Chasing Shadows (First Wives #3)(43)

“I most certainly am.”

“Do you like the view?”

“Are you searching for a compliment?”

“No, no.”

Twenty-seven. Twenty-eight. “Liar.” It was sweet turning the tables on the man.

She struggled through the last minute of plank while he eased down the final count of push-ups.

“You two are awfully quiet today,” Brenda said as she left her office.

“That’s because I’m dying here.” And had nothing to do with the fact that if she said anything to Liam, it would be to demand he take off his shirt so she could at least see what he was denying her. Dreams of him had plagued her all week. If the man didn’t give in to her lust soon, she wasn’t going to make it.

“Speak for yourself,” Liam teased.

“Oh, don’t be cocky. I saw you slowing down on the last ten.”

“I have another twenty in me.”

“Let’s see them,” Brenda told him.

Avery pointed his way. “Backfired,” she said, laughing.

Liam didn’t pause. He pushed right into position and started counting backward from twenty. When he got to ten, Avery decided to make it harder. Without asking, she planted her butt on his back and crossed her legs.

“Playing dirty.”

“That’s how I roll, Holt.”

Even Brenda smirked. “Let’s see what you got,” she said.

Avery toppled a couple of times and then grabbed hold of his shoulder with one hand and his ass cheek with the other.

He kept going.

When he reached ten, she wasn’t sure who was more worked up.

She patted his butt, like she had the right, and jumped off his back.

“That was entertaining,” Brenda said. “Let’s get to work.”



Enough, enough, enough.

Their relationship had changed, somehow become intimate without intimacy. Liam wasn’t sure that was possible, but that was his explanation when his concentration went to zilch.

Brenda had Avery practicing getting out of bear hugs, knife to the throat, attacks from behind. Only Liam wasn’t feeling it. All he could sense was the way Avery’s skin felt against his, how her breathing made her chest rise and fall against his arm as he held her. He wasn’t completely geared up in protective padding as he had been in the past. So she stopped short of actually striking him but had to use her weight, strength, and speed to untangle from any hold he had on her. All her wiggling, kicking, and twisting had him sweating and his body rock hard.

Avery noticed.

Oh, she noticed and let her gaze drift down to his pelvis several times.

Her smirk only made it worse. Or better if they were alone and naked.

Only they weren’t.

“One more drill and we’re done for the day. Avery, I want you on your back.”

Like a puppet, she rolled onto the mat and smiled up at Liam.

“Liam, you’ve met at a bar, taken her home. Plan on going at it . . . but what she doesn’t know is your kink is strangling women.”

Liam looked at Brenda like she was nuts. “I don’t like this game.”

“It’s not a game. Avery tends to freeze when she’s on her back.”

Liam had noticed but never pointed it out.

Brenda knelt down. “I want you to sense the second his body language changes, get out of his hold and up on your feet. And you.” She pointed to him. “A blow to the groin will make you recoil but not disable you. You’ve been doing drugs, you naughty man. So you come back and try and take her down.”

She stood and took a few steps back. “Drills, Avery. Don’t hurt the man.”

A month ago, Liam would have laughed at the thought that she could. Now he knew better.

Avery crooked her finger in Liam’s direction and shifted her knees, giving him room to settle between her thighs.

Oh, yeah . . . that wasn’t helping his erection, which had subsided slightly during Brenda’s instructions.

“What’s the matter, Holt?”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “You’re enjoying this a little too much.”

Avery wiggled her hips. “You know it.”

Brenda huffed. “Stop playing. I don’t have all night.”

He wiped his palms on his sweatpants and lowered himself to the mat. He crawled toward her until the feel of her thighs warmed his hips.

“Lean over like you like me,” Avery prompted.

He was blushing, he knew it.

He bent at the hips and rested on his elbows on the mat until their chests were touching.

Avery rested one hand on his waist. “Comfortable?”

He moaned. The last thing he wanted to do was pretend like he was going to hurt her. Not in this position.

“You’re okay with this?” he asked close to her ear.

Her fingers flexed and then caressed his side. “Uh-huh.”

Liam placed a hand on the side of her face, took a breath, and clamped on.

She bucked her hips, hard, nearly removing him. Then her hand came from nowhere, her leg wrapped around and tossed him to his side. She stopped short of kneeing him in the groin, and he hesitated.

Avery was halfway on the balls of her feet, and Liam rushed her. She pivoted on the floor and sent a kick. “Shin,” she yelled out without taking him to the floor.