They’d been closed the whole way in the car, and now that they were out of it, she found it even harder to keep Liam’s surprise a real surprise. She wanted to peek!
“I didn’t know I was going to be walking in the snow.”
He sighed. “Never mind.”
She squealed when he picked her up, just like he had in the basement, carrying her easily.
“Keep your eyes closed.”
How did he know she wanted to peek? She wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her nose against the soft wool of his coat, smelling cologne and soap and something else, something utterly male. She could hear Liam’s footfalls on the pavement and tried to discern where they were going by the sounds. The evening air was bitter, the sun now below the horizon, her cheeks pinking from the wind. She turned her head toward their destination, eyes still closed, hearing a strange gurgling sound as Liam opened some kind of door or gate and stepped through.
“Are you going to throw me into a witch’s cauldron?” she inquired, frowning.
He laughed. “Okay, you can open your eyes”
“Where are we?” Katie blinked, not quite understanding. They were still outside, the stars coming out over their heads, and in front of them, surrounded by piles of snow, was a bubbling hot tub.
“The local health club where I work.” Liam set her down on her feet. They were standing in an alcove with tables and chairs all around.
“You work here?” She blinked at the hot tub. It was huge-it could probably fit thirty people-the lights below the surface giving the frothy water a soft glow, with a very tall privacy fence surrounding it.“But I thought you were a Dom.”
“I am.” He smiled, taking off his coat and tossing it over a chair. “But I also do this.”
She frowned, watching him loosen his tie. “Are you a personal trainer?”
“Something like that.” Liam’s tie and suit coat joined his other one on the chair. “Take off your clothes, Katie.”
She blinked at him in disbelief, but she found herself unbuttoning her coat, putting it over the chair beside his. The wind whipped under her skirt, making her squeal. She was already shivering.
“I’m not sure this is such a good idea.” She looked doubtfully from Liam, who was now taking off his shirt, to the hot tub.
“The trick is to undress as fast as possible.” He tossed his shirt on the chair, working on his belt, and now Katie was transfixed by the sight of his thickly muscled chest and abdomen. No wonder, she thought. A personal trainer. I should have guessed. When he looked at her and smiled knowingly, she cleared her throat and looked back at the hot tub, trying to make it seem as if she wasn’t staring, but she was very well aware that he was stripping down to nothing beside her.
Then she felt his hands on her shoulders, moving under the collar of her shirt, massaging over her collarbone, making her shiver again, this time not with cold.
“Get undressed, Katie,” he whispered against her ear, his fingers tracing the top lace edge of her bra under her blouse. “Or I’m going to spank you for disobeying me.”
She closed her eyes at his words, savoring them. They were far more delicious to her than tiramisu. Unbuttoning her blouse with shaky hands, she watched Liam walk toward the water, completely nude. And she’d thought he was good-looking with his clothes on? She’d never seen a finer specimen of a man in her life.
Turning her back, she shrugged off her blouse, wincing at the cold, her nipples so hard they hurt. Teeth chattering, she unzipped her skirt, pulling it and her pantyhose off, stepping out of her heels, whimpering as her toes touched the hard, frozen concrete. Now it was just her bra and panties, and she could go into the hot tub. She unclasped her front-hook bra, wondering if Liam was watching, but too afraid to turn around and look. He’s already seen you naked, she reminded herself, but still… she couldn’t do it.
Katie hooked her bra again, turning around to see Liam in the corner of the hot tub, arms stretched out along the sides, relaxing. He was watching her. She left her bra and panties-just plain white cotton-decidedly on. She was undressed enough for hot-tubbing, she reasoned, hurrying around the pool through the snow toward the steps, squealing the whole way, her feet numb with cold. She sighed in relief as her toes hit the water, but the sudden temperature change made it feel so hot her skin burned.