Full Circle (10 page)

Finally, he decided to make up an excuse to run into her in the morning. Maybe he could take her to Sunday brunch and ask her for a date. A casual date. One that wouldn’t inspire serious feelings in either of them considering she only had time for a summer fling.

He sighed. This was going to be harder than he’d thought.

When he turned onto his street and approached his house, he saw a figure sitting on the step of his front porch. His chest tightened, his body on alert until he reached his driveway and got a closer look. It was a woman, sitting with her knees pulled to her chest and her head down. When she heard the engine, she looked up and shot to her feet.

It was Elisa.

“Liam.”

She barely got the word out before she ran down the sidewalk and straight into his arms. He kissed her, stroked her hair, held her close. He was warm. Strong.

Right.

“Liam,” she gasped again, “I never should have—I didn’t want—”

“Nothing happened,” he assured her. “I left her at the park. You’re the only one I want.”

She raked her hands through his hair and sifted the soft strands through her fingers while disbelief, excitement and anxiety coursed through her. Just as she’d begged the stars for moments ago, he was there with her, his body pressed against hers. She didn’t know whether to cry or drop to her knees in gratitude to the universe. Maybe both.

“Elisa,” he murmured between kisses, “let’s go inside.”

She nodded then drew her hands out of his hair and down his jawline. “I’d like that.”

He unlocked the door, a sound that had never inspired erotic thoughts until this second, when she considered what awaited her on the other side. Her gaze dropped to the couch where they had last touched each other, but she wanted to go someplace else. A bigger, softer place, with pillows and sheets. A shiver rocked her.

Liam flipped on a dim lamp, just enough light to keep them from walking into furniture, then nuzzled his face in the crook of her neck. “I’ve waited forever to touch you.”

“Please do it now. I don’t want to change my mind again.”

Stunned by the power of her need for him, she didn’t flinch when he lifted her T-shirt over her head and brushed his fingers over the satin cups of her bra. But when he unclasped the garment and it fell to the floor, she was hit with a blast of cool air as well as the realization that they were moving closer to the act that had a history of ruining their relationship. At the same time her entire body clamored for his touch, it grew tense with worry.

His soothing voice grazed her ear. “Relax. I just want you to feel something.”

He leaned down and closed his lips over the tip of her breast. She clawed at his hair while a dizzying rush of arousal shook her from head to toe.

“Oh—Liam—”

He sucked harder. She pushed her hips against him and he held them still, making no move to arouse her with anything beyond the rapturous caress of his tongue on that one tiny spot.

She moaned again. He raised his head to meet her eyes, and she instantly mourned the loss of the intimate contact.

Her chest rose and fell. He searched her gaze and she hoped he would find no sign of regret, no hesitation. She wanted—
needed
—him to keep touching her. There was no longer any point in denying that he was the only one she trusted to do it. It scared her to admit that, but not on her life could she stop him from making her feel as good as she felt in that moment.

“Please,” was all she could say.

He kissed her, and her eyelids dropped closed, patterns swirling behind them. It had been way too long since she’d experienced this kind of intimacy. She was almost delirious with pleasure.

His mouth found her other breast, but this time his fingers massaged the first one and sent jolts of ecstasy searing through her once more. She wanted to burst out of her skin. Her gasps seemed to echo throughout the room, but there wasn’t anything she could do to stop her response to the bliss of his touch.

“Elisa.” He waited, again, for her permission to keep going. What a man. What a beautiful, respectable, purely erotic man.

“Don’t stop.” She forced the words from her throat, too tense with pent-up need to hold much of a conversation.

She pulled at his shirt until it was over his head and off. When she tossed it aside, it landed on the staircase, which gave her weakening body a fabulous idea. She took a few steps back, bringing Liam with her, and sank down onto the stairs. Her limbs felt like lead, but she drew her palms over his skin, urging him closer, aching to find release against the movement of his skilled hands.

He raked a hand through her hair and smiled. “I hoped you would say that.”

