Only a Millionaire (The Sinclairs #6.5)(10)

I took another long sip of my wine. “Why do you want me to stay so badly? You said we could never be friends. And you’ve never said another word about the fact that we were attracted to each other. I have a hard time believing that this is all about the restaurant.”

“It’s not,” he confirmed. “It has nothing to do with Sullivan’s.”

My heart skipped a beat. “Then what is it, Liam?”

“I don’t want you to go.”

“Why?” I really wanted his answer to that question now.

“The attraction never went away, Brooke. But I refuse to intrude on another guy’s territory. Every time I see you, my dick is hard, but I can’t go there.”

I watched as Liam got up and took my glass. He headed for the kitchen, and I followed him. I leaned on the small island as he popped off the top on another beer, then filled my wineglass almost to the brim.

He set it in front of me as he chugged on the new bottle and tossed the empty one.

I lifted the wineglass and drank, wondering what to say. I’d never gotten over my lust for him, either. In fact, it had just gotten worse the longer I stayed. If I was honest with myself, that was the reason I had to go. I couldn’t take many more nights of getting myself off and fantasizing about him. It was becoming almost painful, and I knew damn well it was pathetic.

“I’m not sure the chemistry will ever go away.” I had to be honest with him. I owed him that much.

I was slugging down my wine now, trying to calm my nerves.

Liam polished off his beer and tossed it in the trash before he moved closer to me. “No doubt it won’t,” he agreed. “So what are we going to do about it?”

My wineglass was empty, so I set it aside and looked up at him. He was close, so close that I could feel his warm breath on my face. “We do nothing,” I said in a rush. “What else can we do? I’m hoping it will go away once I’m back in California. You’ll forget about it once I’m gone for a while.”

“Try again, Brooke,” he challenged. “My cock has been hard for almost a year now. All I have to do is think about you.”

I was pretty sure my mouth dropped open, but I didn’t care. I wondered if he got himself off like I did, lying in bed every single night having an unsatisfying orgasm, because all he wanted was to be with me. I knew that’s what I did. “I really do get off to very dirty thoughts about you.”

I’d told him that I masturbated to thoughts of him back when we’d admitted our attraction to each other. It was the only time I’d opened up to him, and it had backfired on me. I’d never confessed anything to him again.

“I know. I do it, too,” he said huskily. “I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty damn sick of it. I don’t know what commitment you made to this guy in California, but I know you don’t love him. Not if you’re attracted to me. I’ve known you long enough to know that’s just not the way you roll.”

I was a little light-headed from the wine I’d guzzled, and I was ready to spill my guts. Maybe we’d never have sex, but that didn’t have to stop me from telling him what I thought.

I nodded. “It’s starting to hurt. That’s one of the reasons I want to go.”

Liam’s gaze was locked with mine, his green-eyed gaze intense. “I can make it stop hurting, Brooke. Don’t you think we should give ourselves a break?”

He wanted to fuck me. I could see it in his eyes. I wrapped my arms around his neck. My inhibitions be damned. I’d wanted to experience what it would be like to have sex with a man who really wanted me.

Now was my chance.

In two weeks, I’d never see this man again, and he was the only one who made me burn this hot.

I closed my eyes, letting my hands stroke down his back. He’d shucked his jacket, and all I had to do was find his bare skin.

I untucked his T-shirt and moaned out loud when my palms made a heated connection with his bare back. “This is so much better than the fantasy,” I said in a breathless voice.

To my displeasure, he stepped back, but only to lift his shirt over his head and drop it on the floor. “Touch me, Brooke. Fuck! I’ve wanted you for too damn long.”

My eyes popped open so I could look at him. Liam had the nicest body I’d ever seen, and being able to actually study his naked upper body, I felt almost giddy.

His blond hair was tousled from ripping off his T-shirt, but he was the most gorgeous sight I’d ever seen. His body was toned as hell. I reached forward and ran my hands down his chest and to his ripped abdomen. Tracing the sexy trail of hair that disappeared inside the waistband of his jeans, I shuddered. His skin was soft, but I could feel every hard muscle beneath it.

Even though we’d just finished the winter months, Liam’s skin was lightly tanned, a color that he apparently came by naturally. “You’re so damn perfect,” I said in a rush.

“I’m anything but perfect,” he grunted through clenched teeth, a sign that he was trying to hold himself back.

“These were never in my fantasies,” I said, touching the tattoos on his chest. One side had a broken heart with angel wings. The other side had a larger image, a fierce dragon that looked like it was ready to jump off his skin and attack.

He took my hand and lifted it to the heart. “This was for my parents after they died.” He moved so that my palm was touching the dragon. “I got this one when Tessa got sick. I wanted something that signified strength, because I knew we were both going to need it.”