Only a Millionaire (The Sinclairs #6.5)(23)

I knew he was feeling the same razor-sharp desire that I was experiencing.

I was ready for Liam to fuck me.

“I’ll live,” he mumbled.

I sat up and turned around to look at him. “What if I said I was ready?” I asked breathlessly.

He slowly shook his head with a look of regret. “I’d say it’s been a difficult night for you. When you’re really ready, I’ll be here.”

I’m ready! I’m so damn ready!

My body was screaming at him to fuck me, but my heart tripped when I saw the pensive look on his face. “Then I guess I’ll live, too.”

He put a hand to the back of my neck and pulled me close to him. “Kiss me,” he demanded.

Liam didn’t have to ask twice. I wrapped my arms around his neck and met his lips boldly, kissing him with all the pent-up emotions that were lurking inside me.

He pushed my sweater up and stroked the bare skin of my back as he devoured my mouth.

I might have started it, but Liam finished it spectacularly. By the time he let me go, I was panting.

“You can’t kiss me like that and expect me not to respond.” Sweet baby Jesus! What woman could stop herself from wanting a guy who kissed like he wanted to absorb her damn soul?

He was like a drug that I couldn’t quit.

“I want you to respond,” he rasped. “But it makes it hell because you do.”

He pulled me down on top of him and wrapped his arms around my body.

“Thank you,” I whispered near his ear.

The one thing I’d needed after sharing so much with him was to feel secure. He gave me that, and more.

“For what?” he asked.

“For being you,” I answered. There was no other way to tell him how much it meant to me that I could trust him enough to share my sorrow.

“You’re welcome. But I suck most of the time,” he drawled.

I snickered at his reply. Liam downplayed every sweet thing I said about him, so I wasn’t exactly surprised.

He made fun of himself, but he knew exactly who he was, a trait I found fascinating.

In addition to being the hottest male I knew, he was also one of the most thoughtful, even though he liked to pretend he wasn’t.

“I’m surprised no woman has ever seen through your bullshit before,” I said, wondering once again how Liam was still single.

He was everything a woman could ever want in a man.

“I was waiting for you,” he said almost immediately.

I had no witty comments to make. Liam Sullivan had just completely stolen my heart.





CHAPTER 12

LIAM



“What in the fuck do you mean . . . she’s gone?”

I knew I was probably yelling at my only sister, but she should have never delivered the news that Brooke had left for California in the dining room of Sullivan’s.

Luckily, Tessa had just closed up, so we were alone.

I’d arrived from my meeting in Boston just in time to do cleanup so Tessa could head for home.

It had been a long drive. Maybe I should have spent the night in the city. But I’d been eager to get home to Brooke. It had been a few days since she’d spilled her guts about what had happened to her, and she seemed okay, but I wasn’t all that comfortable leaving her alone for the day. Unfortunately, I’d had a meeting with my suppliers that I hadn’t been able to cancel, and I had another personal reason for wanting to be in the city.

Tessa stopped loading dishes and turned to face me. “She said that she’d be back. She just needed a couple of days to deal with some things on the West Coast. Honestly, she did look a little shaken up.”

“What things?” I asked suspiciously. Brooke had been nowhere near packed yesterday, and I’d planned to work out the details of her staying with me tonight or tomorrow.

Hell, I had everything planned, so damn certain she was going to be willing to stay.

And now, she was gone.

“I don’t know,” Tessa explained. “She didn’t give me much information except that she’d be back. She’s not gone forever, Liam.”

“She didn’t say anything else?” Christ! I wanted Tessa to tell me something more. It made no sense for Brooke to leave.

My sister shook her head regretfully. “Her shift was over and Evan was here to pick her up. She left the keys for your SUV in your office. She didn’t say much. She looked a little . . . overwhelmed.”

Evan? “I’ll kill the bastard,” I growled. “Why in the hell was he here? What does he have to do with Brooke leaving?”

“I should have asked more questions,” Tessa said. “But I had customers. She just asked me to tell you she’d be back.”

“That’s not all that comforting right now,” I answered abruptly. “But it’s not your fault, Tessa.”

My sister was just the messenger. If Brooke was gone, I had no doubt that Evan Sinclair had something to do with her absence. But why in the hell had he wanted her to go? Why would he push her? When we’d had dinner with him and Miranda, they’d both seemed eager to convince her to stay and take a job locally.

Tessa moved forward and put a comforting hand on my arm. “Maybe it’s not my fault, but I’m still sorry. I didn’t know it was a big deal for her to leave for a few days.”