Liam let the silence last five minutes before he said, “Stirling, stop acting weird.”
She spared him a haughty look. “I’m not acting weird. I’m concentrating on driving.”
Liam let it go, refusing to be one of those “Was it good for you, baby?” kind of lovers. Stirling came twice. That made it pretty goddamn spectacular for both of them.
He closed his eyes and immediately his brain replayed images of them. Her skin turning rosy from the heat they generated. The taste of her skin. The scent of sex. Her nails digging into the dashboard. The sexy sound she couldn’t hold in when he rolled his hips and hit the right spot.
“You’re thinking about it, aren’t you?”
He looked at her. “Of course I am. Aren’t you?”
“Yes.” Her hands tightened on the steering wheel. “I want to turn around and spend the next two days naked in your bed.”
“It is an exceptionally comfortable bed. Sturdy too.”
“You’d be okay if I whipped a U-ie and headed back to Denver?”
“Yes. But the question is whether you’d be happy with that decision.”
She scowled at him. “I hate when you’re the voice of reason.”
Liam laughed.
After another few minutes of silence and no physical change in direction, Liam said, “Do you know anything about this party?”
“Nothing. We’ve been so swamped this week I forgot that Macon’s admin was supposed to email me his playlist and instructions. I logged into all my email accounts and evidently he neglected to send it. Now I have that worry on top of everything else.”
“What kind of music does your sister listen to?”
“Country.”
“Find a Pandora station and plug your phone into the sound system. Instant party music. If people stop dancing or start complaining about the music, just change the station.”
“I love it when you’re the voice of reason,” she said dryly.
“It’s a blessing and a curse.”
A few moments later she said, “Thank you for coming with me. I know it’s my family and I shouldn’t be all weird about going to it, but I am. Having you there… I need that. Even more than I want to admit.”
Liam reached for her hand. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to.
“I did get a text from my mom yesterday, making sure I planned to come. But she didn’t mention if the occasion called for formal dress or whether gifts were expected.”
“I can’t remember the last time I wore a tux.”
“I’d love to see you in a black one. I bet you look dashing and debonair.”
“Flattery, Miss Gradsky”—he kissed her hand—“will definitely get you laid tonight.”
An enormous sign for the Gradsky Rodeo School loomed ahead. A sign that Stirling cruised right past without slowing or tapping the brakes.
“Change your mind?”
“No. That’s the public entrance. We’ll take the back road and stop at my parents’ house first.”
A frown wrinkled his brow. “Was I at your parents’ place during the open house? So much was going on that night, everything was a blur.”
She shook her head. “Their home wasn’t part of the tour. They keep it private.” She turned right and stopped for the gate to open.
The blacktop meandered through the woods. Once they cleared the forest, a meadow opened up where the Gradskys had built their home. While the house was large—two stories with a covered porch that ran the length of it—the structure was smaller than he’d expected, given the immense size of the buildings in their rodeo complex.
“Home sweet home,” Stirling said after she’d parked.
“It looks like a nice place.” Liam groaned. “Talk about stating the obvious.”
She smiled. “It is a nice place. They love it here. It’s their home now.”
“But?”
“But it’s not my home. I grew up on the southern ranch. When I return to visit, it isn’t the same because they’re not there, so it doesn’t feel like home either.”
“The apartment complex that Gramma and I lived in is gone. Bulldozed for a shopping center.”
“Does that bother you?”
“No. Like you said, she’s not there and she’s what made it home for me.”
The look Stirling gave him… For the first time he understood what heart-melting meant.
“Anyway, let’s grab our bags and see what room Mom stashed us in.”
“Don’t we wait out here for the hired hands to grab our luggage?” Liam asked.
When Stirling realized he was joking, she smiled. “I love that you do that for me.”
“Do what?”
“Create a funny or annoying distraction. It takes the sting out when I realize that my parents aren’t bounding down the steps to welcome me.”
Liam cupped her chin in his hand. “I’m irritated by their poor choice not to greet their beautiful daughter with open arms.” His lips lingered near hers. “Let’s show them our displeasure by getting high in your room and partaking in loud, wild sex.”
“Partaking?” Stirling grinned. “What quaint Victorian phrasing, Dr. Argent.”
Watching her eyes, he pressed his teeth into her bottom lip and flicked his tongue over the mark. “Does fucking you raw and dirty sound better?”
