by Shay Savage
“And this is okay?” I ran my hand over the side of her face, down to her neck, and then over her arm. I took her hand and brought it up to my lips for a moment.
“Yes,” she said.
I let go of her hand, and she returned it to the back of my head where she once again played with the short hairs, stroking upward, against the grain. I worked my mouth against hers, and I gently ran the tip of my tongue across her lips before reaching inside. As we kissed, I slowly caressed her side and moved over her hip. As I started to reach around to her backside, her hand left my head and reached around again to stop me.
For a moment we stopped kissing, and Tria looked to the side, not meeting my gaze. I moved my hand back to her side and tickled the soft skin right below her T-shirt. She smiled again, and I touched my lips against hers briefly. When I pulled away, her eyes remained closed.
“You need to sleep.”
“You haven’t told me anything.” She pouted as she spoke.
“In the morning,” I suggested.
“No,” she said. “You’re just delaying.”
“How about I tell you, and in return, you let me grab your ass when I kiss you.” I was joking, but it was the only way I could see myself getting out of this.
“Deal!” she responded immediately.
I eyed her for a minute and knew she was completely serious.
“I don’t…” I started, then closed my eyes and took a deep breath before continuing. “I don’t talk about my history. It doesn’t matter anymore.”
Tria’s chest rose and fell with a deep breath. She shook her head slightly and then rolled over to face away from me.
“Don’t do that,” I said.
She turned her head to look over her shoulder.
“You said you’d try this,” she reminded me. “What exactly do you think is involved in a relationship?”
“I also told you I wasn’t going to tell you shit and that I was going to fuck it up. Do you believe me now?”
“That was yesterday,” she said. “You made a deal with me just now. Are you going back on it?”
I glared at her for a moment, but this time there was no wavering in her determination to get something out of me. It was too late to start this shit, but I knew I was going to have to give her something.
Besides, her ass was calling to me.
I sighed, knowing that I couldn’t deny what she was saying, either. I didn’t know a lot about being in a relationship, but I knew enough to understand there was give and take; there was compromise. If I give a little, it sounded like she was willing to give a little, too.
Maybe a short and quick version would be enough.
“My dad kicked me out when I was seventeen,” I told her in a rush. “I haven’t spoken to him since. My uncle, Michael, tries to get us back together every once in a while, which is why he offers me jobs. I don’t want them. I don’t want anything to do with them.”
Tria rolled back over to face me and propped herself up on her elbow as we talked.
“Your father owns the hotels, too?”
“My father is the owner and CEO of Teague Silver,” I told her. “It’s a conglomerate of companies that started with a bunch of silver mines. Originally, it was a chunk of the Comstock Load, if you remember anything about US history, but now there are mines in Mexico, Peru, Chile, Argentina—all over the place. That expanded into smelting ore and mining copper. Now there are jewelry stores and a bunch of other related shit, too.”
“That’s why the earrings are significant,” Tria said with a nod.
“Yeah—everyone in the family has them,” I told her. “They’re engraved on the inside, too. You have to look closely, though.”
Tria’s face scrunched up a bit.
“How does that fit into hotels?”
“Michael wanted to expand and diversify the company,” I explained. “When I was a kid, he ended up buying this failing hotel chain and turning it into Silver Springs. He’s got a few other things like that—casinos in Vegas and some riverboat casinos in the Midwest, too. I think the last thing he started up was partial ownership in some computer hardware company.”
“So your family owns all of that?”
“Yep,” I replied. “The silver goes back generations.”
“Wow.”
“Like I said, I’ve been there and done the rich thing. It isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.”
“But still,” Tria said with a shake of her head, “you walked away from all of that? Why?”
No fucking way.
“Enough for one night,” I said. “Go to sleep. We still have a ways to go tomorrow.”
Tria growled at me a bit, but I wasn’t going to budge, and she didn’t really have the energy to argue with me about it anymore. I moved my fingers up her arm and to her cheek, which I stroked softly. Tria’s eyes drifted closed for a moment, and I took the opportunity to press my lips against hers. She responded, her hand gripping the back of my neck again.
As our tongues touched, I let my hand drop back down her arm, over her elbow, down to her waist, and then to her hip. I paused for a moment before reaching around, going slowly just in case she hadn’t really meant what she said or had changed her mind.
She didn’t move to stop me.
With my fingers spread out, I cupped one ass cheek and pulled her lower body closer to mine. I groaned into her mouth, unable to help myself as her grip tightened on my neck. Our mouths moved together, and I held her firmly against my body as we kissed and touched.
We broke apart, breathless.
Relaxing my grip, I let go of her ass and my fingers drifted back up her body until they reached her cheek again. I leaned forward, touched her lips softly, and then backed away.
“Now go to sleep,” I commanded.
With an exaggerated sigh, Tria settled against me with her head on my shoulder and was asleep in seconds. I joined her quickly afterwards.
*****
I woke hugging the pillow Tria had slept on.
