His head came up immediately and he cradled her face in his hands.
“Sorry, they’re just really sore.”
“Harper, don’t apologize.”
“I just…I know how much you like them.” Uncertainty flickered through her eyes and it almost did him in. “I don’t want you to be disappointed if it’s a little different this time around.”
“Disappointed?” That word should never, ever, be equated to sex with her. “Not possible.”
“Liam, that’s not true. I’m pregnant and my body is changing and—”
“Do you trust me?” He cut her off as he leaned forward and nipped at her bottom lip, their eyes not breaking contact.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Good. And you should know,” he said as he dropped his hands to the skirt of her dress, slowly working the fabric up, “I was amazed by your body the first time I saw it.” The skirt was at her hips and he tugged, pulling it past her ribs, and her breasts, and over her head. “And if anything I’m even more enamored with it now. And you know why?”
He dropped the dress to the floor as his eyes raked over her body, taking in everything. Her breasts were currently decorated with a cream and black lace bra, and matching panties covered her hips.
“Why?” she whispered, her hands falling to her sides.
He reached behind her back, unhooking her bra and pulling it from her arms before he fell to his knees. “Because it’s changing.” His hands slid across her hips as he pulled her close and pressed his mouth to her belly.
Her fingers were in his hair, her nails lightly raking against his scalp.
“You. Are. Perfect.” He kissed a circle around her belly button between each word. And he had to stop himself from saying the rest of the sentence that was on the tip of his tongue.
And. You. Are. Mine.
She was concerned that things would be different this time around? That there was a chance he’d be disappointed? Well, that was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard in his life.
For one, he still held firmly to the fact that she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Two, absolutely nothing was going to change that. Three, she was carrying his child. Their child. If that wasn’t the sexiest thing in the world, he had no idea what was.
And four…well, he was in love with her. In love with everything about her, from her body to her mind and all that there was in between.
Speaking of between…
He hooked his fingers in either side of the fabric of her hips before he pulled down, sliding her panties down her legs. And then his mouth was at the very core of her, doing everything in his power to make her lose her mind.
It didn’t take very long before her unsteady breaths started to fill the room, and when his tongue found her clit she was gasping his name.
“Liam, I…I can’t…can’t do this standing up.”
“Lie down.”
The second she was flat on her back on the bed he had both of her legs over his shoulders and he picked up right where he’d left off.
He had her coming across his tongue twice before he moved his mouth up, trailing his lips across her stomach and her ribs before he was on his feet. He pushed his jeans and boxers down, pulling his socks off as he freed his legs.
Harper was lying at the center of the bed, and he kneeled down, the mattress dipping as he pulled her legs apart.
“What do you want to do about protection?” He had to ask before they went any further, before he lowered himself on top of her and completely lost his mind.
Her eyes dipped to his cock for just a second before she looked back up at him, the sexiest grin tilting her mouth. “Well, I know your swimmers are overachievers, but I don’t think you’re going to get me pregnant again.”
“Not what I was talking about.” He shook his head as he touched her knees, his palms sliding up the inside of her thighs.
Maybe touching her wasn’t going to help him in staying focused. Who was he kidding? She was naked—except for that necklace—and spread out in front of him. He was lucky he was stringing sentences together at this point. And really the thought of being inside of her with nothing between them was enough to obliterate his brain.
He’d never had sex sans condom.
“I’m clean.” He forced himself to look at her eyes as opposed to her gloriously naked body. “I haven’t been with anyone else since well before you and I was tested before that.”
“I’m clean, too. They did a full blood work up at my first doctor’s appointment.”
“Good,” he said as he leaned over her. He pressed his lips to her belly again, lingering there for a minute before he moved up her body. He spread more kisses across her ribs, stopping when he got to her breasts.
His gaze met hers as he lowered his mouth to one of her nipples and ever so slightly ran his tongue across it. This time she didn’t stiffen or flinch in pain. Quite the opposite in fact, her eyes closed as her head fell back onto the pillow and she moaned his name.
He repeated the move on her other nipple making her body writhe. He spent a minute or two showing her breasts the admiration they deserved, gently palming both as he ran his fingers and mouth across the softest, sweetest skin known to man.
“So beautiful,” he whispered as he brushed his lips over the swells. “Every. Single. Inch. Of. You.” And then he was moving up past her neck, and finally ending at her lips.
He settled between her thighs as they both staked claims to each other’s mouths. Harper’s hands were on his back, moving lower and lower until she grabbed his ass and thrust her hips up. She apparently wanted him inside of her just as desperately as he wanted to be there.
He pulled his mouth away from hers, looking down and finding her gaze.
“I need you, Liam.” That was the second time she’d said those words tonight and they’d killed him both times.
Killed. Him.
Everything about her killed him, and what she did next was no exception. She reached down, stroking his cock before she guided him inside of her. He slid in the rest of the way, ever so slowly until she was wrapped around him to the hilt.
Good God, he wasn’t going to survive this. What he was going to do was lose his damn mind. Nothing had ever felt this good. Nothing. Ever. In the history of anything.
