Trusting Liam

  After cleaning up the rest of the lunch I’d brought with me as a thank-you for his agreeing to the last-minute interviews, I left the gym and was back at work within twenty minutes.

  I’d been in my office for an hour when Eli came in talking to me before he even had a foot in the door. “Did you go to the gym?”

  “Yeah. Talked with Dad for a bit, he was with your nieces when I left.”

  “So they made it?”

  I looked up at him from my computer at the relief in his voice, and responded slowly, drawing each word out, “Did you think they wouldn’t . . . ?”

  “No, I—” He cut off quickly and turned to see who had just opened my door. “No! Go back to your desk and stay there,” he demanded, pointing at Cecily, who gave a wide-eyed look as she quickly turned around and left. “Seriously, Liam?”

  I suppressed a smile and went back to the e-mail I’d been responding to when he walked in. “I didn’t ask her to come in here, I didn’t even tell her I was back. She was probably just hoping to attempt to steal my office again.”

  “Bullshit,” he huffed, but I could easily hear the amusement in his voice. “Do you have any plans for the weekend?”

  “No,” I said distractedly, then it hit me. “You asking because of the girls?”

  “They need to get out, Liam.”

  “I know, I get it. I don’t know of anything right now, but I’ll let you know.”

  He stood there for a few seconds longer, not saying anything or looking at anything in particular. “Give them a shot. I know you’ll like them; it’s them liking everyone else I’m worried about. They’re kind of—well, like I said, one only thinks of her boyfriend. The other has a personality somewhere between her dad and Mason, so you can imagine how often she gives new people the time of day without telling them exactly what she thinks of them.”

  I snorted. “I’m sure I can. I told you, though; I will get them out at least once. I’ll let you know if there’s anything going on this weekend, and if there’s not, I’m sure next weekend will be different.”

  Eli grabbed for his ringing phone and started backing out of my office as he answered it. “It’s been a slow week, there’s no point in staying for the rest of the day, you can head out,” he whispered before greeting whoever had called him.

  I quickly finished the e-mail and checked the unread ones as well as my calendar before cleaning up and getting ready to go. I started texting Cecily as I shut off my lights and locked the door from the inside, but looked up when a husky, feminine laugh caught my attention, and stopped abruptly in the middle of the doorway.

  This isn’t fucking happening.

  My eyes widened as I looked at the identical twin girls talking with Eli about the job interview they’d just come back from, and my mind raced as I tried to deny what I was seeing.

  Long black hair. Dark blue eyes. Tall, slender, yet curvy bodies covered in tattoos. Smiles I’d thought of for months.

  Memories from a night in Vegas a year ago flashed through my mind as I looked at her. No, no, no. This can’t be happening. That can’t be her. That can’t be Moon.

  But there was no denying it was her. The one girl who had slipped out before I’d woken up . . . the one girl I thought I’d never see again . . . was now standing a dozen feet away from me and talking to my boss—her uncle.

  “This can’t be happening,” I murmured, and quickly stepped back and shut myself in my office before Eli or the girls could notice me.

  I’d been in Vegas for one reason. Business. After the meetings were over for the week, I’d gone out with a few guys to grab some drinks since we would be heading home the next day. We’d ended up in three different clubs, gotten more drinks at each one, and had hung out and danced with a group of girls we’d met at the last one . . . but I hadn’t seen Moon until we’d all started leaving.

  Even as she danced between two guys, her eyes locked on mine and a teasing smile crossed her face. I’d told my group to leave without me, and had pulled her away from the men as if she’d belonged to me. Because that night, she had. It could’ve been the drinks, it could’ve been the music, but even in the club we’d been pulling each other closer and grabbing for each other like there was no one else there—I don’t remember even actually dancing. And when her sister came up saying they were going back to their hotel, I hadn’t stopped to think before telling her to come back with me.

  I groaned and rested my forehead against the door as I remembered that night with her. Even though I’d been drunk, I could remember it with perfect clarity. Just like I could remember the feeling of disappointment when I’d woken up the next morning and she was gone.

