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“God, that makes us sound old.” Liam shook his head. “I swear I’ve never used the phrase ‘in my day’ in my life.”
Her grin faded slightly. “This is our day. Or anyway, that’s the way I see it. This is the day we’ve got to do our thing and make it count. Who knows? We might not get another chance at this.”
Liam’s pulse did a quickstep. “Sounds like a good philosophy to me.” He moved his chair closer to hers, leaning forward slowly, giving her a chance to back out if she wanted to. But he had a feeling she wouldn’t take it. He knew he wouldn’t. A moment before he kissed her, he found himself thinking, This could change everything.
And then, before he could analyze that thought any further, his lips touched hers and he was done for.
Chapter Thirteen
Strangely enough, as soon as she felt Liam’s touch, the nervous tension Ruth had been suffering all day seemed to flow away. Maybe this was what she’d been waiting for, what she’d needed to focus herself again. She brought her hands to the sides of his face, letting the heat slide through her senses, letting herself feel, letting herself wake up.
That was what it felt like, anyway. As if she’d been asleep for a long time, and now her body was beginning to function again.
Liam lifted her effortlessly into his lap. His hands rested at her waist, sliding down to the curve of her hips as he angled his head slightly to let his tongue move into her mouth.
She pushed her fingers through his hair, feeling the thick, silky strands. Her pulse sped up, pounding more loudly in her ears. She sucked on his tongue lightly, moving her own tongue against his, and he hummed in pleasure.
His hands moved up to her breasts, cupping them as his fingers pinched the nipples through her blouse. She pulled back to catch her breath, staring into those hazel eyes as he dropped his hands.
“Okay?” He raised an eyebrow.
She nodded. “Definitely. Very okay.”
He smoothed the hair back from her face, his palms warm against her cheeks. “I waited all day for this. Thinking about it made me a lousy bartender. Here’s hoping I didn’t poison anybody.”
“Here’s hoping.” She licked her lips, trying to get her pulse to slow down again. This being awake business was tricky.
He leaned forward, touching his lips gently to the side of her throat. A jolt of energy swept through her, sending a tingling to her stomach and lower. She laid her hands flat against his chest, feeling the hard plates of muscle under his T-shirt. Everything she touched seemed to send her spiraling higher, heat and light swirling in her belly.
He nipped the skin where her throat and shoulder joined, and she moaned restlessly. The table was a barrier, even though Liam had pulled her into his lap. She wanted to move, but she wasn’t sure how or where.
Liam was sure. He pushed himself to his feet, pulling her along with him. “Doing this next to a kitchen table takes more coordination than I’ve got. Want to move on?”
She nodded a little jerkily. “Yeah, I do.”
“Okay, we’ve got two choices here. There’s the living room, which has a medium comfortable couch. Or there’s the bedroom. That would be my choice. But I don’t want to rush you.”
Ruth blinked, trying to get her slightly hazy mind to focus. Bedroom versus living room. Was that really a question? “The bedroom works for me.”
He gave her a slow grin. “Bedroom it is.”
One wall of the bedroom held a large dormer window with a window seat and a view of Black Mountain. Liam moved to close the curtains, but she shook her head. “Can we leave it? The view outside is wonderful.”
He turned toward her again. “The view in here is better.”
Her cheeks flushed, one of her more annoying traits. Adult women who had their own businesses shouldn’t blush. Even if the man in the bedroom with her was toeing off his shoes, which seemed like a good idea. She stepped out of her sandals.
He moved next to her, his hands shifting to the buttons on her blouse. She slid her own hands under his shirt, feeling the slight crinkle of hair beneath her fingertips and the jut of his hardened nipples against her palms.
“You’re distracting me,” he murmured. His hands slipped beneath her bra, pushing it up so that he could cup her breasts.
