Whisper (New Adult Romance) (8 page)

Heat stabbed my cheeks. I could count the number of times I saw a therapist on one hand, and she'd said a variation of the same thing. I was acting out because I never got to as a kid. There were always people watching. Expectations. I let her words go in one ear and out the other, mostly because she spent eighty percent of our appointment looking at the clock. I didn't feel her words or that she cared about me. But Liam...his words washed over me and dove into my chest, clutching my heart tight. He cared...and he meant every word.

I shied away from the moment, gesturing at the machine. “I'd throw your stuff in before the cycle locks the door.”

He tossed the load in and leaned against the machine, a curious look on his face. “You do a lot of clothes at the Laundromat?”

I didn't do any clothes, period, but with his surprised reaction, I didn't want to state the obvious – that I hadn't washed or folded my own laundry in years. Instead, I vaulted up onto the folding table. “I wasn't always Mia Kent.” I made a sweeping gesture. “Once upon a time, I was just a kid stuffed into the back of my mom's van and driven across the country, starving for my big break.” I remembered nasty McDonald's salads and cups of ice water, staying at low budget motels and washing clothes in the bathtub unless we were lucky enough to grab a hotel not too far from a Laundromat. We'd lug our clothes over and Mom would grill me on everything from my lines to my smile. Maybe that's why I hated doing the laundry now, because there was some psychological link between washing and drying and my mother berating me. 

I shrugged away the memory and focused on Liam. Focused on keeping my mother out of this. “You're not getting off that easy.”

He chuckled. “Well, shit.” He pushed away from the machine, stretching his arms above his head. Twisting his waist to the left, then the right. Was he going to tell me about himself or run a marathon?

“I grew up in the Bay Area,” he said finally. “Nothing too exciting. Dad worked in the financial district. Mom stayed home to raise me.”

I swung my legs, picturing the Golden Gate Bridge, the biting chill of the cold. “I went to a couple of auditions in San Fran. I remember the city being...” I searched for the right word. “Colorful.” Another word popped in my head. “And expensive.”

“Yep.” One syllable, and he was suddenly avoiding my gaze. I guess I wasn't the only one who didn't look upon my childhood with fondness. 

His biceps flexed as he crossed his arms against his chest.  “If my dad had it his way, I'd be working at his firm as we speak. He didn't mind the 'singing thing' when it was a hobby, but when I dropped out of college and packed up my Volvo with dreams of making it big in LA—” He winced, like he was reliving the memories in bitter, vivid clarity.

I knew there was rarely a happy medium. There was my mother who forced voice, piano, and dance lessons that we couldn’t afford down my throat. She was going to make me a star by any means necessary. And then there was the other side of the spectrum, parents so violently against their children’s dreams that they threatened to disown and cut off their children when they needed their support the most.

“He went through every stage of grief before my very eyes.” Liam raked a hand through his dark locks, holding it at bay as he recounted his father’s meltdown. “Denial – he laughed in my face, like I’d just told him some gut-breaking joke. When my mom and I didn’t crack a grin, he stormed into his office. He was gone for maybe five minutes and picked up where he left off. He was furious. Angrier than I’d ever seen him, face so fucking red I didn’t say a word because I was genuinely worried he’d have a stroke or something. Then he tried to buy me off. Told me I could take some time off from school, see the world and find myself and come back next semester ready to focus on my studies. When that didn’t work, he started drinking, and finally, he said if I wanted to ruin my life, who was he to try and stop me.”

“Ruin your life?” Not even thinking, I leaned over and nudged him with my shoulder. “Clearly he’s never heard you sing.” I realized the nearness of him when his eyes shifted to me, and I battled the urge to move closer and kiss him.

“You’re sweet.” His gaze smoothed over my lips like they were luscious ripe fruit that he was dying to taste. “But talent has nothing to do with it.” His eyes turned back to the machine, watching the soapy water as if hypnotized. “My dad is old school. All about duty and honor. He had expectations of me, and anything less means I’m a failure.” He blinked. “I just had the misfortune of proving him right.”

