Page 84 of The Season
“Liam!”
His name is a plea and a curse, and he swallows it up with a kiss. It’s different from his earlier ones, demanding, but less impatient. A slow, deep, lingering kiss that sends a different type of heat down my limbs, all the way to my toes.
It’s the type of kiss I imagine boyfriends give, making love on a Sunday morning. It’s a kiss that promises a slow study of each other’s bodies, tongues and fingers in barely explored places, low moans and orgasms that curl like honey warmed in sunlight.
He pulls back, lips swollen and still parted, his gray eyes soft, the hint of a smile lifting the corners. “We better get going. Lily will be waiting for us.”
* * *
The momentwe’re back at the apartment—in that dingy brown-tinged space reeking of stale beer and cooked food and old sweat—I almost expect Liam to go back to acting how he used to. To ignoring me or glaring at me. To leaving the room each time I enter. To pretending I don’t exist.
My body tenses, muscles remembering the flare of pain behind my ribs each time he’d look at me, his lip curled up in a sneer, gray eyes flat.
I’m not expecting him to take my hand in his, to lace our fingers together, to lean his shoulder against my own. I’m not expecting that secretive smile as we cross the threshold.
“Oh, hey guys,” Seth calls out from the kitchen, his back to us, muscles bulging under his tee as he chops some vegetables with chef-level precision.
Surely now Liam will drop my hand, I think. But he doesn’t. Instead, he pulls me closer, dragging his nose along the side of my neck, sending shivers racing down my spine.
Seth casts us a look over his shoulder, knife stilling and eyes widening at the sight of our clasped hands, of Liam breathing me in. A slow grin spreads Seth’s face. “Where’s Lily?”
“Picking up the rest of the guys,” Liam kicks out two chairs from under the table, pulling me to sit close to him, his fingers releasing my own only to drape his arm over the back of my chair, his fingertips trailing along the spot where my neck meets my shoulder.
A spot Liam thoroughly marked in the showers earlier.
It’s a possessive display and honestly a little disconcerting—not because I think Seth will care, but because no one’s ever handled me like that before. Taking charge of me, moving me, even though I’m considerably bigger than him.
I cast Liam a questioning look, my cheeks burning so much, I doubt even my dark skin can hide my blush. But Liam isn’t looking at me—he’s staring at Seth with a cold intensity that seems completely unwarranted.
Seth just smiles wider in reply, the corners of his eyes crinkling as they linger on Liam’s hand on my shoulder, shaking his head with a little chuckle before turning back to his vegetables.
“Glad you two finally worked things out,” he says conversationally, his back to us. “The tension was getting unbearable.”
Liam lets out a shuddering sigh of relief at Seth’s words.
Seth pauses to give me a serious look over one shoulder. “You talked to Lily about it too?” He waves the knife for emphasis as he adds: “I mean, I know you and Lily aren’t serious. But I don’t want her getting her feelings hurt…”
“Oh, she knows,” Liam says dryly before I can reply. “And she seemed pretty cool with it.”
“Who says we aren’t serious?” The words come out before I can stop them, an almost angry rumble.
Sure, I haven’t actuallytalkedto Lily about what we are, but what I feel for her—it’s certainly not casual. We’ve cuddled almost every night for weeks. I know the scent of her shampoo, the feel of her skin under my fingers, the sound of her voice, that light little laugh she gives when I read something scandalous to her. And then today, I had my fingers inside her, felt her come around me.
I tasted her on my tongue.
Maybe it’s just because it’s the most I’ve ever done with a woman before. But it feels pretty fucking serious to me.
Seth’s shoulders tense at my words, brows dipping and muscles rippling as he takes a deep breath. Then he lets it out, teeth flashing in a brittle smile as hurt darkens his eyes. “Oh. Well. That’s cool.”
And then he’s giving me his back, cutting with such force that vegetables are flying off the chopping board in little pieces, a pile of nearly pureed carrots forming beneath his blade.
I stare at him in silent consternation, my fingers reaching up to tangle with Liam’s where his hand is draped over my shoulder.
Is Seth upset? At the idea of me and Lily being serious? Why? It can’t be jealousy—I mean, he’s told both me and Lily that he’s ace. Does he think I’m not good enough for her? Or that I’ll hurt her, that she’ll be upset by this new thing forming between me and Liam?
The door to Lily and Tom’s room swings open, banging violently against the wall.
“What the fuck?” Tom comes to a halt in the kitchen, lips curled in a sneer as he stares down at me and Liam—me, pressed close against Liam’s side, Liam’s arm draped over the back of my chair, our fingers twined.
