Back to Life (21 page)

“I
charmed you too, huh?” I said, smiling. “You mean it’s not all about the sex?”

“Trust
me, as
hot
as sex with you is, I think I fell in love with you the first
time I saw you at Shadow. There’s something about you that commands attention,
baby, and I’m so lucky I got to be the one to command yours,” he said. I fell
in love with him in that moment all over again. “Come on. Let’s get this over
with,” he said, and he gave my hand another squeeze. He opened his door and
after he shut it, he quickly raced over to my side and helped me out of the
car. I placed my hand in his and we started walking up the steps to his house.
Just as we stepped onto the top step when I heard someone call out our names.

“Rory,
Liam!” I turned to see Brody and Marissa bounding up the steps behind us,
followed by Nick and Samantha. I smiled at them and waved.

“Hey,
you guys made it,” Liam said, looking at Nick. He was holding Samantha’s hand
and she was leaning into him. It was still weird for me to see them together. I
was happy for the both of them, but I just felt a bit overprotective of
Samantha, especially knowing her dating history. She’d been single for the past
year by choice after getting out a verbally abusive relationship and for a long
time after the breakup she had very low self esteem. I know that Nick must be
treating her right if she was in any kind of relationship with him, but I
couldn’t help but worry. I also loved Nick like a brother, and I knew the
alarmingly fast rate he went through women before he met Samantha. I just
wondered how long being with one woman, no matter how wonderful she was, was
going to satisfy him before he missed his old carefree days. I loved them both
and only wanted what was best for them.

“Of
course we made it, man. It’s been too long since I’ve been to this place,” Nick
said, walking up and man-slapping Liam on the arm. “Nice to see you, Rory. You
look beautiful,” he said, leaning and kissing my cheek.

“Thanks,
Nick. You look nice too,” I said, biting my bottom lip to try to keep from snickering.
It seemed today was the day for all my boys to bust out their polo shirts. When
my eyes roamed from Nick, so Liam, to Brody, and back again, I broke out into a
full blown laugh when I realized one was wearing red, one was wearing white,
and the other was wearing blue. “It’s so sweet that you all decided to
coordinate your polo shirts today. How patriotic,” I laughed, and Samantha and
Marissa started giggling with me.

“Shut
up, Rory,” Nick smiled, and Samantha snuggled into him more and kissed his
bicep.

“This
is such a beautiful house,” Marissa said, her eyes roaming the outside of the
house with her mouth open in admiration.

“Oh,
wait until you see the inside of this place. It’s amazing,” Nick said, smiling.
He obviously loved it here. Liam had told me in passing a few times that since
Nick’s mother passed away, he usually spent most of his time with the Tanners.
His father was absent and his grandmother was always working or busy with other
commitments to care for him like he needed. Liam said that if Nick’s
grandmother would have let them, Vivian and Grayson would have probably adopted
him.

“Well,
let’s go see it then,” Liam said, and he squeezed my hand as we walked toward
the door. He pressed the doorbell and we waited for a few moments before a
woman in a plain white uniform dress opened the door and showed us in. My mouth
fell open…this house was the most beautiful place I had ever been.  We weren’t
inside for very long before I heard a familiar motherly voice calling out
through the foyer (which was bigger than mine and Liam’s apartments combined).

“Well
there you all are, and right on time!” Vivian exclaimed. She walked straight to
me and pulled me into a warm embrace. “Rory, darling, you look simply
stunning!”

I
hugged her back and pulled away. “Thank you, Vivian. So do you,” I said. She
was wearing a crisp pair of white Capri pants, a blue peasant top, and white
sandals. Her hair was pulled back into a sleek ponytail. She looked lovely. I
smoothed my dress again while she said her hellos to Liam and Nick. “Vivian, I
wanted to introduce you to…”

She
raised a hand. “No wait, don’t tell me. This handsome man must be your
brother,” she said warmly, placing her hand on Brody’s arm.

I
smiled. “Yes, he is. I’d like you to meet my brother, Dr. Brody Shaw.”