“God yes.”
He kissed her. “Let’s go.”
She opened the tailgate and Liam unloaded the three bags. They’d stepped onto the porch when a young woman bounded toward them.
“Hi. Stirling? I’ve been waiting for you. I’m Calliope Morgan.”
“Hello, Calliope. Sorry we’re early.”
Liam discreetly studied this stranger sent to meet Stirling. A pretty little thing, in that fresh-faced country girl way, wearing jeans, a rhinestone shirt, and boots. Her brown hair hung in a braid long enough to brush her waist. Hard to nail down her exact age… She could be anywhere from sixteen to her mid-twenties.
“Where is everyone?” Stirling asked.
“They’re at the recreation center.” Calliope shoved her hands in her back pockets. “Berlin had last-minute stuff to do, so she asked me to get you settled.” Her gaze moved to Liam. “Umm…but she didn’t mention you’d be bringing a guest.”
He offered his hand. “Pleased to meet you, Calliope. I’m Dr. Liam Argent, Stirling’s lord and master.”
Shock crossed Calliope’s face. The blush reddening her cheeks only emphasized her freckles.
Stirling shoved him aside. “Behave, Dr. Asshat.” She smiled at Calliope. “My partner takes his jokes too far. We’ll be staying in the same room.”
Partner? That’s what she was calling him now?
“Okay. Berlin has you in the green room at the end of the hallway.” Calliope checked her watch. “There’s an hour before things get underway.”
“My mother didn’t leave word about me coming to help her set up?”
“No. I have strict instructions to tell you to relax and freshen up. One of the ranch hands will pick us up in a golf cart and we’ll ride over together.”
While this situation seemed odd, it was pointless for Stirling to argue, but that appeared to be her plan. Liam ran his hand up her back. “We could both stand to freshen up. Thank you, Calliope.” He pressed a kiss to Stirling’s temple. “Lead the way.”
“I’ll be in the kitchen if you need anything.” Calliope ducked around the corner.
Liam flicked a cursory glance at the interior of the house. He’d much rather watch Stirling’s ass as she angrily sashayed up the curved staircase.
At the top of the stairs, she booked it down a long hallway and disappeared through a doorway.
He took his time getting to their room, checking out the artwork that adorned the walls and the Western sculptures displayed on hand-carved columns. A full five minutes had passed before he rolled the suitcases into the room and closed the door.
Stirling stopped pacing long enough to demand, “Did you get lost?”
“We have an hour to kill. I looked around.”
“We don’t have an hour. I don’t give a damn what Calliope says. We’re going to the recreation center now.”
“No, we aren’t.”
“Fine. Stay here. But I’m going.”
“We’re both staying here.” His fingers circled her wrists. He towed her along until the backs of his legs hit the mattress. “We’re alone in a room with a bed and have an hour to kill. Whatever shall we do?”
“But—”
Perching on the edge of the bed, he said, “You love it when I create a distraction for you. So strip.”
“Liam.”
“Do it. I want to see every inch of you before I put my mouth to good use. If you want me to kiss you, lose the clothes so I can ditch my glasses.”
“This sounds like a distraction for you.” Her dreads swung behind her back after she tossed her shirt aside. Doing a reach around, she unhooked her bra and whipped it to the floor. Her beautiful tits swayed as she braced a hand against the wall and removed her right cowgirl boot. Then her left. With a coy grin she flipped her skirt up, giving him a peek at her pussy. Then she spun around, bent over, and treated him to a peek of her ass.
Before Stirling was upright, Liam was behind her, unzipping her skirt, pushing it to her feet. “So fucking hot, Stirling.”
“Kiss me.”
He placed his glasses on the closest horizontal surface. Then both of his hands roamed over her, greedy to explore all of this sweet flesh, following the curves of her breasts, her belly, and her hips as he dragged his mouth from below her ear to the edge of her shoulder.
She trembled when he scraped his teeth along that same path.
The scent of her hair, her skin, her arousal was ultimate high.
Turning her to face him, he captured her mouth in a sensual kiss. Soft tongue and softer lips. A gentle nip of his teeth. A teasing lick. Keeping his touch gentle as his fingertips lightly drew circles on her breasts. His thumb stroked her belly and he rubbed his jean-clad thigh against the outside of her bare leg.
