The louder than usual sound of water running gets my attention sometime in the middle of the night. It’s not the bathroom sink. It has to be the shower faucet, but Liam knows we don’t have that kind of relationship. We meet, have mind-blowing sex, and then he neatens up and leaves. That’s as far as it goes between us. There’s no spare toothbrush, no extra clothes, no staying overnight, no deep conversations, and no showers.

But he’s in there—showering?

Pulling the sheets around my body, I march over to the bathroom to check it out.

“Liam?” I call out through the closed door.

He doesn’t answer. Which makes complete sense. He’s busy crossing the line and making things a little more complicated on the other side of the door. I pound on the door. After a pause, I open it slightly and am hit by a blast of steamy air. Sure enough, he’s in my shower. Getting way too comfortable.

“Liam?”

“Yeah.”

“What are you doing?”

“Cleaning up a bit. Want to join me?”

As tempting as the offer sounds, I turn him down, making a point to avoid the urge to check him out. “Uh, not right now.”

Liam opens the clear glass shower door and sticks his head out. “You sure? There’s plenty of room in here for both of us.” He really shouldn’t do that.

“I have a meeting I have to get to,” I tell him.

“At three a.m.?”

“I need my rest. Look, you really should get going once you’re out of the shower.”

He opens the door wide so I can see him from head to toe, his firm body glistening as water droplets spatter his skin. “Get over here and say it like you mean it.”

Liam’s right. The closer I get to him the harder it gets—in more ways than one.

The man’s my weakness, and he knows it.

“I’m fine right here,” I answer because it’s true. Up close I can’t ignore the electric energy between us. I can’t stop myself from inhaling his scent, or saying no to any demand Liam’s raspy baritone voice utters, or looking into his piercing hazel green eyes, or admiring his chiseled face, or staring at every one of his rippling corded muscles, including the one between his legs that I can’t take my eyes off of.

And there it is. The truth is Liam’s my Achilles heel.

After we rock each other’s world, I need him to go. But eventually I let him right back into my bed where he works his magic on me, drawing me in, causing my knees to go soft, my mind to go numb, and my body to get heated and pliable in his arms. He mesmerizes me like a snake charmer with that python between his legs. Except in this analogy, it’s the snake that’s doing all the charming.

What’s worse is that behind his rugged Irish bad boy crime family image, he’s a decent human being.

That’s all the more reason to keep this thing between us casual.

He’s too good for me.

I’m the one who can ruin him.

Again, we don’t quite make it to the bedroom. Before I summon up my will, he tugs the sheets down my naked body and lets it drop to the marble floor. Then he pulls me into the shower with him. A second later, his lips connect with mine, and his fingers reach between my legs, hell bent on delivering another mind-blowing orgasm. Then he picks me up into his arms and drives deep into me over and over again for yet another ride.

I’m a moth to his flame.

Fluttering. Frail. Fucked.

And fucked hard, just the way he knows I like it.

After we’re finished and the explosively giddying moments pass, he lowers my legs to the floor, pours some of my body wash into his hand, and passes the bottle to me like we’ve done it a million times before. He’s even humming a tune.

That’s the problem.

With Liam, every moment is just like this unplanned shower.

Fun.

Energetic.

Effortless.

Dammit. Now our booty calls have to come to an end. What was a casual thing is becoming dangerously close to something more. But I barely date, I refuse to believe in romance, and I’ve sworn off of the prospect of love. I don’t do relationships.

My romantic disposition has everything to do with the woman who brought me into this world, but that’s another story.

Before we end our shared shower, I make a decision.

I’ll wipe his name from my contact list. From all the folders. It’s as easy as that. We have no other strong connections in our lives anyway. He knows my brother, Dylan, in passing, but that’s it.

After he leaves today, it’s over.