If I Can't Let Go (If You Come Back To Me #2) (11 page)

“Liam,” she murmured, longing roughening her voice. She encircled him with her arms, her fingers running over sleek, dense muscle gloved in thick skin. She pressed her palms flat against his lower back, one hand on either side of his spine, and slid her fingers beneath the elastic band of his pajama bottoms. He groaned at the caress and shifted his weight, coming down next to her on the mattress. It was the license she needed.

Her hands lowered. She held curving, dense muscle and molded it to her palms.

Liam made a strangled sound and his hand flew to the sash of her robe. He made short work of loosening it as he
pressed quick, hot kisses to her neck and ear. His whiskers occasionally scraped her sensitive skin, making her shiver with pleasure, but his warm, gifted lips always followed to soothe her.

He lifted his head and watched himself part the fabric of her robe. She caught a glimpse of his rigid features before he lowered his head, pressing his mouth to her belly. She gasped, her hands flying to his head, her fingers twining in his thick, damp hair. His hands smoothed down the sides of her torso, pausing in the caress to lift her to his mouth. His head moved. He covered her belly and ribs with burning kisses and small, tender bites that left her gasping and her flesh tingling.

Natalie felt herself melting into the mattress, melting beneath Liam’s stroking hands and hungry mouth. Her breasts thrust upward, her nipples pulling tight in pleasure. His hands shifted to her back and he raised her farther, her back arching off the bed. She cried out in pleasure when his mouth transferred to her breasts. Her sex clenched tight with rising need as he rained kisses over sensitive flesh and then slipped a nipple between his lips.

He drew on her so sweetly, Natalie’s plea was almost harsh.

He rose over her at the sound, a long leg covering one of hers, his ribs pressed against her own. He untied the drawstring of his pants. She could feel his lungs working as he panted nearly as rapidly as she did. She felt the remaining barrier of his thin pants fall away, and he reached for the bedside table and found a condom. Wariness flickered through her for a brief few seconds as he put it on, but then Liam lowered over her. He seized her mouth with his own, and smooth, warm, naked skin glided against her tingling flesh in a caress that struck her as divine.

Then she was kissing him back and her hands were worshipping him, her desire every bit as intense as his.

She felt him move, steely male strength against her female
softness. He pressed against her and she felt a shock go through his body. She gritted her teeth against a stab of discomfort.

He lifted his head and she saw the look of anguished restraint on his face. She reached for him, tracing his smooth goatee with stroking fingers, wishing she could ease the agony so that only the pleasure remained. Her longing only increased when she realized he probably desired something similar for her.

“It’s okay, Liam. It’s okay,” she whispered.

He opened his mouth as if to speak, but no words came. He flexed his hips, wincing before he dropped his head, bracing himself on his arms. Natalie remained frozen for a moment, trying to accustom herself to the sensation of being filled with Liam, of his flesh fusing with her own.

It was strange.

It was…amazing.

She became aware of his heaving ribs. He lay over her, his arm muscles bulging hard and tight as he held himself off her chest.

She began to burn where they were joined.

She shifted her hips, requiring friction to alleviate the pressure growing in her. Liam groaned gutturally and looked up. She licked her upper lip and tasted sweat.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled almost unintelligibly.

“Don’t be.”

His throat convulsed. “I don’t want to hurt you,” he croaked, as if he didn’t know which sensation to respond to.

“Liam?”

“Yes?”

“Move.
Please,
” she implored.

A wild gleam shone in his eyes. He flexed his hips and she gasped. When he paused, thinking she was uncomfortable, Natalie placed her hands on his buttocks and guided him.

His grunt sounded incredulous…wild.

Feeling him move in her was a miracle. Natalie focused on the sensation to the exclusion of all else. Her entire world narrowed to Liam stroking her as she held him in her deepest embrace. She moved with him, knowing this dance instinctively, recognizing this partner at her very core.

When she sensed his tension and heard his erratic breath, she positioned herself to take him deeper, wanting nothing more than to offer him surcease.

“Natalie,”
he rasped. He lowered his head, his mouth finding hers as they continued to move in tandem. His possession became more demanding, more frantic. His lips moved against her temple, his breath hot and ragged. Natalie closed her eyelid and felt his kiss on her scar like a benediction conferred in fire.

