CHAPTER TWENTY

HAZEL

I had a wonderful dream that Liam went down on me and completely devoured my pussy.

As I slowly awoke in his bedroom bathed in soft morning light, the wonderful sensations between my legs never stopped.

I wasn't dreaming. 

Liam's short dark hair, which I just noticed was faintly peppered with gray, moved back and forth between my legs as his mouth did wonderful things to my pussy. 

His hands gripped under my thighs firmly as he sucked my clit and labia into his mouth, then released them and flattened his tongue against my entire vulva. Delicious shivers ran up my spine to my fingertips and toes. 

I reached down to scratch my nails over his scalp so that he knew I was awake but he didn't stop. 

Not that I wanted him to, I just wasn't used to waking up to such a nice surprise. 

He lapped up greedily at my pussy until I came. All it took was a few seconds of his magical tongue zeroed in on my clit like a laser before it fired off like a mini volcano. 

"Good morning, beautiful," he said with a smile as he slowly traveled up my body, planting kisses on my naked skin along the way. 

"It is now." I returned his smile as I panted from my orgasm. "That was an awfully nice way to wake up." 

"Well, you gave me an awfully nice way to fall asleep." 

He braced himself on his arms on top of me, muscles flexed and bulging and I realized his cock was rock hard. My breath hitched as I realized he was hungry for me again with more than just his mouth.

Gently he lowered himself until we were fully skin-to-skin. My hands spread across his wide muscular back so I could feel even more of him. As much as I loved being restrained last night, touching him felt incredible in a different way. 

He slid his arms underneath my back to hold me against him. When he kissed me, I caught the faint taste of my own pussy on his mouth which only made me wetter. 

His stiff cock pushed past my swollen labia to enter me, making me break our kiss and lean my head back to moan and arch against him as it filled me up so deliciously.

When his lips weren't on mine, they kissed sensually along my neck and my shoulders. Rather than the hard, impaling thrusts from last night, he rocked his hips against mine. He still penetrated me deeply and stretched my still-tender pussy to its limits, but this felt so different from last night.

It was intimate and sensual. No less passionate, but more emotional than raw and animalistic. Liam taught me that I enjoyed pain, submission, and losing control to him. But I also loved this.

"You feel so good," I breathed into his ear as I spread my hips wider, trying to take even more of him because I could never get enough. 

"You feel incredible," he replied and kissed me hard with his eyes fully open and staring deeply into mine. "You are incredible." 

Emotion washed over me so intensely that I felt on the verge of tears. 

I love you! screamed my brain when I looked up at him but I bit my lips, not daring to say it out loud.

Could it be true, though? Physically, he made me feel pleasure beyond my wildest dreams. Emotionally he made me feel safe, comforted, and like I was walking on clouds. 

"That's a good girl. Come for me again."

My pussy clenched around him while my hips bucked wildly as if controlled by someone else. I was so caught up in my head that I didn't realize I was having an orgasm. He knew even before me. 

With a final, deep thrust, his body shuddered as he emptied his heavy load inside me, my orgasm milking the come from his own. 

After both our orgasms subsided, we stayed wrapped up in each other for who knows how long. A tangle of arms and legs that we never wanted to separate from. We might have even fallen asleep again for a few minutes. 

I suddenly felt his cock withdraw from me and just opened my eyes when I felt him kiss my cheek. 

"Let's get in the shower, beautiful," he said, running a hand down my side and over my hip and thigh. "Then let's get breakfast." 

"Mmm, in a minute," I murmured. "I gotta recover from those orgasms. Not sure if my legs work yet." 

He let out a throaty chuckle and kissed my neck before delivering a playful slap to my ass. 

"I'll run a bath and get it nice and steamed up. I think you'll like the jets too."

I heard his bare footsteps pad to the master bathroom and turn on the faucets a few seconds later. 

Lazily I flopped to his side of the bed and inhaled deeply, basking in his scent from the sheets. With a contented sigh, I hugged his pillow and curled into a ball as I tried to straighten out my thoughts.

Do I really love him? This was our second real date. Is it even possible to fall in love that fast? And if it is, should I tell him? 

“RING! RING! RING!”

The jarring noise from my cell phone jerked me back to reality. I got up from bed and walked across the room to where my purse sat, wondering who'd be calling me this early. 

My screen displayed an unknown number. Cautiously, I answered it. 

"Hello?" 

"Hello, is this Hazel Forsyth?" asked a raspy voice. 

"Yes, speaking." 

"This is Angie Dower, I own the dry cleaning shop on 4th and Main. I heard you're doing marketing consultations?" 

"Yes!" I said too loudly, my heart thumping with both relief and excitement. "Yes, absolutely. I'm just getting my consulting business off the ground so I'm doing free sessions for the time being." 

"Well, I would love to meet with you. I'm trying to reach more customers and could use some ideas."

"Absolutely!" My eyes darted around Liam's bedroom, searching for a pen and paper. "When would you like to meet?" When I couldn't find any, I began frantically opening drawers. 

"Is this evening all right, about seven? I close up at six-thirty." 

"Yes, that works just perfectly," I replied distractedly as my search for a writing utensil became even more desperate. "Would meeting at Vino Veritas work for you? I'll be happy to buy you a glass of wine while we discuss your business." 

"Oh, my," Angie Dower chuckled into the phone. "I feel like I'm getting the Don Draper treatment." 

"That's my plan," I said through gritted teeth. With a frustrated yank, I pulled open the nightstand drawer on Liam's side of the bed. What I saw made my heart stop. 

"That sounds lovely! See you at the wine bar at seven!" 

Somehow I swallowed the lump in my throat and found my voice. "See you then, Ms. Dower." 

With trembling fingers, I picked up the photograph of the woman sitting in the drawer. It was worn and faded as if it had been handled and folded frequently.

The woman was blonde, pretty and smiling. She looked young, in her early to mid-twenties. It looked like a spontaneous photo she didn't expect to be taken. Warm sunlight cast on her face and wind whipped her golden hair, making her look like a glowing angel. Behind her was the iconic Golden Gate bridge with the Bay Area fog just starting to roll in. 

"Coming to take a bath, babe?" Liam called from the bathroom and emerged too quickly for me to hide the photo back in the drawer.

His expression when he saw me holding it in my hands told me he knew exactly what I found. Still, he didn't look surprised. 

"Who is this?" I asked, my voice wavering. 

He swallowed before answering in a cracked voice.

"That's Katie. My ex-fiancee." 

He said nothing else. My body felt like it was made of concrete as I returned the photo to its home and closed the drawer. 

I rose to my feet and let out what screamed through my mind.

"You said let's leave the past where it belongs,” I stated, trying to keep my voice steady. “You said 'to new beginnings'."  

"Yes," he replied quietly. "You're absolutely right. And I still mean every word of that."

He took a tentative step toward me but stopped when I held my hand up. 

"Then explain to me why you have a picture of your ex next to your bed." 

He hesitated and took a deep breath before replying. 

"I keep her picture to remember that she died because of me." His eyes bore intensely into mine. “So that it never happens again to the next woman I fall for.”