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“And then...I’ll be gone.” His statement was devoid of hope, the tone so hollow it echoed through her bones. “Either way, Cora, I was never going to be allowed to stay here, no matter how much I wish otherwise. The angels gave me three months, and I’m nearing the end. Whether I succeeded or not, my days here were always numbered. My time is almost up.”
“Like hell it is,” she said forcefully. “Liam, I can believe your story because I share some of the same dreams, visions, memories—whatever you want to call them—as you do. I’ve felt this connection between us, and deep down, Ifeelin my heart that this is real. But if you think I’m just going to sit here and accept that you’ll leave or disappear in the next few days? You can think again.” Adrenaline was pumping through her veins, and she felt ready to go into fight mode. “I refuse to accept it.”
“It’s not a matter of whether or not we accept it,” he said with a resignation that alarmed her. “It isn’t up to us. I’ve failed, so the bad things that happen now, both to you and the future world, will be all my fault.”
He turned away from her, head bowed. He looked so hopeless and dejected Cora wanted to shake him.
“No,” she said fiercely, gripping his arms. “No, Liam. You can’t beat yourself up over something you have no control over. I get that you were told by the angels to fulfill a task, but let me just tell you right now,nothingyou did would’ve made me fall for Finn. It wasn’t going to happen. Not this summer. Not next summer. Not ever. I don’t want him like that; I want you.” She shrugged helplessly. “I think I wanted you from the first day we met, though I tried so hard to fight the feeling. And I’m sorry, but I refuse to believe the world’s future is at stake because of who I decide tolove. No one should carry that kind of an emotional burden, certainly not you. Love is not a punishment; it’s something to be celebrated because, in the end, it’s all that really matters. Look, I don’t know much about what happens after we die, but I do believe love is the only thing we get to take with us. The love we gave and the love we were given. And I know you believe you failed in getting me and Finn together, but you have to understand it was never up to you. The heart is unpredictable and can’t be steered. We don’t get to tell ourselves who to fall in love with. That’s why they call it ‘falling.’”
Liam was staring at her in stunned silence. Then he began to smile. Relief washed over her like cleansing rain. His expression was caught somewhere between pride and wonder. “Something tells me the angels would have their work cut out for them if they had to hear your opinion on the subject.”
“Let me at them,” Cora said with a stubborn tilt of her chin. “I’ll set them straight.”
“If anyone could, it would be you.” He cupped her cheek with his large, calloused hand and gave her a look that radiated so much warmth and admiration she wanted to burrow into the moment and bask in it forever. When he pulled her close, his powerful arms hugged her so tightly she almost couldn’t breathe, but she didn’t care. If she died right here, she’d go happy. Liam eased up and planted a tentative kiss on her temple, then trailed his lips, featherlight, down the side of her cheek and jaw.
“I wish we could stop time.” She shivered as his warm breath tickled the sensitive spot near her ear. “Just surround ourselves in a protective bubble where all our troubles and uncertainty couldn’t reach us.”
“Mmm,” Liam agreed, drawing his mouth up to hover over hers, their lips almost touching. His smoldering gaze did hot, swirly things to her insides. “If only there was a way.”
Cora felt like she was hovering at the edge of a precipice, about to tumble off into the unknown, and she welcomed it. She wanted nothing more than to throw caution to the wind and take this leap. “I have some ideas.”
Liam chuckled, the dark sound of it sliding over her skin until she shivered again in delicious anticipation. It struck her, in that moment, what an excellent thief he must’ve been. All it took was one devious smile and she’d give up everything like Persephone to Hades.
“Do you now, lass?” His Irish brogue was suddenly back in full force, which, if she’d been on the fence at all, would’ve tipped her right over the edge. “Tell me,” he demanded.
“I’d rather show you,” she whispered against his lips.
And then they were kissing.
It wasn’t the tentative, slow-burn kind of kiss they’d shared before. This was an all-out wildfire, a single spark of flint and tinder roaring to life until she was burning up with need for him. Without pulling away, Liam lowered her to the blanket until the full length of his body was pressed against hers. Cora reveled in the intoxicating feel of him, and she let out a soft whimper that made him growl low in his throat.
He broke the kiss and said huskily, “I want you.”
Cora nodded and tried to pull him in for another kiss, but he resisted, his chest rising and falling with barely restrained emotion. “Tell me you do, too,macushla, because I swear by all that’s holy I will stop right now if you’re not ready. Or at any point, at any time, if you decide you can’t, tell me and I promise—”
“Don’t you dare stop now, Liam O’Connor,” Cora said, nipping his bottom lip and dragging it between her teeth.
He let out a sound that was half laugh, half groan, then jerked her hard against him until she squealed. Their soft laughter mingled with the sound of the breeze rustling through the trees. A dark lock of hair fell over his eyes, the moonlight highlighting the sharp angle of his jaw and the fullness of his lips. Against the backdrop of stars, he looked like a dark prince from a fairy tale who’d come to steal her away.Yes, please.Cora arched up with a throaty sigh.
He bent to kiss her with more urgency this time, and she answered his call with wholehearted abandon, clutching his shirt as she tried to pull it over his head. “Take this off,” she whispered urgently. “I want to feel you.”
He shot up and whipped it off, flinging it so far it sailed over the edge of the roof. Cora might’ve been amused, but she was too busy drinking in every magnificent muscled inch of his body, from the smooth swell of his pectoral muscles, down the hard ridges of his abdomen, to the contoured V-shaped line of muscle that disappeared beneath the waistband of his jeans.
She gently ran her fingers over his taut stomach and decided she needed more. Much more. Hooking her fingers into his waistband, she added, “This, too. I want to feel all of you.”
Liam stood, pinning her with his molten gaze as he slowly removed the rest of his clothing until he stood before her wearing nothing but moonlight and shadows. Cora felt her breath catch at the beautiful, impressively arousedman standing before her. Everything about him was so overwhelmingly perfect—from his fallen-angel face, to his powerfully built body, and most importantly, to the way he was looking at her like she was his entire world.
They reached for each other at the same time. Every vein in her body was thrumming with the delicious, wild heat that emanated off him, melting into her. Between lust-filled, drugging kisses and whispered words of endearment she could barely hear over the rapid beating of her own heart, Liam slid her clothes off until they were both pressed skin to skin.
“Cora,” he said with a purely masculine groan that made heat pool low in her belly. “I’ve waited so long to hold you like this.”
She curled her arms around his neck, silently pleading with him to hurry, not wanting to wait any longer.
He kissed her again, then slid into her in a slow, claiming thrust. Cora almost sobbed with the blissful intensity of it. Therightnessof it. Liam stilled for a moment, placing soft kisses on her forehead, her eyelids, her lips, as if he wanted to prolong the moment of their joining, to imprint it in his mind forever.
“My beautiful Cora,” he whispered, gazing down at her in awe. “You’re so...” His soulful, midnight eyes glittered with emotion, and he buried his face in her neck. “Mine.”
“Yes.” She brushed her fingers through his unruly hair, clasping him tightly to her chest. “I’m yours.”