He gave a low, desperate sounding growl and covered her mouth. She felt him jerk within her, his entire body convulsing. The sensation made a flame rage into an inferno. She clutched his shoulders as she succumbed to the unbearable friction Liam created with every look, every touch, every stroke.

His groan of release penetrated her wave of pleasure, striking her as poignant, beautiful—the essence of male surrender.

T
hey lay so entwined Natalie wasn’t sure where he began and she ended.

“Are you sure you haven’t done this before?” he asked as he kissed her ear. She shivered at the sensual impact of his deep, rough voice.

“Quite sure.”

“Huh,” he muttered, now kissing her neck with warm lips. “You come by it naturally. How lucky am I? Hey—” His lip examination of her throat broke off when she swatted him on the rear. It was the natural thing to do, since her hand was right there. “It was just an observation.”

Natalie grinned as she examined his mussed hair, the shadow of whiskers on his jaw and the humor in his eyes. He looked good enough to eat. She shook her head in admonishment.

“Don’t give me that innocent look,” she murmured.

“What?” he asked in a low growl. He bent his head and
spoke next to the upper curve of her breast. “The days of being businesslike are done. Now you have to put up with me saying all kinds of unprofessional things. Hmm….” He trailed off as his lips ran over her skin. “I can’t believe how soft your breasts are,” he murmured, his teasing tone segueing to one of masculine hunger and awe.

“Unprofessional things like that, I suppose,” she said on a sigh of pleasure.

“Yeah, things like that, and things like this—” He lifted his tawny head and whispered hoarsely in her ear. Heat rushed through when she heard those sweet, illicit words. Her cheeks burned. So did other parts of her body.

“I had no idea you were such a dirty talker, Liam Kavanaugh,” she murmured, hugging him closer as he began kissing her ear in earnest.

“You haven’t heard anything yet.”

Natalie chuckled. Her body was responding wholeheartedly to Liam’s erotic playfulness. Because they pressed skin to skin, it was pretty obvious he was aroused once again. They’d already made love once after that first time, and it’d been as sweet and tender as their first time had been anguished and wild. From Liam’s present actions, Natalie surmised this time was going to be different still. Apparently, Liam’s lovemaking had as many faces as his complex character.

His kisses were getting so hungry and hot that Natalie opened her eyes in disappointment when they stopped suddenly.

“What’s wrong?” she whispered when she noticed he was staring down at her, his eyes lit like banked flames.

“I think I’ve put you through enough this morning.”

“You make it sound like you were pulling teeth or something. It was hardly grueling,” she told him with a grin.

He stared. His body hardened noticeably next to her and
she thought she might have convinced him that she wasn’t going to break like glass when he sighed deeply and rolled off her.

Natalie scowled at the absence of his heat. She’d grown quite used to it in the past hour.

“You’re pretty convincing, you know that?” he asked gruffly as he grabbed his cotton pants.

“Then why are you getting dressed?”

“Because I was damn well near letting myself believe you, that’s why,” he mumbled.

“Liam.”

He pulled up his pants as he stood. He made an impatient gesture when he heard her scolding tone.

“I may not have much experience with…being with someone without much experience,” he said, “but I do know one thing—only a jerk would overdo it in these circumstances.”

“But—”

“Stop testing my better nature,” he said teasingly, but she caught the steel in his stare. “You just get dressed and come on downstairs. I’ll make you some breakfast, and then we’ll go on over to your place to pick up some stuff.”

“What sort of stuff?” Natalie asked bemusedly as she sat up in bed, a sheet clutched over her breasts.

“Whatever you need to stay here for the rest of the weekend, of course,” he said, his gaze lingering on her scantily covered breasts. “I may be cutting you some slack because of the special circumstances, but you better believe after you’re rested and fed, you’re not leaving that bed for a few days.”

Natalie stared after him incredulously, but she was laughing by the time she heard his buoyant-sounding tread on the stairs.

