by Holly Renee
“Look at us.” Liam was looking down at our bodies that were pressed so tight they were practically connected. “We’re dancing.”
“I’m technically being forced.” I scoffed at how easily he could go from being a complete asshole to this. Whatever the hell this was.
“You don’t look like you’re being forced.” He looked around the room. “Everyone is looking over here at us, and they all see how pliable you look in my hands. They all see how easy it was to convince your body to move with mine.”
“I swear to God, Liam. You could make an art out of being an asshole.”
“Thank you.” His grin widened, and I watched his lips like I was somehow glued to their movement.
“It wasn’t a compliment.”
“You know I’m right.” He turned us. His body moving mine with no difficulty.
“And what did they see when they watched me and Ryan dance?” I felt his body stiffen against mine as the words left my mouth. I probably should have regretted saying it, but I didn’t. Getting a rise out of him made me feel powerful when I typically felt anything but around him.
“They saw what I did. How uncomfortable you were in his arms.”
“I don’t know about that.” I picked at a small speck of lint off his shoulder. “I actually felt pretty comfortable there, relaxed. Ryan’s funny. I bet he’d be fun in bed.”
“Is that what you need?” He growled the words low for only me to hear. “To be fucked by someone at this wedding.”
This is what I didn’t understand. Men. I don’t want you but no one else can have you. If I didn’t want a guy, he could literally go screw anyone he wanted. I wasn’t territorial over things that didn’t belong to me.
“It would be a nice perk. I’d hate to waste all that waxing I had to do for this dress on nothing.”
His jaw clenched and in a moment of insanity, I reached up and ran my thumb across the sharp edge.
“Ryan seemed like he would have been down for it if you hadn’t interrupted us.”
“Oh, I bet he would have.” He looked out over the crowd as if he was searching for Ryan just to stare him down with all that aggression that was rolling off him.
“You’re not the only one who has needs, you know? This little hand of mine” —I drummed my fingers down his neck— “can only do so much.”
He snatched my hand in his, catching me off guard, and he stared down at me with a look that said he wanted to kill me. Good. We felt the same.
“I bet this little hand.” He lifted my hand to his face and pressed a kiss to the inside of my wrist. “Could do so many things.”
I didn’t know if it was the kiss, his words, or the way he spoke them, but my stomach tightened and I couldn’t think of anything to say to him in return.
He pressed my hand back against his chest and kept it covered with his as he leaned down and spoke in my ear. “Is that what you need, B? You need me to fuck you and show you exactly what your hands could do?”
God, what was he saying?
Did I want him to fuck me? Um, one-way ticket to pound town for one, please.
But I didn’t want his pity or his teasing. If he thought I wasn’t capable of getting laid on my own, he had another thing coming.
“I’m sure Ryan could show me.” His body stiffened again, and this time I thought he was going to walk away from me. Good. I needed him to walk away and give me a moment to clear my damn head.
But he didn’t.
Instead, he gripped my hand in his and led me from the dance floor. I had no idea where he was taking me, and I could barely think, let alone keep up as he took angry steps in the opposite direction of where all the wedding activities were taking place.
“Where are we going?” I called out to him, but he didn’t stop. Hell, he didn’t even slow down.
He pulled me toward the house, and I swear my chest tightened so hard that I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Joking around with Liam was one thing because he had drawn the line in the sand pretty damn clearly. But this? I had no freaking clue what to do with this.
We made it as far as the shadows before Liam pushed me against the house and stared down at me with a heavy breath. He searched my eyes, looking for what, I couldn’t be sure. Permission? He had it. Want? It should have been clear as fucking day.
He lifted his hand, and I watched as it made its way toward my face. I expected him to gently touch me or hell, I don’t know, pull me into a kiss. But he did neither. His thumb drug across my bottom lip roughly, as if he couldn’t take another second of not touching it, as he watched.
“You sure about this, B?”
I nodded my head, the back of it still pressed against the house. I wasn’t really sure what I was agreeing to, but I was agreeing anyway.
Liam ran his thumb back down my lip before he lifted my chin with the remainder of his fingers. He was staring down at me, and I couldn’t even attempt to read him but suddenly I didn’t care. Whatever his reasoning was for tonight, I would deal with the consequences later. I wanted him, badly, and there was nothing but him that could stop this.
He gripped my dress in his hand just above my hip, and I could practically feel the tension rolling off of him from that one small touch alone.
I sucked in a shallow breath as he moved his mouth closer to mine, his grip on my jaw tightening, my grip on reality floating away.
Then his lips pressed against mine gently, in complete contrast to everywhere else he was touching me, and I had to stop myself from begging him for more. When he didn’t move, I slipped my tongue from my mouth and licked along the seam of his lips.
It was enough to unhinge him.
His mouth smashed against mine, his hand moved into my hair, and any chance I had of not letting the two of us cross this line went straight out the window. His lips moved against mine, and it took practically no effort on his part to force my lips apart. It was as if my body knew exactly what he wanted, and me and her? We were going to hand it over to him willingly.
