Page 42 of An Inevitable Marriage

Sprinting across the room like Usain freaking Bolt, I dropped to my haunches and shoved—yes, shoved—him out of the way.

My plan would have worked brilliantly if Liam hadn’t dug his fingers into my elbows and dragged me to the floor with him.

Sprawled out on his back, the poor man had my crushing weight on top of him. Well, sort of on top of him. My head was on his rock-hard abs while the rest of me was lying awkwardly between his spread legs.

At least he smelled good. So freaking good. Like taking a walk through the woods on a rainy day. And he was hot. Even with layers of clothes separating us, I could feel the heat radiating off his skin.

What the heck? Was I losing my damn mind or something?

Needing to put some serious distance between us, I scampered to my feet as fast as I could. Or rather, I tried. My bones instantly turned to mush, and I went down again. Afraid of where my head might land, I quickly shot my arms out to break my fall.

Only problem was, it wasn’t the smooth wooden surface of the floor I felt against my palm.

I squeezed my eyes shut and begged the earth to open and swallow me. I waited for a few breaths until it was evident Mother Nature had no intention of saving me. Slowly, ever so slowly, I opened one eye, and yep, I was still pushing down on Liam’s groin.

“Enjoying yourself?”

I didn’t look, but then again, I didn’t need to. Amusement coated every syllable he spoke. And holy wow, that damn British accent rolled over my nerve endings in a too-freaking-sinful way.

My skin burned hot, and I honestly couldn’t tell if it was because of what I felt against my palm or pure embarrassment.

Most likely both.

Snatching my hand away, I very methodically pushed to my feet, taking my toy with me. With it secured behind my back, I glared as Liam got up from the floor far more gracefully than me.

“Have you ever heard of knocking?”

“I did knock.” Leaning his tall, broad body against the doorframe, he crossed his feet at the ankles.

Butterflies immediately fluttered about low inside my belly, but before I could tell them to piss off, the man lifted one corner of his mouth into a grin.

The butterflies went berserk.

“You were too busy shaking your ass and singing in broken Spanish to hear me.”

Embarrassment coated my skin, but I refused to let him see it. “You should have knocked harder then.”

“Harder, huh?” His gaze dropped to the hand tightly secured behind my back.

I shifted from one foot to the other, trying my hardest not to think about how the toy nestled inside my palm felt a hell of a lot smaller than whatever Liam had inside his pants.

What did he have in there? I almost groaned at the thought; I didn’t need to be thinking about Liam’s size or girth.

And yet, here I was…

“Does this mean I can walk around without my shirt now?”

“What?”

It took a few slow blinks for Liam to come back into focus. When he did, the image of his smile widening knocked the air from my lungs. Then he stole whatever was left when he straightened and aimed those icy-blue eyes at my legs.

“Seeing as you’re wearing next to nothing, I take it that I can forego my shirt again.” His fingers went to the dark tie around his neck. One, two tugs, and it was loose. Next up were the buttons on his shirt.

The top one was barely undone, and my mouth, unlike other places, was already dryer than a damn desert.

Another button popped, then another. “I do hate the feel of the fabric against my skin.”

His gravelly voice broke through the fog surrounding my brain. Slowly snapping back to the present, I finally registered that Liam was undressing right there in my doorway, and I was looking at him like he was a snack.