Текст книги "Scoring Wilder"

Автор книги: R. S. Grey

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Текущая страница: 10 (всего у книги 23 страниц)

Chapter Thirteen

"What did you and Penn talk about last night?"

"Marriage mostly. Where we wanted to buy a house and raise kids," Becca answered flatly. We were lounging around after she woke me up by jumping on my bed a few minutes earlier. I'd pulled the comforter out from under her and she'd fallen back and hadn't gotten back up.

"Oh, that's cool. Don't forget me when you're toting the kids to soccer practice."

Becca rolled over and propped her head up on her hand. "Ew. No. Stop. We didn't talk about anything important. I was pretty tipsy, so I'm sure I tried to make a lot of jokes, but he didn't seem to mind."

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I smiled. "Any hankypanky when he dropped you off after the party?"

Becca frowned. "Nada. Nothing. He was really sweet and he walked me to the door, but he went in for a hug, which is almost as bad as a high-five. No, a high-five is better because then we could have laughed and he would have thought I looked so charming while I laughed that he would have wanted to kiss me."

"Hmm, he's definitely into you. That's what Liam said when they joined us on the dance floor. So, maybe he's just trying to take it slow, or maybe he thought you were still tipsy and didn't want to take advantage of you."

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"Is it taking advantage when I would have willingly helped him attack me? I would have taken my BatGirl outfit off for him."

I laughed. "I'm not sure, but he is super hot. Can't blame you there."

Becca stared at the comforter and nodded as if thinking the same thing herself.

"I want some chicken and waffles," I demanded.

"You just had them last night. I can't believe you ate in his car. I would have hand-cuffed myself to the console and never left."

"I'm trying to stay away from the psycho-killer approach..."

Becca laughed. “To each their own.” A small knock sounded at my door, and then one of the sophomore girls stuck her head inside.

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"Hey, Kinsley, there's a delivery guy downstairs asking for you."

I glanced over toward Becca, but she just smiled and declared, "Strippergram. I thought we should start our Sunday morning off right."

I laughed and hopped off my bed to follow the girl back downstairs. Just as she'd promised, there was a middle-aged delivery man standing on our porch holding a clip-board and a big box.

"Kinsley Bryant?" he asked when I pushed open the screen door.

"Yes, sir!”

I signed, thanked him, and then ran back upstairs at lightning speed. Becca hadn't budged an inch. Lazy cow.

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"My mom seriously needs to relax with the care packages. I fear that it's her main pastime these days."

Becca hopped up to help me open the box. "Pfft, don't knock her gifts. If she wants to order random things from Amazon and ship them here, let her. I now have a year supply of deodorant thanks to her."

I rolled my eyes and peeled the tape off the box. Inside, beneath a lot of colorful tis-sue paper, there was a hot pink bicycle hel-met, elbow pads, knee pads, band aids, and ice packs. At the bottom of it all there was a simple piece of white card stock with what I'd learned to be Liam's handwriting.

For your protection whenever

you're around Becca. Hope your el-

bow is feeling better. – ll

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"No he did not," Becca laughed, pulling the card out of my hand. "Damnit! He doesn't get to be funny, too. That's not fair."

In five minutes flat I had on all the gear and was traipsing around my room like a five year old about to go out on my first bike ride.

Well, either that or someone that just escaped from an insane asylum.

"C'mon. Let's go wakeup Emily," I said, walking awkwardly to the door of my bathroom.

"Ok, but you have to do it since you're the one in that gear. I don't have anything to deflect her punches if she attacks me."

"You realize we're talking about Emily, right?"

Becca paused and held up her hand.

"The same Emily that almost broke your 360/890

neck in that pillow fight. I think she may secretly be a boxer or a fighter. I swear."

"Good point," I laughed. "Stay behind me."

…

Unknown: Come to practice early tomorrow.

Kinsley: Who is this?

Unknown: Liam.

Kinsley: Prove it…

Liam: She thought she could, so she did.

Kinsley: Okay. You pass the test, lover boy. How early are we talking? And is that a good idea?

Liam: You're supposed to be the young and reckless one... 5:15.

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Kinsley:

What

if

there

are

photographers?

Liam: I'll make sure there aren't any.

Kinsley: Did you just make me an accomplice in their murders?

Liam: My bad. Delete this text.

I scanned through our text exchange three more times before dropping my phone onto my chest. I had no clue what he wanted from me, but I knew I had to see him.

