“So fucking hot, Thunder. You’re beautiful riding my leg like this. Fucking beautiful.”
His praise pushes me over. I bite his shoulder, stifling the scream that rips out of me.
“Fuuuuuck,” Liam grunts as I go limp in his arms, my forehead on his shoulder.
He smells a little like me now—sex, sweat, adrenaline—but something underneath it is familiar. Something my body recognizes, even if my mind refuses to. It feels like safety.
The fog slowly lifts in my head, the space coming into focus, the sound of the highway sharper.
Oh my God. I lift my head, the window’s view grounding me in reality. My eyes collide with Liam’s, and panic slams into me so hard, I choke on it.
He still looks hungry—wrecked, ruined—but my body goes cold. I can’t let this mean anything. I can’t afford to want this.
He reaches to stroke my cheek, but I recoil, and like a spooked horse, I scoot away from him. After a spectacular high, the crash is mortifying.
I lift my hips, trying to adjust my skirt and ignorethe wetness between my legs. I take three deep breaths before I chance a glimpse at the front. I sigh in relief when I find the partition is up.
Minor victories.
“This was a mistake.” The words clog my throat.
“Didn’t seem like a bad one when you came all over my pants,” he says dryly.
Tell me to stop, Thunder.
Unlike me, he had enough common sense to stop the madness. And he has the decency now not to throw that in my face.
“I don’t know what… why… I shouldn’t have?—”
“Shut up, Thunder. You did nothing wrong, and this undue regret isn’t very sexy.” Annoyance laces his tone.
I turn to watch the darkness outside, as if that could somehow distance me from what I’ve just done, or this conversation. I’m not ashamed of the desire. I’m ashamed of having lost control.
“I’m not trying to be sexy. I’m trying to set the boundaries.”
“Aren’t we past that?” he says, unimpressed.
So him, and yet it hits differently. Like he is disappointed in me. Similar to the tone he used when he saw me dressed up in this stupid gray suit.
I turn to face him, and I’m met with a stony expression.Okay, that’s familiar; I can work with that. “This was a mistake. That partnership is very important to me.”
“How is that relevant?” He frowns. His shoulders stiffen as he gives me a one-sided smirk.
“You’re my competition. You stand between my present and my future. My goals. I’m not letting you screw that all up for me.”
Shaking his head, he now turns to face the road. “You really are not worth the trouble.”
His words should give me a much-needed reprieve. They don’t. They sting. Not only did they come as a cold shower on the heels of all the praise he bestowed on me, but the dismissiveness in them is too close to home.
Once again, a man makes me feel less than. Makes me feel like I’m too much. Like I’m too loud.
“Fuck you,” I snap.
“I’m available anytime,sweetheart. Though it doesn’t seem to relax you much.”
Tears prickle at my eyes, but I’ll be damned if I let him get to me. “I hate you.”
“You might hate me, but you want me as well. Evident from the mess we made, Little Thunder.”