  I’d thought then that I would never see her again, and I had nothing other than the memory of her, and a tattoo of a black, crescent-shaped moon on her side, to help me find her again. I knew it would be impossible, so I hadn’t tried. And now? She’d more or less fallen into my hands.

  I knew I needed to tell Eli that I already knew his nieces—one better than he’d probably like to hear. But I couldn’t. I didn’t believe in fate, but, shit, I wasn’t about to question how or why this was happening. I just knew I needed a chance to talk to her again, and if this was my chance, I would take it.

  3

  June 1

  Liam

  WE STUMBLED DOWN the hall, stopping every few feet so I could push her back against the wall, my mouth capturing hers each time. Her hands were searching under my shirt, her fingers tracing the lines of muscles in my stomach as I grabbed at her thighs and hips. The kisses had been rough and demanding in the elevator, but as we got closer to my room, they started changing. She stopped fighting for control of the kiss and started leaning into it instead. Her back arched off the walls, and she whimpered when I bit down and tugged on her full bottom lip.

  I searched for the room key and struggled to get the door open without releasing her, and a giggle burst from her chest when we went stumbling into the room. She smiled that same teasing smile she’d flashed at me in the club before I was pushing her up against the wall and claiming her mouth again.

  Grabbing the bottom of my shirt, she pulled up, and I quickly tore it off and dropped it on the floor before reaching for hers. When it joined mine, I made a trail of kisses down her throat and across her shoulder as I pulled down the straps of her bra and she unhooked it. Her breaths deepened in my ear as I moved down her chest and reached for the button on her shorts. She tossed her bra behind me as I slid her shorts down her legs and moved aside her underwear to run my fingers against her.

  Her back arched off the wall and a soft whimper filled the entryway of the room, and I stilled when my fingers touched something hard on her clit. Everything since we’d gotten in the room had been rushed, but now I couldn’t move. My breaths were harsh against her chest as I curled my fingers against the metal, and she moaned.

  I slowly lifted my head until I was looking into her dark blue eyes, and couldn’t stop the way my lips tilted up into a smirk when I asked, “What is this?”

  Heat filled my veins when I rubbed my fingers over it again, and she bit down on her lips to stop another moan. “Piercing,” she whispered through her heavy breaths.

  Fuck. Me. “Do you know how sexy you are?”

  “Do you know how badly I need you to keep moving your fingers?”

  I laughed loudly and pulled her away from the wall to walk her farther into the room. Once her legs hit the bed, I pushed her gently down and grabbed her underwear to pull it off. She slid toward the middle of the bed, spreading her legs as she did, and I couldn’t take my eyes off her as I knelt on the bed between her legs.

  “Fuck,” I murmured. Running my hand over her bare, wet lips, I played with the ends of the barbell before leaning forward and sucking it into my mouth.

  She cried out and her hands flew up to grab my hair as I licked her from entrance to clit, before hardening my tongue against the piercing. I’d never known anyone with one, and had never been with a girl
who kept herself bare either. Both were hot, especially on her, and I couldn’t stop from sucking on her clit and the piercing again. Her fingers curled into my hair as her body began shaking and then falling apart on the bed, and her hands held my head pressed against her as I rode her through her orgasm.

  She released my hair and started pulling on my arms, and I crawled up her body. And like earlier in the club, our hands started searching for each other. Pulling each other closer, touching everywhere, trying to get closer. I’d never felt like I’d needed to get closer to a girl—I’d never felt like I had to make her mine. Sex—no matter how different the position or girl—had always just been sex. But this girl? I needed all of her. And as she gave me more of herself, and slowly gave up fighting for control, my body roared with a need to make her mine—to let everyone know she belonged to me.

