Page 16 of Tempting Him (Illicit Desires)

This isn’t real.

I swallowed hard and stared at him in complete disbelief.

“Why?”Really, brain? That’s your choice for right now?

Liam smirked at me. “Isn’t that obvious?”

I shook my head. Not because I didn’t know what he was going to say—I wanted to say it too—but more because there was a surreal feeling to this. Was this really going to happen? Was he going to say those words to me?

“Okay, I’ll say it. I’ll be the one to make a complete idiot of myself.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, psyching himself up to utter the words. “I’m in love with you, Rich.”

My heart flipped at the words I had been longing to hear from him, and I stood and walked out of the room and into the kitchen.

I could hear his mumbled curse to himself as I left. He thought I was fleeing at the news, and in part, I was, but I just needed to get up and move my feet before I put my foot in my mouth and somehow fucked it up.

I paced back and forth, trying to absorb the words he’d just said. He stood as I approached him again. Taking in the pained expression on his face, I went straight over to him, crushed my mouth against his, and cupped his face tenderly, kissing him with everything I had and pouring my emotion into him. I felt his stance soften, and his hands reached around me and touched my back.

“I love you too,” I admitted when I finally pried my lips from him. “I think I have from the very first time we made love.”

He smiled at me and laughed softly. “I felt it too, and ever since then I’ve wanted to say something but just couldn’t.”

I pulled him tighter against me and kissed him hard, grabbing his arse and encouraging him to cling to my frame, wrapping his legs around my hips. Which he did. Perfectly. With the two of us entwined, I started up the stairs for my bedroom.

The man I loved, loved me back. While this was sure to be the bumpiest relationship in history, I knew it was what we both wanted.

The future was going to be rocky, especially when our families found out. But in that moment, all I cared about was making love to my man and showing him just how much I cared about him.

ChapterSeventeen

Liam

If I hadn’t knownabout Annie’s mum, I would have wondered why such a magnificent man would ever doubt how sexy and loveable he was. But I did know. I saw how she broke him. I saw how he reacted to it, how hurt he had been, and how long it had taken him to piece himself back together again after it. As if the pain she had inflicted on her own child wasn’t bad enough, she had wounded him too. He had been her partner, and she had thanked him by leaving him for another woman.

She hadn’t given him a second thought, and she certainly hadn’t considered the life he might have wanted for himself beyond her. She was selfish, cruel, and had abandoned both him and my best friend.

My best friend. Dear God, what would she think about all of this? Would she hate me? Worse still, would it damage the relationship she had with the only parent she still had a connection with? My heart was heavy. I couldn’t give him up. I had never felt like this about anyone else in my entire life. But Annie was like the sister I never had. Was Rich really a good enough reason to risk losing that? I didn’t even need to think about my answer. Yes. Yes, he was, and I knew that, eventually, Annie would come around. It was all I could hope for.

Rich’s arms wrapped around me and my sullen thoughts were forgotten.

“Morning, handsome,” he whispered against my neck, and I could hear the beam of satisfaction in his voice. I had stayed over. Not for the first time in this house, but most definitely for the first time after admitting our feelings for each other, in Rich’s bed with him pressed against me, his morning erection nestled firmly at my arse.

“Morning, you.” I grinned back at him over my shoulder. “Someone’s happy I’m here.” I chuckled, and he rolled his hips against me to illustrate just how happy he was.

“Mmmm, I might have something for you.”

“And I might need to take it.” I twisted against him slightly, my leg hooking over his hip, my torso turned towards him more. Catching his lips with mine, I kissed him hard. Rich’s hand caressed me. Starting at my face, he held me to him and slowly slid his hand over my neck to my pecs. His fingertips teased my nipples into hard little points, causing me to moan against his mouth. His hands traced a path down over my skin, sending sparks through every nerve in my body, causing my breath to hitch.

His fingers quickly reached their desired destination and traced the length of my erection, wrapping his fingers around me, slowly stroking me, sending me crazy with a need for so much more.

Rich’s mouth moved to my shoulder, leaving my mouth free for whatever noises he was pulling from me as he played my body expertly.

“Rich,” I pleaded. I felt his smile against my shoulder.

“What is it, Liam?”

“Please!” I begged.

“Tell me what you want.”

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