by Paula Cox
In.
Out.
In.
Out.
Holy hell, when had sex ever been this good?
Chapter 13
Cliff lay on top of Liana for some time, even after she unhooked her legs from his shoulders. She understood—she would need a breather too after a performance like that. He was an absolute animal in bed in the best way possible. And he’d given her the best pleasure of her life.
Of her life!
Not that she’d ever tell him that. It would only go to his head. He was too much of an egomaniac to receive anything other than a job well done high five.
Though a few minutes ago, she would have told him anything and done anything for him. She wondered if he realized the kind of power he could hold over people with sex like that.
Cliff let out a sigh and rolled over to the side, using one arm to pull both of them up further onto the bed. Liana allowed him to drag her like a ragdoll. She enjoyed how much smaller than Cliff she was.
When they reached the pillows, Cliff pulled her against her chest and held her. He didn’t say anything. His chest was slick with sweat, but so was Liana, so she didn’t care. She was too busy thinking of ways to fill the silence. It didn’t quite feel right to restart their old bickering, but it didn’t exactly feel right to start chatting about the weather or whatever else came up. Things had changed between Cliff and Liana. How was she supposed to deal with it?
“I think this is the opposite of what Lando wanted us to do,” Liana observed.
She regretted the weak start at conversation but didn’t know what other direction would have been better.
Cliff squeezed her. “I would say so.”
Silence again.
“I’m not really sure where to go from here,” Liana said.
Better to be honest, right?
Cliff chuckled. “I can’t say I do either,” he admitted. “I’m not usually in a situation where I’ve fucked a woman living in my house with me.”
Liana tried not to wince at his brashness. “You’ve never lived with a girlfriend or anything before?” she asked. “Not that I’m your girlfriend! I just mean…” She sighed. “You know what I mean.”
He glanced down at her, amusement lighting up his eyes. “I know what you mean, darling.” He pulled her up a little to press a kiss to her forehead. “And to answer your question, no. I’m not really the dating type.”
“What a surprise,” Liana said with a snort.
Cliff reached down and gave her a hearty smack on the ass. It shouldn’t have thrilled Liana as much as it did.
“And what about you?” Cliff asked. “I can picture you with a real Ken-doll like boyfriend.”
Liana nipped at his chest. “I am not a Barbie, and I have never had a Ken doll-like boyfriend,” she defended. “I’ve only really had a couple, I guess. And nothing serious. My work is everything to me. If I’m not busting my ass at the catering job, I’m practicing my singing and trying to line up gigs.”
Cliff’s eyes went distant. “I understand that.”
She knew he meant that he understood her job being everything to her. His was the same. More so even, Liana suspected. Being in the Mafia meant Cliff’s life was tied to his job in a much more permanent sense.
The reminder of what he did for a living sent a shiver down Liana’s spine. What was she thinking hopping into bed with him? He was dangerous. The life he lived was dangerous. He had a past that would probably make her stomach roll.
But then she looked at his face, at the hard plane of his chest, and at the way his eyes lit up when she lay naked on the bed, and Liana couldn’t justify feeling anything less than a fondness for Cliff. But it wasn’t just fondness, and that was what was more dangerous. Liana, for the first time in her life, felt bonded to him. She felt possessive of him. She wanted him to want her too.
Her life had become very Cheap Trick.
Cliff let out a lengthy sigh that brought Liana back down to earth. “Time to get up, darling.” He pushed her off of him and rose from the bed. Liana eyed the swaying package between his legs. Even soft it was huge. He must have been at least eight inches hard. That was also a first for her.
“Why do we have to get up?” Liana asked. “Surely we could just spend a little more time in bed…”
Before having to face the real world, she wanted to finish.
But Cliff was already dressing. He covered up that beautiful body, one article of clothing at a time, and Liana mourned each loss.
“Somebody is trying to kill you,” Cliff replied. “We need to find out who that is and why.”
Dangit. Real life was back on the menu.
“I guess so.” Liana shuffled over to the side of the bed she’d thrown her clothes to and began to pull them on, avoiding Cliff’s gaze. She was suddenly shy at the thought of him seeing her. She didn’t know why.
Maybe it was because the Cliff whom she’d just spent the past half hour or so with had been a different person. And she had been a different Liana. He hadn’t been an enforcer in the Mafia, she hadn’t been an ambitious singer, and they hadn’t been forced together because somebody was trying to kill Liana and threatening Cliff. They’d just been a man and woman lost in each other’s bodies. Liana would give anything to go back to that.
Hopefully, Cliff would too.