Later that afternoon they lay sprawled on recliners on the sunny portion of Liam’s terrace. Natalie’s skin had dried from
their swim and she was getting drowsy from the pleasant feeling of the warm sun. Liam had insisted earlier they stay in the shallows until he had the breakwater repaired, which was fine by Natalie. Not only did she not want to repeat the harrowing experience of this morning, it was much nicer to be in Liam’s solid embrace as the waves rushed around their waists. They’d kissed until Natalie was breathless and Liam was so hot, he suddenly fell comically back into the waves, dousing himself.

She felt a little guilty because she hadn’t thought once about their investigation into the crash all day.

She’d been too involved with Liam, too preoccupied with observing the way his eyes lit up whenever he heard her laugh, too aware of his every movement, word and touch.

She was falling in love, Natalie realized groggily. It was a little intimidating, not knowing where the path with Liam would end.

His hand grasped hers, as if he’d gleaned her thoughts and was telling her he was on the path with her. She opened her heavy eyelids and smiled sleepily when she saw that while his head rested on the recliner, his chin was tilted and he was watching her.

“Tomorrow is the fundraiser at the Family Center,” she murmured, surprising herself a little with her choice of topic. Perhaps her anxieties about becoming involved with Liam weren’t as far from the surface as she’d assumed.

“Yeah, but I still have you to myself for the rest of today and all night, so I’m trying not to dwell on having to share you for a while.”

She smiled. He returned her smile and caressed her wrist with his thumb. It felt sublime, lying here under a warm sun and having Liam look at her the way he was in that moment. Still…some of her insecurities leaked into her bliss.

“Do you suppose your mother will be there?” she asked slowly.

“She’ll probably stop by for a bit. She’s still not entirely comfortable with the idea of Mari opening the Family Center, but she does her best to be supportive. Besides, my mom would never miss a chance to spoil her granddaughter,” Liam said, referring to Marc and Mari’s sixteen-month-old daughter, Rylee Jean.

“Will it be uncomfortable for you? Being there with me?” Natalie asked in a hushed tone.

“I can assure you that being with you makes me
extremely
comfortable.”

She threw him an exasperated glance. “I was referring to you being uncomfortable after what happened between you and your mother the other day.”

“I know. I’ll deal with it. Will it be okay with you?” he asked after a moment. “Your brother will be at the fundraiser as well.”

“I can handle Eric. He’ll behave,” Natalie said quietly. “It’s just that…your mother…those things she said to you the other day…”

“You’re worried my mother won’t behave?” Liam asked with grim amusement.

“I know she’ll
behave
.” She gave him a furtive glance. “But…if you two have a falling out, it’ll have been my fault, for asking you to take on this investigation. I knew that in the beginning, but now…things are different…”

He turned onto his side, facing her. Despite her rising anxiety, she couldn’t stop herself from admiring him wearing nothing but some low-riding, black swim trunks.

“Things are different.” A small smile flickered across his mouth. “What’s different, Natalie?”

She bit at her bottom lip.

“I care. That’s what’s different.”

For a few seconds, he didn’t speak. Then he reached for her.

“Come here,” he said.

She couldn’t resist his beckoning. She laughed after he’d pulled her on top of him and she landed on him in a graceless heap.

“Ouch…hey, watch the elbows,” he mumbled as Natalie squirmed, trying to find a comfortable position.

“I’m trying not to crush you.”

“You’re too small to crush me.”

“I’m not too small to break this deck chair,” Natalie said, eyes going wide when she heard the springs creak.

Liam’s low laugh struck her as delicious. She stopped squirming and rested her head on his warm, hard chest, absorbing the vibrations of his mirth. He smoothed her hair back from her face.

“There. That’s better,” he said.

Natalie sighed in contentment, sandwiched as she was between Liam’s heat and the sun’s.

“Listen to me,” he said, his deep voice rumbling directly into the ear pressed to his chest. “I can handle my mother, just like you can handle your brother. You weren’t wrong to ask me to look into the crash. It’s like you told me in the beginning—the truth is what’s important.”

“Family is important, too.”

For a few seconds, she’d wondered if he’d heard her, because he didn’t move or respond. She couldn’t see him in their present position, but she imagined his expression at that moment—the careworn, sober one he rarely showed the world, the face of a much older man.

Natalie suspected he’d acquired that expression when he was a fifteen-year-old boy.

“You’re right. But if family ties are strong enough, they
shouldn’t be damaged by the truth,” he said before he resumed stroking her hair.

