“Kate, come on. Just a scale, an arpeggio. I want to hear your voice.”
“You’ve already heard it.”
“Yes, but I want to hear something other than ‘Oh, God, Liam! More, baby, more!’”
She elbowed him in the ribs.
“Don’t get me wrong. It’s music to my ears.” He slid his hand up her thigh, mere centimeters away from her core. He squeezed and her body responded, radiating with warmth. “But I want to hear you sing.”
“I don’t know.” Yes, Liam’s nightclub was a thing of beauty but it still sat in the middle of a Vegas casino, precisely the type of venue she’d avoided for years. She’d had one or two offers to sing in casinos before. Lucrative opportunities, truth be told, but she’d always turned them down. It was one thing to frolic in bed with Liam, but to work for him? To be on the payroll at Vice? It seemed wrong, even unfair to anyone else who might have wanted the job. And the hypocrisy…
“Kate.” Liam’s low voice made her rebel against her common sense. One word from him, and her libido took up arms against her brain. He nibbled her ear, tracing the shell with his tongue. “I’ll keep hounding you until I get what I want.”
Of course he will. It’s what he does.
Her resistance turned to soup. “Okay, okay.” She slid out of the booth and stood, marching to the stage. “You sure are pushy. Do you conduct all your business this way?”
“No, ma’am.” Liam leaned back, watching her through hooded eyes. “I’ve only employed these tactics of persuasion with you.”
She stuck out her tongue and sat on the piano bench. With a tentative hand, she stroked the keys and closed her eyes as she struck a familiar chord. Why was it music always sounded more poignant coming from a grand piano? She launched into a melody she’d played for years, wincing when she came to a part that had always stumped her. Avoiding Liam’s hawk-like gaze, she took a deep breath, drawing from her diaphragm as she’d been taught, and sang the opening notes of “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes.”
She took her time, feeling strangely free even under his intense scrutiny. Ornamenting her phrases, she added a few jazzy syncopations. With him watching, she enjoyed playing with the music, lilting and scooping up to the higher notes, drawing them out to create heartbreaking dissidence. And even though she endeavored to remain distant, not acknowledging Liam’s heated looks, in her heart she sang to him and of him. She poured her heart out for him.
Even before she hit the final note, he approached, fire in his eyes. As the note died away, she looked up at him.
He pulled Kate to her feet, his face serious. “You are incredible and you’re hired.”
“Liam…”
“I mean it. Once the police find Vaughan, I want you to open my club.”
He didn’t let her respond. Wrapping her in his arms, he claimed her mouth. Tongue, teeth, lips, he took them all and she shook like a leaf in a storm, unwilling to fight him.
She wanted to tell him she couldn’t sing at Decadence, at Vice, but the words wouldn’t come out. And once his hands slid down her back to knead her bottom, she forgot how words worked.
“Kate,” he said on a deep groan. “I need you now.”
Yes, her body shouted, overpowering the brain that yet fought to keep her strong. Her nipples hardened and the pressure in her womb grew frenzied. She clutched at him, her greatest temptation, and moaned into his mouth as their tongues battled. She would give herself to him again, right here. She’d do anything he asked.
She was falling in love with him.
Liam ripped off his shirt, and Kate tugged off her own, tossing it onto the stage. He worked his belt buckle while she threw her bra to the floor. Liam eyed her with hunger and motioned for her to lie back on the piano bench. She did, arching her back at the sensation of cool wood on her skin.
He knelt next to her and cupped her breasts. Rolling her nipples between fingers and thumbs, he plucked them until she flailed and moaned.
“So beautiful,” he said. “So goddamn beautiful.”
As he was to her, with his sexy eyes and wicked grin. She could look at him forever.
He closed his lips over one nipple and laved it with his tongue. As he suckled, he danced his hand over her belly and slid his fingers over her mound and between her legs. She was already so wet, so primed, he must have felt her moisture right through her jeans. Scratching a fingernail over her denim-clad pussy, he chuckled when she bucked beneath him.
“Far too many clothes.” Lifting his head from her breast, he repositioned himself at the other end of the bench by her dangling legs. He unzipped her jeans and tugged them over her hips and pulled them off, along with her panties. Tossing them onto the keyboard, he chuckled when they made a discordant noise.
Liam ran his hands up her legs, spreading them with a determined touch. He lowered his head, breathed in and smoothed his tongue over her already swollen lips.
Insane pleasure tackled her, rattling through her veins. “Good God.”
He teased her with gentle licks, but never sliding deep, never touching her clit. Even so, her sex fluttered and flexed, wanting more, wanting it harder. She dug her hands in his hair, urging him to press on with his intimate kisses.
“You want more, sugar?” he said, lifting his head.
She nodded, desperate for release.
“How bad do you want it?” His fingers glided over her delicate skin.
Just as she was about to tell him to get back to work, or else, he surprised her by tapping her mound, right on her clit.
Her nerve endings exploded in wonderful agony as she experienced a mini-orgasm. Liam didn’t give her a chance to recover. Finally rewarding her for her trials, he insinuated his face between her legs and sucked hard.
Her vision grew foggy as she came in his mouth and cried his name over and over.
He continued to lap while two fingers found a home inside her. Stroking, stroking, he did not stop until she’d quieted. Once she did, he continued his ministrations until she tightened under him once more. Shocked she could come again so quickly, she squeezed her eyes shut and went along for the very bumpy ride. He knew just what to do to make her moan, to make her tremble, and as she pondered his power over her, she shattered under him once again.
Before her orgasm had even subsided, he gathered her in his arms and carried her to one of the wide bar stools.
“Lean over, baby. Show me that pretty ass.”
She leaned over the stool, glad for the velvet crush on her chest. Liam caressed the globes of her behind and massaged up to her back. She resisted stretching and meowing like a cat but it was hard not to purr as he manipulated her grateful muscles.
His hands stilled. “Shit. I just realized I don’t have a condom.”
She stood and turned and eyed her gorgeous man. As much as she still had reservations about his emotional wellbeing, she wasn’t worried about catching anything from him. He’d been meticulous up until now. “It’s okay. I’m on the pill. I trust you.”
He cupped her face. “I would never do anything to destroy that trust.”
She held his hand closer to her cheek, loving his touch. Kate then turned and positioned herself over the stool. “Take me. Now.”
She wiggled her bottom for incentive, as if any were needed. Liam groaned and stripped out of his remaining clothes. She looked over her shoulder at the nude god behind her, biting her lip when he touched a reverent hand to her pussy.
“You’re so sweet, baby,” he said as he wriggled a finger into her core.
“Liam, please. You tease too much.”
“There’s no such thing as too much teasing, sugar. You know, you look so tempting from this angle, I might get on my knees and eat you out again.”
“Liam, fuck me, please.”
He slapped her ass. “So unladylike.”