He quelled the urge to beat on his chest like an animal when her body yielded to his every touch. Her sounds of pleasure weakened his resolve to take this slow.
Liam broke the kiss and rested his forehead to hers, trying to mask the fact he was breathing hard.
Don’t hide this. Let her see how strongly she affects you.
“What’s wrong?” Her fingertips traced the line of his jaw. “You’re kind of shaky.”
“Nothing is wrong. But if I don’t get my mouth on your pussy in the next minute, there’s a good chance I’ll die.”
Stirling released a sultry laugh. Then she peppered kisses across his jawline, stopping at his ear to whisper, “Well then, let me save your life.” She pushed down on his shoulders until he dropped to his knees.
A gentleman would’ve said something sexy and complimentary before taking that first taste.
Not Liam.
A primal instinct overtook him completely.
He shoved her thighs apart and buried his face into her creamy folds, his mouth open wide, his upper teeth pressed into her mound, his tongue pushing into her pussy deep, lapping up every bit of ambrosia and diving back in for more.
Again and again and again.
Stirling fisted her hands into his hair and held on.
When she released a sharp cry, he froze.
That hadn’t sounded like a cry of bliss.
Because you are eating her like this is your last meal.
Christ. He was fucking growling. He needed to calm the fuck down.
He retreated to temper his raging hunger for her with soft nibbles and delicate licks as he nuzzled her swollen tissues. Sucking her clit and dropping kisses on the downy blond strip of hair covering her mound.
Four sharps tugs on his hair got his attention. Alarmed, he looked up at her.
“Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Overthink this. If you were too rough, I’d tell you. Give me back the guy who might die if he doesn’t get his mouth on my pussy.”
“You liked that.” A statement. Not a question.
“I loved it.” Stirling lowered to her knees. She held his face in her hands and ravaged his mouth. Licking the taste of herself from his lips, sucking it from his tongue. Rubbing her body against his. She released his lips long enough to say, “I taste good on you.”
“Let me—”
Another tongue-tangling kiss ended that half-assed protest.
And Stirling proceeded to drive him out of his fucking mind. When she rubbed his nipples, it felt like she’d opened an erotic conduit to his ass and his balls. His skin seemed to shrink with each teasing sweep of her thumb. When she used her tongue… Christ, it felt like she was licking his entire body.
Enough.
He stood, plucked her off the floor and set her on the bed.
She cocked her head when he yanked his T-shirt off. “Change in plans?”
“I’ll come back to the pussy eating later.” He shed his jeans and briefs, and then bent to retrieve a condom from his luggage.
Stirling whistled. “Look at you, Dr. Hottie. All cut muscles and an awesome dick.”
Liam slipped the condom on and joined her on the bed, stalking her as she scrambled up toward the headboard. He paused between her legs. Keeping his gaze on hers, he swirled his tongue around her clit and down to where all that sweetness pooled. “You’re wet enough to take me.”
No argument from her.
On his way up the bed, he stopped to lash his tongue across her nipples.
She squirmed beneath him. But she didn’t beg for more. Or less.
He planted his hands beside her head and skimmed his body over hers.
A breathy sigh escaped as she twined herself around him, arms, legs, hair. All she had to do was cant her hips…
And he surged inside.
“God. That is so good.”
Her hands explored his arms and chest and shoulders as he moved in her and above her. Rolling her pelvis to meet his every deep stroke.
The smooth arch of her neck was impossible to resist. A groan rumbled free when the taste of her skin—lemons and sunshine—hit his tongue.
His steady pace wasn’t enough so he picked up the speed.
The bed started to squeak. Before he could return to a slower rhythm, Stirling slapped his ass and murmured, “Gimme that dirty, loud sex you promised.”
Seeing the passion and joy on her beautiful face, all for him… Liam’s overwhelming urge to prove himself worthy resulted in him breaking out his best porn move, swiveling his hips on the upstroke, grinding against her on the downstroke.
“Yes,” she gasped. “That. Don’t ever stop doing that.” She urged him on with the scratch of her nails down his back.
Their mouths would meet and part. Sharing a tender kiss. A kiss that bordered on brutal. Ebb and flow. Perfection. He’d found it, even when he never really believed it existed. But it did. Here in this space and time with her.
