On Impulse
(Darcy)
Liam holds the taxi door open for me and I climb in, tugging at the hem of my dress to keep it from riding up too high.
He looks at me and says, “Do you have anywhere you need to be?”
“Nope.”
“Do you trust me?” What an odd thing to say. Trust him to take me home and fuck me?
“I trusted you more before you asked me that question.”
He shuts the door and says something to the driver that I can’t hear. Liam walks around the car and gets in the back seat beside me, filling the taxi air with his spicy cologne.
I’d moved over to the middle when I thought he was getting in after me, and so I am up against him but I make no attempt to slide back over to the window seat. He places his arm around me, the way he had during the service. It feels as good now as it did then, even though my entire family isn’t staring at me with envy.
The cab pulls away to wherever it is we’re going.
How on earth did I end up here? With a perfect man? Leaving Collette’s wedding, of all places, with him. I didn’t think anything on earth would be able to get me to her wedding. Yet I went. I sat through the long ceremony, the BS speeches about how great she is, and the comments from my father. I look at Liam’s profile, lit by the streetlights we speed past, and it’s pretty clear why I decided to go to the wedding.
I’ve never seen him wearing anything other than a suit. But the way suits hang on him, form to him. My God, do they form to him. This makes me suspect he’s hiding a perfect body underneath. I could feel how hard his muscles are when he was holding me close as we danced. For a moment while we were dancing, I didn’t think his muscles were the only thing that was hard.
“I hope your event is less painful than that,” I say.
“Was that painful for you too?”
“Probably even more than for you. After all, they’re my relatives. You never have to see them again.” Liam laughs, a smooth, deep sound that resonates throughout my body. I laugh as well, and together we laugh harder until the grating memory of the wedding is gone. It’s funny how a bit of collective suffering makes everything better.
Liam still has his arm around me, and I finally allow myself to lean into him. My mind immediately goes to being in his arms during our dance. Nothing has ever felt so right. Not in a long time, at least.
I close my eyes, relishing the memory. The car slows and turns, but doesn’t speed up again. We’re moving, slowly. I open my eyes to see where we are, blink a couple of times to make sure I’m not imagining things, before I turn to Liam, wide eyed.
“Why are we in an airport?” And by in, I mean why are we driving on the same tarmac as jets.
“I thought you might like to go to the chocolate expo. My parents were chocolatiers, it’s kind of an interest of mine.” The left side of his mouth turns up in a half smile and he adds, “I have lots of fun working with chocolate myself.”
“Huh?” Confused, I search his face for explanation.
“I have a jet, and I thought we’d go to Austin and check out the chocolate.”
“Are you for real? You actually have a jet?” I push my chin up with my hand to close my mouth. I’ve never been in one before.
“Yeah, I keep it at Teterboro Airport, so we were near it anyway.”
My brow furrows and my eyes squint at him, trying to process this.
“Who are you?” I ask.
“I’m a man with a jet.”
“How do I know you’re not going to fly me to some bunker in the Midwest?”
He chuckles, and says, “Don’t be ridiculous, I have a jet. All my bunkers are in the Caribbean.”
“I can live with that since I wouldn’t have to deal with Midwest winters.”
“So chocolate it is then?” He smiles so broadly that I don’t care about anything else. Chocolates, jets, weddings, whatever as long as it’s with him.
“Sounds fun.” I shrug and open my door.
The cabbie had parked right at the bottom of the steps to the plane. Am I really doing this? I look down at my three-inch heels and skimpy dress. It’s not really the type of outfit that will blend in at the expo. I imagine most of the attendees to be wearing jeans and T-shirts.
Liam appears at my side. One look at him and my concerns are gone. As much as I genuinely do want to check out the convention, I’m just as interested in him.
He puts his hand in the small of my back and guides me to the bottom of the steps. As I climb up them, the heat of his eyes on my ass burns into me.