He pulled out before he flexed his hips and slid back inside of her. A soft moan escaped her mouth as her body arched off the bed. The movement offered her breasts up and who was he to deny himself?
He lowered his mouth and gently swept his tongue across first one nipple and then the other. Her hands were in his hair, holding his head to her breasts. He slowly rocked his hips moving in and out of her at a torturous pace.
“Liam,” she gasped as she lightly tugged on his hair.
He pulled his mouth away from her chest and looked up at her. She dropped one of her hands, running her fingers down the side of his face and across his jaw, her nails rasping his beard.
“Harder.” Her eyes darkened as she said the word.
Harder? Okay, so she was trying to kill him. It was taking everything in him to not lose every ounce of his control.
“I don’t want to hurt you.” He turned his head and kissed her fingertips.
“You won’t.” She pulled her legs up, her thighs cradling his body as she planted her feet on the mattress and thrust her hips up against him.
“Harper,” he groaned, dropping his head and trying to hold on.
But there was nothing for it. She grabbed his hand, putting it on her hip and making him squeeze tight as she continued to forcefully move against him.
When he looked up at her again he caught her gaze, and the need in her eyes was too much for him, but the next words out of her mouth were what really sent him over the edge.
“I trust you.”
He covered her mouth with his, breathing in her gasp and the moans of pleasure that followed. His hand on her hip tightened and he held on to her as he moved.
> As they moved.
Together.
Neither of them held back, both of them taking every ounce of pleasure that they could find in each other. He was doing everything in his power to hold on to his release and wait for hers, but he wasn’t going to be able to hold out much longer.
It was all too good. Too perfect. Moving inside of her. Breathing her in. Finally being with her again. Finding what he’d been desperately missing. Finding her.
When he pulled back and looked down at her—at her black hair spread out across the pillow, at those violet eyes that were lost in pleasure, at the flush that was covering her skin, at her mouth that was gasping for air in between moaning his name in pleasure—his control snapped.
And not a moment too soon, either. Her hands were on his ass again and she was moving wildly underneath him. He levered himself up on his other arm and thrust into her powerfully.
Over. And over. And over again.
Harper’s back was arching off the bed as she cried out his name. Her body pulsed around him and he let go, spilling inside her. Neither of them stopped moving until they were both good and truly spent. And as his hips slowed he leaned down, pressing his mouth to hers.
“You were right,” he whispered between kisses.
“About?”
“It was different.” He pulled back just enough so that he could look into her eyes.
“And it’s more.” She smiled up at him.
“So much more,” he agreed.
* * *
Harper’s pregnancy wasn’t a secret to any of her friends. After she’d told her parents she’d gone and revealed the news to everyone else. In a few weeks’ time it would’ve been difficult to hide as she would be showing. Not to mention there were certain things she wasn’t doing…like drinking coffee or alcohol. Dropping those two habits was more than noticeable.
It wasn’t like Harper had a problem with alcohol or anything. She could be in social settings and not have a drink, but she would normally indulge in more than a few glasses of wine a week.
Also, there was the fact that one of her closest friends owned a bar. As she would usually go into the Sleepy Sheep for a beer and hang out at least one night a week, it didn’t go unnoticed by anyone in their circle when she stopped.
And finally, as her friends were breeding like a bunch of Catholic rabbits, the signs were all there and more than obvious.
Another thing that Harper hadn’t kept from everyone was who the father was. So when they found out that Liam was going to be in town, it was demanded that they get to meet him. As Harper’s parents’ got first dibs, her friends got second.
They weren’t the only ones making demands on a meet-and-greet, either.
Liam’s siblings—Adele and Logan—had made the trip over the night before along with Abby and another one of the Stampede players, Jace Kilpatrick. As it turned out, Jace was not only good friends with Logan but Liam as well.
Jace was the only person Harper hadn’t met—even briefly—during her trip to Jacksonville weeks ago. The four of them were all staying at the Seaside Escape Inn, a massive house right on the water that doubled as Hannah and Shep’s house. It was also where everyone was meeting up for a Fourth of July cookout that afternoon.
The inn was actually the reason Hannah had migrated to the south…or really the catalyst. Being madly in love with Shep was the ultimate motivator for her moving to the area. When her grandmother Gigi had passed away and the will had been read, Hannah had been surprised to find out that not only had her grandmother bought the inn that the two had spent a summer in thirteen years previous, but that she’d left it to Hannah.
The renovations on the three-story building were still ongoing, but there were enough rooms finished for Abby, Logan, Adele, and Jace to stay there no problem. Which was good as they were all spending a few days in Mirabelle while Liam was in town, too.
When she and Liam pulled up to the driveway of the inn, he let out a long low whistle. “Well, this is impressive.”
“Wait till you see the inside. It’s gorgeous.”
“I have no doubt.” He shook his head before he looked over at her. “Don’t move,” he said before he turned away and opened the passenger door of the Cruiser and jumped out. He rounded the front and walked to her side, opening her door as she moved in her seat to face him.