She lifted her head slowly. An ache started up in her throat when she saw he wore the precise expression she’d imagined. A strange sense of foreboding came over her. She’d been the one to suggest this venture because her lack of understanding nettled her so greatly, made it difficult for her to heal.

But what if in finding the answers to the questions that burned inside her, she tore open old wounds for Liam?

What if her questions inflicted new, fresh wounds?

The possibility horrified her.

She opened her mouth to suggest they cease the investigation, but at the same moment he slid her body up farther against his. He lifted his head and took her mouth in a hot, possessive kiss. Her worries fizzled into mist.

He must have known it from years of experience, Natalie thought dazedly.

He must have known it was impossible for a woman to worry and kiss him at the same time.

By the time he sealed the kiss, her flesh had softened to the consistency of warm butter.

“Why don’t I take you out to dinner?” he asked gruffly.

“Oh,” she mumbled, surprised by his suggestion. “If that’s what you’d like to do.”

He cradled her jaw with one hand. “What I’d like to do is take you to bed. But I’m trying to restrain the caveman in me—for as long as possible, anyway.”

“Liam…I’m fine,” she whispered, both embarrassed and pleased by his words.

His hands found their way to her waist. Natalie moaned softly when he lowered to her hips and massaged the flesh there in a hungry gesture. His mouth slanted into a grim line.

“Come on, let’s go shower,” he said.

He swatted her bottom and she jumped. She glanced up
at him and noticed the gleam in his narrowed eyes. She got off Liam’s warm, hard body as if it had just burned her. As she headed toward the back door, she glanced back over her shoulder cautiously. When she saw the devilish expression on Liam’s face, she gave a hoot of laughter and started running toward the screen door.

He caught her around the waist just as she reached it and lifted her off her feet. He flung open the door as he held her against him with one arm. His twiddling fingers on her waist and belly made her shriek in surprise. Liam burst into laughter at the comical sound. She couldn’t stop laughing as he carried her through the dim kitchen.

“You didn’t know cavemen knew so much about tickling, did you?” he teased as Natalie tried to catch her breath between eruptions of laughter.

“Oh…stop,
stop it,
” she pleaded breathlessly as he carried her through the living room.

“If you insist.”

She gave one last snort after he’d set her on her feet at the base of the stairs. Her cheeks were wet from laughing. Liam stood just inches away, grinning down at her. She tried to give him a repressive look for tickling her half to death, but he looked so appealing, her pretend irritation couldn’t survive.

She grinned back at him as if they were partners in a playful crime.

“I’ll get you back for that,” she murmured softly.

His eyebrows shot upward. “I can’t wait.”

“You’ll be very, very sorry. You’ll see,” Natalie told him before she started up the stairs. His deep laughter followed her.

“Natalie,” he called.

She paused on the stairs and turned.

“You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life,”
he said, his tone completely at odds with their former playfulness.

Her giddy smile vanished. For a few taut seconds, they just stared at each other. The air separating them seemed to pulse with electric tension. Natalie swallowed with difficulty.

“I was thinking…” she began.

“Yes?”

“Maybe we can go to the Captain and Crew for dinner.”

His eyes flashed with surprise. What she’d said hadn’t been what he’d expected, obviously. She saw his widening smile.

Apparently…he’d liked it, though. He’d liked it a lot.

It was nowhere near as bad as she’d always worried it would be, eating in such a bustling, crowded restaurant in Harbor Town. Natalie knew it was because of Liam. He was a buffer, of sorts. It was hard to worry about judgmental appraisals when she was feeling so happy.

Liam was so well known in town that a few of the bolder Harbor Town citizens initially approached their table. He was never rude—from what Natalie could see, his manners were perfectly amiable. Still, people must have noticed some vibe he transmitted, some signal that he wanted privacy, because no one lingered. They were left to the privacy and wonder of their growing feelings.

“That was nice,” Natalie said later when they walked through the door of the cottage. She’d sounded a little breathless. Her sense of anticipation had been mounting ever since their charged encounter on the stairs earlier. It only seemed to build as they had dinner at the Captain and Crew and then took a walk along the harbor.

“You think so?” Liam asked as they walked into the kitchen.