by Stella Rhys
When I felt his lips curve in a smile, I giggled against them. There was whistling and cheering around us. It sounded like New Years Eve. Of course, it wasn’t. It was just me and Liam together the way I wish we always could be.
When he pulled away, I was dizzy. I peeked sheepishly around the bar to confirm that everyone had been watching. Yep – even Lips and her friends, who were apparently gluttons for punishment. Next to them at the bar, Aria hung on A.J’s neck, pointing at me and cheering like I just hit a walk-off homer at the World Series. Covering my face, I turned back to Liam, who laughed as he told his boys to go back to pool.
“Liam,” I exhaled, resting my forehead on his.
“Sash.” There was a solemn look on his face that made me pout and tilt my head at him. “Twice now,” he murmured.
“Twice what?”
“Twice now that I told you not to run from me.” Liam cupped my jaw so I couldn’t look anywhere but his eyes. “I know you’re hiding something from me, Sash, and I hate it. I know you’d only hide something if it was serious and you thought I’d get angry. And I can’t promise you I won’t, but whatever it is, I need you to tell me.” He brushed a strand of hair from my eyes. Even in the din of the bar, his soft murmur sunk deep in my skin. I swallowed hard as his green eyes gazed deep into mine. “I tried all day to leave it alone. Maybe pull away from you and care a little bit less.”
I dropped my gaze to the floor, sudden tears in my eyes. Fuck. Liam had spent the day trying to erase what he felt for me and I hadn’t even known. I knew what he was about to say – that he didn’t succeed. That he couldn’t stop thinking about me like I couldn’t stop thinking about him. But the mere thought of losing him made my heart sink like a brick to my stomach. I watched a teardrop fall to the floor just before Liam tipped my chin again.
“Sasha, stop. You know I couldn’t ever care any less about you. I’ve loved you since the day I met you. I’ve always known that I’d do anything for you. Anything. And it was always a strange feeling to wrestle with because I knew the way I felt about you wasn’t in any way right. In fact, it was fucking wrong as hell. And suppressing that was harder than anything in the world – any job I’ve ever had, any fight I’ve ever trained for. But then you pulled your little stunt last week and you dug that feeling out of me and now I’m all in, Sasha. I’m yours if you want because in my eyes, you’ve always been mine.”
“Of course,” I whispered, refusing to look him in the eye. I gazed through tears at his lips. “All I’ve ever wanted was you. You’ve been my first and last thought every day since I’ve met you and I’ve hated it.”
Liam laughed that sexy fucking laugh. “Till now. Because you have me now, Sash. And I’ll keep us a secret from Riley and anyone else you need me to but at least be real with me when it’s just us two. I think about you and I worry about you enough as it is without you keeping secrets from me.”
“I know.” I closed my eyes. I knew Liam worried about me. It drove Riley crazy growing up. If I got so much as a paper cut, Liam would be wrapping me up and making sure I was fine. When I landed in the hospital for a fall off my bike, he was the first to arrive at the ER. He played favorites with me like no other and secretly, I’d always reveled in that.
“If you know then tell me so I can get some peace of mind, ‘cause I’ve been losing it all day thinking it has to do with something like that piece of shit, Ethan.”
My ex’s name off Liam’s lips made me stiffen in his arms. Just saying it made Liam visibly angrier. His body was rigid, his muscles tight as he waited for me to answer.
“It wasn’t Ethan,” I said straightaway. Once the deceit was done, I breathed out hard. Fuck. I did it. I lied. But I couldn’t help it. I was too scared of what Liam might do. “It wasn’t him, it was just… Jenna. Aria’s cousin who saw us in your office.”
Liam paused. “She say something to you?”
“No. But, um, she asked to meet me,” I went on with my story. “And I know she’s going to do something to piss me off. She loves getting under my skin. And I’m bad at confrontation, you know that. So after she texted me, I was just… kind of dreading meeting her all day. That’s why I was acting so weird. I’m sorry.”
