Page 139 of Power Play

“My phone is in my coat.” I blush and point to the foyer. “Do you want me to get it?”

“I’ll grab it and meet you in the bedroom. Ditch your clothes on the way. I want you naked in my bed before I get there,” Liam says, voice deep and rough. I feel it all over my body, and I blow out a shaky breath as I prepare myself for what’s about to come. “Are you sure you’re okay with this, Piper?”

“Yes,” I whisper, and I mean it with every fiber of my being. “Are you?”

“If you want a video of us fucking to look back on, that’s what I want too.” He holds my chin and kisses me. “And what my girl wants, my girl gets.”

My girl.

I melt at the endearment and kiss him back. My tongue brushes against his before he pulls away, his hand untangling from my hair and his cock harder than it was a minute ago. He walks out of the living room and I jump into action, heading for his bedroom as fast as I can.

I pull off my clothes along the way. My stockings end up in the hallway. My sweater lands on a doorknob. My skirt gets tossed on his dresser and knocks over a bobblehead of Maverick from a fan appreciation night two seasons ago.

My bra and underwear come off more slowly. I take my time setting them aside then move to the bed, scooting over the covers and relaxing against the pillows. The patterned fabric smells like me, and I smile as I tip my knees open wide, waiting for Liam to appear.

I don’t have to wait long.

Seconds later he’s in the doorway, his shoulders wide and his hair mussed up around his ears. His eyes meet mine before raking over my body, a slow and purposeful scan that has meclutching the sheets. Curling my toes and sucking in a lungful of air before I combust.

“Find it?” I ask breathlessly, and he holds up my phone. “My password is 9367.”

“Any significance behind that?” He palms his hard-on and adjusts himself over the front of his sweatpants. “Or just a bunch of random numbers?”

“Random numbers.” I tilt my head to the side, watching him. “Does your password have any significance?”

“Yes.” Liam walks toward me and pulls off his shirt. The threadbare cotton joins the pile with my underwear, and I drink in his sharp chest and stomach muscles when his torso is bare. “0807.”

“Wonder what that means.”

“Maybe one day you’ll find out.”

He hooks his fingers in the waistband of his pants and holds my phone in his other hand. He wastes no time, shimmying them down his thighs until he’s left in a pair of black briefs, his glorious body on display.

Liam is so beautiful. Manly and rugged with his beard and his bruises and battle wounds from the ice, yes. But the softer, more secretive parts are what attract me the most.

Like the way the right side of his mouth always lifts higher than his left when he’s smiling. The small scar from his appendix surgery and how his shoulders shake when he laughs. I want to remember them all.

After Spain, there won’t be an excuse for me to gawk at him.

I won’t be able to thread my fingers in his hair and tug when he brings me close to an orgasm.

I won’t be able to admire his ass when he walks from the bed to the bathroom to clean up.

He’ll go back to being Liam and I’ll go back to being Piper, two people whose paths won’t ever cross in this way again.

I’d love to consider a world where we’re together. Boyfriend and girlfriend and a real couple. But we want different things.

I’m becoming more sure of myself. Confident in a way I wasn’t six months ago. I know I want to find a partner and I know I want to be loved wholly. Completely. To the point of obsession.

Liam doesn’t want a distraction. Until he retires, the only thing he loves wholly is hockey, and it’s a shame.

We could’ve been good, I think. We work well as friends. We work well in the bedroom. We work well doing domestic things like cooking dinner and watching TV, but it’s not meant to be.

Andfuckthat makes me want him even more tonight.

“Come here,” I say, reaching for him.

Liam closes the distance between us in two long strides. He climbs on the bed, scooping up my phone and straddling me on his hands and knees. I kiss him, savoring the hint of peppermint on his tongue left behind from his nightly tea.

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