Up until he took a step toward me, I was convinced I’d set myself up for rejection.

I could handle that. I’d been rejected before. That’s part of life.

But the thought of having Liam reject me unnerved me more than I wanted to admit.

He’d gotten to me. That quiet way of his, how he studied me, the reluctant, slow smiles…yeah, he’d gotten to me. And it wasn’t just because I now knew exactly what was hiding underneath his suits.

I’d been attracted to him from the beginning, and his aloofness had only drawn me in. I wasn’t used to men being aloof around me. Maybe that part of the challenge that was Liam made sense. Everybody always wanted the thing that was out of their reach – or at least the things that seemed out of reach.

After he’d told me that he wouldn’t be any good at this, and why he seemed to think so, I’d been that much more determined to get my hands on him – and get his on me.

I hadn’t been wrong about him either.

He might be inexperienced, but he sure as hell wasn’t bad at things that happened between men and women. No, in fact, he seemed to be a natural. And I wanted more of him. More of us.

Now, standing naked in front of him, I tried not to let my nervousness show. Yet something else that was new…me being this nervous about sex.

When he finally touched me, the knot in my belly melted away, and I moved into him, pressing my nude body against his. His clothes were damp with sweat and his body hot. I pressed my mouth to his neck, and he arched away. “I just finished up a run, Mila. I need a shower.”

“That’s an excellent idea,” I told him, taking his hand and pulling him along behind me into the bathroom.

His gaze bored into mine as I turned on the water. I pressed my hands to his chest, felt the thunder of his heartbeat raging against my hand.

“Your heart’s racing,” I said, the knowledge making everything female in me go hot with anticipation.

“That’s because you’re naked and you’ve got your hands on me,” he said bluntly.

I took his hand and pressed it to my chest, where I knew he’d feel the rapid rhythm of my heart. “You’re not naked. You haven’t even touched me, and my heart’s doing the same thing.”

Something flickered in his eyes, and I leaned in, pressing my mouth to his.

He wasn’t as hesitant as he had been yesterday, his mouth opening easily against mine.

Curling my hand around his neck, I licked my tongue across his lower lip, but kept the kiss light, wanting him to take control of it.

He did, his hands going to my hips to pull me in closer, while he flicked his tongue against my lip, then slid inside. He did it again and again, each time returning to trace along the lines of my mouth as if he was determined to commit my kiss to his memory.

I pressed closer, his damp clothes chilling my flesh but the heat of the body underneath those clothes calling to me like a siren’s song. His chest was hard against my breasts. I braced my hands against him there and pushed him back slightly. “Let’s get in the shower,” I told him with another soft kiss on his mouth.

He shucked his clothes and kicked off his shoes while I adjusted the water. This time, I didn’t have to pull him into the shower with me. He came in on his own and cornered me up against the wall as he pressed his mouth to the curve of my neck and shoulder.

I whimpered as he bit me there, delight spiraling inside.

“You’re a quick learner,” I told him.

“As long as I find the subject interesting.” He stroked his hands up, cupping my breasts. The water spilling down over us was like another caress as he plumped my nipples, then tugged on them slowly. I felt an echo of each tug deep down low in my belly as my need for him spread through me.

Droplets of water rolled down his neck. I leaned in and licked them away, famished for him.

He tangled his hand in my hair.

I moved lower, lower, lower, licking the water from his skin as the shower blasted us.

Heat lashed through me as I reached between us and wrapped my fingers around his cock.

I looked into his eyes as I pumped his length, felt the reaction, saw it well up in his eyes. He stood with his hands braced on either side of my head now, and I leaned in to kiss him before going to my knees.

Something flickered in his eyes just before I tore my gaze from his and focused on his cock. The plum-shaped head drew me, and I eased forward, pressing a kiss to the throbbing heat of him. He grunted, one hand going to my shoulder before falling away.

I shook my head and grabbed his hands, guiding them back to where they’d been.

“I like it this way,” I told him. I liked it even more when a guy grabbed my hair as I was going down on him, but we’d work up to that. I gave his cock another soft kiss, then opened, taking him inside.

Liam’s body was rigid.

Sliding a hand up his thigh, I closed my fingers around his sac and squeezed gently, then more firmly as he thrust his hips forward. It was an involuntary but welcome motion, and I sucked him deeper.

He still held himself so stiffly though, and I wanted to undo that. I wanted him shaking and quivering under my hands and mouth. It was a heady thought, the idea of stripping Liam’s guarded control away from him.

So, I set about to do just that, sucking on him, my head angled so he could see what I was doing.

And he was looking. I could feel his eyes on me almost like a caress.