After telling Becca that she'd have to drive herself to practice because I was going early to meet with Liam (to which she squealed in my ear for thirty minutes), I picked out a cute workout outfit and attempted to shut off my brain to no avail.

At 5:00 A.M., I rolled out of bed, pulled on my clothes, and threw my hair up into a 362/890

messy ponytail. If he wanted me to be anywhere at 5:15 A.M. other than in my bed, then he better not expect me to have actually brushed my hair. No way, Jose.

When I got to the practice field there was a white Toyota parked where Liam's car usually sat. There wasn't anyone behind the windows, but when I checked my phone, I saw a text from Liam that he’d sent a few minutes prior.

Liam: I just got to the field house.

Before I went inside, I turned around to make sure there weren’t any lurking photographers. The fields were completely abandoned, so I ducked inside and made sure to close the door securely behind me. I hadn’t realized I’d been holding my breath until I exhaled slowly.

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We were officially sneaking around.

I’d never been to Liam’s office before. It was down the main hall, past Coach Davis'

office and the conference room. When I walked up, the door was open a little bit and I could see Liam sitting behind a desk scrolling through his phone.

I tapped on the door before pushing it open gently.

"Morning," I said, suddenly feeling nervous.

"Morning," he answered with a small smile, dropping his phone onto the desk and giving me his full attention. "Are you hungry?"

I nodded and pushed the door closed behind me. The room suddenly felt tiny. Well, it was actually really small, but Liam filled 364/890

the space and made it so I couldn't take a breath without catching a whiff of his bodywash.

"Nice office," I said, glancing around.

Clearly he hadn't changed a thing since the other assistant coach had left for maternity leave. "My favorite part is your ovulation calendar." I pointed to the wall beside his head and he shifted his gaze toward it and cracked up.

"I guess I should have actually looked around, but I'm hardly ever in here," he laughed, then shifted his focus toward me. It was too much. Standing across his desk with his dark eyes pinned on me made me fidget in my running shoes. I dropped my cleats and water bottle on the chair in front of his 365/890

desk, and then for one brief moment, I felt bold.

Bold enough to walk around to the back of his desk where he was sitting. "I'm kind of nervous. This is a weird situation and you seem much too calm."

While he was sitting, I had the height advantage and I liked it. He was the one in control of our situation. He was the one in the position of power, but right then I felt like I had the upper hand.

He reached his hand out and wrapped it around my waist. He didn't pull me toward him, he just rested it there. My power evap-orated as quickly as it had arrived.

"You should eat. Give your body time to digest a bit before practice starts."

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I hadn't even noticed the plethora of food sitting on his desk. There was fruit, protein bars, two smoothies, and some granola.

I reached for one of the smoothies because it seemed like the easiest thing to eat. I wasn't that hungry. My body was focused on other, more important things.

"Is that your truck out front? The Toyota?" I asked, turning gently toward him so that his hand pushed up the top of my workout tank by default.

His gaze followed his hand and he narrowed his eyes before answering me. "It belongs to one of my roommates. I let him borrow my car for the day so that I could travel without people following me."

So that's why there weren't any photographers outside.

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"Good thinking," I answered, letting my focus fixate on the smoothie in my hand.

"Kinsley, I know this isn't a normal thing, what we're trying to get away with. I know I'm putting you in a terrible position,"

he began, but I turned and cut him off.

"We're both in terrible positions."

He nodded, but his brooding expression didn't change.

That was the moment where I either had to say “I want this, but we shouldn’t” or “I want you, despite the consequences.” I chose to ignore both decisions. I set my smoothie back down and pushed his chair away from the desk. Time to try a different approach.

"How about you put me in a better position?" I asked, placing myself between his 368/890

chair and the desk. The wood hit the back of my thighs an inch below my thin running shorts. He followed a path up my body before our eyes met. He uncurled a wicked grin and then stood up. The wheels on his chair screeched against the linoleum floor, giving a sound effect to the shifting positions of power. He stood taller than me. His body eclipsed mine as he leaned forward, pushing me back against the desk even more.

"This isn't why I asked you to come here this morning," he clarified, but he wasn't backing off.

"I didn't lock the door," I muttered as his lips found the base of my neck.

"Then I'd better be quick," he answered, trailing kisses down toward the top of my tank. Holy hell. Where had my confidence 369/890

come from? I wasn’t this girl. But Liam was enough of a man to coax my boldness out of me. Sometimes it felt like he owned my body more than I did. I was nervous about what he’d do with that power, how far he'd take it, how much he expected of me.

