Vice (16 page)

He’d never experienced such greed before. If she’d been cake, he would have glutted himself.

She lay peaceful on the bed, her hair trailing behind her on the pillow, making a slight noise like a kitten’s snore. He smiled, oddly comforted by the soft sound. He clearly needed to let her rest for a while.

If only he could.

He got up and walked into the kitchenette to pour himself a fingerful of Scotch into a glass tumbler. He moved back into the bedroom and sat on the bed next to Kate’s unmoving form. She’d kicked all the sheets off and he couldn’t resist running a hand over her bare spine. Her skin already bore goose pimples from the A/C so he reached for the covers and draped them over her. She made a sleepy noise of appreciation and burrowed in next to his thigh.

As if they’d always slept together. As if they always would.

Liam knew in that moment that he would do anything to keep Kate safe. He’d suspected it when he first saw her. He’d been convinced of it after she’d been attacked by Vaughan. And now, after sharing so much with her, their bond floored him with its simplicity and depth. He wanted her to have a home with him, and not some souped-up office in a casino. A real home, full of love and laughter. The kind which he’d always dreamed about, but feared he’d never have.

I want you out of my home. Do you understand me?

“Oh, yeah, Shauna,” he muttered. “I understand. I understand you’ve lost your power over me.”

It was true. Since telling Kate about his childhood, about his feelings of inadequacy, somehow they’d all but fizzled away. Where he used to grow so enraged every time he pictured his stepmother, he now felt only sadness. Sadness for Shauna, because she missed out on having him in her life, or even having the life she’d wanted.

For the first time, he felt ready to forgive. It defied logic, but in listening to him, in sharing herself with him, Kate had taught him there was so much more to life than recrimination or a need to prove his worth. Hadn’t he been doing just that in building his casinos, trying to prove how important he was, how special? And all because he’d never heard those words uttered by a ghost of a woman.

With Kate’s gentle touches and sweet words, he’d realized he didn’t need to prove himself. He only wanted to live up to one standard now, to be the man who would take care of Kate.

Kate.

She was so fucking beautiful whenever he took her, each and every time. Something incredible passed between them every time they touched. She’d seen it too, he could tell. Something profound and mysterious and strangely binding. For years, he’d kept people away. He’d never shared himself completely with anyone. He was too busy maintaining the cult of Liam Doyle and burying his past. But Kate had helped him see the past wasn’t clawing its way out of the ground, reaching for him. The past didn’t need to be buried again and again.

Of course, he might have already gone and fucked it up a couple of times. He saw the hesitant light in her eyes, knew his intensity scared her. He just didn’t know how else to be with her. He could tell she wanted, needed, to talk to him about their pasts, but he was ready to leave the past behind. He didn’t want to dwell on hate anymore. He wanted to concentrate on how Kate made him feel. She made him soar. She made him despair. She made him dare to love.

He closed his eyes for a moment, floored by the sentiment.

She must think he was a basket case. Good thing she forgave those peculiarities.

As he thought about the nature of forgiveness, Liam realized there might be room in his heart for one more act of it.

He put down the tumbler of Scotch on the bedside table and picked up his cell phone. He dialed and waited until a groggy voice came on the other line.

“Nando? Yeah, I know it’s late. Sorry about that.” Liam paused. “Look, I want you to drop the suit for Michelle’s custody. Yeah, I’ve changed my mind.” He listened to his lawyer’s words. “Don’t worry about the costs, just bill it to me. Cover theirs as well. It’s time to move on. Get some sleep, and thanks.” He ended the call before Perreira tried to talk him out of it. Perreira could talk the devil out of devilry.

Liam sat still in bed and waited for true rock bottom to hit. He braced himself for the lump in his throat.

It didn’t come.

Yes, he would miss Michelle. Would miss her terribly. But he knew he did the right thing. Andy and Bridget weren’t perfect, but they wanted to give their little girl a family, which was more than he often felt he had growing up. He wouldn’t rip it away from them.

“Goodbye, Michelle.”

Besides, as he looked as Kate, sleeping amidst rumpled sheets, he couldn’t help but think he’d found a new family.

She stirred in the bed and reached out a hand to him. He lay next to her, winding his arms about her soft body.

