The Dating Plan(51)
After her twentieth straight victory, however, Liam had begun to suspect something was wrong. He had stretched out on the couch with her guitar in his hand to inspect it for tampering, and she had curled up beside him, resting her head on his shoulder. She had closed her eyes just for a moment, listening to the deep rumble of his voice, and then she must have fallen asleep.
Now here she was, living her teenage fantasy—at least, it had been her fantasy until Liam had gone away.
That last thought came and went without leaving its usual sting. The more time she spent with Liam, the more difficult it was to cling to her anger, or to reconcile his actions with a man who could be so callous and cruel. He had pretended to be her fake fiancée at the conference, sat with her at the vet, and suffered through twenty rounds of Guitar Hero simply because he didn’t want to leave her alone without Max.
Turning her head ever so slightly, she pressed a kiss to his shirt-clad chest, imagining that this was real and every morning she could wake up in Liam’s arms. He stirred, tightening his arm around her. Daisy held her breath, hoping he would stay asleep. Once he was awake, it was back to the world of work and family and a fake fiancé who was becoming more real every day.
Her phone vibrated softly from somewhere on the couch. For the first time, she hated the thought of picking it up and reading all the schedules and notifications, reminders that after their coming sports date they would be halfway through the dating plan—halfway to over.
She snuggled in closer, resting her hand on his shirt over the ripple of his abs. Her gaze dropped below his belt. Had that bulge been there before? It gave her a thrill to imagine she had aroused him as they slept. Maybe she was a little geeky, a bit quirky, slightly emotionally damaged, and she couldn’t fit sideways through two blades of grass if she tried, but in his dreams he wanted her despite her flaws. And if he did, what was she supposed to do with that?
She eased her hand down, the tips of her fingers now just below the smooth leather of his belt. The width and length of his erection took her breath away, making her face hot and her pulse quicken. She was suddenly dizzy with her feelings for him—wanting and hating, and yearning, always yearning.
He shifted and she looked up. Sleepy blue eyes returned her gaze, heavy-lidded with desire.
Daisy’s eyes fluttered closed as his mouth moved over hers, slow and gentle, his tongue touching, tasting, exploring, like they had never kissed before. Every nerve ending in her body fired at once and she felt nothing but him—the heat of his body, the tenderness of his mouth, the softness of his hair.
With a groan he pulled her on top of him, positioning her so the bulge in his jeans was nestled between her thighs. His kiss grew harder, dark and dangerous, raw with need. It awakened something inside her, jumbling her senses, stripping her defenses, exposing her passion and a longing she couldn’t control.
Part of her desperately wanted to believe that she, Daisy Patel, who had once gone four days debugging a program without speaking to another human being, could seduce the man who had been every high school girl’s crush. But the other part, the logical, sensible part, knew it just couldn’t be true. After all, everyone she cared about had left her, including Liam. What could possibly stop him from doing it again?
Then again, what did it matter? They’d made a plan and she knew how this would end. Why not enjoy the journey?
She wasn’t a teenager anymore, tucked under her pink covers, listening to her father bustle around the family kitchen. Nor was she alone in her cubicle at work, deep in her world of code while the rest of the office buzzed around her. The day she’d run through the conference center with an armload of pads, she would never have imagined she’d find herself here—in the arms of the man she wanted and hated with equal passion, only a heartbeat away from making all her sexual fantasies come true, from feeling truly alive.
“You’re thinking too loud.” Liam’s breath was warm against her hair, his quiet voice intruding on her thoughts.
“You can’t possibly know what I’m thinking.”
“Don’t think anything,” he murmured. “Just be. Here. Now. With me.” His hands slid down her back to rest on her ass. She felt a wave of pure desire, the heat shocking in its intensity. It raced through her body, sending a wave of white-hot fire through her veins.
One word and everything would change. One word and there would be no going back.
But she’d already made that decision when she’d invited him into her home.
“Okay,” she whispered. “Yes.”
His eyes darkened, and his voice lowered to a pitch that vibrated between her thighs. “When I bumped into you at the conference, I never imagined a few weeks later I would find myself here, back in this house, on this couch, with you on top of me, your lips wet from my kisses, and no knife in your hand. I didn’t even think you’d speak to me again.”
“I guess there’s no turning back now.” She twisted her lips to the side. “Although I did leave a butter knife on the table . . .”
His low, ragged growl made the thin cotton of her shorts dampen with her desire. “You’re sexy when you threaten me.”
“I aim to please.”
His eyes raked over her body and he reached for her shirt. “Take this off.”
“You’re very bossy.”
“I’ve waited a long time to see you. I don’t want to waste a second.”