One of his hands found the hem of my shorts while the other one cupped the back of my neck. He pressed my head back so that when he bent down, his mouth found mine at the perfect angle. Our lips pressed together and I knew he could feel the desire eman-ating from me in the same way I could feel it from him. It was apparent in the way he pressed himself toward me like he wanted to seal our bodies and inhabit the same air-space. In the way his tongue delved into my mouth, tasting me and demanding more.

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His hand never left my neck as his other one drifted down the waistband of my shorts, beneath my underwear. The second his fingers trailed into new territory, I opened my mouth to him even more. I was completely at his mercy. He couldn't stop. I needed him to keep kissing me, to keep drifting his hand farther down.

I whimpered as his hand found my wet-ness. I couldn't believe this was happening.

We were being so careless, but I was too helpless to stop him then. When he whispered my name against my ear and his finger sank into me, I collapsed back against the desk and let him work my body up into a tight ball of desire.

It didn't even take long. His fingers touching me were too much for my psyche to 371/890

try to control, and soon I was coming. Hard.

I was smart enough to stay quiet, but still a small whisper escaped my lips. He captured it with his mouth, sucking my bottom lip until I finally found the ground again.

He pushed off of me and I knew he was instantly regretting our carelessness, but I wasn't going to let him off yet. He'd taken care of me and I was sure as hell not leaving that room until I took care of him as well. I needed it as much as he did. So I pushed off the desk before he could get the chance to protest. I sank down to my knees and he inhaled a sharp breath.

"Kinsley, no."

I glanced up at him with a wicked gleam.

"Yes."

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His eyes flashed toward the door and I knew I was flinging myself into danger, but I couldn't stop. My desire didn't belong to me anymore. It belonged to him. It had belonged to him for longer than I cared to admit.

I pulled the hem of his workout shorts down, taking his briefs with them. I couldn't believe what I was about to do, in his office, but I wanted to. I wanted him to lose his mind. My fingers wrapped around the length of him, appreciating his size. I knew I’d enjoy it when we finally had sex.

"Kinsley, no," he was still trying to protest, but he was rock hard in my hands and I knew he wouldn't be able to find any more words when my mouth finally touched him.

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I stroked up and down and glanced up, meeting his eyes just as I started to take him in my mouth. His eyes rolled back and he gripped the edge of the desk behind me.

"Fuck," he groaned, spurring me on so that I knew I had him. I kept running my hand up and down his smooth length in rhythm with my mouth. He was moments away from coming and I had to know what it looked like, what it felt like, to make Liam Wilder lose his mind.

I begged him to come with my mouth and hands, and then he was, so fast and so hard that I lost myself in the moment.

Watching him come was the single hottest moment of my life and I wanted more. It was addicting, and if we didn't have practice 374/890

soon, I knew we wouldn't have left his office all day.

He reached down and grabbed the back of my arms, lifting me to a standing position.

Then he reached down to pull up his briefs and shorts.

"Kinsley, fuck Kinsley, that was the sexiest thing I've ever experienced, but you are in so much trouble. Do you realize what time it is?" I glanced at the clock behind him. It was 5:50 A.M., which meant Coach Davis and some of the girls were definitely in the field house.

I tried to look guilty or remorseful, but I wasn't. What was wrong with me? Did I need to get caught before I realized how serious this entire situation was?

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Liam reached around me and grabbed a protein bar and my smoothie. "Here, you need to eat before practice." I wasn't hungry, but I took the items anyway.

Once his hands were empty, he tugged them through his hair and headed toward the door. He pressed his ear to it for a moment and then pulled it open.

I'd expected to see a group of people waiting for us with accusations in their eyes, but the hallway was empty.

He motioned for me to hurry, so I grabbed my cleats and water in my hands and was about to walk past him and out into the hallway when he grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

"I'm not playing around with you, Kinsley. I want to be with you," he whispered in 376/890

my ear before releasing my arm. I stumbled into the hallway, trying to gather my wits.

What was I supposed to do now? Go wash my mouth out and get ready for practice? I could still feel him sliding his hand over my skin. I needed a nap and a cigarette.

Too bad I didn't smoke.

Becca was the first person to see me standing there motionless in the hallway.

Her eyes went wide. She grabbed my arm and pulled me into the locker room. I didn't say a word to her, but she knew what happened. She knew I'd tell her about it later.

