He wanted me. Not because I was useful. Not because I was convenient. Not because he needed something from me.
He saw me exactly as I was and wanted me.
I swallowed hard against the rising lump of emotion in my throat. Owen’s gaze tracked every expression on my face as I processed everything.
“I don’t know what to do with someone saying things like that to me,” I said. “What if you wake up one day and realize I’m not worth it? What if I’m not worth all of that?”
“I can promise you that I won’t change my mind,” he replied. The confidence he had in his own words was almost enough to convince me, but I wasn’t good with situations where my heart was on the line. “And while I know that’s difficult to believe, especially from someone you hardly know, I am asking for the opportunity to show you. And I will show you, Liam, every single day that I mean those words. Can you do that? Do you still want me?”
“Yes,” I whispered before even realizing I’d said the words. “I still want you.”
I wanted all of that with him.
CHAPTER 21
Owen
Istill want you.”
I still want you.
Those four simple words shouldn’t have meant as much as they did, but they were music to my ears. They were the words I’d been waiting to hear—needed desperately to hear, especially after putting my heart out there for him to reject.
I leaned in, slow enough for him to pull away if he chose to. I smiled slightly at how his chin lifted in preparation, and I closed the distance. The kiss was soft and sweet as I savored the taste of him, my tongue sweeping across his. I brushed my fingers through his hair and tilted his head back just enough to kiss him deeper.
I took my time as my mouth moved slowly against his. This wasn’t just another kiss amidst a fantasy. This was the first of what I could only hope would be a lifetime of kisses—a sappythought, but an honest one. His hands fisted in my shirt and pulled me closer with the same kind of urgency I was trying to restrain. I groaned into his mouth, my hips pinning him against the half-wall. I devoured every little sound he made as the softness gave way to the hunger simmering between us. His tongue battled mine, and my fist tightened in his hair as I kissed him harder. I dragged my teeth over his lower lip and enjoyed how his knees buckled. My cock strained hard against my pants, and my hips rolled against his, reveling in the thickening ridges of his cock against mine.
His hands drifted down my chest and found their way under my shirt, his fingers splaying over my sides. The light touch sent a shiver down my spine, and I instinctively pressed harder into him. We found a natural rhythm as my hips rolled against his, grinding slowly and deliberately. The friction was delicious but not nearly enough with the layers of fabric between us.
I broke the kiss with a moan, and my forehead dropped to his. My chest heaved as my heart raged in my chest. For as much as I wanted to splay him out and have my way with him, I also didn’t want him to think thatthiswas all I wanted from him. He deserved a bar set much higher than that.
“I didn’t come here for—”
“I know,” Liam interrupted breathlessly. His lashes fluttered as he looked at me. “But I want to… I want you, Owen.”
Well, who was I to argue with the man telling me what he wanted? Not when the sound of him saying my name went straight to my cock. Something told me that I’d never get enough of hearing him say it.
I dipped my head, my mouth trailing along his jaw and down the line of his neck. I found his pulse and lingered there, enjoying the flutter of his heartbeat under my lips.
“You have no idea what you do to me,” I murmured. I nipped at the sensitive skin over his pulse and grinned when his hipsbucked against mine in search of more friction. I gave it to him, grinding harder, while my hands slid down his body to grip his ass. My dick leaked against the thin fabric of my pants while I chased the building sensation in my spine.
“Probably… the same… you do to me,” Liam said, the sentence punctuated with little gasps of pleasure.
That admission shattered what little control I was already clinging to. I dragged him away from the counter and toward the short hall that led to his bedroom. I hooked a hand through his belt to maintain some kind of connection. He followed without hesitation, his gaze locked on mine.
Fuck, he was so goddamn pretty with his cheeks flushed pink. His lips were slightly swollen from every kiss and parted while he breathed heavily.
I only made it three steps down the hall before the lack of contact was too much. I pushed him up against the wall once more, my mouth finding his in a hungry kiss. My hands slid under the hem of his shirt and pushed it up. He raised his arms on instinct, and I broke away long enough to yank the fabric over his head.
The sound of his gasp shot straight to my balls as my teeth scraped against his collarbone. I kissed, licked, and nipped on every inch of his skin I could while his fingers worked at the buttons of my shirt, fumbling in his urgency.
“Eager?” I teased as I chuckled against his skin. I offered him no assistance.
“Shut up,” Liam muttered, but I heard the smile in his voice. He got the last button free and pushed the fabric off my shoulders. His palms dragged down my chest, across my stomach, and up my sides as if he was memorizing every line and every ridge of muscle I had. I drew in a sharp breath and held it, the sparks of his touch skating across my skin. He whispered, “I’ve missed you.”
“That’s too simple a word for what I’ve felt,” I said.
I slowly walked him backward toward the bedroom, stopping every few steps to kiss him. To bite his lower lip. To let my hands roam over his bare skin. His back hit the doorframe to his bedroom, and I used the opportunity to drop to my knees in front of him. His breath caught in his throat as I held his gaze and worked open the front of his jeans.
