I swallowed, my mouth going dry at the sight of her, at the feel of her fingers squeezing my dick as she stroked me up, then down, up, then down…
Heat gathered in my balls.
I rocked into her grasp, vaguely aware that when I came, it was going to be explosive.
But she stopped.
Just as I felt those warning tingles race down my spine, just as my balls grew tight against my body, she just…stopped.
I groaned against her skin.
She pushed me back and grinned at me. “We’re just getting to the good stuff, Liam. Don’t pout.”
That smart mouth of hers undid me, and without thinking about it, I hooked my hand around the back of her neck and pulled her in for a hard kiss.
She tensed at first, then softened against me, curling her arms around my neck as she pressed closer.
She opened her lips invitingly.
I didn’t know what the hell I was doing.
But she’d seemed so certain…
I decided to do what she’d done when she kissed me. I traced the line of her lower lip, then slid inside. She closed her mouth around my tongue and sucked on me.
Pleasure raced through me.
Her tongue darted out to slide against mine, and I let her, giving control of the kiss over to her. I didn’t stop kissing her though. Every time her tongue retreated, I sought it out, learning the inside of her mouth, gorging on the taste of her.
She was the one to break the kiss this time, pressing her hand against me and shaking water out of her eyes.
“You most certainly do not suck at this,” she said, her voice soft. She held something up in front of me. “We need this. Like…now.”
I blinked at the urgency in her voice, then focused on the small packet she held.
Condom.
Right.
“I’m sure I don’t need to lecture you about safe sex,” she said, tearing the packet open.
I went to reach for the rubber, but she twisted away, giving me a hard look. “Uh-uh. Mine.”
My cock pulsed at the hungry look in her eyes, and I went lax against the shower wall, waiting for her.
She made the simple act of putting a rubber on feel like a lesson in erotic art, stroking her way down my shaft, then back up, sweeping her thumb around the top.
By the time the condom was finally in place, I was shaking.
She turned us, bracing her back against the wall. “Come here, Liam,” she whispered.
I couldn’t have resisted if I tried.
I went to her and cupped her hips.
“Boost me up…like we were earlier,” she instructed.
I lifted her, steadying her weight between me and the wall. She caught me around the hips and tugged me in closer. “Hold onto me,” she said, watching my face. “I’m going to…” Her voice hitched, and I looked down just as she wrapped her hand around the base of my cock.
“Come inside me,” she said, her voice urgent. I hesitated. “Stop thinking, Liam.”
She arched and wiggled, and I leaned in closer, drawn in by instinct. She was hot. I couldn’t feel her as much with the rubber in place, but she was hot and slick, and when I slowly pushed inside her, she clamped down on me tight.
“Liam,” she whispered, her lashes drifting down.
She used her legs to guide me, setting the pace with her hips, and I let her lead the way.
“Touch my clit, Liam,” she demanded, grabbing my hand and guiding it between us.
It took some awkward shifting, but the effort was worth it when I stroked that hard bud. She jolted against me and arched her spine.
“More…”
And she began to pump against me, almost frantic as she urged me on. Her words became whimpers.
I kissed her, dazed when she shoved her hands into my hair and pulled me in closer, tighter.
The orgasm breathed down my spine, and I fought to hold it back.
I might not be a pro at this, but she hadn’t come yet.
My cock jerked, throbbing inside her as I rocked against her. I circled her clit with my fingers faster. Circles, she’d said. Soon, though, I wasn’t making anything resembling a circle. My fingers just slipped and slid all over her wet, swollen flesh, and she seemed to love it.
“That’s…right there,” she ordered. “Don’t stop.”
I had no idea what I wasn’t supposed to stop, so I kept doing everything.
She tensed in my arms, her entire body tightening as I thrust up inside her.
My dick was all but screaming at me, demanding release.
Then she bucked, a long, low noise escaping her as she started to come.
A split second later, I was doing the same thing. Grasping both of her hips in my hands, I surged against her, harder, faster.
She clung to me, kissing me, broken words falling from her lips.
I had no idea what she was saying.
But it didn’t matter.
She squeezed me tight, and her pussy gripped my dick as she climaxed.
That mattered.
And when it ended, she slid a hand up my back, then hooked her arm around my neck. “You get an A for lesson one, Liam.”
To my surprise, I laughed.
16
Mila
Lesson two went just as well.
Now, curled up in the nest of tangled sheets atop my bed, I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and sighed, quite smug and satisfied with myself.
“What are you grinning at?” Liam asked, his voice drowsy.
I looked down and found him watching me through slitted eyes.
“I’m just enjoying life,” I said loftily. Skimming my hand back over his short, dark hair, I added, “And considering I almost drowned earlier, I’ve got plenty of reason to enjoy life.”
His face darkened, and he sat up, scowling at me. “You’re going to be more careful in the future, right?”
I rolled my eyes at him. “Relax. I learned my lesson.” I bit my lower lip as I
studied him. “Speaking of lessons, do you still think you suck at…this?”