Seconds later, his fingertips trailed down her abdomen, released the button of her shorts and wandered down between her thighs.

She almost hit the ceiling.

Instead, she rested her head on a stair—thank goodness for soft carpet—and anchored her hands to his shoulders. When had he gotten so damn solid? The man had an upper body made of iron. She tried not to think about his lower half. Yet.

He traced a path over her lacy underwear, something she always wore because it made her feel a little bit sexy, even though no one ever saw it. He explored slowly at first, and then caressed her until she didn’t know where she was or who she was, nor did she care—she was only aware of tasting Liam on her lips and enjoying the welcome pressure of his hand while he touched and stroked her until she shouted, and the unmistakable tremors of orgasm pulsed through her.

Wow.

What seemed like years later, she opened her eyes, slightly embarrassed—she was not used to doing that in front of someone. But Liam’s warm smile instantly put her at ease. He helped her up, fixing the button he’d undone so her shorts wouldn’t fall off when she stood.

“Do you still want to do this?” he asked, the heat in his eyes every bit as intense as it had been before he’d blown her mind.

Just as her heartbeat began slowing to its normal rate, it sped up again. He had taken the edge off for her so she wouldn’t sleep with him to sate a burning physical need and then regret it in the morning. His capacity for selflessness was unlike anything she’d ever seen. It always had been, and she was glad that over the years, he’d held onto that trait.

“Yes,” she said, and meant it, though she didn’t bother to add that she didn’t know if she
could
do it. It had been so long, she was practically pure again.

He placed his hands on each side of her chin and kissed her. They were still topless, and when her skin brushed his bare chest, another wanton sound escaped her throat.

“I love hearing you moan,” he murmured against her ear before pulling back to look at her again.

That fire in his eyes made her tremble. She worked hard to continue breathing. How long had it been since she’d experienced the anticipatory moment before sex? How would her body react after all this time?

Liam appeared ready to help her answer that question. He took her hand and led her up the stairs into his bedroom. She looked at the huge bed. It would feel wonderful to fall asleep beneath the thick comforter, snuggled up to him with her head on his chest and his arm around her shoulder.

It would feel amazing to make love with him, maybe right on top of the blankets. She didn’t think she could wait the amount of time it would take to pull them out of the way.

He stood behind her and touched her shoulders. “Has it really been that many years?” he asked quietly.

Fear collected in her heart at the reminder that this might not be as easy as it should be for a woman of twenty-eight, but she nodded. It was what she wanted.
He
was what she wanted, her problems be damned. If he couldn’t get her body to cooperate, no one would.

She turned to face him. Her words shook. “Make love to me, Liam. I want to know what it’s like, now that we’re…grown up.”

He searched her eyes, and passion filled his. “Nothing would make me happier.”

Her smile bursting with anticipation, Elisa placed her hands on his bare torso. She traced the soft outline of his muscles, and rather than thinking of the younger guy she’d once known, she became aware of the insanely sexy man he was now. Heaven only knew if she’d survive the ecstasy of seeing—and touching—the rest of him.

“I could look at you forever,” she breathed.

“You can do more than look.”

Her nipples strained against him, clamoring for attention. He obliged, kissing each of them while he slid the rest of her clothes off. Goose bumps covered her flesh. They moved closer to the bed, and after making quick work of his own pants, he put his arms around her and joined her on the sheets.

She looked up at him, suddenly fraught with anxiety. She was naked. So was he. There was only one thing left to do and she hadn’t been able to do it in nine years.

“I don’t know if I can do this,” she finally admitted. She hoped he knew that she meant physically, not that she wasn’t ready to be with him.

He kissed her and massaged her shoulders while he held his weight above her. “There’s no pressure here. Tell me if you change your mind.”

The sincerity in his eyes eased her fear. Her lids dropped closed and she gave herself over to what was happening. His focus on her pleasure never ceased to amaze her. Brett hadn’t wasted any time having his fun—sometimes he hadn’t even bothered to get all her clothes off, as long as he had access to what was important.

