Page 94 of An Inevitable Marriage

Liam Maxwell made me feel things, dangerous things, that scared the crap out of me. And if I wasn’t careful, he’d take my entire heart and never give it back again.

Chapter twenty-five

Everlee

Iwasparticularlyslowto wake the following morning. Lids heavy, body limp with satisfaction, I threw my arms above my head and arched my back. Halfway through my long, lazy stretch, my brain happily provided me with memories of the previous night.

Liam’s hands on me, his fingers inside me.

His lips on my skin, his tongue inside my mouth.

The things he’d said, the way he’d said them.

And finally, the moment he’d asked me to stay.

I’d been boneless and completely satiated when he’d crawled off the bed to get a washcloth to help clean me up. He’d wanted to do it himself, but since most of the orgasm euphoria had worn off, I’d taken the warm cloth from him.

I’d felt the weight of his stare while I’d hurried to his bathroom—after picking up my underwear, of course. Fear, self-consciousness, whatever it was, kept me behind that closed door far longer than needed.

By the time I’d eventually stepped out, I’d almost yelped because Liam was right there, casually leaning against the wall.

“You okay?” he’d asked.

The sincerity in his voice just about knocked me on my ass. I couldn’t recall when anyone had asked me that after an intimate moment. Not once. The fact he’d been the first one to do so did strange things to my insides.

I’d nodded and smiled. And since I’d had no clue what else to say or do, I’d awkwardly made my way to his bedroom door. A few steps into my escape, Liam’s big hand had clamped around my wrist and he’d spun me around.

His fingers had found the spot on my jaw he loved to stroke. For a few seconds he hadn’t said a word, just stared at me with a scary intensity in those deep-blue eyes I’d felt to my toes.

“Stay.”

One word—one raspy word—and my insides had been mush. I would have said yes right then and there, but then his lips had parted again.

“I swear, I won’t do anything. I…I just want to hold you, if that’s all right?”

True to his word, he hadn’t done anything sexual. He’d simply hooked his arms around me and pulled my body against his. I’d never fallen asleep that fast in my life.

Or slept that good.

Which, in hindsight, could’ve been why I was so slow to wake up.

Arms locked above my head; I stretched out my limbs one last time before pushing into a seated position. As suspected, the spot beside me was cold and empty. Liam was an early riser. The man got up way earlier than what would be considered normal. I knew this, yet a tiny stab of disappointment speared through my chest.

Before I got too hung up on it, though, I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and took the opportunity to properly study his bedroom. Varying shades of gray dominated the space. Oddly enough, there was nothing heavy or dark about it.

Probably because the enormous window-wall lit up the space with copious amounts of natural light.

Funny how I hadn’t noticed it last night.

Yeah, you were too busy having a mind-blowing orgasm.

Ignoring the sarcastic little voice inside my head, I wandered to the glass and peered at the city below. The sun slowly peeked over the horizon, orange and pink streaking the sky like a painter’s brush had made it just so.

Diamond-studded rays glinted off the windows of every building as far as the eye could see.Wow. I hadn’t seen the city like this, and it absolutely stole my breath.

I brushed my fingertips over the glass. “It’s so beautiful.”

“Yes, it is.”