Liam looked into my eyes. I knew he was trying to read me and see if I was lying. His lips were pressed into a line, but finally, they relaxed. He wasn’t fully convinced. I could see it in his beautiful face. But I’d given enough of an explanation for now. “Alright.” Liam straightened and cupped the back of my neck as he gazed at me. “If you want me to, I’ll talk to her.”
“No, that’s fine. I’m sure that’s just what she wants and I have no intention of giving her that satisfaction.”
“So what, you’re going to take care of it on your own?” Liam grinned with the most irresistible glint in his eye. “Baby Sash has a bad side, huh?”
“Apparently.”
“Good to know.”
I bit back my smile as Liam kissed my forehead, closing my eyes again and feeling the warmth and love in his lips. It felt so real and so incredible that it lit fire under my skin. In his arms, I reveled in the moment all the while giving myself a little pep talk. Whether it was Ethan or Jenna, I was realizing something – that I wanted nothing more than to be with Liam, the man who made me feel more in a few days than anyone else other man had made me feel in my lifetime. And that if it came down to it, I would fight for us. I’d have to dig the wild side out of me, and I’d have to convince her to stick around for longer than a night at a time, but if it meant being with Liam, I’d do it. I had no other choice.
Chapter Eleven
Perfect daaahling. Meet me outside my work at noon. We’ll grab a bite and chat ;)
“Ugh.” I rolled my eyes at the reply text Jenna sent me the next morning. I had contacted first with a request to talk, which I hated having to do, but I reminded myself it was necessary considering Jenna was a loudmouth and she’d just seen me having sex with my stepbrother.
I’d lied to Liam last night but I hadn’t lied about being bad at confrontation. I was famously mild-mannered. Ethan had always told me it was a good thing. It was “ladylike.” But ladylike came nowhere in handy with a girl like Jenna Pettit. So I had to break out Bad Sasha, or at least try. I wasn’t sure if she really existed inside me but if she did, I was trying to coax her out with red lipstick, a high ponytail and black heels. On top, I went with a simple white V-neck and camel blazer.
The moment I stepped out of my room, A.J stood up straight and ripped the Mets cap off his head. “Well, hot damn.”
Liam was in the midst of sliding over-easy eggs off a pan when he looked up at me. “Shit,” he breathed like someone had punched him in the chest. I grinned at him, finding it kind of hilarious that he was ogling my fully clothed body while standing half-naked in the kitchen, wearing only black gym shorts and the perspiration of a morning workout. His faded baseball cap was on backwards as he cooked and to me, he just looked like sexy, sweaty, all-American glory. For a moment, I had to just stand there, taking him in as he took in me.
“Alright, guys, that’s enough,” A.J decided.
I laughed, heading over to the counter where I saw a less protein-riddled breakfast waiting for me – my usual coconut yogurt and granola with halved blackberries. A crooked smile touched my lips. Liam had gotten my favorite parfait right – down to the little glass ramekin of maple syrup, so I could drizzle to my liking. “Liam.” I gazed down at the yogurt I never bought anymore because I found it so extravagant. “This stuff’s like, thirteen dollars.”
“I know.”
I couldn’t control my goofy smile. I tried chewing it back so A.J wouldn’t complain, but he gave a “Jesus Christ” and excused himself to the bathroom. It was for the better. I could practically feel the sparkle in my own eye as I watched Liam cook. He didn’t usually come home after his morning workout, so this was my little preview of him being domestic.
God, it was a little too much fun to think about.
/> “Going to see Aria’s cousin?” Liam asked, sliding me a long, skinny spoon. He even knew my utensil preferences.
“Her name is Jenna,” I laughed.
“Excited?”
“Madly.”
“You’ll know how to take care of her,” Liam smirked, leaning against the kitchen counter and watching me lick my spoon. I shook my head as he watched me eat.
“Please don’t look at me like that.”
“I can’t help it. I want that ponytail wrapped around my hand while I fuck you over this table.”
“Liam,” I whispered, nodding down the hall to the bathroom A.J was in.
“You’re lucky he’s here right now. I’d have you ass naked on this fucking counter if we were home alone.”
God. My arousal went from zero to sixty in a second flat. “Is that right?”
“You challenging me?”
“Maybe.” I watched Liam’s green eyes dip down my cleavage as I shrugged. He ran a hand over his tight jaw.
