Page 20 of Trouble

Maybe Eileen was right. Maybe breaking my extended dry spell with such a vigorous round of shagging had given me a mild case of temporary brain damage—something she’d teasingly suggested when she’d found me staring blankly at the wall in front of the copier for the fifth time during theweek.

A sharp twinge of excitement down low in my abdomen brought my thoughts back to the present. I’d see him again tonight. In…“Shit!”In fifteenminutes!

I jumped up from the couch and took a panicked look across my messy living room, mentally calculating where my efforts would be bestspent.

He’s not here for the fucking living room,Audrey.

Decision made to let messy coffee table be messy coffee table, I spun and ran for thebathroom.

I’d just managed to clean my teeth and apply deodorant, and was mid-way through applying a quick layer of mascara when the door phone went with a loudbuzz.

I squeaked, narrowly avoided to stabbing myself in the eye, and promptly dropped the mascara into thesink.

He’shere!

Shit, he’shere.

My previous excitement was suddenly overshadowed by a flock of butterflies settling into the pit of my stomach, and I pressed a hand against my top to try and settle them down.There’s no reason to freak out, it’s just two adults meeting for somefun.

But one of those adults had eyes that shone with warmth and light I craved like a heroin addict craves her next fix—and a body carved from goddamnmarble.

Somehow, I made it to my hallway and pressed the speaker button on my call box. “Yeah?”

“It’s me.”Even through the scratchy static, I could hear the eternal smile in his deep voice and that hard Cockney dialect that made my panties dampen in Pavlovianresponse.

I buzzed him in and unlocked the door—and leaned against it with my eyes closed to try and get myself together. The way my heart pitter-pattered in my chest, you’d think I was a young girl waiting for her crush, not a grown-up business woman who’d arranged a night of passion with a no-stringslover.

Hard raps of knuckles against wood made the door vibrate against my back, and I nearly jumped out of my own skin with a shrillsqueak.

“Audrey? You all right?” Liam’s voice was muffled by the closed door between us, but the laughter in it wasunmistakable.

I internally cussed myself before I turned around, smoothed my top to settle myself—and opened thedoor.

Liam was leaning against the doorframe, his tall, broad-shouldered figure taking up most of the doorway. He flashed me a crooked smile. “Hey,love.”

Before I managed to get my tongue under control to form a reply, he swooped down and pressed a lingering kiss to my lips. The heat from his mouth penetrated my blood and exploded in pulsing waves down through my body until my mind fogged over and my core clenched in rhythm with my raggedbreathing.

When he pulled back I stared up at him with wide eyes, mouth halfagape.

His wry smile turned to a full grin at my clearly dumbfounded expression. “Can I comein?”

Mutely, I stepped to the side so he could squeeze pastme.

Halfway on auto-pilot, I shut the door and turned around to face him again—but the sight of him standing there in his leather coat with that red, unruly hair and easy smile in my hallway after having pined for him for so long left me tongue-tied.

God, I’d missedhim.

And I shouldn’t have. Not like this. This was way too intense, way toomuch.

The corner of his mouth hiked up a little higher at my continued silent staring. With an easy movement he shrugged out of his leather coat and dropped it on the small chest of drawers next to the doorway leading into the living room. But instead of taking mercy on me and breaking the silence, he just looked at me with that mischievous smile lurking in the corner of his mouth and simmering heat in his eyes that made my ovariesquiver.

Bastard.

“Tea?” I finally managed, way too loud. I could have slapped myself. Tea?Really, Audrey? Like a twenty-five-year-old sex god shows up at a woman’s doorstep for a cup of goddamntea.

A low rumble of laughter made its way up his throat. “Maybelater.”

And then, finally, he took pity on me. The heat in his gaze smoldered, some of the mischief slipping to the background. He cocked his head and let those expressive eyes of his run up and down my body, leaving me shivering and too hot at the sametime.

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