Liam's List (25 page)

I leveled a cool gaze at her. “Julian’s not
interested in going to college. He’s too busy coauthoring his
friend’s memoir.”

To Chelsea’s credit, she didn’t quite fall
off the chair. But she did choke on her cookie. “What—the—WHAT?”
she spluttered, thumping her chest as she cleared her throat. “What
memoir?”

“
Don’t ask.” I sighed
dramatically. “He’s been glued to his laptop day and night for the
past two weeks.”

Chelsea snorted with laughter. “This is
unreal. Julian? A writer? If Julian’s a writer, then I’m Carl Sagan
or some astrophysicist who quantified the universe.”

“
Pfft!” Julian made a
derisive sound as he sauntered into the kitchen, carrying his
laptop in one hand. “If you’re an astrophysicist, then I’m the
queen of England.”

Chelsea crossed her arms and regarded him
evenly. “Um, you mean the queen of the United Kingdom?” She
smirked. “The last queen of England died early in the seventeenth
century.”

“
What is this treachery?
You lowlife peasant!” Julian put on his best English accent, which
was quite tragic, really. It sounded more like a mash-up of
Scottish, Indian, and Nigerian.

“
Coffee and cookies? What
a debauchery!” He cast about the table, taking in the spread. “This
is utterly dreadful.
Dreadful
, I must say. I fancy a spot
of tea, some crumpets, and a ginger scone. Now run along and
fetch!”

“
Fetch my ass,” Chelsea
quipped. “So tell us, Mr. Fancy Pants author—”

“
Coauthor,” Julian
corrected.

“
All right, Mr. Fancy
Pants
coauthor
,”
Chelsea amended. “Give us a line from your manuscript. Blow us away
with your prose.” Her voice held a challenge. “Prove to us that
you’ve got ink in your veins.”

“
Humph,” he huffed.
“I’ve
got
ink in
my veins.” Julian plunked his laptop down on the table like a
gauntlet and cracked his knuckles. “Are you girls ready for this?
This is some Hemingway-esque shit.”

Despite my curiosity, I strove for a bored
tone. “I’m surprised you even know who Hemingway is.”

Ignoring my jab, Julian cleared his throat
loudly. “Here goes.” His voice suddenly turned grave. “As soldiers,
we did not fight because we hated what was in front of us. We
fought because we loved what we left behind.” After a dramatic
pause, he woofed, “Can I get a Hooah?”

“
HOOAH!” we cheered before
collapsing into girlish laughter.

“
Did you really come up
with that on your own?” I asked.

“
Nah.” He made a
dismissive snort.

“
Is that it?” Chelsea
cocked her head to one side. “Is that all you’ve got?”

Julian puffed up his chest. “I’ve got more,”
he insisted.

“
C’mon.” Chelsea hopped
behind his laptop. “Let me see what you’ve got so far.”

“
No, no, no,” Julian said,
using his upper body to block her view. “It’s still a work in
progress. You’ll get to see it when everyone else sees
it.”

“
Oh yeah?” Chelsea
taunted. “And when is that?”

“
When it’s published,” he
replied before snapping the lid of his laptop shut.

Chelsea put her hands on her hips. “What if
it never gets published?”

Irritation crept into his
voice. “It
will
get published.”

Chelsea sent him one of her dazzling smiles.
“What if it doesn’t?”

Julian leveled her with a determined
green-eyed stare. “It will.”

The two of them went back and forth in this
vein for some time. She’d elbow him aside, planting herself in
front of his laptop, and he’d push her away, replanting himself in
front of his laptop.

After a while, I stifled a yawn, wandered
back to my room, and curled up in bed next to Liam. He was on his
laptop, checking out job postings, while Atticus was snoozing
quietly by his feet.

He turned to me and smiled. “So what are you
gonna do now that you’ve got a short break before classes start
again?”

“
Hmm.” I grabbed a book
off my nightstand and settled my weight against his chest. “I just
want to ignore all the things I have to do, curl up in bed next to
you, and read.”

“
I can deal with that,” he
said, pressing his lips to the crown of my head.