He blushed.
Delighted, charmed, I leaned in and kissed him. “You can’t really think you’re bad at this,” I said against his lips. “But…you know.”
I pulled back and traced his cheek with my finger. “I’ve been thinking.”
“I’m scared already,” he said in a voice so dry, I almost missed the humor.
“There’s a smart-ass lurking under that stiff exterior of yours,” I said, pointing at him.
He caught my wrist in his hand, his thumb stroking over my pulse. It rabbited under his touch, and I shivered a little, enjoying the feel of him against me.
“Anyway,” I said before I gave into the urge to start on lesson three. “I was thinking…maybe you and I can help each other out.”
He gave me that look, head cocked, eyes slightly narrowed as if he wasn’t sure he wanted to know what I was up to.
I gave him an innocent smile. “Relax. It’s harmless.”
Well, I thought so anyway.
Liam didn’t appear to be as convinced as I was.
I’d change his mind. Confident of that, I started to talk.
“So, you’re offering to help me brush up on my missing bedroom skills if I’ll talk to your father about pulling security detail,” he said in a flat voice a few minutes later.
“First, I don’t think your bedroom skills are missing much of anything except practice.” I rolled my eyes at him. “People aren’t born knowing how to have sex. It’s a learning game. And you learn…fast.”
He didn’t return my smile. “Your life could be in danger. I’m not making some bargain to pull the detail off you until we know whether or not there’s a real threat.”
He sat up, and I moved until I could press my front against his back. Hooking my arms over his shoulders, I kissed his cheek. “I’m fond of life, Liam. But…come on…you’ve been with me almost two weeks, and nothing has happened.”
He covered my hand with his, still not looking at me. “I’ve got a job to do, Mila. I take it seriously even if you don’t.”
“I’ll have you know that I take my life very seriously,” I retorted. “But has anything happened?” I stopped and rolled my eyes. “Okay, you can’t say my stupidity earlier was related to anything but me being stupid. I was careless. It won’t happen again, but that was my screw-up. I wasn’t hauled out to sea by some pissed off contractor my dad worked with.”
He dropped a casual kiss on my hand then untangled himself from my arms. He rose, moving from the room but came back in a minute later with a dry, fresh pair of shorts slung around his hips.
“You didn’t have to get dressed on my account,” I told him.
“I can’t have this discussion naked.”
I leaned back on my elbows, unperturbed by the fact that I clearly still was naked.
He pulled that mask of his back on and stared at me in the eyes, never letting his gaze roam lower.
But he was aware.
I could tell, by the way a muscle pulsed in his chin, by the mad beat of his pulse against his throat.
“What exactly are you suggesting I do, Mila? Go tell your father everything is okay just because we haven’t seen anything?
I chewed on my lower lip for a minute. “How about we compromise? You keep watching my ass…out of bed.” I smiled slowly at him. “And I’ll keep…teaching you in bed. If we don’t find anything out in a couple of weeks, if you don’t see anything, if nothing happens, you try to talk to my dad then.”
He blew out a breath. “This security guard thing really gets to you, doesn’t it?”
“Well…not all parts of it are bad.” I curled my finger, beckoning him closer.
He came, slowly, still clearly reluctant to go along with me.
Climbing out of bed, I went to him and wrapped my arms around him, pressing in close. “What have you got to lose?” I asked.
He caught my arms. “My job. And you could lose your life if there is something out there that poses a threat to you,” he said calmly.
“You’re making excuses. I already told you that you could take a few weeks and see if anything changes.” Chilled now, I let him go and walked over to the bathroom. I had a robe hanging inside the door, and once I’d pulled it on, I turned to face him. “What gives, Liam? I mean, I assume you weren’t interested, but I can tell you’re attracted to me.”
“That’s not the issue,” he snapped. He scrubbed his hands over his face and muttered under his breath.
I heard him though.
“Excuse me?” I demanded, stalking over to him. “Did you just say you knew this was a mistake? What gives?”
Hearing him refer to the past few hours as a mistake left a hollow feeling in my belly, but I much preferred anger so I went with that.
He met my eyes levelly but said nothing.
“What, you can’t say it and look at me at the same time? Come on, Liam. Tell me it was a mistake.”
“It probably was,” he said coolly.
I clenched my jaw tight and locked myself in place so I wouldn’t back away from him. “I think you’re just too afraid to deal with your issues,” I said rigidly.
“Mila–”
“Don’t.” I shook my head at him. “It’s not like I’m trying to make you go run to my dad this second and get me out of this. I said we could wait until you’d had a chance to make sure nothing happens. But if nothing happens, what’s the harm in telling my father just that – that nothing has happened, and I really don’t need bodyguards?”
I waited for an answer.
Liam, after a few seconds of heavy silence, said, “I think I’m going to go to bed. It’s been a long day.”
He turned on his heel and walked out of the bedroom.
I gaped at him.
Then, furious, I grabbed a pillow and threw it across the room.