Considering he got offended the last time I attempted to be optimistic about his career, I tried a different approach. I told him something I had never told anyone. “I flubbed my
Carolina, California
audition.” I kicked my legs wildly for a moment, like I was trying to escape. His hand covered mine, and I could breathe again.

I wet my lips, the words easier to let go. “Of course, it didn’t matter. They loved that I screwed up, called it endearing and exactly what they were looking for. But when I walked in, I decided to throw it. I forgot my lines, I barely smiled, and I was as awkward as I could possibly be. I wanted to fail.” My legs stilled. “It wasn’t a commercial. At least with commercials I could still have a normal life. If I got the lead for
Carolina, California
, it would be my life. I’d never be able to escape my mother...and to me, that was a fate worse than death.”

“But you got the role.” He searched my face, searched for the appropriate words to say. “I’m...sorry?”

“Don’t be,” I laughed. “Being on that show was a great experience. Without it, I never would have realized how much I enjoyed acting. I would have just lumped it in with things my mother loves, and I would have hated it by default.” And we were back on my mother. Everything always circled back to her, whether I was trying to or not. I might as well just get on with it and tell him why I called him. “I made the mistake of thinking she spontaneously grew a conscience about what happened in Sol’s office. Or all the things that have happened over the years.” I suddenly felt itchy, unable to sit still with the nerves terrorizing my insides. I launched from the table and started pacing. “Now that I get to choose what’s next and I get to decide what kind of career I want to have, there’s this...longing inside me. I want, no, I
need
her to be my mom. I know I’m 21, but I’ve spent most of my life being who she wanted me to be.” I stopped, posing questions that no one could answer but her.  “Is it too much to ask? Haven’t I earned it? Can’t she at least try?”

The Laundromat was deserted except for me, Liam, and an elderly woman that might have her clothes folded by 2016 judging by her slow, precise movements. Still, I looked around, mortified. I wanted to fade into the yellowed linoleum. Just disappear. Had I really gone that far? Let out all the shit that countless therapists had tried to cajole out of me to a total stranger? But he wasn’t a stranger. When I leaned into him as he tilted my face towards him, I knew that as surely as I knew that the Earth was round and my mom didn’t have a single mothering bone in her body.

That, and Liam had the most beautiful green eyes I’d ever seen.

“I wish I could take away your pain,” he murmured, his voice rich and low. Naturally, my inner horniness was being all kinds of inappropriate and tainting what could be a sweet moment. Because I was wondering what his moans sounded like. How it would ripple over the syllables of my name as I took my lips and ran them up and down his muscled chest.

I took a step backward, but he followed me. I tried to erase my naughty thoughts. He wanted to take this slow and romance me. He wasn’t running for the hills after seeing me at my worst, and wooing me was the only thing he asked of me – and all I could think about was fucking him.

I took a cautious look into his eyes and nearly came on the spot. We were on the same wavelength. I could feel the lust radiating from him. It was more beautiful than roses or sonnets or a song written just for me. Being wanted, desired – that’s what made my heart sing.

I gave him the option to turn back. I was against the washing machine, the whirring thing sending vibrations through me that magnified my need to feel him inside me. I held out a hand, finding what was left of my strength. “Don’t start something you can’t finish.”

He pulled me to him, his mouth ravenous and delicious. I melted into him, pausing long enough to take his earlobe between my teeth.

“Alright,” I whispered, voice thick and hot. “You asked for it.”

I
wasn’t totally sure that we’d actually make it back to his apartment before he put his dick inside me...and that suited me just fine. Our lips had barely left each other’s, hands wild and roaming, until I missed a step and almost got a face full of concrete. Liam did the only logical thing: he scooped me up into his arms.

I squealed, asking him to put me down like he was calling my virtue or modesty into question. Since stroking him behind his jeans was the reason I almost face planted, it was a little late for that. And the fact that he didn’t put me down until he was ready to made my blood pressure spike and desire coat my panties. I was wet, wetter than wet, and all we’d done was some hardcore kissing and heavy petting. I foresaw a multi-climax situation in my future.