It still smelled like her, and I found myself gripping it tighter and inhaling the scent before I even bothered to open my eyes. The bedroom was empty, and the door to the bathroom was open and the light was off, so I figured she must have been up for a while. I dragged myself from the Egyptian linen sheets to take a piss.
In the outer room, Tria was on the computer, intently staring at whatever was on the screen. For a long moment, I just watched her face as she sat there, and I wondered if that’s what she looked like when she was in class, listening to a lecture. She glanced up at me when I shuffled to one side, and her eyes narrowed into a glare immediately.
“I haven’t been awake long enough for you to be pissed at me,” I stated.
Tria tilted her head to one side and turned the monitor so I could see it.
It was fucking Wikipedia.
“When were you going to tell me?” Tria asked. “Ever?”
I briefly scanned the webpage with the heading “Teague Silver” and the section Tria was reading, detailing the marriage of Douglass Teague, the monarch of the silver industry, and Julianne Hoffman, the sole heiress to Hoffman College.
“These are your parents, aren’t they?”
“Yeah,” I muttered. I reached back and scratched at my head nervously.
“Your mother owns the school I’m going to?”
“Yeah,” I repeated, not really sure if she was asking a question or not. From what she had up on the screen, it was pretty obvious my family was connected to almost every legal business venture in the world.
“So were you ever going to share that information?”
“Probably not,” I admitted.
“Liam!” She swiveled in the desk chair until she was facing away from both me and the computer. She leaned over and dropped her forehead to her fingers.
“What?” I snapped at her. I was still tired and had never been accused of being a morning person anyway. The sudden attack just as I was waking up was pissing me off. �
��After a forty-eight hour relationship, I should have given you a copy of the family tree? You want a list of birthmarks? If I withhold the name of my favorite teddy bear from when I was five, will that piss you off, too?”
Tria looked up at me, her eyes still dark.
“Like all the other shit I told you last night, none of it matters.”
“You knew I was going to Hoffman since the night we met,” she said. “It never occurred to you to mention your mom runs the place?”
“She doesn’t run it. She owns it. She shows up for gala events in a dress that costs as much as a year’s tuition, cuts ribbons, opens champagne bottles, and throws money at people to make her feel like she’s helping the ‘less fortunate.’ That’s what she does.”
“I’m trying to do this…this relationship, and I don’t even know who you are!”
“I’m the same guy you’ve been living with,” I told her. “There’s nothing different about me because I have some blood ties to a bunch of people who mean nothing to me. I haven’t seen them in nearly ten years, and as far as I’m concerned, I’m never going to see them again. I’m not a part of that family you see on the screen. My name probably isn’t even mentioned. I’m no more a part of the family there than you are of that fucked up douchebag. If they mean nothing to me, I don’t know why they should suddenly be so fucking important to you!”
“Because you could have everything!” she yelled at me. She tightened her hands into fists, and she held them against her thighs. “Why do you do this to yourself? Why?”
“Well, currently it’s pissing you off, and that’s good enough for me!”
“You don’t make any sense at all!” She slammed her palms down on the desk.
I couldn’t really argue that with her, either, because I knew I wasn’t making sense. I didn’t want to make sense; I just didn’t want to talk about this shit at all.
Apparently, she wasn’t ready to give up.
“I wasn’t even around then!” she shouted. “So how could it possibly have been to piss me off?”
“I’m psychic.”
“You’re an idiot!” she screamed back at me.
Her eyes blazed at me now, and the heat from the pointless argument flowed around in my veins and warmed my skin. I could see the slight outline of her breasts through her T-shirt as she breathed heavily.
“You’re fucking hot when you’re pissed,” I told her.
Tria’s eyes widened, and her toes pushed against the plush carpet at her feet. The chair moved back slightly, but I was faster. With three steps I was across the room with my hands on her, lifting her up and out of the chair. I shoved the PC off the desk and onto the floor before I dropped her ass down where the computer sat moments before. My hands moved up her body and grasped the sides of her head.
I didn’t know what she was trying to say as I covered her mouth with mine. At that point, I didn’t care. I just knew I wanted to touch her—to be close to her—and I was too far away. I wanted to be closer.
I needed to be closer.
Inside of her.
“You drive me crazy,” I mumbled into her ear. I moved down her neck, snarling at her as my mouth moved across her skin. “I want you so fucking bad. Fucking undefined ground rules.”
I slid my hands down her back and grabbed her ass as I captured her lips again. I pulled her right to the edge of the desk and lodged myself between her legs, making it very obvious how much of an effect she had on me. She tensed under my touch, and I suddenly felt like an asshole, but I didn’t move away. I just started kissing her jaw and then her neck instead, so her mouth was free to tell me to fuck off if she wanted to.
She didn’t.
She wrapped her arms around my head and shoulders, and her fingers brushed backwards over my hair. I didn’t grind my hips into her like I wanted to, but instead, I kept still between her legs. I could feel the warmth of her body against my crotch, and that was enough for right now. I still wanted a bit more, though, so I moved my hands up her sides, pushing her shirt up a little as I went.
“Liam.” Tria chastised me as she reached her limit.
