Ellie checked her watch. Liam would be arriving soon to pick her up for Brody and Mary’s wedding. She’d spoken to him several times over the phone in the week since the family cookout, but they’d both been too busy working to get together. At least that was the excuse he’d used, and she’d accepted it.
A car door slammed and Ellie contorted herself into another unnatural position but still no luck. That damn zipper was unreachable, despite all her valiant efforts. Footsteps on the stairs signaled that Liam was getting closer. No getting around asking for his help. Sighing, she opened the door and stepped onto the landing.
Liam looked up and paused partway up the stairs, mouth open and feet on different steps. He wore a deep charcoal suit, white shirt and royal blue tie. She couldn’t decide which was sexier—Liam in a suit and tie or Liam in his red suspenders and turnout pants. How about Liam in nothing at all? a little voice asked, but she quickly pushed that away.
With all the excess saliva, Ellie had to swallow twice to keep from drooling. “Liam...” Was that breathless croak coming from her?
“Wow, look at you.” He shook his head and continued up the stairs.
She’d splurged on a cream-colored dress with a scoop neck, gathered waist and sheer organza overlay from the waist down. The bright blue embroidered flowers on the dress made a bold statement, but the royal blue peep-toe platform high heels screamed sexy.
He came to a halt in front of her. “Are you sure we need to go to this wedding?”
“Why do you think I bought this dress and these shoes?”
“To impress me?” His tone was hopeful.
You better know it. “Ha! You wish. Come in.”
“Oh, I wish for a lot of things. Want to hear some of them?” His mouth quirked up on one side.
“I’d love nothing better, but I don’t want to be late for Mary’s wedding.” She did her best to keep her tone light and teasing as she stepped back inside. “However, I do need a favor from you.”
Once they were inside her kitchen, she pulled her hair over her shoulder on one side and presented him with her back. “Can you zip this up the rest of the way?”
He made a noise that sounded like it was part groan, part growl.
She glanced over her shoulder. “Problem?”
He shook his head and swallowed, his Adam’s apple prominent. “I’m just not used to having wishes granted so quickly.”
A low, pleasant hum warmed her blood. “Helping me zip up was on your list?”
He snapped his fingers and made a face. “That’s right. You said ‘up.’ Every time you say ‘up,’ I hear ‘down’ in my head for some reason.”
“And what is this? Opposite day?” Thinking about his easing her zipper down gave her sharp palpitations.
“A guy can hope.” His fingers caressed the skin exposed by the gaping zipper.
She drew in her breath. Was she going to do this? “Of course, I will need help after the wedding.”
His light blue eyes darkened and glinted. “Anytime you need help getting undressed I’m your man.”
“Good to know.” She cleared her throat. “Now could you zip me up? U-P. Up.”
He complied and rearranged her hair, pressing a finger to a spot near her collarbone. “You have a freckle right there.”
“I do?” She’d always disliked her freckles, but it didn’t sound as if Liam felt the same.
She turned her head toward him as he leaned over her shoulder. He cupped her chin to angle her face closer and kissed her. The kiss was hot and yet sweet, full of unspoken promises, a combination that had her blinking back tears of happiness.
Though neither one mentioned the kiss during the ride to the church, Ellie couldn’t help replaying it. After the simple wedding ceremony, they drove to the far end of the lake in Ellie’s Subaru for the reception, so she wouldn’t have to climb into his truck in her dress and heels.
“This place is gorgeous,” Ellie remarked as she and Liam walked across the parking lot toward the covered outdoor pavilion overlooking the lake. Flickering chandeliers hung from the A-frame log ceiling, and the tables, draped in white cloths, had flower centerpieces surrounded by votive candles.
“Is this what you would call romantic?” Liam had his palm planted firmly on the small of her back as they entered the venue.
She laughed and looked up at him. “Yes. Brody said he wanted Mary to feel like a fairy princess on her wedding day.”