Her lips found his neck and she kissed him. “You did the right thing. I’m proud of you.”

He nodded his gratitude and held her until morning.

Chapter Thirteen

Kate took a moment to admire the soft lighting of their surroundings and the opulent, yet understated furnishings. This was a part of Vice Liam had never shown her before. It wasn’t even officially open, still blocked off and barred to the public.

“What is this place?”

“It’s called Decadence. It’s a piano bar. Do you like it?”

“It’s beautiful.”

He grinned. “I hope to see it open in a month or so. Once I pin down the right talent.”

She ran a hand over one of the velvet bar stools that were cheekily constructed to fit two people. “Lucky talent.”

His grin expanded into a wide smile and her breath hitched. Damn. They’d slept together, bathed together, and spent the wee hours of the mornings together. He’d taken her every which way, yet her heart still pounded every time he smiled at her, even if her brain still occasionally tried to warn her away.

He shuts you down every time you want to discuss something more important than room service. Run.

Ignoring the voice, she let him lead her, his hand at the small of her back, to a booth at the back of the empty bar where they sat.

“Kate, I brought you here because for the first time in a long while, I’m excited about looking forward. I want you to sing for me. Ever since you told me you performed torch songs, I knew I had to hear you.”

“You’re kidding, right?” No way he really wanted her to audition. He must be speaking through the haze of lust that had driven them both the past few days.

He gestured to the small platform next to the piano. “I never kid. Except when I do. Come on. If you managed to get me sexed up with a hideous used car jingle, just imagine what you can do in the right setting with the right music.”

She looked around the room. With the gleaming grand piano, rich upholstery and expansive bar filled with colorful liqueurs, Decadence was the piano bar of her dreams. A real launching point for her career. She could already imagine herself on stage, microphone in hand, wearing a sumptuous gown as she crooned.

“Kate, come on. Just a scale, an arpeggio. I want to hear your voice.”

“You’ve already heard it.”

“Yes, but I want to hear something other than ‘Oh, God, Liam! More, baby, more!’”

She elbowed him in the ribs.

“Don’t get me wrong. It’s music to my ears.” He slid his hand up her thigh, mere centimeters away from her core. He squeezed and her body responded, radiating with warmth. “But I want to hear you sing.”

“I don’t know.” Yes, Liam’s nightclub was a thing of beauty but it still sat in the middle of a Vegas casino, precisely the type of venue she’d avoided for years. She’d had one or two offers to sing in casinos before. Lucrative opportunities, truth be told, but she’d always turned them down. It was one thing to frolic in bed with Liam, but to work for him? To be on the payroll at Vice? It seemed wrong, even unfair to anyone else who might have wanted the job. And the hypocrisy…

“Kate.” Liam’s low voice made her rebel against her common sense. One word from him, and her libido took up arms against her brain. He nibbled her ear, tracing the shell with his tongue. “I’ll keep hounding you until I get what I want.”

Of course he will. It’s what he does.

Her resistance turned to soup. “Okay, okay.” She slid out of the booth and stood, marching to the stage. “You sure are pushy. Do you conduct all your business this way?”

“No, ma’am.” Liam leaned back, watching her through hooded eyes. “I’ve only employed these tactics of persuasion with you.”

She stuck out her tongue and sat on the piano bench. With a tentative hand, she stroked the keys and closed her eyes as she struck a familiar chord. Why was it music always sounded more poignant coming from a grand piano? She launched into a melody she’d played for years, wincing when she came to a part that had always stumped her. Avoiding Liam’s hawk-like gaze, she took a deep breath, drawing from her diaphragm as she’d been taught, and sang the opening notes of “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes.”

She took her time, feeling strangely free even under his intense scrutiny. Ornamenting her phrases, she added a few jazzy syncopations. With him watching, she enjoyed playing with the music, lilting and scooping up to the higher notes, drawing them out to create heartbreaking dissidence. And even though she endeavored to remain distant, not acknowledging Liam’s heated looks, in her heart she sang to him and of him. She poured her heart out for him.

Even before she hit the final note, he approached, fire in his eyes. As the note died away, she looked up at him.

He pulled Kate to her feet, his face serious. “You are incredible and you’re hired.”