I pressed my hips against his, begging for more of him, just as his tongue slid against mine, and I could feel how badly he wanted me. That simple reassurance fueled me. I lifted my hands from his chest, and for the first time since I had met Liam, I let my fingers skim over his skin freely.
I ran them along the edge of his sharp jaw. I dug them into his scalp as he nipped my bottom lip, and I used them to grip his hair and force him closer to me even though neither of us barely had room to breathe.
Breathing wasn’t important in that moment though. Not when I was with him.
His hand crawled down my side leaving a trail of goose bumps before he roughly grabbed my hip, and I couldn’t stop the soft whimper that left my lips.
“This is a bad idea.” He said the words, but he didn’t stop. My dress was slipping up my legs as he tightened his hand around the fabric and his mouth was moving along my jaw before he pressed his lips just below my ear.
“I’ve always had a thing for bad ideas.” I was breathless as his teeth drug across my neck.
He kissed along my collarbone, making sure to take the time to run his tongue along the slight dip there, before he continued his way down my chest. He slipped my strap from my shoulder, and deep down I knew I should have been concerned about someone walking around the corner and finding us, but I wasn’t.
My nipple pebbled as it met the evening air, and he leaned back to look as he gently caressed it with his thumb and made me want to come out of my skin. I watched his every move as I attempted to calm my breathing, but then he looked up at me and held my eyes as he lowered his mouth.
The feel of his tongue against my skin had me squirming against him, the feel of his hand practically bruising my hip as he tried to hold in both his restraint and mine had me forcing my hips harder into his. Liam Gentry was a tease. He had been since the moment I met him, and I wasn’t sure if I could handle another damn moment of it.
I reached forward, my hand skimming over his groin, and his mo
uth on my nipple was no longer soft or playful. He reached up, dropping the other strap and my dress fell, the fabric bunching just below my ribs.
“God.” He took a small step back to look at me, my breasts completely on display, my shoulders pressed against the house, my hips still searching for his. “You are so damn beautiful.”
I smiled at him, but I didn’t need his words or admiration. I had been called beautiful by so many men during sex that I was beginning to feel lazy at this point, but I knew that’s what they wanted me for. My beauty. My body.
And even if my chest did ache a little at the thought when it came to Liam, I had become used to the idea a long time ago.
He ran his hand from just below my jaw to the center of my chest, and I took that slow, calculated moment to try to clear my head and lock any possible feelings into the vault where they belonged.
His hand stopped right at my ribs, where it tightened before he used it to lift me off the wall and spin me as if I weighed nothing at all. His chest against my bare back, he pushed the stray hairs off my neck before pressing a soft kiss in their place.
He wrapped my hands in his, his practically engulfing mine, before he lifted them and pressed them against the house. The move forced my back to arch, and he only intensified the movement when he lifted my dress above my hips and pulled them further back against him.
I spread my feet apart, giving myself better stability, and I almost died as I stood there in that position waiting for him to touch me.
He ran his hand over my ass, taking his time to trace every curve, and by the time he finally reached the seam of my thighs, I was practically panting. His fingers touched the edge of my panties, and I jolted forward, not quite ready for his touch while simultaneously begging for it.
“How wet are you?” he said into my ear, his body pressing into me, as he teased me along my panties. “Do I need to eat this pussy before I fuck you or are you already ready for me?”
I shook my head, but I didn’t know why. What was I saying? No, I didn’t need him to put his mouth on me because I was already dripping wet for him, or no, I couldn’t live another moment until he did?
His hand finally slipped under the thin fabric of my thong, and my soft moan met his the moment his skin touched mine.
“So fucking wet.” He slid his finger over my clit, spreading the moisture as he went before his hand slid out of my panties and I felt like I was going to die.
I felt him shift behind me, and I took a deep breath as I waited for him to slide inside me. But just as my panties slipped to the side, I felt his tongue against my pussy from behind and my hands almost fell from the wall.
If anyone found us right now, there would be no denying what we were doing. There would be no getting out of it, but I didn’t want to get out of anything. I never wanted to get out of the way Liam was making my body feel or the way his tongue was moving against my skin like he was starving and I was the only thing that could satisfy his hunger.
“Oh God.” I dropped my elbows to the house and pressed my forehead against the cool exterior as I tried to focus on holding myself upright just as his teeth grazed my clit. “Liam.” I didn’t know why I was saying his name. I didn’t want him to stop, but I also knew this entire damn wedding was about to hear me scream if he didn’t.
He didn’t care though.
He gripped my shaking thighs in his hands and continued to lick me without abandon.
I pressed my mouth against my forearm, and I used my own skin to muffle my cries as my orgasm stormed through my body and my knees began to give out below me.
I didn’t need to worry though. Liam caught me, moving his body behind mine, his arm around my waist.
I had barely caught my breath, but I didn’t care. I wanted him. All of him. Every bit that he was willing to give.
If his hurried touches and rushed breaths were any indication, he wanted me too.
And there was nothing that made me feel more powerful.
