Page 38 of Master

Confused, my answer mirrors his inflection. “To bed?”

“Again, where are you going?” He tosses back the white duvet on his bed and drops his towel to the floor. “Only students sleep in the other room. I think I was quite clear that you aren’t my student anymore.”

I stand rooted in place, so he crosses the room to me. His fingers dip into the top of my towel, and he pulls it off my body, causingit to ripple to the floor. “Maybe I wasn’t clear,” he gravelly whispers as he leans down to press his lips against mine. Kissing me passionately, he pulls my soft body against his hard muscles and claims my mouth until I’m breathless. After a few moments, he stops our kiss and arches a brow. “Do I need to explain it to you again, or are you going to get your sweet fucking ass intoourbed?”

Sliding between the sheets with Liam, he turns off the light and brings me into his embrace. The dim lights of the city beneath his apartment cast into the room, and the outside world fades away as I snuggle against him. We lie in silence, and my eyes grow heavy. I listen to the soft sounds of our rhythmic breathing until sleep takes me.

When I awaken in the dark, I glance at the alarm clock. 1:27 a.m.Rolling over, I nuzzle Liam. He wraps his arm around me and whispers, “Go back to sleep.”

Looking over his chest, I’m surprised to meet his gaze. My voice thick with sleep, I murmur, “Did I wake you?”

“No,” he answers in a soft whisper. “I’ve been… watching you.”

“Why?” I’m groggy, but I snuggle closer and find the comfortable spot in the crook of his shoulder.

Liam softly dusts my hair from my face and tucks it gently behind my ear as he confesses, “Because you’re fucking magnificent…” His fingers dust over my skin, tracing the swell of my cheek and along my jaw. “And I don’t know where you came from.”

My eyes half closed and trying to stave off sleep, I mutter, “Long Island.”

“Not quite what I meant.” Liam presses his lips to the top of my forehead with a light chuckle. “I didn’t see you coming.”

Hooded with sleep, I hum, “You either, Sir.”

“I didn’t realize how good you would be for me.” His fingers slide over my shoulder and glide along the length of my spine.

The heaviness of my lids demands I succumb to sleep, and my eyes fall shut. I shift my weight and curl my body into his, needing to be even closer to him, if at all possible. He wraps his arms around me a little tighter, giving me the comfort I’m seeking.

“Pulling you from that bench and breathing life into you, I never imagined…”

“Imagined what?” I run my heavy hand along the scruff of his jaw. Liam doesn’t answer my question, and I’m too tired to press for an answer. My head lolling with the rise and fall of his chest, I listen to the sounds of our breathing again and find the world slowly slipping away as I drift toward sleep.

Liam exhales a light sigh as he presses his lips back to my forehead. They linger against my skin, and in this quiet moment, everything is just… perfect. He places another soft kiss and whispers so softly,. “Thatyou’dbe saving me.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

LIAM

“They’re going to love you,” I insist.

Sunday night Evans’ family dinners are loud and chaotic. With the five of us, the women we’ve added to the mix, and Declan’s ever-growing clan, the house is always filled with laughter, crass jokes, the occasionally spilled whiskey, and the ever-standard of someone getting the piss beat out of them. These days, that’s generally Finn or Conor since neither can keep from flirting with women who aren’t theirs.

“Conor and Finn might try to love you a little too much,” I half jest as we make our way up the front steps. Sasha is hands-down Conor’s type, and I fully expect him to salivate over her. “They are both harmless. And I’ll fucking kill them if they aren’t.”

“UncailLiam is here!” Fiona announces our arrival the moment I let myself through the front door. She barrels toward me and throws herself into my arms.

“How’s my little nugget?” I adjust her in my embrace and tease, “I might have to just start calling you nugget. How old are you now? Twelve?”

“You’re silly. You know I just turned six.” She giggles. Leaning close, she whisper-shouts in my ear, “Who’s your friend? She’s pretty.”

“She is pretty.” I turn my gaze toward Sasha as I lower Fiona to her feet. “Her name is Sasha.”

“Hi Sash?—”

“Where’s my peanut?” Finn shouts, letting himself through the glass door of the patio.

“Finnigan Evans,” Quinn admonishes him from the entryway to the kitchen. “I swear to Christ, if you wake either of the twins, you’re going to be the one spending the next hour getting them back to sleep.”

I lead Sasha into the house and toward the delicious aroma coming from the kitchen, not once letting go of her vise grip on my hand. As expected, Conor’s gaze rakes over Sasha’s curves the moment she falls into his eye-line. Pushing from his perch on the kitchen counter, he crosses the room and exclaims, “Go hálainn!”

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