The door opened and I turned to meet Liam’s concerned gaze. “Who are you talking to?”
“Myself. What are you doing in here?”
He locked the door behind him and leaned against it, hands in his pockets. “What’s going on? You looked upset when you left the table. Are you back with Ambrose?”
“What? Of course not. Why would you think that?”
His face was a mask of calm, but something churned in his eyes. Jealousy?
“You’re sitting next to him. After you refused to sit next to me.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “You can thank my mother for that. It was her doing. And no, I would never get back with Ambrose.”
“Good. What did he say to you? Why did you leave the table so upset?”
I subconsciously rubbed my arm where he had grabbed me. It still hurt.
Liam’s eyes widened, noticing the movement. “Did he put his hands on you? Cerise...” His voice went low, dark. I’d never heard him sound like that before. “…did he hurt you?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Liam went still. “I’ll kill him.”
I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped. “You’ll what? Mister ‘I broke my hand because I’ve never punched anyone before’ is going to kill Ambrose Yearwood?”
He had the sense to look a bit chagrined. “You’re right. Of course I won’t kill him…but if that happens again…” He ran a hand down his face. “Are you injured?”
“No. I’m fine.”
Liam tilted his head. “What did he say to you?” he asked again.
“He was just being his typical egotistical self. Why? Are you jealous? You and I are just friends, remember?”
He pushed off the door and stalked toward me, shaking his head. “I never agreed to that.”
I backed away as he approached, but he didn’t stop until I hit the wall behind me. His hands landed on either side of my head and he smiled at me.
“Well,” I said, ignoring the way my breathing sped up at how he caged me in. “That’s what I want.”
“Is it?” He reached out and touched my hair, rubbing it between his fingers. “Is that why you wore your hair down?” He lifted it to his face and inhaled.
“I just felt like it.”
“All right then.” He leaned in close. “Would a friend give you orgasms that made you see stars? Would your body react how it is now if I was just a…friend? The way you subtly clench your thighs when I come near? Or how your pulse races right…here…” He placed the gentlest kiss on the pulse point on my neck.
I shuddered, my traitorous body warming at his touch, his breath on my neck. Of course I didn’t want to just be friends. And he knew it.
Pulling back, he pressed his forehead to mine and gripped my jaw. “Tell me you don’t want this. That you don’t want us. Tell me right now and I’ll stop. I’ll walk away. Permanently."
I was quiet.
“Say it, Cerise. Say that you only want to be friends.”
I shook my head. “That’s not what I want.”
“I know.”
Then his lips were on mine, his hand on the side of my neck while the other gripped my hip. Oh, how I’d missed this. Even though we’d really only spent one night together, I’d been craving his lips on mine and his hands on my body ever since.