The afternoon passed quickly as I lost myself
in the pages of the book. It was some time before my awareness
shifted and I registered what Liam was doing.

Out loud, he read,
“
A thin sheen of sweat covered their
sun-drenched flesh as Ty and Savannah entwined their bodies in a
sixty-nine.”

“
Liam!” I said in a
shocked tone, feeling my cheeks flush with color.

When he wouldn’t stop reading aloud, I put
the book right over my face, shielding myself against his stare.
“Stop reading my novel!”

He laughed and tried to wrestle the book from
my clenched fingers. After a mad skirmish and scuffle, Liam reigned
victorious with the book in his hand.

I tossed a pillow at him. “Give it back.”

“
Nope.” A corner of his
mouth lifted in amusement. “I want to read another passage from
your dirty novel.”

“
Ugh. I’m gonna DIE.” I
dropped my face in my hands. In muffled tones, I muttered, “Just
DIE. Please don’t read it. You’re gonna embarrass me.”

With gentle hands, he pulled my fingers away
and framed my face, gazing at me as though he were memorizing every
detail. “I won’t embarrass you.” He brushed a feathery kiss over my
lips. “I promise.”

Despite the mad upheaval in my chest, I
managed a small nod.

With that settled, he eased against the
pillow, drew me tight against his chest, and opened the book.

As he began thumbing through the pages, my
heart skittered in my chest.

In a frantic attempt to distract him, I began
rubbing at my breastbone. “Ow.” I pouted. “It hurts right here.
Your elbow knocked into me just now when you ripped the book out of
my hands.”

“
I’m sorry.” Liam batted
my hand away and started massaging my chest with both hands. “I’m
trying to rub it, but, um… your boobs are in the way.”

“
Hey!” I cried. “I can’t
help my boobs.”

His hands slid under the hem of my shirt and
cupped my breasts, lifting and shaping the soft swells. “I love
your tits,” he said, balancing them carefully, feeling their weight
in his palms. “I could do this all day, but right now—” He winked
at me. “I plan on reading some dirty parts from your book.”

Before I could protest, he
drew me tight against his chest, plucked my book off the bed, and
began reading aloud.
“With a savage growl,
Ty took her pink nub between his lips as she sucked all of him into
her mouth with a deep and fierce vigor.”

In a reflexive move, my pelvis lifted as
Liam’s hand began a slow, steady descent from the slope of my
stomach, slipping inside the elastic of my skirt, skimming all the
way down to the heat between my thighs.

A soft sigh escaped my
lips as he parted the dampened folds of my sex and sank a long
finger inside me. Sinking it all the way down to his knuckle as he
continued reading out loud. “
The petals of
her sex were flushed a deep pink and dewy with excitement. Ty’s
tongue laved at her licentious slit from every angle, tasting the
warm honey that creamed from her core, coating his tongue with her
sweetness.”

My own flesh quivered beneath his finger and
my eyes fluttered closed.

I relaxed my thighs, spreading my legs so he
could take me deeper. And deeper.

I drifted to that dreamy place, floating on
the delicious sensations as his finger slid through my slick folds
in a hypnotizing rhythm while his thumb worked my clit in devilish
circles.

His ragged breath stirred
my hair as he read aloud, his velvety voice reaching places deep
inside me. “
Savannah’s hair cascaded about
her like a silk curtain as she took him deeper. His cock tickled
the back of her throat while her tongue danced around the hot ridge
of his shaft.”

The air surrounding us grew thick and heavy,
and I dragged it in and out of my lungs in open-mouth pants.

Suddenly, my eyes flew open and I swallowed a
gasp as his finger curled inside my inner walls and found that
sensitive nub. My hips bucked as he stroked me from within,
caressing the protruding hardness, centering all his attention on
that sweet, perfect spot.

“
Ty clenched his jaw to
hold back the roar as he exploded into her waiting mouth. Savannah
sucked him off, swallowing all that he pumped into her, not
stopping, not relenting until he softened inside her
mouth.”

As his finger worked inside my wet folds, my
head spun, dizzy with heat. Liam’s breathing grew deeper, heavier.
I felt his heartbeat quicken, and a matching pulse beat at the
juncture of my thighs.