  My head fell back against the bed when we’d gotten my jeans and boxer briefs off, and she took me in her hands. No matter how amazing her hands felt on me, I wanted more. Flipping us over so she was on her back again, I parted her legs with my knees, and kissed her slowly as I moved my cock over her piercing. She whimpered and her fingers dug into my back a few minutes later, and her eyes locked on mine as her rapid breaths became uneven. Just because I’d never been with a girl who pierced her clit, it didn’t mean I hadn’t heard enough about it. And from the way she’d instantly fallen apart the first time and was on the edge of another orgasm right now, it wasn’t hard to see it served its purpose. I was officially in love with that fucking piercing.

  “Oh God, I . . .” She moaned as her body began vibrating again, and the moan turned into a sharp cry when I quickly thrust inside her.

  She gripped my back as I moved inside her, alternating between hard and fast thrusts and slow, torturous movements, taking me all the way out only to slam back into her. She breathed for me to go faster, and a shudder worked through my body as I tried to hold off on my own release. I wanted to give her what she wanted, but I knew what I was doing was driving her crazy, and I loved watching her. Throughout the entire time I would tease her clit for a few seconds before backing off it completely. By the time I dropped my head into the crook of her neck as I came inside her, she was whimpering and digging her nails into my shoulders, to the point where I had no doubt there would be marks. But I wasn’t done with her yet.

  I rested my body on top of hers, and kissed her gently before moving my lips down her throat and over her collarbone. Leaning back, I went down her chest to the swell of her breasts, and spent minutes torturing her nipples as I hardened inside her again. I slowly began moving my hips, and everything about this time was different. My body never moved from pinning hers to the bed. Every movement was slow and in sync as I moved one of her legs to wrap around my waist.

  Cupping my cheeks in her hands, she pressed her mouth to mine as I slowly made love to her. There were no other words for what we were doing, and it was something I’d never had the desire to do before. None of this made sense, and all of it was too passionate an encounter when we didn’t know each other, but I couldn’t get enough of her.

  As I went back enough so I could reach between our bodies, my movements never faltered as I rolled my fingers around her sensitive bud, and the force of her orgasm sent me into my own. There were no words as our bodies trembled against each other, and none as our breathing slowed and we came off the high of what had just happened.

  Rolling our bodies to the side, I held her close and just stared at her for what could have been hours as my fingers trailed up and down her spine. I’d never wanted to fall asleep next to someone as much as I did her. I’d never wanted to replay a night. I’d also never stayed in bed and just stared at a girl. If the girl stayed it was because we were too drunk to get her home, or for me to leave. Once again, this girl was changing everything I’d ever known, and I still didn’t even know her name.

  When her eyelids started getting heavy, I brushed her hair back from her cheek and looked into her dark eyes. “Where did you come from, Moon?”

  Her eyebrows pulled together, and a confused look crossed her face before relaxing when I traced the tattoo high up on the side of her ribs. There was a small, black crescent moon there, and it seemed to fit her for now. Why out of all her tattoos had I chosen that one to call her by? I don’t know. But there was a part of me that was worried that this night would shatter if I knew her name at that moment. Tomorrow would be a different story—I would find out everything I could about her then.

  With a soft smile, she lifted one shoulder in a shrug, and leaned forward to press a kiss to my lips and relax into my chest.

  “Good night, Moon,” I whispered before we fell asleep.

  MY EYES SHOT open, and my arm automatically reached out beside me, looking for a girl I somehow knew wouldn’t be there. But it took my mind a few seconds too long to catch up, to know that it’d been a dream—a dream I’d had every night since I saw her on Friday. Running my hands through my hair and down my face, I groaned as the memories continued to torture me.

  I hadn’t thought about Moon for months, but a year later, I still felt the disappointment I’d felt that next morning. I should have gotten her name, her number, something. Anything. But now she was here, and I was supposed to be her friend for her family’s sake . . . and keep myself at a distance. My dick throbbed painfully, and I reached down to grab it, a moan building in my chest when I did.

  The images I’d been seeing since Friday afternoon played through my mind as I moved my hand up and down, building up speed as I remembered her moans, whimpers, and the way she’d shattered around me with every orgasm. I gripped myself harder as I got closer to my release, and shut my eyes, welcoming the memories of her as I came.

