Liam’s heart beat like a wild thing in his chest, speeding up like he was being chased by a pack of hounds. His skin prickled, alive with the sensation of Clover in his arms, so close, urging him to keep her there, touch her. Taste her.
She lifted her face tentatively, but it was all he needed. He bent forward until his lips found hers, the soft pillow of her lips touching his, sending a coursing heat through his body, alight with fire and mind-blowing desire. He moved his lips, feeling her respond. He tightened his arms around her and deepened the kiss, his tongue delving into the magnificent hot, honeyed warmth of her mouth.
Her tongue met his in a delicate exploration, bursting with an electrifying heat that made his heart skip and beat, then pound all the harder. The kiss was a living entity, shared between the both of them, taking control away from him, tucking it into a far off corner of his mind, replacing it with passion, and fuelled with a heady want. He was a shell, filled with sensation and response and Clover was the trigger, sparking off fires in his body.
His blood quickened, sweeping him away on a tide of absolute hunger until he felt he was going to burst with the intensity of it. His groin was pulsing with its own life, pushing agonizingly against the crotch of his pants. She should be able to feel it. She could just reach between them. Touch him.
He groaned in near agony. Just the thought of her hand there was enough to make him lose his mind. There was one thing he did know. With all certainty, with everything he was he knew he wanted her. Her mouth was a hot cave, branding him, driving him to a mad, mad world where this torture would find glorious release.
His hands moved to her hips and he pulled her towards him so that their bodies touched intimately. She rubbed against him, grinding her body against the sensitive part of his body. His erection jerked, as though he were going to explode here and now. But this was not the time or the place. The cold seed of reason eased the passion-fuelled fog in his mind.
With a willpower dredged up from the depths of his soul, he broke the kiss.
‘God, what do you do to me, Clover?’ Liam pressed his forehead to hers. His fingers splayed on her nape, locking her against him. His thumbs rubbed her cheeks as his ragged breath caressed her cheek.
‘The same thing you do to me,’ she offered shakily. She was glad of his hold on her. Her legs felt as though there was not enough strength to stand. She placed her hands over his, and closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of him against her, the masculine strength he provided, were together they were stronger. Here, in the circle of his arms, she was equal in passion and need. This desire, this infatuation if she called it that, was undeniable.
He laughed a breathy laugh. ‘And here I was shaking in my shoes thinking you wanted to bite my head off.’
Clover bit her lip. ‘Well, I did.’
‘Then why didn’t you?’ He pulled back, brows rising in question.
‘I sort of…forgot.’
An ironic smile touched his mouth. ‘I know how that feels.’
‘I still need to talk to you.’ With strength she didn’t know she had remaining, she pulled from his arms. She needed to create physical distance to talk to him. ‘My house.’
Comprehension washed over his face and he held his palms outwards. ‘Look, I just thought your mum would appreciate the pipes getting fixed today.’
Embarrassment heated her cheeks. She was grateful, her mother certainly so. She didn’t want to sound ungrateful, but still, there was no need for him to organise the tradies. ‘Yes, she is…I am…’
‘I can hear a ‘but.’
Clover straightened, trying to forget the kiss she still felt on her lips.
‘Well, it’s like this.’ She drew a deep breath. ‘I can understand how you think you might need to organise the work, but I can’t afford to pay you back right now. There’s just nothing left to cover it after the payment I need to make this month. I was going to try and patch it up tonight.’
‘Pay me back! I don’t want you to do that.’
Clover crossed her arms across her chest. A flicker of anger lashed in her chest. ‘Well, I’m not going to stand by and let you pay the bill.’
‘I didn’t organise the work for you to pay me back. I hadn’t even thought that far. I just thought your mother needed the work to be done.’
‘Work which I could have done and saved myself the payment of tradesmen.’
‘What were you going to do? Put in a full day here and then work all night repairing old pipes?’
‘Yes! I know you couldn’t possibly understand, but that’s the way it is. I don’t snap my fingers and have money to pay people to do the things I want them to do.’
