Page 54 of Liam
“I am, actually. Your team makes me feel safe. And I love my job. Apart from waiting on my friend to return my call so I can give her the unfortunate news about her apartment, I could almost forget about what happened. Areyoudoing okay? I know there was an attempt on Blake, and one of the guys in Marble Falls.”
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Yeah. And we anticipate more attacks. But every attack gives us a chance to snag one of them.” Tyler looked at her again. “I’m sorry about your friend’s place.”
She lifted a shoulder. “Paisley will only care about me. She’ll be so worried. Maybe even push me to go home, claiming my brothers can protect me better.”
“Now that we know you’re a target, this is the safest place for you. With a protective detail.”
“I know.” But try telling that to her special forces’ brothers.
When they reached Liam’s house, Tyler led her inside. He nodded toward the second story. “He’s up there—I can hear him on the phone. Want me to wait?”
She shook her head. “I’m okay. You go get Emerson from Blake and Willow’s place. Thank you again for today.”
He dipped his head. “You got it.”
The door closed behind him, and she clicked the lock.
Her gaze shifted to the stairs. For a moment, she was tempted to go up there. She took a step, then stopped. If it was a work call, she didn’t want to disturb him. Her attention drifted to the office, to the left of the hall. Slowly, she moved into the room. There were papers all over his desk. Some with scribbled writing. Some with photos. She was about to leave the room when one of the photos caught her eye. It was a tattoo of an angel wielding a dagger.
But it wasn’t just any dagger. She recognized this one, for some reason.
She frowned, tracing the image with her finger. “Where have I seen you?” Maybe in a book? Or online?
“Talking to yourself?”
She gasped as two hands grabbed her hips. Large, warm hands. Familiar. She relaxed back into Liam, feeling the heat of his front press against her back. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
“I’m quiet.” His lips touched her neck in a soft kiss.
The photo tugged at her again. “I’ve seen this dagger before, but I don’t know where. I haven’t seen it in person. I think in a book, maybe? It might be well known.”
“Really? We thought it was just a generic dagger. All the men who attacked us at the engagement party had this tattoo on the sides of their lower backs.”
“So it means something.”
“Yeah, it’s clearly their mark.” Anger coated his words. But then he kissed her neck again, this time higher. “Everything okay at the coffee shop?”
She had to turn his words over in her head a couple of times to make sense of them. His hands on her waist, his mouth on her neck, it was all too distracting. “Mm-hmm. How’s the search for the men responsible for the fire?”
There was a small tensing of his muscles. It was so subtle, she almost missed it. “We found where he lives. He wasn’t there, but we have his identity and his photo. An APB is out for his arrest. He won’t evade us for long.”
She let that information sink in, unease spidering through her belly. He was still out there. Possibly many more just like him too.
Liam nipped her ear, and her breath caught. Slowly, his mouth moved to her cheek. The kisses were feather soft, barely a graze.
She hummed, but when she couldn’t take it any longer, she turned her head. Immediately, he caught her mouth with his own. Her heart hammered, her breath catching in her throat at the heat of the kiss. The way his tongue slipped into her mouth, dueling with hers.
She turned her body, wanting more of him. Wanting everything he could give.
His hands went to her ass, and he lifted her to the desk. She gasped at the feel of him between her thighs. At the way he teased her mouth.
She felt lost. Lost in a sea of Liam. And there was no part of her that wanted to be found. She wanted the world around her to blacken and burn so that it was just them. She slid her fingers around his neck and her legs curved around his waist, tugging him closer, eliminating any space between them.
When the hand on her waist shifted up, cupping her breast, she moaned, the sensation burning through every limb like wildfire.
She was just getting lost in him when her cell rang from her pocket.
A part of her knew she should answer it. It was probably Paisley. But the other part, the bigger part, knew that there was no stepping away from the man in this moment. Not with the way he made her feel.
