She twisted the tip of her ponytail. “Right down to business, huh?”
He stood in front of her and breathed her in. Damn, she smelled good. It made him want to traipse barefoot through a fucking meadow. “I want to do something. I’ve wanted to do it since I met you.”
She frowned.
“Trust me, Kate. I won’t hurt you.” He reached around her head and gently tugged the elastic from her hair. He watched as its red radiance tumbled over her shoulders. So beautiful. He fingered the soft strands. “Damn, woman. You don’t know how much I’ve wanted to lose myself in all this hair.”
She narrowed her eyes, clearly not believing him.
“It’s true,” he said. “Just thinking of you on a bed, your hair spread out on a pillow, makes me so hard.”
Her blush made him even bolder.
He lowered his hand, rounding it over her hip, reaching toward her ass. Jesus, her curves felt so good. They seemed designed for his touch alone, and he longed to explore her more fully. To see what she hid under her sensible blouses. She gasped as he touched her, stiffened in his arms, but then relaxed into his caress. Just that little smidgeon of surrender had him biting his lip and straining in his jeans. “When I get your jeans off, gorgeous, am I going to find some more pretty red hair?”
In a moment of lustful madness, he grazed the area between her legs with one finger. Her knees gave into a quick buckle. “I don’t want to give too much away. Maybe you should find out.”
He grinned, tightening his grip with his other hand, holding her up. With one, slow caress, he removed his hand from between her legs. “I can’t wait to see you. All of you.” He turned her around, and marched her into the bedroom. Her every movement, every breath, spoke of desire and white-hot fire.
She wanted him, too.
Damn, he was going to enjoy this way too much for his own good.
What am I doing? This is Liam Doyle of Doyle Gaming. You hate him.
Only she didn’t.
Yes, she was uncomfortable with everything he stood for and didn’t understand how he could go to work every day and not feel an ounce of regret. But she didn’t hate Liam the man. In fact, she realized she quite liked him. Wanted to please him. And there was no denying how much he attracted her. Like a gawker at a roadside crash, she couldn’t look away.
Surely the sentiment was bad. She didn’t understand the pull he had on her, like a vicious undertow, dragging her into frightening new depths. But in this moment, as he began to undress her, she was more than willing to drown.
His hands traveled slowly over her frame, stroking and teasing as he slid them under her shirt. Each focused glide of his hands proof of his sexual prowess. How many women had he undressed in the same, torturous manner? Each confident touch let her know that he must have had his share of women.
Once her shirt was off, he cupped her breasts over her most worn bra. Her nipples came to stiff points under his palms, the thin layer of silk barely a barrier. Why hadn’t she thought to change her underwear? Probably because she’d never dreamed she’d actually jump into bed with the owner of the casino she’d been picketing a week ago.
How could she do this and look herself in the face tomorrow?
“You’re so quiet,” he whispered, scratching his thumbnail over her one nipple. “Second thoughts?”
Second thoughts? Hell, she barely had first thoughts. She should probably turn him away in the loudest, clearest voice she could muster. But she didn’t want to.
Tonight, he was her own personal vice.
“No.”
As soon as the word had escaped between her lips, an image of Lisa’s kids sprang to mind. Were Georgie and Sarah miserable because their dad was caught up in a gambling spiral? Probably. In letting Liam take her to bed, surely she was betraying them. Betraying herself?
He leaned in and licked at her neck, a sweet temptation that destroyed her resolve. Her normal breathing escalated into pants, and Liam stepped back and looked her over from head to toe.
“Undress for me.”
Oh, nuts. What did he want, a striptease? She was pretty sure she’d look like a lame goose if she tried to shimmy like a pole dancer. “What do you mean?”
“I think it’s clear, sugar. I want to watch you take your clothes off.” His mouth set in a tight line, he sat on the bed. Liam Doyle on her bed. She bet if she looked outside, she’d also find the sun and moon colliding. He leaned back on his arms, and waited.
Okay. How hard could it be, disrobing before a man who looked like he belonged on the cover of Esquire magazine? He’d already started her off by removing her shirt.
Wishing she were more graceful, she toed off her Keds, doing her best not to avert her eyes. She supposed she should be returning his sultry gaze, but was pretty sure she resembled someone about to throw up.
“Kate,” he interjected. “I already think you’re stunning with your clothes on. Trust me, the view will only get better.” He glanced at her hips. “Take off your jeans.”
Channeling the badass warrior woman who had protested at Vice, she unzipped her jeans and slid them off, then removed her bra and slid her cotton panties down and stepped out of them, all without thinking of repercussions or guilt or gambling.
Tonight, he was just a man and she was just a woman. And they both needed this.
For that reason, she did what her body was aching for her to do. She caressed her breast, plucking at her nipple.
“Fuck,” he muttered, palming his cock over his jeans. “Keep doing that.”
She drew closer to his prone body, standing between his spread legs, and touched both her breasts. Repeating a move she’d once seen in a cheesy porn movie, she licked her fingers and circled them around her nipples. He stared, glassy with hunger, and went for his belt buckle. Okay, maybe porn stars knew a thing or two.
It seemed strange to be completely nude before his still-clothed form, but when Liam released his cock, she stopped caring. She couldn’t tear her gaze away from his exposed member. It throbbed for her, and she dropped to her knees. Laying her hands on his thighs, she lowered her head and took him in her mouth.
He tasted good, salty, clean and strangely sweet. He moaned as her lips tightened and grew harder inside her mouth, twitching with need. Kate lapped at a drop of precum. His flavor coated her tongue, whetting her appetite for him, making her want more. She rubbed his thighs, stroking tense muscles, and took him to the back of her throat.
He let out a string of curses that almost made her laugh. Thinking Liam Doyle was enjoying her blowjob was enough to make her giddy. She continued to lick happily, but then he grabbed her shoulders and eased her up.
“I can’t take it,” he said. “To see you on your knees, naked, sucking me off…Jesus, I’ll come like a teenaged boy during his first porn.”
“But…”
“No, sugar.” He got up and laid her down on the bed, then slid down her body. “You come first.” His blue eyes glittered, hypnotic gems, as he spread her legs.
She couldn’t look away as he met with her pussy for the first time. He traced her lips with his thumbs, sending delicious jolts through her system, and exposed her clit. To tease her, he tugged at her red pubic hairs, and winked. And right before she lost herself completely and begged him to take her, he lowered his head and….
She threw her head back on the bed as his tongue swirled. Oh God, I did need this! He administered the sweetest of torments, slow licks that made her doubt her sanity. So good, so good.
He groaned, as if relishing each fresh taste of her juices. Each small sound ratcheted up her lust, driving her closer to pleasure’s pinnacle. Two fingers, then three, slid inside her and he gauged her response. With each small twist of his wrist as he massaged her, she grew wetter and her body seemed to lighten and float. She just needed a pinprick to set her off, and she’d careen into the sky.