Forget Brett.

And she did, because Liam lay beside her and buried his face in her neck, kissing the skin just beneath her ear. A shiver traveled through her back and down to her feet. His hand rested on her hip and she arched up from the mattress, searching for his touch.

When she found it, her lips parted. A quiet moan escaped.

She delved her palms into his hair. She couldn’t believe what she was doing with him, what they were sharing and how right it felt. Her body seemed to take on a life of its own, twisting and pushing against the sweet pressure of Liam’s fingers as he indulged her for the second time tonight.

He spoke to her, but she barely heard the words. She could sense him watching her but her eyes remained closed, her nails digging into the sheets while he moved one finger inside her.

Sure enough, her muscles tightened, threatening to keep him out. He continued to caress her, slowly but firmly. He slipped another finger inside and she gasped, relishing the stretching sensation even as she worried that his generous attention wouldn’t be enough.

“You’re so warm,” he said, dropping kisses along her collarbone. “So wet. Tell me you want me, and I’ll give you anything you need.”

He didn’t need to ask twice. Or even once, really, but she loved his voice and his words made her body hurt for more.

“I want you so much,” she breathed. “Now. Please.”

He sheathed himself with a condom from his bedside drawer and then lowered his body to hers with a deep kiss. Gently, he pressed inside her. She gripped his shoulders, threw her head back and begged her body not to betray her. Not now, not with this man.

It didn’t listen. She felt the resistance immediately, but Liam didn’t seem bothered or even surprised. Slowly, he pushed further, responding to both her moans of pleasure and her warnings that it was too much. With a gentle caress he eased her legs apart. She didn’t fight it. She just held tightly to him and looked into his eyes while their impassioned breaths mingled on her cheek.

“Keep going,” she told him. “Don’t stop trying.”

“I won’t give up on you.”

She nestled into his sheets, soft and cool against her back, a delicious contrast to Liam’s warm, solid body in front of her. Relaxed, she cleared her head of logical thought and opened to him even more, sweat and heat building up around her and blocking all knowledge of the world outside that room. There was pressure, and suddenly she was flooded with awareness of him moving inside her.

She’d done it.

“Oh my God.” Her voice rattled. She felt like she was in shock. And shock was the best feeling ever.

“Is this okay?”

His expression was laced with concern, so she nodded and smiled. It was more than okay. She tried to slow down her racing heart and mind and take in every second of what was happening—she was actually with a man. Liam was making love to her. She studied his face, experiencing for the first time the unparalleled ecstasy of two adults discovering each other and growing closer with every touch, every breath. All of those teenage episodes had been nothing but experimentation, nothing but casual sex.

Nothing compared to the depth of emotion in that moment with Liam.

She didn’t even think about stopping the tears, because it would have been impossible. Droplets trickled down her cheeks even as she gasped and arched into his rhythmic thrusts. He kissed away the moist trails.

“I hope those are good tears.”

She opened her eyes and held his gaze. “Yes,” she whispered. “They are.”

His body continued to move with hers, driving her to heights of ecstasy she’d only known in her dreams, and she burned the feeling into her memory. No one ever heard of third chances—once she left town, she would almost certainly never touch him again.

Chapter Eight

Liam never dreamed that the morning he woke up next to Elisa, the feeling in his stomach would be one of dread.

But there it was.

She lay on her side in his bed, her arms tucked under her pillow. Her hair stuck out in places, and the sheet had slipped off her body so he could see the soft curve of her backside.

She was beautiful.

Last night had been amazing. He’d never felt so connected to a woman, so sure that what happened between them had gone beyond physical pleasure. But then morning had arrived, and he’d been hit with the realization that the goddess he’d spent the night making love with was Elisa Haley, newly independent woman, who planned to get out of town as soon as she possibly could.

Granted, she was still asleep, but he was pretty sure she wasn’t going to wake up and announce that his efforts of the previous night had convinced her to stay.