  Getting out of the bed, I walked into the bathroom and started the shower to clean up, hating that I still felt no relief. I was hard again by the time I stepped under the hot spray, but refused to do anything about it this time. There was a possibility that she was the twin with the boyfriend back in Florida. There was an even bigger possibility that she wouldn’t remember me at all. Giving in to every memory of her would just make it harder to stay away from her if she wanted nothing to do with me now.

  I continued to get more aggravated as the morning went on, and by the time I was walking into my office, I refused to acknowledge anyone I passed or who had called out my name. After locking the door behind me, I walked over and fell into my chair—letting my head drop into my hands as I tried to focus on what I needed to do.

  I needed to work. I needed to tell Eli that he didn’t want me to be around his nieces. I needed to stop being such a bitch and get over the fact that Moon was somewhere near me, and I needed to distance myself. I needed to stop thinking about her at all. I fucking needed Cecily for an hour . . . but at the same time, Cecily was the last thing I needed, seeing as I couldn’t even picture her face at the moment.

  Seeing Moon had messed with me all weekend. I’d holed myself up in my apartment and thought of everything I wanted to ask her—only to go through it all again the next hour and the next until I was getting frustrated over what her possible answers would be. When the hell had I turned into the kind of guy who let a single girl make him hide out for two and a half days so he could drive himself crazy thinking about her?

  I’d already wasted more than an hour making this worse for myself, and had just decided to go home since I would be useless for the day when my office phone rang. I glared at it and the screen that flashed Eli’s last name, and hesitantly answered it.

  “Yeah?”

  “My office . . . now. I don’t care if you’re hungover.”

  “I’m no—” I cut off when I heard the distinctive click, and groaned as I set the phone down.

  I didn’t need a pissed-off Eli right now. Not when I was driving myself crazy, and definitely not when I was afraid I would shout out that I’d fucked his niece as soon as I saw him.

  I was still avoiding everyone as I walked down the halls, and kn
ew I needed to do something soon to get out of this funk. I knew I was only making it worse, but it was damn hard to stop it. I didn’t even glance at Eli’s secretary as I passed her desk and walked right into his office, ready for whatever this meeting would bring.

  “I’m not hungover,” I said as soon as I was stepping through his door. Shutting it behind me, I walked over and fell into one of the chairs closest to me.

  Eli’s eyebrows rose up high and a corner of his mouth tilted up. “You sure about that?”

  “Seeing as how I haven’t even had a beer for a week . . . yeah, I’m fucking sure.”

  “Someone’s having a great morning, then,” he mumbled sarcastically, and came around his desk to sit in the chair near me. “I had a handful of employees stop me on my way to my office this morning, and every one of them wanted to know what had happened to you.”

  “Suddenly my moods are their business?”

  Eli was still trying to conceal a smile, but he wasn’t doing a great job. “Cecily seemed more than happy and was quick to let me know how qualified she was for your position.”

  “I bet she did,” I said on a sigh, and leaned my head back until I was staring at the ceiling. Maybe Eli was right. I felt hungover, only without the benefit of the fun night and need for greasy food this morning.

  “You know I’m not mad at you—”

  “Mad at me?” I asked, cutting him off. He just kept talking.

  “—I actually called you in here to thank you.”

  “Thank me? For what?”

  “Kira and Kennedy got the jobs. Whether or not that had to do with you, I needed to thank you for at least giving them the opportunity to interview. As for this weekend, I know how much pressure I put on you when it came to them, so I don’t blame you for not wanting the girls wherever you were.”

  Mother fucking son of a bitch. “Did they?” Eli nodded, and I continued, “No, I had nothing to do with that. I haven’t talked to my dad since before their interview started, and he knew that they didn’t have to get the job. As for this weekend, I’m telling you I didn’t leave my apartment once, and no one else was ever there. I told you I’d call you if I was doing something, I’m not going to lie to you.” I’ll just forget to mention the fact that I slept with your niece, I thought to myself. Whichever one she is.