The way Stirling held her body changed. Her stomach tightened, the bow in her lower back deepened. Her knees squeezed him harder.
He put his mouth to her ear and growled, “Give it to me.”
“Liam.”
“All of it, Stirling.” He added an extra grind at the end of every bed-rattling thrust.
Sweat dripped into his eyes but he didn’t tear his gaze away from her face as she started to come.
Her low moan got louder. She set her teeth on his shoulder to muffle it.
He shuddered from the sharp prickles of pleasure racing across his skin after her bite. The pressure of her pussy muscles contracting around his dick… He was done for.
He didn’t just blow; he erupted like a volcano.
The world spun. Hazy gray space obscured his vision. His arms shook but he couldn’t stop the short jabs of his cock into that tight haven.
His mouth was bone dry. His skin was damp. He had a cramp in the back of his calf. His abs ached. Fuck, even his hair hurt.
Still…Liam felt nothing short of invincible.
Stirling bumped her pelvis up.
He opened his eyes.
“There you are,” she said softly. “Where’d you go?”
“Sex as Nirvana isn’t a myth.”
“Aha. I thought we reached transcendence. And without chemical stimulants.”
Liam nestled his face into her neck and breathed her in.
She swept her hands down his back. “Let’s stay here. If they ask what happened to us, we’ll tell them we were exhausted from traversing the astral plane.”
He lifted his head. “If we tell them that, they’ll assume we got too baked to leave the room.”
“There’s a plan.”
“Stirling.”
“Gotta face the music. Literally.”
“’Fraid so.” He pressed a kiss on her forehead and then on her mouth. “Will I lose my status as Dr. Aloof if I say I’m crazy about you?”
Her eyes softened. “Yes. But that’s a good thing because the feeling is mutual.”
Liam eased off her and casually walked to the garbage can to ditch the condom. But inside he was jumping around, pumping his fist in victory. If he kept grinning like an idiot his face would hurt from smiling too.
Be cool.
He ran his hand through his hair, wondering if he could skip a shower. “Will it take you long to get ready?”
“I have half a mind to wear my Pooh pajama bottoms to this shindig.”
“Not your finest clothing option, crazy pants.”
Stirling draped her forearm across her eyes. “That name fits today. Pretty soon the sex buzz will wear off and I’ll be back to hand wringing and pacing.”
“You need another distraction.” Liam pulled out a plastic baggie from his shaving kit and crawled back on the bed. “Luckily, I can help with that. Open wide.”
“You’d better not shove your dick in my mouth right now,” she warned.
“Would you bite?”
“Yes.”
“Might be worth it to see these pretty pink lips wrapped around my cock.”
“Liam!”
He laughed. “I’m serious. This is not a prank. Open your mouth.”
She shifted her arm to watch him suspiciously, but she opened her mouth.
Liam dropped a gummy bear in and blocked her from spitting it out.
Then he popped a gummy in his own mouth. “See? I won’t make you do something I’m not willing to do myself.”
“This doesn’t bode well for our relationship since this is the second time you’ve slipped me a mickey, pal.”
“Mickey. Who even uses that word anymore?”
“Minnie Mouse does,” she said with a snicker.
“Hysterical. I heard these gummies work fast but not that fast.”
“Whatever. Get dressed. Our hour is almost up.”
He bent down and picked up the T-shirt he’d been wearing today.
A naked Stirling hopped off the bed and his train of thought vanished. He could not believe he was here with this beautiful, brilliant goddess.
She said, “Not that one.”
“What’s wrong with it?” He loved the saying on his T-shirt: The Good Thing About Science Is That It’s True…Whether Or Not You Believe In It.
“Nothing. But I’m a dreadlock-adorned bohemian who owns a marijuana dispensary. You’re my arm candy, baby, so you need to look the part of my hot rebel man. Wear something that shows off those sexy tattoos.”
He groaned after he opened his suitcase. “I was in such a hurry I forgot to pack my dress clothes.”
“Show me what you brought.”
Grumbling, he unsnapped the straps that were supposed to be holding his dress clothes. The other shirt he’d packed was part of his workout gear, a sleeveless nylon-cotton style, resistant to wrinkles. When he faced Stirling, she was gaping at him. “What now?”
“That’s how you pack for an overnight?”
“That’s how I pack for everything. Isn’t that standard?”