“Right. Well I’ve only had the pleasure of that pussy once thus far and in case I wasn’t clear, I plan on fucking you on every surface in this house and as many as I can around this city, so yes, if A.J weren’t here, Sash, I’d have every inch of my cock buried inside you. Right now.”
“I see,” I breathed out, letting it sound far more aroused than I’d meant to. Damn it. A quickie actually sounded like the perfect way to coax out Bad Sasha. “Well… I guess it’s too bad you don’t have the guts to go through with something like that.”
Liam grabbed his cock over his shorts. “Don’t tease me. You want it?” he asked, something hot and predatory in his voice. My shirt felt tighter as I sucked on the cold metal of my spoon. Liam grinned as he watched me. “You don’t want to do that, Sasha. Not if you don’t want me to rip your clothes off right here.”
“I want it,” I murmured, wondering who was testing who. “But I don’t believe you’ll do it.”
“No?”
My heart pounded when Liam hooked his thumbs into his shorts and pulled down just enough for his cock to spring out – hot, hard and ready to go. Holy shit. I reminded myself to breathe as I watched him wrap his long fingers around the base of his shaft, pushing up his length slowly and palming his smooth head before stroking back down. Again and again. Holy God. I couldn’t even tear my eyes off the display to look around for A.J. I was frozen, paralyzed with lust as I sat over breakfast in the kitchen, watching my stepbrother masturbate for me despite a guest down the hall. I had to grip the edge of the counter when I spotted the drop of pre-cum beading at the tip of his dick.
“Liam…”
“What?” he smirked, stroking a little faster now. “Don’t talk the talk around me. You know how I handle teasing.”
I bit my lip, shaking my head but happily continuing to watch him rake his gaze over my body and jerk off before me. I shifted, rubbing my clit against my seat as I remembered one of my hottest but naughtiest memories of Liam. I’d come home early from my summer job to find only his Jeep in the driveway. When I walked into the house, I heard the clear sound of the shower running. He’d left the door to his room open. Not only that, he’d left his bathroom door open. Long story short, I spied on him like the terrible, sexually frustrated teenager I was. And I’d seen him from behind, water running down the carved lines of his back, his V-shaped torso rigid as he leaned against the wall, one hand on tile and the other wrapped around his cock. Stroking furiously. I savored every grunt I heard. I replayed them I my head as I leaned outside his bathroom wall, my hand shoved down my skirt and my orgasm mounting with his.
When he came, so did I.
“Fuck,” I moaned, sliding off my stool and shedding my blazer onto the floor. I shook my head at Liam’s satisfaction as I rounded the counter, saying goodbye to all self-control. “Fuck you,” I whispered as he pulled me straight into his arms, kissing me deeply. The rough warmth of his tongue swept inside my mouth for a second too short before he spun me around, facing me to the counter. Reaching around, he undid my button and zipper, pulling my jeans down just below my ass. The reality of what we were doing hit as I felt the cold air on my bare skin. I heard A.J turning on the faucet in the bathroom and groaned. “God, we really shouldn’t...”
“I know we shouldn’t.” Liam pulled my thong aside and pushed two fingers between my saturated folds. “But we crossed the line of things we shouldn’t do awhile ago, didn’t we?” In place of his fingers, I suddenly felt the flared tip of his cock. I moaned, gasping as he clamped a hand over my mouth. “Shh,” Liam whispered as he slid the length of his cock inside me. My cry was muffled against his palm as he immediately fucked me with strokes so long and deep I could hardly stay quiet. My knees buckled and my pleasure begged to burst from my lips as Liam rocked inside me, one hand over my mouth, the other tugging my shirt down till my breasts sprung free. “Yes,” Liam rasped as he cupped and squeezed me. My tits felt heavy, sensitive in his hands, and he played with them as if he’d never felt a pair in his life. “Fuck, baby.” Picking up the speed of his stroke, Liam buried his face in my neck. I could feel my eyes watering, my pleasure spilling over the edges as he pounded into me. “I should’ve fucked you the first day I saw you, Sasha.”
