Part 27 (2/2)

I gasped. ”What?”

”Sleeping around doesn't appeal to me. I know most people would a.s.sume otherwise, but that's not me. I need to feel something, and I do. With you.”

I leaned up, pressing my lips softly to his. His tongue parted my lips, and I s.h.i.+vered, my stomach clenching in antic.i.p.ation.

My hands wound around his neck, pressing against his smooth and warm skin.

His chest pressed against mine, his mouth devouring me.

My pants filled the air as his hands roamed my body, lower, lower, lower.

”Ari?” he questioned.

”Please,” I begged, ”oh G.o.d, please touch me.”

He buried his head in the crook of my neck at the same time I felt his fingers slide inside. I gasped and he stifled the sound with his mouth. My hips moved against his fingers, rocking slowly in a rhythm all their own.

My brain fogged over, all thoughts disappearing except for the pleasure I felt. I closed my eyes and whimpered. I'd never felt anything like that, and when I'd imagined s.e.x it had never felt like that.

”Ari,” Liam whispered my name over and over again.

I cried out, lights bursting behind my eyes.

Liam quieted my cries with whispered endearments and his soft kisses. When I opened my eyes, the world around me seemed brighter-more clear.

”Are you ready?” His fingers slipped from me and he grasped my hips in both hands. I swallowed thickly and nodded. ”I'm not going to lie to you, this is going to hurt, but it'll be okay. Just look at me, right at me.” He nodded, waiting for me to make eye contact with him. ”Look at me,” he whispered again in a soft moan. ”Listen to my voice. Relax.”

I took a deep breath, locking my eyes on his as he rolled on a condom.

”It's going to be okay,” he a.s.sured me.

I nodded and then I felt him ease inside me. My eyes closed and he stopped.

”Look at me,” he pleaded. ”Remember, you have to look at me. I need to know you're okay, and I can't do that if your eyes are closed.”

I blinked one eye open and then the other. His lips lifted in a half-smile.

”I love you,” he told me, and then in one harsh thrust forward he was all the way inside.

I let out a small scream, and a tear leaked from the corner of my eye.

He hadn't been lying. It hurt-even worse than I expected. He didn't move for a moment, giving me a chance to recover and find my breath. I was thankful for that-he was so patient with me.

When my heart had slowed a bit and I could breathe again, I nodded. ”I'm okay.” He looked at me doubtfully. ”I am,” I a.s.sured him.

He lowered, and my b.r.e.a.s.t.s pushed up against his chest with every breath I took.

”You're perfect,” he murmured, taking one of my b.r.e.a.s.t.s in his hand.

He began to move, slowly at first. The pain returned momentarily, but then it was gone, and I was left only with a feeling of fullness.

”Liam,” I panted, my palms damp with sweat against his chest. ”Oh G.o.d.” I began to move my hips in time with his.

His hand skimmed my thigh in a feather-light touch, and I s.h.i.+vered from the sensation.

The air between us was heavy and charged with emotion. The room could have burned down around us and I would have never noticed.

His hands found mine, and our fingers clasped together.

His mouth swallowed my gasps, and I quieted his groans.

I'd been worried about s.e.x-about my inexperience-but then, I had no fears. I belonged there in his arms. Maybe even as f.u.c.ked up as my life had been it was all leading me to that moment. To him.

With a cry, I came again and Liam wasn't far behind me.

Afterwards, he pulled out of me and disposed of the condom before crawling back into bed beside me. We both lay on our backs, but my body curled against his. His fingers rubbed soothing circles over the skin of my arm, and I traced random patterns on his chest.

A tear leaked from my eye and landed in the crook of his arm where my head was cradled.

”Ari?” His voice was laced with worry. ”Are you okay? Did I hurt you? Why are you crying?”

More tears came, and maybe it was because of what just happened, or maybe it was time, but before I could come to my senses, I blurted, ”I was kidnapped.”

Liam.

Silence filled the room.

I couldn't possibly have heard her right.

She rolled out of my arms, curling into a ball. Her whole body shook with the force of her tears.

”Ari?” I prompted, touching her arm.

She flinched away from my touch, and I f.u.c.king hated that. I didn't want her to shy away from me.

”Ari, what did you say?”

”Please don't make me say it again,” she mumbled, her face pressed into the sheets.

I climbed off the bed and pulled on a pair of boxers before pacing the length of the room. I tugged at the messy strands of my hair, trying to process what she said.

”You...you were kidnapped?” I questioned, stopping in front of her. ”Ari, please f.u.c.king look at me. I'm going crazy.”

She turned her head away from the mattress and nodded once. Her eyes looked so lost but so f.u.c.king desperate for me to understand.

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