Page 31 of Liam
She gave him a small smile. “People have been keeping me safe and watching out for me my entire life.”
“This is different. This time, dangerous people know where you live.” He tilted his head. “It would just be for a short amount of time.”
Her need for freedom battled with her need for safety. Clearly, he was right. But God, she craved independence. And staying here, with a man who was every bit the protector her brothers were…
“If you want me to stay somewhere else—” she started.
He tugged her into him, her chest hitting his.
“No.” His breath brushed over her face, causing the fine hairs on her arms to stand on end. Then his head lowered, his mouth so close, she could almost feel his lips against hers.
“I want,” he whispered, “to wake up knowing you’re okay. In the few days I’ve known you, that’s become important to me.”
She swallowed. “It’s important to me that you’re safe too.” Which was crazy. A week ago, they’d been strangers.
“I can take care of myself.”
And she couldn’t…wasn’t that what he really meant?
As if he heard her thoughts, he shook his head. “Nylah—”
“No one has ever thought I can take care of myself, Liam.”
His fingers slid down her cheek. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean you can’t protect yourself. I just… Protecting people is what I do, Ny.”
“How about we make a deal.”
His brows rose, humor dancing in his eyes. “A deal?”
“One week. I’ll stay here for one week. If no danger pops up, then I return to the condo.”
His head lowered, a light kiss brushing over her cheek. “Is that the best I’m gonna get?”
Her heart beat faster as he kissed her again, this time closer to her mouth. She nodded, not sure she could manage words.
“Then I’ll take it.” He lifted his head, but only for a second, before he took her mouth with his own.
For a moment, she didn’t move, his kiss shocking her into stillness. Then his lips moved across hers, teasing, and the sensation caused her heart to thump and her belly to quiver.
Like her body had a mind of its own, her limbs softened, her hand went to his chest, feeling the heavy beat of his heart beneath her palm. It was like those beats pulsed into her, aligning with her own heart.
Her lips parted, only a fraction, but that was all he needed to slip inside and deepen the kiss.
She groaned at the taste of him. At the feel of his hands on her. It was like her body knew him. Or maybe it had just been waiting…waiting for him to step into her life. Every kiss that had come before was so ordinary. So far from the fire that erupted from this one.
Liam turned them slowly, gently pushing her against the wall. She curved a leg around his waist, tugging him into her like she was trying to mesh them together.
When he finally came up for air, she wanted to protest. To pull him back and lose herself again.
He lowered his forehead to hers. “How is it possible that I feel like I’ve known you so much longer than I have?”
“I don’t know.” She felt it too. The yearning to be with him. The tug of rightness.
But how could he be right, when he was everything she’d been distancing herself from?
CHAPTER9
“Did they all have the same tattoo?” Liam asked from the passenger seat as he zoomed in on the image on his phone screen.