His wicked words sent a thrill through every inch of my body. I reveled in them. Savored them. Staring out at Liam’s living room, his hands muffling my mouth and groping my breast, I soaked in the taboo – in the filth of my pussy stretched perfectly around my stepbrother’s girth, my walls molded to every ridge of his cock. I welcomed his every steel inch, ached for his every powerful thrust. Each second of our bodies together felt in sync. Utterly wrong yet meant to be.
“I want you to come for me, Sasha.” Liam dropped his hand from my mouth to my legs and reached savagely between them. His two fingers stroked my swollen clit as he pummeled ruthlessly inside me. I moaned freely now, forgetting all about A.J as I soaked in the mindless bliss of Liam powerfully handling my body. “You gonna do that for me, baby?” he rasped in my ear. “Are you going to come for me?”
“Yes…” I gripped desperately at the edge of the counter. I’d never felt so fucking good in my life but I felt completely out of control. Completely overwhelmed. “Shut me up,” I begged, my ecstasy threatening to spill in a scream from my lips.
“No.”
“Please.” I took a hand off the counter to clamp over my mouth but Liam caught it, pinning it behind my back. I struggled against him for a second but knew it was in vain.
“I want to hear it, Sasha,” Liam growled in my ear. “Come for me.”
Fuck it. Bucking forward, I did as I was told. My knees gave out, but Liam held me up, clutching me against his muscled chest. He slowed his stroke inside me as he murmured filth in my ear.
“Fuck, you feel too good to be real, baby. Your pussy is my fucking cure, Sasha.”
I was in ecstasy. I let my limp body sink back against him, giving him full control of me – of my body, my mind, my pleasure. Every hot twitch of my nerves. But when I felt his cock hardening inside me, aching to come, I arched my back, sinking my throbbing pussy down to the base of Liam’s shaft.
My mouth dropped wide open when he came without warning.
“Fuck,” Liam grunted, cursing between gnashed teeth as he pushed my breasts together, squeezing so hard my bottom lip grazed them when I looked down at his muscled thighs. They flexed and twitched with every burst of pleasure he let go inside me. “Fuck,” Liam breathed out. “Holy fucking Christ, Sasha. You’re amazing.”
I smiled as I closed my eyes and caught my breath. Tits out in the kitchen, my stepbrother still pulsing inside me, I did feel that way. Amazing. Confident. Beautiful. Maybe a bit crazy, but in the best way possible. My blood was rushing and I could actually feel the glow on my skin. We took a moment to breathe, and I laughed when Liam showed me A.J’s text asking if it was safe to come out of the bathroom yet. Normally, I’d have felt self-conscious, but I’d been pumped too full of satisfaction t
o give that any thought. I hoped that was a good sign.
“You got this,” Liam said when he saw me out.
“Thanks,” I murmured as he pressed his lips to my forehead. “I hope so.”
“Don’t hope it. Just know it.”
“Fine.”
When I left, I still had his scent on me.
Chapter Twelve
I almost laughed when I walked into the Midtown steakhouse Jenna texted me to meet her at. It was quickly apparent to me why she’d picked this spot. The place was crawling with fat cat businessmen drinking Oban, shooting the shit and hitting on the only girl at the bar – Jenna.
“Damn. This the friend you’ve been waiting for?” The one next to her slid promptly off his seat when I came by.
“Indeed it is. Hello, gorgeous,” Jenna said with over-acted enthusiasm. She watched as I sat down, reaching to play with my ponytail because she knew I’d hate it. “Don’t you look adorable,” she purred, giving me a quick pinch of the cheek.
“Jenna.” I leaned away. She was trying to embarrass me – I knew that. She wanted me to snap and make a scene in public but I refused. I’d come here with the intention to have a mature conversation and there was no doing that without keeping it together. “Look, we obviously have something we need to talk about,” I said quietly, for only us to hear. “So let’s just try to act like adults here and – ”
“Gentlemen,” she interrupted me, turning grandly to face her audience. “I have to introduce you to my friend. This is Sasha, the one I was telling you about. You know,” she smirked. “The one who’s fucking her stepbrother so she doesn’t have to pay rent?”