The elevator doors opened and a woman with her nose in a book eyed us. Me, panting in Liam’s arms. Him, standing there with his obvious and prominent erection. When he put me down, I assumed we would postpone the naughty until we were alone, but he pinned me against the wall. Both arms locked me in, his face wild and hungry for me. His eyes glittered like emeralds and he flashed a grin that made me weak in the knees.

Even though I knew the answer, I asked anyway. “What are you thinking?”

He leaned down and lowered his voice. The other women was wedged as far away from us as possible, which, in an elevator, wasn’t that far.

“I’m wondering if you taste as good as you look.”

The woman gasped and I blushed the deepest red. He usually seemed so controlled, but this was Liam feral, and I liked it. It was hard to be witty when he was making my brain overheat with all the things I wanted him to do to my body...and tasting me just got upgraded to the top of the list.

“W-well, in a little bit, you’ll find out.” I winked.

“A little bit?” he repeated, biting his lip like he was mulling it over. He dismissed it with a disapproving sound. “Nah...I think I’ll find out now.”

He wouldn’t—“Oh my God!” I hissed as he unbuttoned my jeans and unzipped my fly in a nearly seamless move. Before I could regain my senses, his hand cupped my sex and I could do nothing but moan as his fingers stroked my slick opening. Just when I started to swivel my hips, a whisper away from taking that finger and forcing it inside me, he pulled away. I watched in stunned silence as he brought the finger to his lips. He suckled it, a baritone moan rocking me to my very core.

“Mmm,” he sighed deeply. “Even better.”

The elevator dinged as it opened on the woman’s floor, and I watched her watching us with a mixture of horror and fascination until the doors shut. Liam watched nothing but me, his hands exploring my body. He started with my neck, fingertips drawing down the line of it, skating over my collarbone, then focusing on the good stuff. My body was already enslaved to him and when he massaged my breasts, my nipples eagerly pebbled against my oversized shirt.

I threw my head back, cries of pleasure echoing around us, the pitch heightening when I felt his mouth on my neck, his tongue swirling and teasing me as he pinched my nipples.

The elevator dinged a second time and he pulled me out, the two of us flying down the hall. He almost didn’t bother with closing the door, but I kicked it shut. My pants were already half off, so I finished the job and tore off my top.

He paused, his eyes glazing over me before they rested back on my face. “You’re beautiful.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” I giggled, rushing forward to remedy his lack of undress. He stopped me, tilting my chin up.

“I’m not stroking your ego, Mia. I mean it.”

“Well,” I whispered seductively. “How about I stroke a little something...” I reached inside his boxers and gripped him. His eyes darkened with approval, then he grinned and went back to the lovey dovey stuff.

“Why does it make you uncomfortable when I try and get serious, get real with you?”

I kept stroking him, ignoring the flash of fear that cut through me. “Well, at the moment I’m not uncomfortable as much as impatient.” I glared up at him. “Five seconds ago you were going to fuck me—”

“Oh, that’s still happening,” he said thickly. “I’ve tasted you and I’m going to have you. It’s just a matter of where I’ll have you first.”

Goosebumps raced over me.
Well then.

He tucked my hair behind my ear and planted a deep, soulful kiss on my lips. “When I say you’re beautiful, it’s more than the fact that you make the world stand still when you walk into the room.” His fingers traced down my arms, bringing my electric flesh to a fevered hum. “It’s what’s inside you that makes me undone. Your kindness. Your heart. Your passion. You’re beautiful, Mia.”

His words brought tears to my eyes, which was un-sexy, so I injected a little humor. My go-to armor. “You’re just saying that because you want to get in my pants.”

I saw the frustration color his eyes. He thought I wasn’t listening. That I didn’t believe him, and his words were just going in one ear and out the other. How could I tell him that I was terrified to let him in? Terrified that I’d hurt him, because I wasn’t sure how all this love stuff worked or if it was worth the inevitable heartbreak?

I didn’t know where to begin, but I could feel we were on the same page about one thing. Our hearts might not be in tune, but he was ready for me and I ached to be with him. I kissed him, soft and pleading at first, until he roped an arm around my waist and crushed my body against his.

I was propped in the perfect position to watch him as he watched me. His face was filled with such longing, such hunger, and I unconsciously attempted to close my legs.