He gave a low whistle. “You’re telling me Brody planned all this?”
“What? You don’t think guys can be romantic?” She enjoyed teasing him, especially when he took the bait. “That’s like the ultimate aphrodisiac to a woman. She’ll pick the romantic guy every time.”
He scratched his scalp. “Huh...”
“Relax.” She grinned. “Brody came to Meg and me, and we suggested trolling Pinterest for ideas and put him in touch with people who could make it happen.”
“Who knew you could be such a tease?” His mouth crooked at the corner.
“It’s the shoes.” She angled her foot from one side to the other.
“Are they imbued with special powers?” His eyes glinted as he admired her heels.
“They must be because they’re holding your interest.”
“You’ve always held my interest, Ellie.”
Ellie wanted to believe him, but thinking like that was going to get her heart broken for sure. They were just joking around talking like that. Weren’t they?
“Hey, wait up, you two,” Meg called as she and Riley crossed the parking lot toward them.
Ellie let go of their conversation as they fell into step with the other couple and entered the wedding reception. During the meal, Ellie did her best to ignore Meg’s calculating grin every time she looked at them.
When the music started, Liam held out his hand and invited her to dance. Having him hold her as they danced was even better than she imagined...and she’d done copious amounts of imagining over the years. Her current fantasies regarding Liam were very adult.
“What you said back at your place...” he began, and tightened his hold on her as they swayed to the music, “about needing help getting undressed...”
“Whoa.” Even with the shoes he was taller and she had to look up to meet his gaze. “When did unzipping my dress turn into undressing me?”
He wiggled his eyebrows. “Huh, I guess my brain was connecting the dots.”
“It was connecting something, all right,” she said, but cuddled closer to him until they were barely moving.
“Ellie?” he whispered, his breath tickling her ear. “You need to know I’ll only be here for another week, maybe less. Riley and I are almost finished with the reno.”
“I always knew you weren’t staying in Loon Lake.” It hurt, but it was the truth and she’d accepted that.
“I wanted to be totally up-front about that.”
“I’m a big girl. I’m not expecting this every time I get involved with someone.” She waved her hand around at the wedding reception. And that was true, but she hadn’t exactly been involved with a lot of guys. “Sometimes I just want to have fun.”
Ellie couldn’t help thinking dancing with Liam at the reception was like a prelude to what was coming next. After seeing the happy couple off to their honeymoon, she and Liam held hands as they walked to Ellie’s car.
They didn’t talk much on the way back to her place but the sexual tension was palpable—at least on her end. She threw a couple furtive glances at Liam, but his concentration seemed to be on driving. What if he didn’t want this? She hated the thought of throwing herself at him if—
“Ellie?” He reached for her hand and enclosed it in his much larger one.
Oh, God. Was he going to tell her he changed his mind? Was he thinking of a way to let her—
“I hear you all the way over here.”
“But I didn’t say anything.”
“But you were busy thinking it.”
“Guilty,” she admitted.
He angled a glance at her. “Are you having second thoughts?”
“Are you?”
“No, but I will respect your wishes.”
“Then I’m wishing you’d drive a little faster. Pretend you’re on your way to a fire.”
“Fire?” He lifted an eyebrow. “More like a conflagration.” Liam pulled the car into her driveway and glanced over at her as he parked the car. “Still with me?”
“Absolutely.”
He took her hand as they climbed the stairs. Once inside her apartment, he kicked the door shut and took her into his arms. He brushed the hair off her cheeks with his thumbs. “Sweet, sweet Ellie, I’m praying you want this as much as I do.”
More than you could ever imagine. “Yes.”
He rained kisses along her jaw and neck; when he got to her collarbone, he paused.
“I’ve been thinking about these freckles all damn day,” he said, and pressed his lips along her skin, followed by his tongue.
She shivered, and with a low growl he swept her up into his arms and carried her into the bedroom, where he pulled her dress up and over her head, dropping it to the floor at his feet. Laying her gently on the white comforter, he spread her hair around her head.
