Page 58 of Love Me

“Strip for me, beauty.” His voice is a warm caress over my entire body, just four little words striking the match that will ignite the inferno that I’ve felt every other time I’ve been on the receiving endof his desire.

Liam walks over to the clawfoot tub and turns on the hot water, letting it heat up before adjusting it with a tiny bit of cold and putting the stopper in the drain. I watch as he meticulously dries his hands off with a towel and then pulls out a fancy glass jar with green soaking salts. I immediately know what they are, and my heart does that damn flip and flutter behind my ribcage. After unscrewing the top, he shakes out a hearty amount into the bathwater, the smell of eucalyptus, lavender, and dried rose petals slowly engulfing the room.

My chest starts to rise and fall rapidly as he finally turns to look at me, his head cocking to the side, eyes squinted into slits.

“You’re still dressed,” he tsks.

It’s now that I realize what a grave mistake I made by not heading in his direction the first time. Liam prowls over to me, his eyes roaming all over my face as his hands reach out to grasp the hem of my T-shirt, slowly lifting it over my head. I feel every centimeter of his knuckles brushing up against the skin of my sides as he does it. Once the shirt has been discarded onto the heated floor, he kneels in front of me, his deft fingers expertly flicking open the button of my jeans, slowly sliding down the zipper. His fingers hook into the side of the waistband, and at a torturously slow pace, start to drag them down my hips and legs. I keep my eyes focused on him the entire time, still struggling to believe that this is Liam with me right now.

“We shouldn’t do this . . .” I whisper, my words coming out on a shaky exhale. He looks up at me from under his eyelashes, his heated expression causing my breathing to hitch and a flood of arousal at my aching core.

“Then tell me to stop.”

Goosebumps scatter across my hypersensitive skin as he works the material down my body. After my pants are removed, he takes his time repeating the motion, sliding my panties downuntil they’re added to the heap of clothes. I’m suddenly extremely aware that my thin baby pink satin panties will give away just how turned on I am by this man right now.

But Liam doesn’t comment, instead, he bunches them in his hand and brings the damp material to his nose, breathing in heavily, eyes shuttering closed as he inhales my scent. Holy fucking shit. I thought I knew everything there was about this man, but any assumptions I may have made about what this side of him was like were nothing close to the real thing. Liam is an unhinged, primal alpha male right now and my brain isn’t catching up to my body—which is screaming at me to climb him like a fucking tree and bury him deep inside me. My stubborn-ass brain, however, is flashing a neon sign that says “warning!”

Rising to his full height, he takes a single step into my space, our bodies nearly flush with each other but not touching. If my breaths come any harder, my nipples will graze his lower chest . . . something I find myself wanting to happen.

Instead, his hands reach behind me, head tilting to the side as he watches my expression. An expression that I’m sure is conveying what a desperate hussy I am. I’m scared to move an inch, I’ll be rubbing myself all over him like a cat in heat if I do.

Within a split second, I feel the release of my bra, my breasts suddenly hanging much heavier, fuller at my chest. And as Liam pulls the bra off of my arms, the air brushes against me, my nipples pebbling, reaching out, begging for touch.

“God, Hannah, you’re so sexy, I wish you could see yourself right now.”

His words finally break the silence between us, caressing over my body and finding their home at my aching, desperate pussy. Hell, what would it be like to be filled by him?

Liam steps back and I sway slightly on my feet, lust-drunkwithout even being touched. Instead of feeling self-conscious, instead of covering myself up, I watch him as he runs his hand through his shaggy dirty blond hair, and then drags it over the coarse stubble at his jaw. For the second time in the last twenty-four hours, I find myself naked in front of him while he’s clothed, as his eyes bathe me in a thick coat of desire.

I don’t dare ask him what he’s thinking right now, I just let him eat his fill, his gaze lingering on my breasts, his tongue slipping out and sliding through the seam of his lips before pulling the bottom one between his teeth again. It’s such a sexy move that I nearly moan just from watching him look at me.

After a moment, he leans down and turns the water off, holding out his hand for me to take.

“You know, when I bought this thing, I definitely thought it would get more use.”

Accepting his hand, he helps me step into the large tub where I sink into the deep water, resting back and laying my head on the folded towel he set there for me. I close my eyes and settle into the warmth and the aromatherapy of the bath salts.

“You’re telling me you bought this gorgeous tub and you don’t use it regularly? I’m so disappointed in you. I would use this every single day.”

Liam is silent for so long that I’m forced to open my eyes, finding him sitting next to me, his arm resting on the rim of the bathtub, looking at my face and lost in his thoughts.

“So, why don’t you then?”

“Mmm. I wish,” I dream as I close my eyes and sink into the hot water, loving being submerged and relaxed like this. I love baths. There’s something so simple about relaxing in a body of hot water that has the ability to melt away every ounce of tension or ache your body is holding on to.

“You and Charlie should move in here with me, Han.”

My eyes fly open, all that tension quickly finding its way right back into my body.

“Liam . . . this will end, and it will only confuse Charlie if we do that.”

He nods in agreement.

“Right.” He says the words, but I know this man better than to think this is the end of the conversation. “But we’ll be married, and we need your parents to not have any reason to think that this could be anything less than real. Plus, beauty, we’re not going to be able to suddenly walk away from this as soon as your parents agree to leave you Bean Haven. You’re stuck with me for a bit, we need to sell it.”

“I just don’t want to do anything to confuse her.”

“How do you feel about telling her a little fib then?”

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