She didn’t hesitate. She responded to the request as if an invisible force compelled her towards him. His body hummed in recognition, the familiar feeling of taking control, of having someonegivehim control. Min let him lead her to a small opening at the edge of the lobby where a few other couples danced to music piped in through hidden speakers. But they might as well have been alone for how singular his focus was.
Liam could tell she was unsure of herself, of where to place her hands, of where to look. So many Americans had no idea how to dance properly, their experience limited to awkward swaying in high school gymnasiums and sweaty gyrating in too-loud clubs. He was happy to show her how two people should dance together, how they should mold their bodies to each other buoyed by the music.
He placed a hand low on Min’s back, his touch seeming to send shockwaves through her as her knees almost buckled. Almost. But he held her too tightly for that, too closely to his own body for her to be in any danger of falling. She blew out a harsh breath through her nose and seemed to try to shake the frustration from her head. He held their entwined hands against his chest and stroked the back of hers with his thumb, reassuring her. She was safe with him, and he needed her to know it.
“What is it?” he asked.
“This kind of thing doesn’t happen to me,” she said, almost to herself.
He wasn’t sure what that meant, but he would be lying if he said there wasn’t a part of him that loved the idea that he could be the first to show her how she deserved to be treated. Because that’s what he wanted with this woman. He didn’t just want to fuck her – though he wanted that, too. He wanted to worship her, to unlock her secrets and lay them bare not only to himself but to her as well. He wanted to make her come so hard and so often that she forgot her own name, that she would never again let another man touch her. To hold her while he slept, his cock pressed to the plush roundness of her bottom and his arms around her chest. He didn’t know her, but he knew he wanted every inch and every moment and every part of her. He couldn’t remember ever wanting someone the way he wanted her. This was something new.
But that wasn’t the kind of thing you said to a woman you just met. He couldn’t exactly tell her that he was already envisioning her filling every part of his life, not just his bed but his entire being – not when he didn’t even know her last name. And not when he wasn’t even sure he believed such a thing was possible. Romantic entanglements all had an expiration date. But he couldn’t saythatto her either. So instead, he used his hand on her back to press himself so close to her that his leg slipped between hers, mesmerized by the way her hot center swayed against his muscular thigh.
“Why are you celebrating your birthday alone?” he asked.
“My date stood me up.”
A growl rumbled in his chest as he bit back the bile at the back of his throat that anyone would mistreat this woman – a woman he was so possessive of, so protective of after only a few minutes. Min leaned closer, the growl vibrating through her as well, and she shivered against him.
“Fool doesn’t deserve you.”
There was that incredulous exhale through her nose again, that self-deprecating aversion of her eyes. “That’s kind of you to say.”
He wanted to tear apart the world until he’d destroyed every asshole who had ever made her feel less-than. Instead, he gripped her hip with an almost bruising need to hold her close.
“Where are you from?” Min asked. He arched an eyebrow at the question. “Your accent…”
“Ah,” he replied. “Amsterdam.”
“What are you doing here?” she said, the disbelief in her voice immediately followed by a flash of embarrassment across her face. She bit her lip as if to stop herself from saying anything further.
Christ, she’s adorable.He liked when she said what she was thinking without standing on propriety.
“I came to the States for school. And now it’s home. But I’ve only recently moved to New York.” Best to be vague. No need to burden her with the messy details.
“I’ve been in New York for a few years, but I don’t think I’ll ever get used to how busy it is,” she said. “You have to hunt for calm here.”
“Is that why you were reading in the middle of a crowded lobby?”
She smiled and laughed lightly. “I don’t know. Maybe. I’ve always had a book with me everywhere I went.”
“And tonight’s selection?”
“Rilke,” she said. “Collected poems of Rilke.”
His heart pounded in his chest. She wasn’t just reading; she was reading poetry – German poetry at that. He scanned the recesses of his mind for the perfect line to recite for her, the perfect phrase to sum up how delighted he was that they shared this in common, too. To show her how enamored he was with her already.
“What do you think of the performance?” he asked instead, reminding himself that recitations of poetry and grand declarations of her inherent worth and beauty were probably a bit much for a first meeting.
Min hesitated and Liam couldn’t help the foreboding in his stomach that had his lips pressing into a flat line. What if she hates the opera? What if she’s only here because her date wanted to come? What if I’ve been imagining that we share this passion when really she can’t wait for the damn performance to be over?
“It’s wonderful,” she said too quickly. “One of my favorite operas.”
“But…?”
She rolled her eyes. “But the soprano is consistently a half beat behind,” she mumbled.
Liam stopped moving. His eyes narrowed and he bent his knees so their eyes were level. She worried that bottom lip again as if she’d made some terrible faux pas. She didn’t realize that she’d just said the most beautiful thing he’d ever heard.