Easing over her, he caressed the exposed skin on her hip. “Look at what we have here.”
She lifted her head. “My surgery scar?”
“Nope. More freckles, but these were hiding from me all this time,” he said, and bent down to kiss above her hip.
Her nipples hardened as his hand neared her breasts, making her shiver. She sucked her breath in when his fingers found her breast and kneaded the flesh. He rubbed his palm over her hardened nipple through the lace.
Wanting more, wanting his mouth where his hand was, she arched her back to press closer to him.
He ran his fingertips along the top of her bra and sent shivers along her nerve endings. She pressed closer and he pushed the bra down, freeing her breasts.
“Finally,” she moaned.
He chuckled. “Is that what you wanted?”
“I was ready to do it myself.”
He made a tutting noise with his tongue. “I never knew you were so impatient.”
“Only with you.”
“Then maybe you’ll like this,” he said, and lowered his head and covered her nipple with his mouth. His tongue made twirling motions around the bud. At her sharp intake of breath, he began to suck gently. The moist heat of his mouth made her tremble with need.
When he lifted his mouth and blew lightly on the wet nipple, she nearly shattered right then and there. With clumsy fingers, she unbuttoned his shirt, needing to touch his bare skin.
He lifted his gaze to hers, his eyes glittering with something raw and primitive. Something she’d never seen in him before, and it thrilled her. She hadn’t finished unbuttoning his shirt, but he simply pulled it over his head and tossed it on the floor. Standing up, he shed his pants and boxer briefs, then slowly lowered himself back down on the bed.
She pressed her lips against the warm, smooth skin on his chest; he tasted tart and salty.
His mouth brushed over hers in a light, caressing kiss that had her wanting to plead for more. He slid a hand under her nape and drew her closer.
She closed her eyes as his lips moved in gentle urgency over hers. Her blood felt like high-octane fuel racing through her body. Every thudding beat of her heart had her wanting him more and more, until her desire rose to a feverish pitch. She could feel a tension building within her in a push-pull sensation, leaving her hot and moist in a need for the full possession of her body by his.
His tongue demanded entry to her mouth and she opened with a moan of pleasure as it danced with hers, cavorting back and forth, sliding and caressing.
His hand covered one of her breasts and sent shock waves down to her toes. With his other hand behind her he unclasped her bra and tugged it aside. Once again his mouth claimed her breast, his mouth sucking the nipple and teasing it with his teeth. Her other breast begged for the same attention and she ground her hips against him.
When his mouth touched the other nipple she thought she would explode from the pleasure and the longing. He gave that one the same attention, licking, sucking and nipping at the rigid nipple. As he lifted his mouth and blew on the nipple again, her hips twitched and bucked toward his erection.
All her nerve endings humming and sizzling, she reached up and twined her arms around his neck. She pulled him down, reveling in the way his weight felt on top of her. He kissed her with a searing hunger, as if he’d been waiting for her all his life. He feasted on her mouth like a starving man.
His mouth left hers and he trailed sweet, tantalizing kisses over her shoulders, stopping to kiss the freckles on her collarbone, then moved again to her breasts. He drew his tongue lightly across the underside of her breasts and toward her belly button. He kissed a spot on her hip and let his tongue drift over the elastic waist of her cream lace bikinis. She arched her hips up and buried her hands in his disheveled hair.
His breath flowing over her created goose bumps on her flesh and a mind-numbing sensation in her pleasure-fogged brain. Just when she felt she couldn’t stand it a moment longer, he touched the spot that had been begging for attention and she exploded.
She’d barely come back to earth when a foil packet rustled and she reached up to take the condom, saying, “Let me.”
He handed the packet to her, his eyes dark with desire and gleaming with anticipation.
His gaze locked on hers and held her in an erotic embrace before he thrust into her. He withdrew and thrust again, more deeply this time, all the while watching her, his blue eyes blazing with a light that should have blinded her. The depth of their connection shocked her, heated her from the inside out each time he filled her.
