Page 32 of Persuading Liam

I give her a smile. Yes, Redpoint is doing far better than any of us ever thought it would, and I genuinely love what we’ve built. But it’s hard not to feel bitter about Sutton. Even if it seems to be failing under my uncle’s shitty leadership. “Thanks. It took all three of us and everything we had. Max is the brewmaster, I do the books and planning, and Elliot is a wizard at advertising and promo.”

“You’re like a superhero team, delivering delicious brew to the masses,” she points out.

I chuckle and get lost in her cute smile. I let all the thoughts of my uncle and Sutton Brewery fade into the background because they’ll always be there. But Marley might not be, and I have to figure out how to change that.

Desperate to taste the cider from her tongue, I set my bottle on the coffee table. “Marley, I’d really like to kiss you again.”

Her mouth falls open and her nostrils flare with a quickly drawn breath. “You would?”

I nod. “But I want to make sure you want it too. I didn’t ask this morning and I—”

“Liam,” she says, setting her bottle next to mine and leaning forward. “Shut up and kiss me already. Is that permission enough?”

Her words feel like lightning coursing through my blood and as I slide a hand across her neck and into her hair, I answer. “That’s enough.”

23

MARLEY

Ifeel my entire body sizzle with electricity when Liam takes over my mouth with a hungry groan and kisses me like I’ve never been kissed in my life. He dominates me in the most delicious way, his tongue hard and demanding, as if I’m the only taste he wants to experience for the rest of his life.

And when his hand slips up the back of my neck and grips my hair in a tight fist, I gasp and tremble like a fall leaf. I love what he’s doing, the dominance, the absolute determination in his movements like he’s trying to own me.

“Marley,” he whispers as his heated tongue trails a path down my neck and inward toward my cleavage. It’s just one word, one lusty utterance of my name, but it forever changes me. Like he’s altered my DNA, like he planted the deepest need I’ll ever feel.

My head falls back against the couch as his tongue dips between my breasts, his beard both soft and deliciously naughty against my skin. “Liam,” I gasp as his hands grip my breasts, burying his face between them, flicking at my hard nipples with his thumbs.

I’m so lit up I could safely guide a ship through the valley.

“Arms up, gorgeous,” he whispers, leaning back. His eyes are a dark navy blue and heavy-lidded like he’s strung out on me.

Butterflies zinging through my belly, I lift my arms and inhale as his strong fingers grip the hem of my shirt. It’s off in a flash and I don’t have time to be embarrassed or ashamed of my curves or rolls because Liam growls when he sees my heated flesh. Like a real fucking animal and I can tell you right now, I’ve never driven a man feral. It feels amazing. It feels like I want to see how far I can push him. How far he can push me.

As if he can’t wait another moment, he dives at my breasts, biting and teasing my nipples through the fabric of my bra while his fingers make quick work of the clasps.

Once it’s free and my bra falls away, Liam lets out a pained cry at the sight of my hard nipples. He lifts the right breast and while making eye contact with me, pulls my nipple into his hot mouth.

I pant as he works his tongue over it, the eye contact heightening the sensation and when he passes his beard over it ever-so-slightly, I nearly launch off the couch at the feathery sensation.

“Jesus, Marley,” Liam breathes, repeating the process with my left breast, letting me watch as his pointed tongue circles the hard nub, complete with the erotic eye contact I’m newly addicted to. “You taste perfect.” His lips are wet when he pulls back from me, his eyes crazed. “I want all of you.”

All I can do is nod my head. I want all of him too—everything he wants to give me and more. I want to trace the hard edges of his body and feel the tight muscles in his legs as he thrusts deep inside me. I want him to own me, then turn me over and do it again. He makes me feel like he wants me just as I am and not like he’s fucking me because I’m the only one that said yes.

He kisses me on the mouth—a combination of sweet and desperate—as if to tell me this isn’t just carnal desire but something deeper.

My heart thumps in my chest at the thought even though it can’t possibly be true. We’ve only known each other a few weeks. And the tugs and pulls that keep happening in my stomach are just flukes. Right?

Right.

As if he could sense I was getting too caught up in my thoughts, Liam dips his fingers into the waistband of my leggings. “These have to go, Marley,” he tells me, his voice a low grumble that makes my clit twitch eagerly. “So, I can taste your pretty pussy.” He drags both of his hands up my thighs, making me gasp as his fingers lightly brush my core. “Would you like that?”

Unable to talk, I nod and arch my back as Liam tugs my leggings down my ample hips and thighs. Once they’re off, the brief worry that he might not like what he sees disappears when he gazes at me in nothing but a pair purple panties.

He runs a hand through his hair and shakes his head. “My God, you are perfect. So much better than I could have dreamed.”

I gasp when his hands land on my bare thighs.

“I’ve imagined this a thousand times,” he tells me, his hands slowly edging northward. “How I might make you scream, how I want to taste your pleasure on my tongue, what your glorious body would feel like in my hands, on my bed, tied to my bedpost.”

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