“Liam…”

“I mean it. Once the police find Vaughan, I want you to open my club.”

He didn’t let her respond. Wrapping her in his arms, he claimed her mouth. Tongue, teeth, lips, he took them all and she shook like a leaf in a storm, unwilling to fight him.

She wanted to tell him she couldn’t sing at Decadence, at Vice, but the words wouldn’t come out. And once his hands slid down her back to knead her bottom, she forgot how words worked.

“Kate,” he said on a deep groan. “I need you now.”

Yes
, her body shouted, overpowering the brain that yet fought to keep her strong. Her nipples hardened and the pressure in her womb grew frenzied. She clutched at him, her greatest temptation, and moaned into his mouth as their tongues battled. She would give herself to him again, right here. She’d do anything he asked.

She was falling in love with him.

Liam ripped off his shirt, and Kate tugged off her own, tossing it onto the stage. He worked his belt buckle while she threw her bra to the floor. Liam eyed her with hunger and motioned for her to lie back on the piano bench. She did, arching her back at the sensation of cool wood on her skin.

He knelt next to her and cupped her breasts. Rolling her nipples between fingers and thumbs, he plucked them until she flailed and moaned.

“So beautiful,” he said. “So goddamn beautiful.”

As he was to her, with his sexy eyes and wicked grin. She could look at him forever.

He closed his lips over one nipple and laved it with his tongue. As he suckled, he danced his hand over her belly and slid his fingers over her mound and between her legs. She was already so wet, so primed, he must have felt her moisture right through her jeans. Scratching a fingernail over her denim-clad pussy, he chuckled when she bucked beneath him.

“Far too many clothes.” Lifting his head from her breast, he repositioned himself at the other end of the bench by her dangling legs. He unzipped her jeans and tugged them over her hips and pulled them off, along with her panties. Tossing them onto the keyboard, he chuckled when they made a discordant noise.

Liam ran his hands up her legs, spreading them with a determined touch. He lowered his head, breathed in and smoothed his tongue over her already swollen lips.

Insane pleasure tackled her, rattling through her veins. “Good God.”

He teased her with gentle licks, but never sliding deep, never touching her clit. Even so, her sex fluttered and flexed, wanting more, wanting it harder. She dug her hands in his hair, urging him to press on with his intimate kisses.

“You want more, sugar?” he said, lifting his head.

She nodded, desperate for release.

“How bad do you want it?” His fingers glided over her delicate skin.

Just as she was about to tell him to get back to work, or else, he surprised her by tapping her mound, right on her clit.

Her nerve endings exploded in wonderful agony as she experienced a mini-orgasm. Liam didn’t give her a chance to recover. Finally rewarding her for her trials, he insinuated his face between her legs and sucked hard.

Her vision grew foggy as she came in his mouth and cried his name over and over.

He continued to lap while two fingers found a home inside her. Stroking, stroking, he did not stop until she’d quieted. Once she did, he continued his ministrations until she tightened under him once more. Shocked she could come again so quickly, she squeezed her eyes shut and went along for the very bumpy ride. He knew just what to do to make her moan, to make her tremble, and as she pondered his power over her, she shattered under him once again.

Before her orgasm had even subsided, he gathered her in his arms and carried her to one of the wide bar stools.

“Lean over, baby. Show me that pretty ass.”

She leaned over the stool, glad for the velvet crush on her chest. Liam caressed the globes of her behind and massaged up to her back. She resisted stretching and meowing like a cat but it was hard not to purr as he manipulated her grateful muscles.

His hands stilled. “Shit. I just realized I don’t have a condom.”

She stood and turned and eyed her gorgeous man. As much as she still had reservations about his emotional wellbeing, she wasn’t worried about catching anything from him. He’d been meticulous up until now. “It’s okay. I’m on the pill. I trust you.”

He cupped her face. “I would never do anything to destroy that trust.”

She held his hand closer to her cheek, loving his touch. Kate then turned and positioned herself over the stool. “Take me. Now.”

She wiggled her bottom for incentive, as if any were needed. Liam groaned and stripped out of his remaining clothes. She looked over her shoulder at the nude god behind her, biting her lip when he touched a reverent hand to her pussy.

“You’re so sweet, baby,” he said as he wriggled a finger into her core.

