Page 36 of Persuading Liam

I struggle to find the words to answer him, especially when he presses light kisses to the very faint tie marks. “It didn’t hurt at all, it was…amazing.”

His eyes light up so bright it changes my heart and rewrites the story it tells. “Really?”

I pull myself up on my knees and cup his face, excited to be able to touch him. “Really. I might be open to trying more sometime if you’re up to it.”

He laughs and the smile crinkles the corners of his eyes in a way that I’ve never seen before. I feel spectacularly proud I made him that happy and immediately desperate to see it again.

He cups my face in return. “I am definitely up to it.”

I melt into the kiss he gives me, and I can’t even care anymore that my heart is now his.

There just isn’t anything I can or want to do about it.

26

LIAM

Iwake up several hours later to find Marley sound asleep across my chest, her hair splayed across my neck, her fingers curled possessively around my shoulders. My heart stutters and starts again as I soak in the feeling of her skin against mine, the pleasant weight of her body, and the absolute contentment I feel in this single moment.

Fuck it feels good to have her in my arms, my bed. And my God, the night we shared? It should be written about for decades. I don’t know for sure how many times I made her come, but I do know we collapsed from utter exhaustion at some point in the middle of the night, completely sated and unable to move a single muscle.

And all I can think of is more. I want more. I want to explore every inch of her body again and again until I know each little secret. Bringing her pleasure was the most exhilarating thing I’ve ever done. And I’ve climbed several fourteeners.

I draw my fingers through her silky hair, long since freed from its bun and marvel at how I had ever thought this was a bad idea.

Because it feels so right. So new. Like nothing I’ve ever felt before. I’ve had relationships, and I thought I felt a strong connection, but I was wrong. This? This is real.

And yes, it scares the shit out of me and yes, one incredible night of life-changing sex won’t make everything better, but it makes me feel like it could be someday and that’s enough for right now.

Not even the very loud call of the dirty dinner dishes can ruin the moment. They can wait even if they will be much harder to clean if I wait until morning. Even if… Shit.

The compulsion to get out of bed and clean it up makes me swallow. It’s intense.Don’t ruin this Liam,I tell myself.Relax, you don’t know if you’ll ever get a chance to hold her like this again. Leave the fucking dishes.

My body clenches involuntarily, and I hold Marley tight to ground myself.

She lifts her head and turns it toward me. It’s dark in the room, just the faint light from my alarm clock, but I can see the soft curve of her cheek and the freckles that dot the bridge of her nose. “You awake?”

“Maybe a little.” I slide a finger under her chin. “Sorry if I woke you.”

“You didn’t,” she answers, kissing my fingers, sending a zing right to my heart.

Seeming to sense the change in my body, she sits up. I immediately miss her warmth. “You’re tense,” she says, drawing a hand down my bicep from where she’s sitting cross-legged. “Is this uncomfortable?” She motions between us and bites her bottom lip as if she’s afraid I will send her away. “I can go back to my room.”

“God no,” I blurt, twining my fingers through hers. “No, that’s not it.”

After a brief look of relief, she studies my eyes as if to look for clues. Her mouth drops open. “Ooooooh, the dishes.”

God, I hate that she figured it out. That I’m too much of a control freak to let a table of dinner dishes sit overnight. I shrug. “I’m sorry, it’s not you…”

“I know,” she answers lightly, slipping out of my bed completely unbothered. She pulls on her t-shirt and holds out her hand to me. “It’s okay, let’s go clean up together.”

I raise an eyebrow. “You want to cleanwithme?”

“If it will get you back to bed quicker, I absolutely do.” She cocks her head to the side. “But just your boxer briefs if you don’t mind. Now that I get to look, I want toreallylook.”

I chuckle, shocked that my cock can even twitch with exhausted interest after the night we’ve had. “You’ve been stealing glances?”

“Only when I could get away with it,” she answers. She puts her hands on her hips. “And you haven’t?”

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