***
Cliff left his room even though Liana was still in it. He needed some space to think. She hadn’t rejected him yet, but he could feel it on the horizon. He didn’t expect anything less from a girl like her—a good girl. A better girl than he’d ever known. He was a fool for ever going there in the first place. She was much too wholesome for him. He’d thought that taking her might quench his thirst, but watching her get dressed had already made his cock twitch with the anticipation of another round.
Having her had just made Cliff want Liana more.
That was problematic, to say the least.
He went into his study and made himself a drink, thinking about his next move. He hadn’t learned much from Michael’s mother except that Lando liked to threaten before he killed and that there was a phone number he had but likely no longer used. It hadn’t been disconnected at least, but what could he do with that?
Liana came down just as Cliff was draining the last sip of his scotch.
“I don’t want to sound paranoid, but I feel like you’re deliberately avoiding me again,” she said.
It cut Cliff like a knife. He hadn’t wanted to avoid her the last time he did. He didn’t want to avoid her now. But it was for the best. With what he did, getting attached to anyone was dangerous. And he was already attached to her. He felt a primal possessiveness of the lithe brunette. He wanted to claim every inch of her with his lips, tongue, and teeth. But it would only end in pain for both of them.
Unless he found a way out. He was going to have to talk to his father sometime soon.
“I wanted to give you space,” Cliff lied.
“Space?” Liana strode up to him, crossing her arms over her chest and fixing him with a quizzical glance. “What made you think I wanted space? If anything…” She glanced down at his chest. “I wanted a bit less space.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cliff replied, meeting the challenge of her gaze. “You’re too young and innocent to have any idea what’s going on here.”
Liana’s eyes lit with rage. He loved that look on her.
“How dare you tell me what I can and can’t want?” she asked.
He wouldn’t have been surprised if she stomped her heel against the floor.
“I’m a grown woman, and you’re a grown man. You don’t get to decide my desires for me.”
Cliff stepped closer to her, depositing his glass on one of the tables as he crowded her. “And what is it that you desire, hmm?” He grinned with cat-like mischief. “A tidy boyfriend to take home to your parents at Thanksgiving? A sweet and sensitive lover who brings you chocolates and flowers?”
“N
o.” Liana stepped forward. Her chest bumped against his, and a spark flew under Cliff’s skin. She barely knew him and yet she knew exactly how to thrill him. Or maybe she didn’t know at all, and she was just naturally thrilling to him. Either way, he was ready to pounce on her again.
“No?”
“No,” she repeated. “That’s what you think I want, which clearly means you don’t know me at all.”
“And you clearly don’t know me if you think a good girl like you is going to get what she needs out of a man like me,” he replied, his voice like a knife.
She reached up and placed a light hand just below his shoulder on his chest, letting her fingers glide down to his stomach. She was playing with fire.
“What is it that you think I need?”
Cliff smirked. “You need somebody safe and honest, Liana. Somebody who will never put you in harm’s way. You need something good. All I’ve got to offer is bad.”
She looked far from dissuaded. Her pupils were so large; Cliff could barely see any iris around them. He wanted to reach between her legs and test her wetness. She was probably so fucking ready for him. But he kept his fists at his side and ignored the throbbing in his cock.
“Maybe I’m interested in a little bad,” Liana whispered.
Cliff lost all self-control. She was supposed to reject him. He hadn’t prepared a contingency plan. Since he’d figured there was no way he’d get to take her the way he wanted to and keep her, it had been easy not to think about all the problems that lay between them. But there were so many. She was so clean and good; he was surprised he didn’t leave ash on her skin where he touched her.
And she still wanted him. And he didn’t have the power to be a good boy and not want her back.
Cliff shoved her back and whirled them around until her back was against the wall and his hand was between her legs. “You want to know what having bad is like, princess?” Cliff hissed, rubbing her through her jeans.
Liana gasped. She did not reply.
Cliff continued rubbing, pressing harder. “I will ruin you. Every man after me will never be able to fuck you like I can, and you will never respond to them the way you’re responding to me right now.” He jerked open the button of her pants and dove in, sliding his fingers into her slick folds. Fuck. She was so wet. “But no matter how good the sex is, you’re going to end up hurt in the end. Because I won’t just ruin you for other men, I’ll ruin you for good.” His face grew serious, even as she writhed in pleasure against his hand. “Because that’s what I and my lifestyle do to people, sweetheart. And you can’t handle that.”
He tore his hand out from her pants and pushed away from the wall, leaving her barely standing, breathless.
She fixed her gaze on him, opening her mouth to speak.
That was when Cliff’s phone rang.
Chapter 14
Holy effing shit.
Liana could scarcely believe what had just happened to her. The conversation had gone from zero to sixty in no time at all, and then it was back down to zero and Cliff was gone. As soon as his phone rang, he answered it and stalked out of the room.