I slowed my movements and rolled a look up at him.

He stared at me raptly.

I fisted my hand around the base of his cock and leaned back in, licking my way around the head until he tugged on my shoulders. A slight, subtle non-verbal please.

I took him inside once more, took him all the way to the back of my throat, and he grunted, then groaned weakly. The water splashing around us made it harder for me to hear everything, but I heard my name, and that just urged me on.

I tugged on his balls again, felt an echoing pang deep in my cunt when his cock jerked inside my mouth.

I wanted to feel him inside me that way.

But this…this first.

I worked him straight up to the edge, my nipples aching, my pussy tightening in greed.

I made him come.

He didn’t think to push me away, and I loved that, sucking every drop down from him and pumping him until he was drained.

Letting my body drag against his as I stood, I looped my arms around his shoulders and pressed a kiss to the corner of his lips. “Lesson three.”

He tugged me in closer.

* * *

Lesson three-and-a-half took place on the bed with Liam kneeling between my thighs.

He stared at the open folds of my labia with an intensity that was almost unsettling, but before I could decide what to do about it, he leaned in and kissed me.

Just a simple, closed-mouth kiss against my clitoris.

I whimpered and cupped the back of his head. “Use your tongue on me.” I slid my free hand between my thighs and pressed against my clit. “Here., I want you to lick me here.”

Liam did so, and the action made me shudder.

“What else?” he whispered against my wet flesh. “What else do you want me to do?”

“You’ve got your mouth pressed against my pussy, Liam. Take a guess.”

He pressed his hands against the inside of my thighs, spreading them wider as he lifted his head to study me. Then, as if coming to a decision, he put his mouth back on me – open this time, and I cried out as he sucked my clit into his mouth. “Yes,” I finally managed to gasp out. “Like that. That’s…”

The ability to speak was rapidly leaving me though, and when he decided to trace the entrance to my body with one rough fingertip, I thought I’d die a little.

He took his time, clearly determined to learn everything he could, and when he did something he knew I liked, he would do it over and over until I was moaning and shuddering underneath him.

But he didn’t quite bring me to the edge.

Breathless and needy, I gripped his head and pulled him closer. “More, Liam,” I said, my voice ragged and breathless. Was that really me? I groaned as he fucked his tongue into me, one hand sliding under my ass to lift me higher.

I began to move against him, wiggling and rocking, thrusting up to meet his mouth as he ate at me.

He must have realized I was close to coming because his intensity increased, all but dancing in the air around him as he pumped his fingers into my cunt, moving quicker and quicker.

I broke under him with a ragged cry, knocked completely and totally breathless.

Liam levered himself up and stared down at me, eyes hungry.

I barely had time to catch my breath before he had climbed up my body and was kissing me, his tongue spearing into my mouth, bringing the taste of my own desire with him.

He dropped his weight onto me, and I shivered at the feel of his cock pressed against the pad of my belly. Then he was stroking me between my thighs. “I want to be inside you,” he said, the words stark.

I nodded wordlessly and pointed to the condom on the nightstand.

This time, I let him put it on, struggling to catch my breath, although the sight of his fingers and hand sliding over his cock as he put the rubber on made it difficult to calm anything.

He braced his weight on his elbows next to my head as he covered me, his eyes boring into mine.

I arched up, reaching between us to tuck the head of his cock against me. “Come inside me, Liam,” I urged. “That’s what you want.”

He eased in. I was wet and ready for him, taking him easily.

He moved inside me slowly, retreating until he almost left me entirely before thrusting back with hard, slow surges.

I lifted up to meet him, gripping his biceps and holding his hungry gaze with my own.

The pang in my belly almost caught me off guard. He’d just delivered a rather delightful orgasm and here was another, rising up with a demand that he finish me, that he make me come again, and harder.

Harder…

I wrapped my legs around his waist. “Harder, Liam. Fuck me harder.”

He went rigid, his eyes widening slightly.

“I want more,” I demanded, my nails digging into his skin.

His cock jerked as he stared at me. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

I smiled, taking his face between my hands. “You won’t. I promise. I’ll love it.”

He gave me another long, hard look before pulling almost all the way out. I reached for him, afraid I’d scared him away when he braced his weight on his hands and lunged. The ferocity of the thrust almost stole my breath away.

Unable to do anything but whimper in appreciation, I tightened around him.

He rode me hard that time, and I felt his cock jerk inside me. “You don’t come until I do,” I said, pulling his mouth to mine.

He bit my lower lip.

The shivers raging inside me tightened, curled…

Another hard thrust. Another.

I clenched around him and came.

Liam’s eyes widened, then he roared out my name as he followed, shattering us both.