“We could call Nandi, Marco or-”
“No,” Liam frowned over the suggestions. “I won’t put my friends in more danger. They’re likely being watched same as we are.” He fixed Emilio with a resolved look. “I’ll be fine, Em but don’t make a move unless I’m there.”
“Li-”
“Our brother’s been in a burning car almost half an hour. Firetrucks are just arriving,” Liam’s words were like a quiet roar. Fury danced in his deep brown eyes. “They don’t care about us or who did this.”
Emilio searched his brother’s eyes and then nodded. Quiet relief found a place amidst his grief. Again, he nodded. “We’ll wait. This will be ugly, Li.”
Liam looked impassively at the car. “I believe it needs to be,” he said.
***
“Liam?” Erica tugged the front of her robe closer and blinked sleep from her eyes. She tried to peer round him into the hall, but his size easily prevented that. Before she could ask one of the hundred questions ravaging her mind, he was speaking.
“Are you alone?”
“I-yes, but how-?”
“Your land lady buzzed me in. I told her I was a friend of your uncle’s, just found out about his condition.”
Erica shook her head, unable to resist a smile over the cunning move. “The woman is far too trusting.”
“Guess I look trustworthy.”
“No. Just white.”
The smile Liam tried for then, didn’t reach his eyes at all. Erica reached out, her fingers taking hold of his shirt sleeve.
“What is it Liam? What’s wrong?”
In reply, Liam pushed his way past the threshold and hoisted Erica up into a hard kiss.
“Liam, wait! Wait...” the order ended on a moan and it was evident her heart wasn’t in the refusal. She gave herself over to the erotic ravishing of her mouth when her back met the wall beside the door.
Liam kicked the door shut behind the heel of his boot, and then broke their kiss to drag his teeth down her neck. “Where are the kids?” he asked.
M-my aunts,” Erica stammered. “She’s helping watch all the kids so the others can be with Uncle Earn-” the explanation was stifled when her mouth was taken captive again.
Liam set Erica to her feet and opened her robe. “I want to see you,” he said.
Erica blinked rapidly, embarrassed by the attention but unable to look away from Liam as he watched her.
“Liam,” she whispered when he stared at length. Self-consciously, she began to cover herself.
“Don’t,” the word was a groan that harbored sensual torture. He took his time worshipping every dip and curve of her body beneath an intense stare. “I knew you would be beautiful, but I never expected...” he let the potency of his gaze finish the statement.
When he came to her then, he buried his head in her cleavage. He hid his striking face in the lush depths, inhaling the scent of jasmine on her skin. Then, he used his nose to encircle the plump mounds. He took her nipple into his mouth and she gasped, sinking her fingers into the pitch depths of his hair. The contact lasted briefly as she was thoroughly weakened while the eager suckling went on. Her hands fell away from his hair and she would have fallen back, but he soon had her secure and high next to the sleek expanse of his chest.
“Where?” he asked when her hazel eyes met his stare.
Her lashes fluttered and she sent an unsteady look toward the hall.
Liam resumed their kiss and followed her unspoken direction. The master bedroom wasn’t a grand space, but it was surprisingly spacious and warmly decorated with floor length peach curtains on the windows. They billowed against the heat flowing from a nearby radiator, one of three the apartment boasted.
The double bed was already turned down, inviting and warm with linens that matched the curtains. Gently, Liam set Erica to her feet next to the bed.
“I won’t hurt you,” he said after looking at her for a long moment.
She nodded. “I know,” as though sensing he needed more convincing that she trusted him, she moved to her toes and initiated their next kiss.
Liam needed no further encouragement. For the third time since he appeared at her door, he took Erica off her feet and put her flush to his chest. The lift that time was only to put her down on the center of the bed. He kissed her with a desperation that spoke to how deeply he wanted her. The open mouthed kisses he trailed along her body, stopped when he reached the waistband of her panties. He rose above her, pulling off the wrinkled shirt that still carried sweat and the tears he’d shed over his slain brother.
When Liam tugged free of his shirt, Erica wiggled from her robe and the panties that rode low on her slender hips. Boldly, she reached up to assist with his belt. Liam gave her full control of the task and returned to lavishing sublime kisses to her flawless, almond dark skin.
He nibbled and sucked her into a frenzy that caused Erica’s hands to shake badly. She could barely unfasten his trousers. Once all clothing was cast aside, Liam took her in one swift, filling and irrevocable plunge that forced approving moans from them both. He began to stroke her, pressuring her snug, velvety walls with the rigid thickness of his erection. Liam didn’t stop to consider what his actions could mean. Nothing would rob him of that moment with the woman who had come so subtly and refreshingly into his life. Like a soothing and much needed breeze, she would forever hold a singular and significant spot in the most secret place of his heart.
~19~
The weakest streams of sunlight were just announcing their presence through the curtains when Liam and Erica drifted from the energetic waves they’d ridden for hours.
There, in the midst of early morning serenity, they languished. Only the gentle hum of the radiator interrupted the quiet and filled the bedroom with blissful warmth.
“I want to stay with you,” Liam said. He watched her fingers tangle with his as they cuddled close beneath the covers.
“But you know you can’t.” There was no accusation or disappointment in her tone.
“I’m sorry Erica.”