It took Liana a couple minutes to even gather enough thought to do her pants back up.
Cliff might have thought he knew her, but he didn’t know her at all—especially if he thought she would just pretend what happened between them had never happened. Especially if he thought she wouldn’t want it to happen again.
He was dangerous. He was moody. He was everything she should have never wanted in a man. But she wanted him. Oh yes, she wanted him bad. And she wouldn’t let the circumstances in his life get in the way. The only thing Liana gave a damn about in life was her career, and getting involved with Cliff wouldn’t necessarily impact that negatively. She wasn’t sure what the end result of them giving in to their passion fully would be, but she suspected it was the kind of beautiful inferno she’d be a fool to miss.
Liana lived for the stage. She didn’t bow to pressure, and she was used to sweating it out under spotlights. Cliff probably thought he was scaring her off just now, but he was wrong. If anything, she burned for him even more.
By the time Cliff returned, Liana had smoothed out her hair and clothes a little. She was ready to get them all messy again.
“We’ve got to go meet someone,” he announced, shoving his phone back in his pocket.
Damnit.
“Can it wait?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Let’s go.”
On the way to the car, Liana peppered Cliff with questions. “Who is this guy?”
“His name is Amos. He’s a friend of Julian’s.”
“And why are we going to meet him?”
Cliff let out an exasperated sigh and eyed her over the roof of his car. “Can you go anywhere without having to know every little detail?”
She scowled and got into the car, slamming the door. “I’m allowed to want to know why we’re leaving the house like it’s on fire,” she retorted.
Cliff pulled out onto the main road, hands tight on the wheel. He seemed just as on edge from their earlier conversation as she was. Good. Let him suffer.
“He’s ex-intelligence. He worked for the NSA and CIA, but Julian says he’s more like a cyber-mercenary these days,” he explained.
“And how does that help us any?”
“He’s going to have a look at that number. He’ll trace it for us, and hopefully, we’ll have an address to go with Lando’s name.”
Liana bit her lip. It was good news, but still… “Couldn’t you just text this Amos guy the number?”
Cliff glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “Why? Is there some reason you wanted to stay home, princess?”
His words sent a flood of heat through her, as well as a relapse into embarrassed silence. Sometimes she was so good at saying what she wanted and asserting herself sexually. Most of the time, really. But Cliff made her nervous, way more nervous than a performer had any right to be ever. She could face a crowded theater with no problem. But meeting Cliff’s searing gaze and taking him up on his taunt was too much to even consider.
After another moment of silence, Cliff let out a satisfied chuckle. Prick. “Amos refuses to take work from anyone unless he’s met them first. He does a lot of illegal dealings. It’s standard.”
Well, that was a good enough answer, Liana supposed.
She decided it was better to sink back into silence than to try a conversation with Cliff. Maybe things would go back to normal for them soon. Or maybe not. But for now? Liana was reliving the moment in that study when he’d thrust her up against the wall and teased her with a voice as dark and sweet as sin.
***
Amos looked exactly how Liana had expected him to. His hair was long and oily. It hung in strings over his forehead as he worked at his computer, tapping at the keys in determination. He was young, much younger than Cliff must have expected since he seemed surprised to meet Amos. But Liana had figured as much. He had a kind face, with bright blue eyes, but she suspected there was something much darker hidden beneath the surface. He wouldn’t have acquired a house this nice with a computer room this big and high tech if he hadn’t learned to manage his business ruthlessly.
“This will take some time,” he explained, flicking his gaze away from the screen.
Besides, when they had first come to his door, it was the first time he’d actually looked at them. And even that was fleeting. His eyes were glued back to his work not a moment later.
“What kind of time?” Cliff asked.
“A few days, maybe.” Amos shrugged. “It’s always tough trying to trace phones without calling them. I’ll have to hack into a couple of satellites.”
“I need it sooner.” Cliff’s tone was stern and left no room for argument.
Amos argued anyway. “Dude, you’re not my only client. And this kind of shit doesn’t just figure itself out. It takes time.”
Cliff reached forward and slammed down the lid of Amos’ laptop.
“Hey!” Amos complained.
“Listen.” Cliff didn’t even need to posture himself threateningly to cause shivers to run up Liana’s spine. She could only imagine how his deadly tone was affecting Amos. “This woman’s life is in danger, and I will not abide that. I will pay whatever it takes for you to put this on the top of your priority list.”
Liana’s brows rose in surprise. She’d expected Cliff to threaten the kid, not offer him extra money. It seemed like a fair deal, actually. And she couldn’t help but feel warm in her gut from him throwing money around just to keep her safe.