Brody
smiled. “You couldn’t resist throwing the
doctor
thing in there, could
you?”

I
shook my head and beamed at him. “Never.”

Vivian
smiled. “Well, I’m Vivian, and it’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Brody. Rory
always speaks very highly of you,” she said, and Brody winked at me. “And this
lovely lady must be Marissa, and you are a photographer, right?” she asked,
taking Marissa’s hand.

“That’s
right, ma’am. Thank you so much for inviting us today. You have a lovely home,”
Marissa said, and Vivian pulled her in to kiss her on both cheeks.

“Oh,
it’s my pleasure, dear. Liam’s father usually invites so many stuffy people
here, so it will be nice change to have young people around again,” she said.
She turned her gaze to Samantha, who looked nervous. “And you must be Nick’s
girl Samantha,” she said, pulling her into a quick hug. “I have to say that
when I heard he was bringing someone today I thought I was going to faint. It’s
wonderful to meet you dear.”

“It’s
so nice to meet you too, Mrs. Tanner,” Samantha said, and Vivian winked at me.

“Oh,
none of that ‘Mrs. Tanner’ nonsense today. Please, call me Vivian,” she said.

I
laughed. “Trust me, she’s not kidding. She hounded me for three years to call
her Vivian before I gave up.”

At
that moment, Grayson walked out into the foyer. “Well, there you all are. Glad
you could make it today,” he said, moving closer to us. “Rory, dear, how lovely
to see you again,” he said, wrapping me in a fatherly hug.

“It’s
nice to see you too, Grayson,” I said, and as soon as we broke apart the
introductions began all over again.

This
whole day had been going so great. I had been introduced to all of the lawyers
in Grayson’s firm and their families and also some of his former colleagues,
and they all seemed very nice. Well, most of them anyway. The men all seemed to
like me and most of the women did too, all asking me different questions about
their hair and how I would cut, color, or style it if I had the chance. They
didn’t seem phased by the tattoos and piercings, not that I would have cared if
they had. The only ones that seemed to look down their noses at me were the
younger women that had come in hopes of getting a shot at Liam and were angered
and jealous by the fact that he was here with someone like me. The thought made
me do an internal happy dance.

After
we had all eaten, Liam told me that he wanted to take me on a tour of the house,
but that he needed to talk to Vivian and Grayson about something first. I
shrugged it off and ended up going down to the beach for a little bit with
Nick, Samantha, Marissa, and Brody while I waited. After about forty-five
minutes, he was back and he led me back up to the house to start the tour. His
house was huge…I didn’t know how we were going to see it all on one afternoon.
“Be easy on me, Rory, because I haven’t been to this house in a decade and
apparently I am forgetting which doors lead to bathrooms or closets,” he said,
and I giggled. We had seen the entire downstairs which included an indoor pool
(which I couldn’t understand…why would you want an indoor pool when you lived
right next to the ocean?), three huge bedrooms, and three bathrooms, one of
which included a Jacuzzi. We had just climbed up the stairs and were about to
look into yet another door when he stopped me. “That can wait, I want to show
you something else,” he said, and he led me down the long hallway to the very
last door on the right.

“What’s
behind this door, Liam?” I asked, and he grinned sexily at me. He turned the
doorknob and let me inside the room, and when I was inside I looked around. I
blinked a few times, and looked at him. “It’s another bedroom,” I said,
smiling.

He
shut the door behind us and I heard the lock click. “This was my room,” he
said, trailing his fingers down my arm, making me shiver.

“Wow,”
I said, trying to maintain my composure, “it looks so…ordinary. Not at all like
a teenager lived here.” The carpet was a deep navy blue, and there was a huge
king sized bed covered in the most comfortable and elegant looking white duvet.

“Mom
redid it after I left.”

“That’s
so sad,” I said. Vivian seemed like such a loving mother and I couldn’t imagine
her just redecorating her son’s room as if he were no longer a part of her
life.