She laughed and unzipped her suitcase.
Somehow he masked his horrified expression. Crazy pants had just wadded up clothing and shoved it in without order. Nothing was folded. She’d even mixed shoes in with the clothes. Should he force himself to say something…nice?
Stirling’s arms came around him. “Since you haven’t been to my place, I can assure you that I don’t live in a pigsty. I’m kind of a neat freak. But after years of traveling and having to iron suits because they always ended up wrinkled, I let go of order.”
“You have to fit your rebelliousness in where you can, Miss Gradsky.” A vivid orange article of clothing hung out and he tugged it free from the rest of the clothes in her suitcase. A pair of her crazy pajama pants. But these… He read the writing beneath the cartoonish character out loud. “Boys are stupid throw rocks at them.” His eyes met hers. “Seriously, Stirling? You paid for these?”
“No.” She snatched them away. “Nana gave them to me after I dumped Nick the Prick, okay?”
“But you were planning on wearing them tonight?”
“Maybe.”
He snatched them back. “Maybe not.”
“Liam.”
“You’re not wearing these tonight. Put them on when you’re watching rom-coms with your girlfriends and doing each other’s nails. But never with me, all right?”
“What is the big deal?”
“Would you be offended if my pajamas said: Girls are stupid throw rocks at them?”
“Yes, but that is different. Men stone women to death. Women don’t throw rocks.”
“But little girls do,” he said softly. He dropped the pajamas on the floor and snagged his shaving kit on the way to the bathroom.
Way to admit to your loser past.
He braced his hands against the countertop and took a couple of deep breaths.
When Liam raised his head and looked in the mirror, he didn’t see the athletic, confident thirty-five-year-old man he’d become. He saw a skinny ten-year-old runt, his eyes enormous beneath eyeglass lenses as thick as the bottom of a pop bottle. Glasses he’d carefully taped together after Jana Oster had hit him in the face with a rock. His glasses had gone flying and he’d crawled on the ground until he found them. While he’d inspected the lenses, silently praying they weren’t broken, Jana had continued to pelt him with rocks and insults. He’d ended up with bruises on his arms, the backs of his calves, and the top of his head. But not on his face, thankfully, because his gramma would have demanded to know what happened.
He’d never told her.
He’d never told anyone.
He kept those memories buried most days. He hated that something as trivial as a phrase on a pair of pajamas could make him overreact.
But did you?
Two soft knocks sounded and the door slowly opened. Stirling didn’t say a word; she just ducked under his arm and wrapped herself around him.
He held on.
She whispered, “I’m sorry,” against his chest.
“It’s all right.”
When Stirling tilted her head back, tears shimmered in her eyes.
His stomach tightened at the humiliating thought that she felt sorry for him.
“It’s not all right. You had every right to point out the cruelty and reverse discrimination. I’m throwing those crazy pants away.”
Liam wiped away a tear. “You don’t have to do that.”
“Yes, I do. I can’t right the wrongs of your past, Liam, but I’d never keep something that brings back awful memories.”
He kissed the top of her head. “Thank you.”
“Did you ask me if I bought those pajamas because you feared I might’ve been like the girl who hurt you? The pajamas were a reminder of how fun it’d been to bully and belittle someone when I was a kid?”
I don’t know.
“I wasn’t a mean girl, Liam. I was awkward. I’m still awkward.”
“We have that in common.”
Stirling kissed his chest, above his heart. “We have a lot in common.”
Not as much as she thought. Liam had no idea how to do this family thing. Granted, he’d had his gramma, but that was it. Someone like Stirling, who’d grown up in an environment with siblings, cousins, aunts, and uncles, wouldn’t understand why he’d freaked out at the idea of being thrust into the middle of it.
Truth was he hadn’t brought those gummies for her. He’d brought them for himself.
On the drive here he’d silently panicked when she’d confessed her family problems. When she’d reached the point that he’d run out of anything resembling advice to offer her, he’d seduced her instead.
And now he couldn’t tell her his issues because he was here to support her.
“Liam?”
He looked down into her beautiful face and those eyes filled with concern for him, wondering for the hundredth time how he’d gotten so lucky. He did not want to fuck this up. He smiled. “Sorry. I think the gummy bear is kicking in.”
“I hope mine kicks in soon, because we need to get ready.”