“You didn’t give me any rules yet,” I reminded her. I didn’t move my hands up any farther, but I kept them on the bare skin of her sides as I kissed down her neck. The backs of my fingers tickled her sides. “Besides, you’ve seen me without a shirt. It’s only fair.”
“I didn’t even think you owned a shirt for the longest time.” She giggled as she tilted her head back so I could kiss up the front of her throat.
“You liked me that way, too, didn’t you?” My words were a challenge.
“I don’t have to say,” she replied with a shrug.
“You wanted to run your hands all over this, didn’t you?” I said as I grabbed her wrists and placed her hands on my stomach. I moved them up slowly until I reached the top of my chest, where I let her go. I angled my body forward so more of it was touching her, and her hands pressed on my shoulders as she laughed again.
“I’m sure I just wanted to feel your hair!”
“It wasn’t this short then.”
“Oh yeah.” More giggles.
“You are a terrible liar,” I said. “Besides, I know what you really want. You want your hand on my cock.”
I pressed against her a little more.
“You can, you know,” I whispered. “Any time you want—it’s just waiting for you.”
Before she had a chance to shove me away or just tell me to shut up, a knock at the door made her jump. I growled under my breath.
“Did you order breakfast?” I asked.
“No,” Tria said. “I wasn’t sure if I should.”
“Fucking housekeeping.” I grumbled as I released Tria and stomped toward the door.
The latches were far more complicated than they needed to be, and I was already pissed off before I got them unlocked. I flung the door open, prepared to tell some bitch in an apron to go fuck off. Instead, I was met with Michael standing on the other side.
“What the fuck?”
“Well, I figured something interesting must be happening,” Michael said with a shrug. “For all these years, you’ve never accepted any kind of handout. I had to come see for myself.”
Michael stepped around me and entered the suite just as Tria was straightening her shirt. She was still sitting on the desk, and her cheeks flushed bright red as he took in the sight.
“Seriously, Liam?” he said as he turned back to me. “All this just for a hooker? I thought something horrible must have—”
Without any consideration at all, I hauled back my right hand and slammed my fist into his jaw. Michael spun to one side before he dropped to the floor beside me, half in and half out of the room. He glanced up at me and rubbed his chin.
“Liam, no!” Tria cried from across the room. She jumped off the desk and headed toward us.
“Don’t you ever fucking talk about her like that!” I screamed at him.
“Holy shit,” Michael muttered. “I wasn’t expecting that.”
He looked up at me as he got himself back to a sitting position and then used the doorjamb to help right himself. He stood and dusted off his Dockers.
“Say another fucking word about her, and you’ll get more,” I promised.
“Is that so?” He looked from me to Tria and then back to me again. “Well, I guess this is more interesting than I originally assumed. Do I get an introduction?”
“No,” I said flatly.
“Liam…” Tria reached my side and took hold of my arm before she turned to Michael. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, dear,” he responded with a crooked half smile, “though it is the first time I’ve ever been on the receiving end of one of those. You are pretty impressive with the fists, Liam. I have to admit, I didn’t completely understand that by just watching you hit other people.”
Tria gripped my hand and looked at me pointedly.
I rolled my eyes at them both.
“T
ria, this is my uncle, Michael. He’s the one who thinks one night in a hotel at his expense warrants a plane trip, apparently. Michael, this is Tria…my, um…”
I stopped and glanced down at her for a second.
“My girlfriend,” I finally added.
Michael’s eyes went wide as he reached out and shook Tria’s hand briefly.
“A pleasure,” he said. “Unexpected, to be sure, but definitely a pleasure.”
“Fuck off. What are you doing here?”
“I came to see what was wrong,” he replied. “I figured you were in some kind of trouble, not on a date.”
“It’s not a fucking date.”
“Well, whatever it is,” he said, “I’m starving. Have you had breakfast? I understand the crepes are excellent here, and I’m sure the chef would do you a veggie version.”
I was never one to give into Michael’s schemes, but I was hungry.
Chapter 20—Reach the Destination
Room service arrived with a variety of breakfast dishes, which they set out on the table with linen napkins, mimosas, and polished flair. Tria sat next to me with Michael on the other side. He couldn’t seem to keep his eyes off of her, which was pissing me off. I was inclined to hit him again, but I didn’t.
“I must say”—he turned to Tria—“you are most surprising.”
“How so?” she asked.
“Just your being here with my nephew,” he answered. “Apparently, any sort of insult toward you warrants quite a nasty right hook. I didn’t realize Liam had someone else in his life. This is fairly recent, I take it?”
“Cut the shit,” I said. “Do you want something, or did you just come all the way out here to annoy me?”
Michael stopped talking and smiling. He glanced down at the table for a second before pushing his chair back and standing up.
“I thought you might be in trouble,” he said. “I just wanted to make sure you were all right.”
“I’m fine.” Once again, I found myself snapping at him.
“Liam!” Tria clenched her teeth as she said my name. She grabbed onto my arm again, like that was going to change what I was doing or saying.
“I’ll just go then.” Michael grabbed his jacket, tossed it over his arm, and headed toward the door.