He
noticed my tone and he shook his head as he pressed a kiss to the top of my
head. “I told her to redo the room, it didn’t matter to me. Hell, even when I
was here I never really spent much time in this room. I was always down on the
beach chasing girls,” he said.

I
turned and wrapped my arms around his neck and started to play with the hair
resting at the nape. “Oh really? Get lucky a lot?” I said, smiling.

He
smiled and shook his head. “Not very gentlemanly of me to tell you that babe,”
he said, and he lowered his lips to mine. He wasted no time in tracing his
tongue along my bottom lip and before I could think he spun me around and
pressed me up against the door. He guided my leg up around his hip and he ran
his hand up my thigh and right to the outline of my panties.

“Liam,”
I whimpered, “we are not having sex in your parent’s house!” I tried to shove
against him but his teeth gently nipped at my ear and I was seeing stars.

“You
have been driving me crazy in that dress all day long, and there is no way I
can make it until we get back home to have you,” he growled, and he lifted my
other leg with ease and I wrapped my legs tightly against him, his best feature
pressing hard into my core. He kissed me deeply, his tongue tangling with mine
and he moved us toward the bed. “Tell me you don’t want me right now and I’ll
stop,” he said, moving his hand from where it was holding onto my ass and
sliding it into my panties. His fingers swirled around my clit for a moment
before he thrust a finger inside me.

I
bit down on his shoulder to stifle my scream and I breathed out, “Don’t stop,
Liam. I want you.”

He
moved his finger around making me cry out again. “You like that, baby?”

“Yes,”
I moaned. “Liam, please,” I begged.

“What
do you want me to do, angel?” He’d gotten into a habit of making me completely
bat shit crazy when it came to sex and loved when I would beg for him to make
love to me. Even though it was irritating sometimes, I had to admit that I
loved it because the anticipation from pleading made the initial contact so
worth it. “Just say the words,” he said.

My
body was on the verge of exploding, and I was done being teased. I yanked hard
on his hair and said, “You. Bed. Inside me. Now.”

He
grinned and tossed me on the bed with ease, and covered my body with his. His
hands slid up my dress and were reaching up to take my panties off, but I
pushed him off me and climbed on top of him after he was on his back. I moved
down to undo his pants and in no time at all I had his rock hard erection in my
hands, stroking it up and down. “Condom?” I whispered.

“Wallet,”
he grunted, and I forcefully pulled his wallet out of the back of his pants, found
the condom, and tore it open with my teeth, causing him to chuckle. I rolled it
onto his long length and I wasted no time in climbing back on top of him. I
took one of his hands in mine and my other was lying on his chest when I felt
his free hand move my panties to the side and I slid down onto his dick. I
threw my head back and sucked in as much air as I could to keep from screaming
in pleasure. “Aw, fuck, baby!” he moaned, and I started to rock my hips back
and forth.

“Oh
God, Liam,” I breathed. Oh my God he felt amazing. I was racing toward an
orgasm already at the thought of being caught, and I knew I wasn’t going to
hold on much longer. He always knew how to touch me just right to send me over
the edge, and when his fingers rolled around my clit I was a goner. I shattered
a thousand times over and while I was coming down from my pleasure, I felt his
hands grab a rough hold on my hips as he found his release as well, stilling as
he emptied himself into me. I collapsed onto his chest, completely sated.
“Wow,” I said, “I’ve never done that fully clothed before.”

He
laughed and wrapped his arms around my back. “Well, while this was incredible,
I much prefer you naked, I must say.”

After
lying on his chest and in his arms for a few moments, I realized we’d been on
our “tour” of the house for a while now, and people were going to start
wondering where we were. “Come on, Liam,” I said, climbing off him, “we need to
get back downstairs.” I stood up on wobbly legs and adjusted my panties back into
place. I walked over to an adjoining bathroom and grabbed a few tissues and
took them back to Liam. “Here you go,” I said, handing them to him. He sat on
the bed for a moment, staring at me and smiling. “What is it?” I asked.