She unwrapped the protein bar and untied my cleats like I was her little kid.

"Thanks, mom," I joked as I bent down to lace them up.

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"Dude, I cannot wait to hear about your morning," she whispered before pushing up off the ground and moving to finish getting ready herself.

That’s when reality first sank in. What the fuck was I doing? We couldn’t be so stupid as to think we could meet up in the field house again. I’d wanted to see him so badly—

to prove there was something real between us– that I hadn’t stopped to consider what would have happened if Coach Davis had walked into that office while I was on my knees.

I’d be cleaning out my locker right now and kissing my future goodbye.

Practice passed surprisingly quickly. We didn't split up into our positions, but Liam still stuck close to me. I'd get a drink of water 378/890

and find him watching me, finish a drill and look up to see a heart stopping smile aimed right for me. That smile was quite a good motivator, but I couldn’t push past the fear sinking into the back of my mind.

Just before he had to leave to head to the LA Stars' practice, he came to stand by me on the sidelines while I rested.

"Any regrets, Bryant?" he asked, crossing his arms and looking out onto the field.

"About this morning?" I asked, keeping my eyes on the field.

“About us," he clarified.

I laughed nervously under my breath and shook my head. "Ask me that again in a few weeks," I said before jogging back into practice.

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…

"You gave him a blow job!? When I was like two feet away in the locker room?! EW!"

Becca exclaimed when we were in my room later. Emily was downstairs eating dinner so she wasn’t able to hear Becca squeal.

"Oh my god, keep your voice down," I warned, pointing to the door.

"Sorry, sorry. But seriously, was it hot?

I've never given one, and I can't even imagine doing it to Liam Wilder. You should get access to an exclusive club or something."

I groaned. "Can we not highlight the fact that I'm now part of a very large group of women that have gone down on Liam Wilder?"

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"Oh, crap. Yeah, I'm sure it was special to him though.” She tried to recover from her slip up.

"Yeah, right.” I rolled my eyes, recalling his words as I’d slipped past him into the hallway. “He said he wanted to be with me though, and he sounded really serious. I'm not sure what that means, but it felt good to hear after everything we'd just done." Even if he didn't mean it.

I really wanted him to mean it.

Becca nodded. "You should give him the benefit of the doubt. The media has painted this playboy image of him, but so far he seems like a surprisingly grounded guy."

"Wow, Becca. That was wise."

"Thanks, I feel smarter than usual today.

Now can you tell me all of it again?"

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She was referring to the events from that morning in Liam's office.

"No perv, go get your own secret affair."

She scrunched her nose. "Ugh! I haven't heard anything from Penn since Saturday.

Not a peep!"

"Well does he have your number?"

"No..."

"Give it time. He's probably just as busy as Liam."

"So he's probably also getting blow jobs before practice?"

I gave her a pointed stare. "You know what I mean."

She laughed and then rolled off the bed.

"I'm going to order pizza. Do you want some?"

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"Yes please, you know how I like it," I answered, reaching for my laptop.

"With a side of Liam's coc—"

I cut her off. "Becca! That's just crude!"

She laughed the whole way out of the room.

Chapter Fourteen

As the rest of the week passed, I realized just how complicated our situation was. Liam couldn't come to my house and I couldn't go to his unless there was a party or something.

We couldn't chance fooling around in his office again; we’d barely gotten away with that the first time. We couldn't go out to eat or really go anywhere in public because of the paparazzi.

As the rest of the week passed, I waited for the inevitable, "this isn't worth it"

speech. He would have worded it perfectly, explaining that it wasn't me, it was the situation, but the idea still wore me down. I'd lay in bed at night, exhausted from practice, but I still couldn't fall asleep. I'd wonder what he 384/890

was thinking, if he was moments away from sending the text that would break my heart.

I was getting ready for bed Friday night when he called.

"Come outside," he said as soon as I picked up.

I peered through my window but didn't see his car.

"I'm around the block so your teammates won't see me," he answered as if clarifying my train of thought.

"Okay, hold on, I'm in my pajamas," I explained, unable to wipe the giant smile off my face.

"You can stay in your pajamas..." he suggested, and I felt a shiver run down my spine.

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"Pfft. Yeah, right. I'll be down in a second." I hung up and threw my phone on my bed.

"Becca!" I shouted, knowing she was down the hall watching an episode of Parks and Recreation. She had a love for Amy Poehler that was deeper than most normal human relationships.