The book was snapped shut and tossed
aside.

Without warning, I found myself flipped to my
back with his weight pressing down on me, his hardness pushing into
me.

He made my shirt disappear first, followed
swiftly by my bra.

My nipples puckered instantly, and I moaned
as he fastened his mouth over the hardened peak, suckling and
tonguing my aroused flesh.

Then he drew back and blew on it, sending a
current of air rushing over my distended nipple.

My fingers tunneled in his hair as he kissed
a slow trail down my breasts, my ribcage, my navel before removing
my skirt.

But my thong—that he removed with his
mouth.

Taking the elastic between his teeth, he
dragged the scrap of lace over my hips and down my legs. Slowly.
The motion was incredibly sensual. Entrancing, even.

Then he prowled up my body, nuzzling and
kissing my neck and ear as he palmed my breasts with callused
hands.

Writhing beneath him, I curled my fingers in
the fabric of his shirt, tugging and hiking it up his torso.

He lifted his head and smiled at me. An
utterly charming and devastating grin. “Can I help you?”

“
Lose the shirt, soldier.
And the jeans.”

He obeyed. The play of his muscles stretched
his shirt as he drew it up over his chest and cast it aside. And
with one hand tugging at the waistband, followed by a swift kick of
his legs, he was free of his jeans and boxer briefs.

Now fully nude and fully aroused, he stared
down at me. His mouth was unsmiling and his bold appraisal heated
me from the inside out.

And he seemed to be waiting for me to make
the next move.

“
Yes?” A corner of my
mouth lifted. “Can I help you?”

Instead of answering, he rolled us over on
the mattress. Then he shifted his weight and positioned himself so
our bodies were entwined in a sixty-nine.

Oh. Ohhhhhhh. Now I get
it. The book
…
we
are acting out—

“
Ahhh.” My thoughts were
interrupted when he pressed his open mouth to my sex and kissed me.
A deep groan scraped from his throat as he ground his lips against
my quivering folds, rolling his tongue across my slit.

He kissed me like he was discovering the
taste of me. His kisses were wet and deep, laced with such achingly
sweet hunger and such elemental lust that I wanted to weep with the
joy of it.

Lowering my head, I kissed him back, licking
the thick rod of hard flesh as he laved at my vulva, our tongues
greedily exploring one another.

Heat flowed around us and through us, and his
deep groans of appreciation vibrated against the moist folds of my
sex.

I cupped my lips over his balls and gently
sucked through the thin sac of skin.

In response, he sucked my clit between his
lips, teasing the tip with his flickering tongue.

And when he tongued my slit, I tongued the
sensitive underside of his long, veined shaft.

When he teased me with soft nibbles on my
clit, I teased him right back.

Gripping the base of his cock, I brushed my
lips against the broad mushroom head, rubbing it across the wet of
my mouth as if I were applying a thick coat lipstick.

And when his tongue penetrated my slit, I
moved my mouth up and down his erection, letting my tongue glide
along the underside to give him added pleasure.

Breathing deeply, I took him deeper, working
his cock against the roof of my mouth as I absorbed the feel of his
silken lips grinding against my pussy, his destructive tongue
stabbing through my fluttering slit.

His scent, hot and male, engulfed me. I was
hungry for him, and he was hungry for me. Teasing and taking,
giving and receiving. Together, we chased the pleasure as it
built.

I felt the fever spike in my clit the same
time I felt the throb of lust beneath his skin as his cock leapt
against my tongue.

My body tensed and I almost screamed when he
tore his mouth from my pussy.

“
Not yet.” The soft hiss
of his words slid over my clit like a heated caress.

As I shifted my weight, he pushed himself to
a sitting position and grabbed a condom off the nightstand.

When he was fully sheathed, he came back to
me. Stretching his body over mine, he slid his cock inside my
swollen pussy lips until we were completely and perfectly
joined.

He froze, panting above me. “Viv, baby,” he
rasped. “Your dirty novel was nothing compared to the real
thing.”

Before I could give a sassy reply, he laced
our fingers and moved them up over my head, pinning them there.