SEVENTEEN

The ride back to her apartment was blissfully stress-free. Until visions of his naked body flashed once again across her mind. Then calm went flying out the window. She could feel herself blushing and hoped to heaven he didn’t notice.

No such luck. “What’s going on with you?”

She brushed her hair over her shoulder and tried to act nonchalant. “Nothing’s going on with me. Why would you think something’s going on?”

“Your face is red.”

“I’m not blushing.” Her voice cracked and she sounded as though she was freaking out. He must have thought she’d lost her mind, and he might have been right. “Thank you for putting up with Charlotte tonight. When she gets on a rant, there’s no stopping her. It’s best to sit back and wait until she winds down.”

“I like her and I like Oliver.”

“What’s not to like? They’re so . . .”

“So what?” he asked when she hesitated.

“Normal.”

It was such an odd thing to say. “And you’re not?”

“No, I’m not.”

He decided not to press for an explanation. “I was wondering . . .”

“Yes?”

“What are you going to do when your sister finds out you bailed your cousin out?”

“Hide.”

His smile suggested he thought she was teasing. She wasn’t so sure. If Charlotte found out, she would definitely go ballistic and lecture Allison for at least a year. She pictured it and shuddered. Nonstop speeches. She couldn’t think of anything worse.

“She would be upset with me if she found out I helped Will, but it would crush her heart if she knew I was breaking into computer systems illegally, no matter what my reasons were. She wouldn’t understand.”

She didn’t say what she was really thinking. There were very few people whose opinions mattered to Allison, but Charlotte was at the top of her list. She didn’t want to disappoint her.

“I’m worrying about something that will never happen,” she said, and hoped to God she was right.

She was happy to be home. Liam unlocked her door for her and followed her into the apartment. She pointed to her laptop, which was sitting on the desk in front of the windows, and said, “Have at it.”

Hungry now, she put her coat away and then went into the kitchen to make herself a bowl of Cheerios, calling out her password to him so that he could access the Internet. By the time she returned to him, he had pulled up the contract on the screen. She stood behind him eating her cereal and watching over his shoulder as he made the corrections. He couldn’t have looked any more relaxed. He’d taken off his jacket and tie and unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt. He’d also rolled up his sleeves. She had the insane urge to sit on his lap, put her arms around him, and kiss him over and over again until he never wanted her to stop. She wondered how he would have reacted to her boldness.

She wasn’t about to find out. While he worked, she cleaned up the kitchen, then went into the bedroom to put her jewelry away. She put her shoes in her closet, washed her face, and brushed her teeth. She was trying to keep busy and stay away from him because she knew if she sat next to him she wouldn’t have been able to stop staring at him, and how creepy would that have been?

What was going on with him? Did he regret what had happened the night before? Or did he even remember? Maybe this was all part of being a hookup, she thought, still not clear exactly what that entailed. What were the rules? She decided she should ask Google to define it for her, or maybe Jordan could explain the nuances for her. Allison felt completely inept and finally admitted she had been hiding in her computer far too long. Maybe it was time for her to start living life instead of reading about it.

First, she needed to get through tonight. She didn’t want saying good-bye to be awkward. She sat on the side of the bed, trying to figure out the protocol. After several minutes thinking about it without coming up with any answers, she decided she didn’t care. Now all she had to do was believe it.

“Allison, I can’t get the printer to work.”

He was standing in the doorway, watching her. She jumped at the sound of his voice.

“What are you doing?” he asked her.

She stood, smoothed her skirt, and walked toward him. “I’ll fix the printer.” She tried to walk past him, but he put his hands on her shoulders and stopped her.

“What’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” she answered, and tried to veer around him. He didn’t let go.

“You looked like you were a thousand miles away.”

“I was just thinking about . . .”

“About what?”

“You.”

They were inches apart. She stared into his eyes. He stared at her mouth. He tilted her chin up, leaned down, and kissed her. It was a nice, undemanding kiss that was over with before she had time to respond.

It wasn’t enough for Liam. His mouth came down on hers again, but this time the kiss was altogether different. It was consuming.

He made her want more. When he lifted his head she realized her arms were around his neck. How had that happened? She was also plastered against him. Did he want another hookup? Should she ask him?

“I was wondering . . .”

“Yes?”

“Never mind,” she whispered. “You’d better kiss me again.”

“Yeah, okay.” He was smiling as she tugged on his hair to get him to do what she wanted.

She became the aggressor. Her mouth was open and her tongue stroked his. She heard him groan and felt him tighten his arms around her. She knew she was pleasing him, because he told her so in between wild kisses. She desperately wanted him. He was leaving in two days and she didn’t have any idea when she would see him again. Was it wrong to want one more night with him? One glorious night.

He gave her the shivers, kissing the side of her neck. His breath was so warm and sweet against her skin.

“Do you know what I want to do?” he whispered, his lips tickling her ear. He lifted his head and waited.

She didn’t know how to be coy. “Have sex? Because that’s what I want to do.”

“Take your clothes off, Allison.”