I spun toward him, my shoulders still pressing against the house, and I lifted my dress just above my hips as he watched, entranced. For a moment, I thought he was going to do nothing but stare at me, and I was sure I was a sight. I could feel the flush on my chest and my face from what he had just done to me, and I knew he could see the wild want in my eyes. There was no chance of me hiding it.
He leaned forward, his mouth possessing mine, and even though it wasn’t a thought that I wanted to have, I knew that I had never been kissed like this before.
I worked his belt buckle as fast as I could, desperate to get more from him, and the way his fingers were rushing over my skin proved him to be just as eager.
It was the moment I had been waiting for since I first laid eyes on him. I was finally going to fuck Liam out of my system, scratch that itch that had seemed to take over my every thought.
My hand slipped under his slacks, and he breathed my name in a way that made my toes curl as my hand tightened around him.
He started to say something, a plea, begging me to stop, or a declaration of love, I wasn’t sure. Because I never got to hear it.
Instead, Liam jerked my hand from his pants like I was burning him. I didn’t understand what was happening until Liam forced my dress back down my hips and I heard voices coming around the corner of the house.
Voices that were too close.
Liam took a step back from me, a step that put so much distance between us I could feel the absence of him before he ever moved. I pulled up the top of my dress up just as he spoke.
“What’s up, man?” Liam nodded to a guy I had never seen before as he rounded the corner.
They clapped hands and patted each other on the back all while I stood there with my back against the wall and my heart in my throat.
“I have to head out.” The guy’s eyes landed on me before he looked back at Liam with a smile on his face. “You enjoy yourself though.”
Liam ran his hand over the back of his head, and I swear I had never seen him look so uncomfortable. His friend didn’t seem to notice, but I did. I always did.
“Yeah.” Liam chuckled but didn’t even acknowledge my existence. I was just the girl that he left high and dry, well definitely not dry, like I was nothing more than an easy fuck, and I guess I wasn’t. “I’ll catch you later.”
It took a moment after he walked off before Liam turned back toward me, and I knew before I even saw his face the moment we were having was gone.
If I couldn’t still feel the touch of his hands on my skin, I would have thought that I dreamed the whole thing.
He regretted this.
“This was a mistake.” He took a step toward me, and I wished I could step back. I wished I could get as far away from him as possible in that moment.
I nodded my head, because he was right. Liam Gentry was a fucking mistake, and I was an idiot for ever thinking differently.
One
The Elder Wand
Brooke
“This fucking sucks.”
Kennedy watched me dramatically flop onto her bed as she continued to stuff her belongings into a cardboard box.
“It wouldn’t suck so bad if you helped.” She threw a roll of packing tape in my direction, and I barely caught it in time before it hit me.
“That’s not what I mean and you know it.” I pouted because what twenty-eight-year-old woman didn’t pout when her best friend and roommate of the last eight years was moving out. “I’m just going to miss you.”
“I know.” She sighed and looked like she was genuinely conflicted over leaving me to go live with her husband.
God, I loved this girl.
“But it’s not like we’re not going to see each other all the time. It’s just going to be different now.”
“I know.” I sat up and started building our next box.
Kennedy and I had been inseparable since the day we met. We were complete opposites. If I loved it, she probably hated it and vice versa, but when it came to each other, noth
ing stood in our way.
When Kennedy met her brand new husband, Tucker, I couldn’t have been happier for her. She deserved all the happiness in the world after everything her family had put her through. I just didn’t expect that happiness would take her away from me so soon.
I hadn’t even realized it until the moment the words Tucker and I are buying a house left her lips that Kennedy was my security blanket. A security blanket that was currently being ripped from my fingers.
“We’ll see each other tomorrow night for our celebration dinner, but I could meet you for lunch tomorrow if you want.”
I chuckled at my best friend and the way she still wanted to coddle me even though we were two grown-ass women. “You don’t have to do that. Plus, I doubt I can get out of there long enough to actually sit down and eat lunch.”
Kennedy rolled her eyes, and I knew what was coming before she even said it. “I can’t wait until you get out of that place. Your boss has become such a bitch.”
“Preach.” She wasn’t telling me anything I didn’t already know or anything that the two of us hadn’t talked about a hundred times before.
“How much longer until you get to walk out that door with your middle fingers held high?”
“According to my calculations.” I tapped my chin like I was studying my numbers. “If I continue to save twenty percent of each paycheck, I can open my own spa in exactly twenty years.”
It was a far stretch and we both knew it, but God, that’s exactly how it felt. Kennedy and I had sat down together when we first moved into this apartment and wrote down our dreams. Kennedy wanted to be a photographer. Hell, she couldn’t be anything else if she tried. It was in her blood. It was who she was.
But me? The only thing that seemed to be in my blood was the DNA of a hot damn mess. I had no damn idea what I wanted to be.
Well, that’s not exactly true. I knew that I wanted to be a wife and a mother someday, and I also knew that I never wanted to rely on someone else to take care of me. Ever.