A second later, she was standing outside my door. "What is it? Amy and I were bonding."

I gave her a pointed stare. "First. You are not on first name basis with Amy Poehler.

She actually doesn't know you exist. Second, help me get ready." I paused and whispered the next part. " Liam is downstairs waiting for me."

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"God, that's romantic," she mumbled, stepping into my room with her standard onesie on. This one had penguins and a hood with a penguin beak.

"Have I told you yet how awesome you are today?" I asked, stepping over toward my closet.

"Yeah, whatever. This penguin onesie is going to waste since Penn hasn't bothered to contact me."

"Want me to ask Liam about it?" I offered, throwing my pajamas off and grabbing a purple t-shirt dress that was soft from too many washes. I threw on some brown sandals and pulled a jacket out just in case it got cold in his car.

"Only if you can do it without him thinking I'm desperate. Just a casual mention, 387/890

okay?" she asked, grabbing my bracelets off my night stand and bringing them to me.

"All right, I promise I'll make it seem casual."

She smiled. "You look like a bazillion dollars, but you didn't even need my help."

"You helped. I feel less nervous now," I promised.

"Don't let him keep you out too late. I want to go to the beach in the morning."

"Deal!" I shouted as I ran down the stairs. "Don't wait up for me though!"

Emily and a few of the sophomore girls were sitting in the living room watching a movie. They paused it as they saw me running down.

"Where are you going?" Emily asked just as five pairs of eyes swooped toward me and 388/890

waited for an answer. I didn't want to lie to Emily, but I couldn't tell all of them the truth.

"Out with some high school friends that are in town. I'll be back in a bit," I answered without meeting Emily's eye.

The night air was cool, and I reveled in the crisp wind blowing strands of my long hair. It felt intoxicating, like even the weather knew how hard my heart was beating at the knowledge that I was about to be alone with Liam for the first time in five days. I spun around once to ensure that none of the girls were watching me from the windows.

When I didn’t see anyone, I picked up the pace and flew down the street before turning the corner.

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Liam’s black SUV came into sharp focus beneath a street lamp. His dark silhouette was barely visible inside.

In that moment, I felt truly criminal. I’d just lied to my friend, and now I was sneaking out late at night and checking behind me for witnesses.

I inhaled a shallow breath, pulled the door open, and hopped in quickly.

"This feels wrong. Should it feel wrong?"

I asked, tossing my jacket onto the ground and peering over at him.

"No, it's not wrong," he clarified simply in his controlled tone, but he could tell I wanted more. "It only feels wrong because we're having to sneak around. We aren't breaking any laws and it's not like we have spouses that we're lying to."

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"I'm lying to my friends, to my teammates," I brought up, wanting to push the subject. It felt good to have it out in the open. I wanted to know how he felt.

"I know. I am, too." Then he hesitated.

"But to be honest, I'm not lying to everyone.

Penn knows the truth. I mean it was pretty obvious when he saw you leaving my room at the party."

I’d already assumed Penn knew about us. He and Liam were close.

"Becca knows too obviously, but she can be trusted. She's my best friend on the team."

"What about Emily?" he asked.

I couldn't meet his eye. That was the one person I felt shitty about lying to. "No."

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He reached over to clasp my hand. "We can end this. If this is too much, we can end it."

There it was. The sentence I'd feared the entire week.

"Do you want to end it? I mean, it's not like there's even anything to end."

"No," he answered quickly. “I want to keep seeing you. I have to keep seeing you, but I don’t want you to feel like you don’t get a choice in all of this.”

I took a deep breath, inhaling his words and letting them wash out the last few days of doubt.

"You just like pretending to be a spy.

You like sneaking around and waiting on dark streets for me." I turned toward him and gave him a playful wink.

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"I'm not after you because it's a challenge, but I'd be lying if I said the sneaking around wasn't a little fun. That morning in my office will be burned in my memory as one of the hottest moments of my life."

I wanted to squeal at his confession, but instead I bit my lip and nodded to keep my excitement from brimming over.

“What do you want, Kinsley? Do you want to end this?” he asked.

What did I want?

“I want to have it all,” I answered vaguely, staring out through his passenger side window for a moment.

I broke up the silence that followed by changing the support to something lighter.

"Hey, I'm supposed to casually and not desperately bring up the Penn and Becca issue.

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Is he a player? Because seriously, there's no one cooler than Becca. She's funny and smart. And she's been a really good friend since I started the team."