“Such a gentleman.”
“Hmm, I don’t know about that.” His mouth quirked to the side as he put his hands on her thighs and moved them up under the skirt of her light blue dress until he got to the edges of her panties. “I had ulterior motives.” He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers.
“I can see that,” she said as she looped her arms around his neck.
“I’m letting you know right now, it’s going to be a problem for me to not have my hands on you whenever we’re in the same room.” He kissed a line down her jaw and to her neck, pressing his lips to the amethyst pendant that hung just above her breasts. “Same goes with my mouth.”
“I’ve noticed that as well. You making up for lost time?”
“Not possible.” He shook his head, his hands moving out from under her dress and to her hips, before he wrapped them around her waist and helped her out of the car. He leaned into her body as he smoothed his palms down the skirt.
“And why’s that?” she asked as she looked up at him.
“Because I’d have to make up for the twenty-nine years of my life before I met you.”
How in the world was she supposed to respond to that? Didn’t matter. He didn’t give her a chance to speak anyway. He kissed her again, his mouth parting hers as his tongue dipped past her lips.
“Come on, it’s time for me to impress all of your friends.”
She was more than a little dazed as he grabbed her hand and guided her away from the car, closing the door behind her. But dazed or not, as he led her up the stairs, she had no doubt he was going to succeed with the impressing-her-friends part.
No doubt at all.
Now as to her impressing his family and friend? That was still up in the air. She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t more than a little nervous, her first—and very short—impression with Logan and Adele had been less than stellar. She was the girl who walked out on their brother after all.
But they hadn’t even made it into the house before they ran into Logan and Abby, who were making their way down the stairs from the second floor. Logan was walking behind her, pulling at the skirt of her yellow sundress.
“Would you stop that?” She spun around and swatted at his hands when they got to the landing.
“Come on, Red, I didn’t get a good look at your bathing suit. I just want one more peek at the bottoms,” he said as he reached for her again, but she dodged his hands.
“Oh, I think you got to look plenty when you stripped me out of them earlier. You’re the reason we’re late.”
“It isn’t my fault you came parading out of the bathroom in nothing but a tiny red polka dot bikini. Really it’s your fault we’re late.”
Liam cleared his throat, making both Abby and Logan look over. “You two need a second?”
The flush that crept up Abby’s chest was immediate, and while she looked horrified all Logan could do was grin. “See we aren’t late at all. Liam and Harper just got here.”
Harper hadn’t met Logan before that encounter in the ballroom at the hotel. And yes she’d seen him in pictures and on TV, but his resemblance to his brother wasn’t as obvious as it was when they were standing right next to each other. Sure they didn’t look like identical twins, but it was more than apparent that they were brothers, complete with the same green-gold eyes.
“Yeah, and you don’t see him trying to lift up her skirt,” Abby said.
“I wouldn’t be too sure about that.” Liam shook his head.
“You’re just as bad as your brother.” Abby frowned at Liam as she walked over. But when her gaze shifted to Harper a smile broke out across her lips before the tw
o women embraced. “You look to be in considerably better spirits than the last time I saw you.”
“I wonder why that is,” Logan said as he closed the gap as well. “It’s nice to see you again, Harper. And in less surprising circumstances.” Before Harper could say anything Logan had pulled her into a hug, too.
Some of her tension and worry melted away in an instant. “Same.” She nodded.
“You ready to be entirely overwhelmed?” Logan asked as he gave his brother a quick hug, both of them doing the man-pat-on-back thing before they let go. “There are more people in that house than we’re even related to, and they are all beyond fascinated to meet you, my friend.”
“So we shouldn’t keep them waiting any longer I think.” Liam reached for Harper’s hand again. “Lead the way, honey.”
“You know they’re going to like me better than you,” Logan said from behind them.
“We’ll just see about that.” Liam turned and looked at his brother over his shoulder.
Abby sighed, looking at Harper. “Children I tell you. One man-child against another. Good luck.”
Harper bit down on her lower lip trying not to laugh. The back-and-forth between the brothers making her feel at ease…though, really, the person she was most nervous about meeting was their sister.
When they walked into the house it was to find the usual bedlam that was a get-together with her friends these days…only more so as their numbers were continually growing.
On the other side of the massive dining room table, Harper spotted a good number of people through the French doors, talking as they hung out on the wraparound porch. The grill was already going and Shep was the one manning it. Bennett, Tripp, and Finn were with him, all with a beer in hand. Mel was standing next to Beth who was kneeling down slathering her seven-year-old nephew Grant with sunscreen.
But Harper didn’t head that way; instead she led Liam to the Tuscan-villa-themed kitchen that any master chef would covet.
Shep was the one making use of the space more than anyone else, because Hannah’s talents in the kitchen were pretty much limited to sandwich making. And not all that shockingly Harper spotted her friend seated at the island in the middle of the kitchen. She was chopping fruit while she chatted with Adele who was busy slicing cheese and stacking it on a plate.
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