Page 28 of Trouble

Something had happened. As he stood in my doorway, that inner joy he’d always seemed to radiate was gone, and he looked so… lost.Scared.

I reached out and grabbed his hand. He followed me when I pulled him into the hallway and shut the door after him, but when I began guiding him to the bedroom, he stopped, still with his large, warm hand clasped inmine.

“No, you’re not up for it, love. It’sokay.”

I sent him an admonishing look and tugged on his arm until he followed meagain.

“Audrey…” he said once I stopped next to my bed. Despite his objection, I could hear the longing in hisvoice.

I raised up on my tiptoes so I could press a gentle kiss to his lips, and then I sank to my knees in front of him. Comprehension dawned on his face, and the look of gratitude flittering across his features nearly took my breathaway.

I hadn’t done this with him before, despite the many times he’d brought me over with his skilled tongue. He hadn’t asked, and I’d been too busy recovering from the onslaught of sensations he poured over my body whenever we’d been together to think of it. But now… The sound his zipper made when I lowered it made anticipation trickle down my spine. I pulled his already half-hard length out, and he breathed a harsh gasp that made me clench. My abdomen gave a small spasm in warning, making me grimace at the dullpain.

“You okay?” Liam closed his hands around my face, tipping it up a bit so he could catch mygaze.

“I’m fine.” I turned my head to kiss his palm and then, I wrapped my hand around his cock. “Just relax and let me take care ofyou.”

Liam hissed in response and released myface.

He felt heavy and so warm against my palm. The silky soft skin grew taut as he rapidly grew to full size, pulsing in my hand with the deep thrum of hisheartbeat.

Smiling at his obvious need, I swiped my tongue out and gave him a lick from the frenulum, up over the broad rim, and around the head before I opened my mouth fully and took him in. My jaw protested at having to open so wide, but the raw moan that tore from Liam’s throat drowned out any discomfort. When I moved my head further down, his hands found myhair.

“Audrey.” It was a hoarse whisper, and when I glanced up, I saw his eyes were clenched shut, his whole body tense with strain, but the hands in my hair never pulled or forced. He just kept them there while I moved my lips up and down his thick shaft, tangling in the messy strands as hemoaned.

I didn’t tease him, could sense he needed the release rather than prolonged pleasure, so I worked his cock rhythmically, up and down, over and over, until his breathing was fast and shallow and his hands tugged on myhair.

“I’m close,” he grunted, and I was about to move away and finish him off with my hand when I looked up and saw the intensepainin his eyes, so completely raw and unfiltered it hit me like nothing hadbefore.

Logically, looking back, the instinctual urge to soothe whatever it was that hurt him so badly shouldn’t have made me want finish him with my mouth, but for some inexplicable reason, it did. I wanted him to give me his pain, his desperation, his torment, until he had nothing left, and so I sucked him hard while he groaned andcame.

The salty taste of his essence filled my mouth, making me swallow on reflex as I stilled my movements and braced against histhighs.

“Audrey…” His voice was softer now, but still ragged with his panted breath. “You didn’t have to dothat.”

I let his softening cock slide out of my mouth, giving the head a peck before I looked up at him. “I wantedto.”

He released my hair and stroked a thumb over my lips. And then his face cracked with grief and he slumped to his knees in front of me. I don’t know if he reached for me before I reached for him, but soon, he clung to me while sobs wracked his strongbody.

I held him for the better part of an hour, silently stroking his back until eventually, his sobs quieted and turned to slow, deepbreaths.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked when he finally pulled his head up from my shoulder to look atme.

“I can’t.” Liam’s gaze locked in mine, and my stomach flopped at the emotion in his eyes. But it wasn’t pain anymore. It was something else, something that made my heartache.

“I’m sorry I came to you like this. After not calling for nearly a week. You deservedbetter.”

I shrugged, trying not to show him how much I’d longed for him, like some stupid teenager with a crush. “It’s okay, it’s not like we’re anything more than friends with benefits, I getit.”

Liam shook his head and reached for my hand so he could interlock our fingers. “I thought we agreed there wouldn’t be any bullshit betweenus.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but he continued before I could. “I’m not good at this. I’ve never… I’ve not cared for a girl like I do you before. I don’t know how to be yourboyfriend.”

Boyfriend.

The word hung in the air between us, suspended by the silence as my heart took an extra couple ofbeats.

“Do… do youwantto be?” I asked, unable to quell my incredulous tone. One thing I’d been certain of from the very first moment I saw Liam Steel was that he was a player. Multiple women, no commitments… everything about him screamed that I should stay away, that he wasn’t what I was looking for. And yet I’d known I needed him like I needed the sun since that firstdate.

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