Liam chuckled, "You have nothing to worry about. Penn's interested, but he's a re-served guy. He just got out of a serious relationship and I don't think he was expecting to meet someone like Becca so soon."

Ah, that explained a few things.

"Well, tell him to hurry up because Becca won't wait forever."

He smirked and leaned closer. "Are those her words or yours?"

"Mine. She'd kill me if she knew I was telling you all of this. I was supposed to be really subtle about it."

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Liam reached over and ran his hand behind the back of my neck. "I'll mention it to Penn and see what he thinks."

I nodded as his fingers started to dip beneath the hem of my dress and drag along the top of my spine.

"What about you, Kinsley?" he asked, tilting his head toward me a few inches. "Are you going to wait for me?"

He made himself seem vulnerable asking a question like that. It was so un-Liam like; he exuded confidence and control, even the way that he held my neck felt like a dominant touch. But, he was hanging on a ledge waiting for me to answer that question and I let myself relish the moment.

"Do you think you're worth waiting for?"

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What a loaded question. Liam and I were playing house. We were living in lala land where no one else existed but us.

"I think you're worth it, and that's all that matters. Hang in there with me through this craziness and then we'll be together openly. I promise."

I nodded. "Okay."

"Okay?" he asked, dipping his head toward me. His scent took over my senses. I leaned forward over the console and we met somewhere in the middle, pressing into each other until he finally looped his arms around my waist and dragged me on top of him.

"Is that your gear shift or are you just excited to see me?" It was a corny joke, but I couldn't resist.

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Liam squeezed his eyes shut and laughed despite the cheesiness factor. "I am definitely excited to see you. Especially in this dress," he answered as both of our gazes fell to his hands on my thighs. I was strad-dling his lap, my knee was jamming into his seatbelt buckle and my other leg was sandwiched between the door, but I couldn't feel the discomfort of the space when his hands were on my legs, slowly drifting upwards.

"It's like they didn't know people would be using the front seat for hardcore make out sessions. They could have at least added a little more leg room," I smiled.

The edge of Liam's mouth tilted up in a confident smirk. "Weird. When I was purchasing a car I didn't take into account the amount of make out space afforded by the 397/890

front seat. I should have asked the salesman to climb on my lap during the test drive."

He was being playful, yet the whole time his hands were moving seductively over my skin.

"I like your dress," he complimented as his hands drifted upward. A shiver ran through me and Liam noticed.

"I've had it forever. It's probably too short now, but oh well."

"I like the length," he noted as his fingers found the edge of my underwear. It felt strange to be having a conversation as my breathing quickened and Liam's eyes dilated and shifted toward a dark smoldering grey.

My cell phone rang from the passenger seat, but we both ignored it. He tilted his head toward me and gently skimmed his lips 398/890

along mine. It wasn’t a kiss, it was an invitation. He wanted me to make the first move, so I pressed against him, the force of my kiss pushing his head back against the seat. He moaned just loud enough to drive me crazy. I pushed my hands under his shirt feeling hard, coiled muscles beneath my touch. I'd never been with a guy like Liam. He made Josh and Trey look like boy scouts. My hands kept drifting higher over his abs and I could feel his chest tightening in response to my touch. I loved it.

Then my cell phone rang again and I broke the kiss with a heavy sigh.

"What the hell?" I reached over and grabbed my phone. BECCA flashed across the screen and I instantly stilled.

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"What's up?" I asked as soon as the call connected.

"Jeez! Answer your phone quicker, lady.

Are you guys still outside? You need to move or duck or something. I just saw Tara leaving the house a second ago. She walked past my window, but I’m not sure where she went after that. Maybe she got into a car or something."

"Crap," I said, quickly scrambling off Liam's lap and sliding down in the passenger seat so that my head barely met the base of the window. "Do you think she saw me leaving?"

"I have no clue, but you need to be more careful. This isn't a game." I know she was watching out for me, but her warning made me mad.

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"I'll be back in a second," I answered, and then ended the call abruptly.

"What's going on?" Liam asked with concern. His eyebrows were drawn together and his brooding expression was back.

I explained what Becca had just told me.

"I haven't seen her," he answered, quickly glancing around his car.

"Well, we were occupied. She could have already walked by. Shit," I mumbled, trying to stay calm. Becca's words kept replaying in my mind. This isn't a game. This isn't a game. She was right, so why couldn’t I bring myself to stop playing?