“Liam, please. You tease too much.”

“There’s no such thing as too much teasing, sugar. You know, you look so tempting from this angle, I might get on my knees and eat you out again.”

“Liam, fuck me, please.”

He slapped her ass. “So unladylike.”

Before she could beg, he speared inside her. She shouted in shock and ecstasy as he filled her. He slammed into her over and over, stretching her tight channel as easily as he’d taken her heart. He gripped her hips, digging in with his nails, and she relished the sharp tug on her flesh. Curling over her body, he pistoned into her, his strong muscles powering each debilitating glide.

Her orgasm spiraled into view and her arms and legs went tingly numb.

Kate froze, realizing the numbness wasn’t brought on by Liam’s thrusts. It was the aura of an impending seizure, the only warning she’d ever received before phasing out.

Only, as always, it happened so fast, too fast to tell him. Her limbs stiffened, she opened her mouth to talk but no words came.

Kate blacked out.

Liam had hoped his movements would liquefy her limbs, but realized something was wrong as soon as her entire frame tensed. When guttural noises emerged from her throat, he frantically pulled out and took her off the stool. She moved like an automaton. Her eyes had rolled back in her head and there was spittle on her lips.

Fuck. A seizure.

He remembered a kid from high school who used to suffer from epilepsy. The teacher always said there was no way to stop it. One should just make the person comfortable. Knowing all he could do was help her ride it out, he bundled her to the ground and turned her on her side, facing him.

She shook and sputtered and mumbled strange words. Her fingers dug into his legs. Where her toes should have curled with pleasure, they now stretched as her body was ravaged by the episode.

And he couldn’t stop it. He couldn’t fucking stop it. She seemed to be in agony and he couldn’t do a damn thing. Could only watch and wonder at how much it made his heart hurt.

He ran a hand over her hair. “It’s okay, Kate. I’ve got you. I’ve got you.”

He spoke in gentle tones, belying the frantic pace of his pulse. After the longest minute of his life, her shudders began to subside. The relief that streaked through him was palpable.

Her pretty irises floated back into view and she focused on him, but then she turned away, as if ashamed.

“Hey.” He pulled her into his arms and cradled her on his lap. “You went for a little trip. Are you in pain?”

“No.”

“Thank God. Can you remember anything?”

“No.”

He kissed her brow, letting his lips linger on her clammy skin. Christ, he was just as clammy. Thinking he might have caused her seizure was doing a real number on his sanity. Fuck, to think he might have hurt her…

Had he? He knew he’d been pushing it, pushing her. Guilt stabbed through him, making his chest seize with its familiar pain.

They didn’t talk for some time. He was too consumed with the memory of her sightless gaze, her terrible tremors and moans. He wanted to help her, to ensure she never had to suffer like that again.

“What can I do, Kate? Tell me. Should I call an ambulance?”

“There’s no need.”

“I can call Dr. Chan.”

“No, but I should get back to the suite and take my pills.” She pulled away, ever so slightly. “I’m usually diligent about taking them, but I forgot the past few days. I’ve been…distracted.”

“Kate, sweetheart. Please tell me I didn’t hurt you.”

She lifted her head. With her face drawn and pale, she appeared exhausted. When she smiled, it didn’t quite reach her eyes. He could have sworn in that moment she retreated from him.

“You didn’t. No one knows why the seizures happen. Just tragic timing. Sorry to spoil the moment.”

Fuck the moment. He wanted to know he’d have other moments with her, but with the way she looked at him now, he wasn’t sure anymore. She looked everywhere, nervous, and colored with what might even be regret.

No, it must be the seizure. Damn, seeing that had done horrible things to him. His heart was still racing. Liam didn’t know if he’d ever enjoy another moment of peace, knowing she could drop to the ground at any time. She could collapse in front of a bus, for God’s sake. “I want you to see a specialist.”

“I’ve seen them. Lots of them.”

“I want you to see another one. I’ll get Chan to give you a referral.”

“There’s no need.”

“Of course there’s a fucking need.” His voice rose with each syllable. Why was he shouting? Maybe because she edged away from him, because she
continued
to edge away from him, rather than sink into his embrace. “You may not have seen what happened but I did. I don’t want you to go through that again.”