‘What couldn’t I understand?’ His face was thunder, dangerously so. But she couldn’t stand by and have this misunderstanding between them. He couldn’t think he could waltz in to her life and take control when she didn’t need him to just because he could afford it.
‘What it is not to have money. My motto is you don’t spend what you don’t have, and I don’t have the means to pay the bill at the moment.’
Liam’s eyes narrowed, the features on his face strained. ‘Everything I have in the bank I have earned myself. My father gave me nothing except a base to work from. I wanted to help you…’
‘Me?’
‘…and your mother, of course.’
‘I don’t need any help. I’m not a charity case.’
‘I didn’t think you were. You, Miss Independent, can’t accept help, even when it’s given with the best of intentions.’
‘Intentions! Is that why you thought you could kiss me?’ The comforting, complete feeling fled, leaving her with a hollowness that stung. She didn’t want to think that way, didn’t want to believe it could be so, but why else would he be interested? Who would want a pauper with a dependent mother and bills to the roof? ‘Because you offered me help you could do anything you wanted to me?’ Her voice cracked.
Liam ran his fingers through his hair. ‘That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard.’
‘I won’t accept the work without a bill. Invoice me when the job is done and I’ll make sure you receive payment.’ That way there would be no confusion about the kiss.
‘If it makes you feel better, then I’ll invoice you. Does that make you feel better?’
It didn’t. It just felt more confusing and more wretched. She had accused him of maliciously manipulating her, planted the seed of doubt in his mind, and look where it had got her. Feeling lower than she had ever felt before. And poorer. She didn’t have the means to think about settling the account.
‘Yes. Thank you.’ Her gaze settled on the floor, uncomfortable awkwardness destroying the passion of moments before, but better to keep things straight. She couldn’t afford to owe anyone anything more than she already did. Especially not Liam. She didn’t want to be a dependent to him. For some reason it was so important. She rubbed her arms, leaning on the bench.
‘We were talking about dinner.’
Clover glanced at him. He looked so deflated, so alone, that all she wanted to do was erase what she had said. But she couldn’t do that. He needed to know what side of the fence she sat on, no matter how painfully that came between them.
‘Connor, Holly and I.’
‘Oh.’
‘Connor and I were going out to dinner tonight. Connor though it would be fun if you and Holly would join us.’
She was already shaking her head, finding an excuse when he said, ‘Holly already agreed. It will be an odd number if you don’t join us.’
So it wasn’t an intimate dinner and most probably Holly had already accepted on behalf of her. Still, she didn’t feel comfortable after what she’d just discussed with him. And her mother would need her tonight as she needed her every night.
‘We can go Dutch if you feel better.’
‘My mother will be expecting me for dinner,’ Clover said. ‘I mean, it sounds lovely, but I haven’t planned for it and I can’t leave Mum…’
‘I’ve taken her dinner,’ Holly poked her head around the doorframe. ‘Leftover Thai chicken and cheesecake. She’ll have more than enough. And before you protest, she said she’ll be fine. I’ve just spoken with her. She told you to have a good time.’
Clover sent Holly a heated stare. ‘You don’t know what she’s like. Anything can happen.’
‘She’s fine for a few hours.’
‘I haven’t seen her all day.’ A day didn’t pass without her seeing her mother, checking how she felt, if she was the same or if she had gotten a little worse. She had to see her. Not knowing how she was on a day to day basis was somehow worse than knowing.
‘But I have. And the tradies are still there. The house is full, and they have your mobile.’
‘They are still there? How long does it take to fix a pipe?’ Clover faced Liam. ‘You sure they know what they’re doing?’
Liam smiled. A small smile but it was big enough to relieve some of her tension. It was nice to see him smile, and knowing she may have been the reason it was there felt great. Maybe she could head out for a few hours, just so she could watch him, spend time with him and maybe his smile would grow and it would make her forget about everything for a while. ‘I’m sure. They’ve worked with me for years.’
Maybe this might be a good thing. Nice to take time out. To feel as young as her age instead of feeling the world on her shoulders. She hadn’t felt that way in a long time. ‘Okay, as long as I’m not interfering in your time with your brother.’
‘Not at all. And I’ll make sure the bill is split down the middle.’