The need began to spiral to life within her for a second time and all thought was lost; she could only feel, drowning in sensation. He increased the pace as she tried to reach for her release. They both fell into the abyss at the same time, their heavy breathing the only sound in the room.
Liam climbed back into bed after taking care of the condom and pulled Ellie into his arms. He was still processing what they’d just shared. Somehow it transcended mere sex. That fact should scare him, but he was feeling too boneless and satisfied to worry.
She sighed and snuggled closer, resting her head on his chest. “That was...”
“Yeah, it was.” He kissed the top of her head and rubbed his hand up and down her arm.
“I never knew freckles could be sexy.” She caressed his chest.
He twined his fingers through hers. “You better believe it.”
“I always hated them.”
“And now?”
She giggled. “I guess they aren’t so bad.”
“What was the scar from?”
“Surgery.”
“For the cancer?”
“Indirectly. They moved my ovaries aside to decrease the chances of becoming infertile due to the treatments.”
“I guess the treatments can be as destructive in their own way as the cancer.” He squeezed her hand. “So did the operation work?”
“I won’t know until I start trying, but like I said, it’s possible. Why?” She moved her head back to look at him.
Her silky hair brushing against his chest wasn’t helping his current condition. “I don’t have any more condoms with me.”
“And I don’t have—Oh, wait!” She sat up. “Would glow-in-the-dark ones work?”
What was his Ellie doing with glow-in-the-dark condoms? Was there even such a thing? “Ellie, what the...”
She grinned. “Leftovers from Mary’s bridal shower.”
He shook his head. “Do I even want to know?”
She leaned over and kissed him. “Probably not.”
His body won out over his good sense. “Where are these condoms?”
She reached into the nightstand and held up a foil-wrapped strand.
He rolled his eyes. “Ellie, this better not ever become a topic of conversation at a future family gathering, like my dad’s morning-after walk of shame.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” she told him as they came together again.
Liam awoke with Ellie pressed against him, her back to his front, his arm around her waist as if he’d been afraid of her escaping while he slept. Where the heck had such a crazy thought come from?
Glow-in-the-dark condoms aside, he couldn’t remember the last time—if ever—he’d been this affected. He tried to tell himself it was because they had become friends. It wasn’t as if he had developed deeper feelings.
He and Ellie were hanging out while he was here and if that involved some sex, so be it. They were adults. They’d acted responsibly. Yeah, okay, the condoms had been unique but they’d used them. Responsible. He could go back to Boston, to his regular life, with memories of their jaw-dropping sex. He—
His phone began to buzz. Not wanting to wake Ellie, he slipped out of bed and found it in his pants. Going into the kitchen area, he answered the call from Chief Harris.
Several minutes later, he ended the call. He puffed up his cheeks and slowly released the trapped air.
“Who was that?”
He turned to face Ellie. She wore a very unsexy fleece robe but knowing she was probably naked underneath threatened to send his blood pooling below his waist. He did his best to shove those thoughts aside. Unlike Ellie, he hadn’t stopped to put anything on before answering the phone.
“Liam?”
“It was my chief. Some of the guys are out sick and he was asking if I could cut my vacation a few days short. Guys are reaching their max for working extra shifts.”
She huddled deeper into her robe. “So you need to go back today?”
“Yeah.” He rubbed his chest at the sudden restricting tightness from the thought of leaving Ellie behind. Of Ellie becoming involved with someone like Colton. A guy who had the temerity to call her asking for another woman’s phone number. Surely Ellie was smarter than that. “I need to jump in the shower and collect my stuff and let my sister know.”
She smiled but it didn’t reach her honey-gold eyes. “While you’re in the shower, I’ll make some breakfast.”
He went to her and kissed her forehead. “Thanks. I—”
She waved her hand and stepped back. “We both knew it was temporary.”