Liam had to pull her arms from around his neck and tell her again before she reacted. She turned around then and lifted her hair away from the neckline of her dress. He noticed her hands shook.

“Unzip me, please,” she said.

Although she was extremely nervous, she wasn’t at all shy with him. In fact, she couldn’t wait to get her clothes off and throw herself into his arms. She loved the heat from his skin against hers, the strength that radiated from his muscles. She had never been drawn to any other man the way she was drawn to him. Most of all, she loved the way he touched her. He was rough yet gentle at the same time. How was it possible to be so tender while driving her to the very edge of all control?

He kissed the nape of her neck as he slid the dress from her shoulders and let it drop to the floor. She stepped out of it and turned to face him in her pink bra and panties while she waited for him to remove his clothes. Her toes curled into the carpet, her hands were fisted at her sides, and she had to tell herself over and over again that she wasn’t embarrassed. She wasn’t sophisticated, either. She could feel her face getting warm. The fire in his eyes made her heart race. She knew he wanted her, and yet he wasn’t reaching for her.

“Liam, did you change your mind? Would you rather not do this?” She looked around for her robe, mortified now.

Had he not be so aroused, Liam would have laughed. His hand moved to the back of her neck and he jerked her forward as his mouth came down on hers. The kiss went on and on, his tongue stroking hers in love play. He moved her toward the bed while he stripped off the rest of his clothes and then hers, and as they fell onto the bed, he kept telling himself to make it last. He was ravenous for her, but she wasn’t ready for him yet. He pushed her onto her back, then slowly kissed a path down her body. His tongue brushed across her breasts. She nearly came off the bed. The erotic sounds she made told him how much she liked what he was doing. He moved lower between her thighs and used his fingers and his tongue to drive her out of her mind.

Allison wasn’t passive by any means. She caressed him, clinging to him as she kissed his neck and his shoulders. She wanted to know all of him, but he wouldn’t let her move, so she retaliated by biting his earlobe. He grunted and tightened his hold on her.

His voice was little more than a gruff whisper. “Put your legs around me. I can’t wait any longer.”

He lifted her thighs, thinking to slowly enter her, but that thought was lost when she pushed against him. With one powerful thrust, he was surrounded by her liquid heat. She was so tight, so perfect. He dropped his head on her shoulder, took deep, shuddering breaths, and tried to slow down, wanting it to be perfect for her.

She didn’t want him to stop. She bit his shoulder and whispered, “Don’t torment me.”

He let out a low groan of pleasure and began to move, slowly at first, until she became more demanding. He was mindless to everything but her. He had never been this out of control before or this desperate to make her belong to him, even if it was for only one night. Sex had always been entertainment for him and a way to relieve tension, but with Alison it was so much more.

He felt her tighten around him as she cried out his name. He found release at the same time, and damn, it nearly killed him.

“Holy . . . ,” she whispered

She sounded shell-shocked, and Liam smiled, gratified. He still couldn’t move away from her, so he held her tight as he rolled onto his back.

Allison didn’t move. She wanted to remember how this felt to be held by him and loved.

“Are you all right?” he asked breathlessly.

She panted her reply. “Oh yes.”

As much as she wanted to linger, she forced herself to roll away from him and get out of bed. She found her robe and put it on, threaded her fingers through her hair to give it some kind of order, and walked barefoot out of the room.

What the hell? “Where are you going?” Liam asked. Did she already regret what had just happened? He hoped not. He sure as certain didn’t. He’d wanted her from the minute she opened the door tonight.

“To fix the printer.”

Liam was floored. This was a first for him. He was typically the one who would ease his way out without hurting feelings. There was always the time after sex when the woman he was with wanted affirmation that it had been wonderful for him, even though it usually wasn’t. It wasn’t bad, either. It was just sex.

Until Allison.

Bewildered by what he was feeling, he decided he wasn’t going to waste another minute thinking about it. Taking her lead, he got dressed. When he joined her, she was printing the second copy of the contract. Liam once again read it over, and only when he was sure everything was the way he wanted did he offer her a pen. She signed it and handed it back.

“Phillips is going to have a fit when he reads this,” she said.

Liam smiled. “Yes, he will.”

“I guess this is it, then,” she said. “And you’re off to London.”

He put his suit jacket on and walked to the door. “Okay, then. You’re going to be all right.”

“Yes, I know.”

They both put their hands on the doorknob at the same time. Allison let go and stepped back. He turned to say good-bye, changed his mind, and pulled her into his arms. He kissed her long and hard and walked out the door.

And he was gone. It took another hour for Allison to admit the truth. She felt abandoned. That didn’t make any sense to her, but then, having sex with Liam and pretending it hadn’t meant anything didn’t make any sense, either. Didn’t he know? Didn’t he have a glimmer of a notion that he was more than a casual fling to her? Apparently not.

She really couldn’t blame him, because she had only just figured it out. Trying to be a with-it modern woman wasn’t working for her. She had no one to blame but herself. She should have known she wasn’t cut out for games. She didn’t have the nerves or the disposition to be coy or clever. No wonder she hid in her computer. It couldn’t hurt her.