17
Liam
After what was probably one of the worst nights of sleep I’d had in my life – and I didn’t always sleep well anyway – I was up at dawn.
We had a full day ahead of us, and if the tension remained between Mila and me, it was going to make that day even longer.
I was ready to go back to New York, but we didn’t fly out until morning.
Another day, trapped in close quarters with Mila, wanting her like I did. I thought about what she’d offered and told myself I’d done the right thing. I shouldn’t have slept with her anyway – I could lose my job if my boss found out, and rightfully so.
Getting distracted by the client wasn’t part of the job.
I might be new at this, but even I knew that much.
Yet all Mila did was distract me.
The quiet of the bungalow seemed to close in around me. Needing to get away from it, I dressed for a run and headed out.
I kept to the paths close to the bungalow, although my gut told me that the biggest threat to Mila right now was herself. I still couldn’t believe how close she’d come to drowning.
If I wasn’t a strong swimmer, I wouldn’t have gotten to her in time. It would have been too late.
It was a thought that was totally unacceptable, and not just because I wasn’t big on failure. She’d gotten to me, right under my skin, and I couldn’t stand the thought of her being hurt.
The sound of my shoes slapping against the stones of the walkway was almost hypnotic, and I tried to focus on the run and nothing else.
It wasn’t working.
Mila, her smile, the way she’d pulled me to her…it kept playing over and over in my head.
I ran harder, pushing myself to my limit, and it wasn’t until the burn in my lungs was almost intolerable that I let up. Slowing my pace, I jogged for another five minutes then slowed to a walk.
As I turned up the pathway that led to the bungalow, somebody called out my name.
I turned and met the bright green eyes of Mila’s grandmother. Millie Thatcher came rushing toward me, her hands outstretched. I took them automatically, and she squeezed my palms then let go of my hands and pulled me into a hug. “Liam…I’ve been up half the night waiting to talk to you.”
“Is everything okay?”
She pulled back and cupped my face in her hands. “I heard about what you did…that you saved Mila.”
I blinked.
The slim, genteel older woman pulled me down to her level and pressed a kiss to my right cheek, then my left. “You saved my girl,” she said, her voice hitching a little.
“I was just doing my job,” I said, uncomfortable now. I eased back and tugged free of her hands. “That’s what I’m here for.”
“You saved my girl,” Millie said again, shaking her head. “I can’t ever repay you for that.”
“There’s nothing to repay.” I shifted from one foot to the other, ready to head back to the bungalow, but unable to leave while this woman looked at me with such emotion in her eyes. “I was just–”
“Your job, yes, I know.” She waved a hand, then used that same hand to dab a handkerchief under her eyes. “One of the guests who was out in the water with Mila told me what you did. I can’t bear to think what would have happened if you hadn’t been there.”
“Don’t do that to yourself,” I told her, shaking my head. “I was there. That’s what matters.”
“Yes.” She smiled at me now, and the smile took on a warmth as she held my eyes. “She watches you, you know. And I’ve seen you watch her.”
I fought down the blush that threatened to scald my face. Be professional, I told myself. “It’s my job to watch her.”
Millie laughed. “Not like that, it isn’t. And she watches you the same way. You two complement each other.”
She held out her hands once more while I puzzled over that comment. “You saved her. Thank you.” She smiled at me as she squeezed my hands. “I owe you a debt now.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Hush.” She pulled her hands free and pointed a fin
ger at me. “You don’t get to argue with me over this.” The stern look on her face melted away, and she touched my cheek. “You saved Mila. If you ever need anything from me, you just have to ask.”
I had no idea what made Millie think that her granddaughter and I complemented each other. We couldn’t have been more different.
I made myself walk another ten minutes, hoping my muscles didn’t tighten up on me, and the entire time, Millie’s words seemed to echo in my head.
How could an assured, beautiful, sexy woman like Mila and me complement each other?
Still brooding over it, I made my way back to the bungalow. I wanted a long, hot shower.
And Mila.
I pushed that thought out of my head as I swiped my keycard, letting myself inside. I hadn’t even had a chance to close the door when I saw Mila rising from the couch where I’d slept.
She wore a robe, unbelted so that it gaped in the front. She was unperturbed by the fact. I very much wasn’t.
That gap revealed inches of her beautiful body, the inner curves of her breasts, her belly, the curls between her thighs.
I wanted to push the material off her shoulders and do exactly what she’d told me to yesterday. Find out what I like. Show me what you like.
Mila lifted her chin as we stared at each other, the challenge on her face undeniable.
“I’m not going to offer again,” she said, reaching up to push the robe off her shoulders. It fell in a puddle at her feet, and she stared at me, completely naked. “Forget about what your head is telling you, Liam. Do you want to be with me?”
I knew she meant what she said. If I said no this time, that was it.
The thought of never being able to touch her smooth skin wasn’t what drove me to take a step forward though.
It was that look in her eyes.
That determined, challenging look.
I reached up and cupped her cheek.
She rubbed her face against my hand.
I was a goner.
18
Mila