Page 77 of The Has-Been

Why stop me?

His thumb is over my lips again, like he’s desperate to touch them in any way I will allow.

“Don’t you think for one second I don’t want you, that I don’t need you,” he growls. It’s breathtaking how well this man knows me—knows every thought that torments me.

His eyes go hungry.

“I want you so fucking bad—but not tonight, not like this.” He says softly.

Then he stops trailing my lips.

He replaces his thumb with his finger, sliding it between my teeth, parting my mouth as my teeth scrape against him. I flick my tongue over the tip, savoring the salty taste of his skin and remembering how he tasted elsewhere. He heaves, a noise that sounds like true agony. He pushes his finger deeper, inching it further and further back. My tongue swirls around him, and then he pulls it free in a quick motion.

“Fuck, Aubrey.” He scolds, tossing me off him in one fluid motion.

We both stare at each other, waves of arousal washing over me.

But then he starts laughing, throwing his head back against the headboard.

I can feel my face cloud with uneasiness as I stare wordlessly at him.

Then my own amusement bubbles in my throat, and I find myself laughing beside him, curling into his side as he pulls me close.

We don’t say anything—we don’t need to.

We both know how complicated this just became. So much to say to one another—too much for just one night.

We watch the rest of the movie, and I’m certain it’s the first time we’ve successfully managed to watch nearly the whole thing from start to finish without…finishing ourselves. Liam holds me, tracing circles over my back until my sight begins to fade to black. As I drift off, Liam whispers, “Is this heaven or hell?”

I don’t respond because I’m not sure of the answer myself.

CHAPTER 15

WAKING UP

AUBREY

I wake to the sound of a phone ringing.

It’s a tone I’m familiar with, and I know it’s not my own.

It’s just a dream, I tell myself as I curl my blankets tighter. Liam’s phone wouldn’t be ringing because he isn’t here.

You left him, a voice reminds me.

But then it sounds again, and I feel someone stir behind me—an arm gently slipping from beneath where my head rests atop it.

“There better be a good fucking reason why you are calling this goddamn early—” Liam scolds over the phone as he tries to keep his voice low.

I gasp awake, sitting straight up in bed.

It wasn’t a dream.

It had been Liam’s phone ringing.

It was his arm I was sleeping on.

His hot body pressed against my backside.