Page 23

23

Alana

I woke up and rolled onto cold sheets. It was a harsh wake-up call from my lovely dream, which had been full of highlights from the day before.

Liam’s assuredness on the ice and the way it seemed to yield to him like he was its master. The easy way he dealt with people coming up to him and singing his praises, while also keeping me out of it. The way his fingers tangled with mine while I found my feet in skates again. The press of his hand against my lower back, a brand against my skin even through my winter layers. The feeling of satisfaction that washed over me every time I managed to get a full belly laugh out of him. The warmth of spiked hot chocolate while we marvelled at the lights, and burgers so stacked that they left smears of sauce on full lips that I wanted to clean up with my tongue.

Yesterday, it felt like I was actually dating Liam. And more than it feeling real, it felt right . Especially the part where he was on his knees in front of me, which had taken an X-rated turn in dream world and had left me feeling needy.

I rolled over in frustration and stuck my hand underneath my pillow, making contact with my vibrator.

The cold bed was a good indication that Liam had been gone for a while, and I pushed up onto my elbows to see if I could figure out where he might be. His towel was hanging on the long radiator, so he wasn’t in the bathroom, which suggested that maybe he had gone for a run. He mentioned yesterday that he might try and get one in. If that was the case, then I probably had more than enough time to satisfy this need.

I pulled the vibrator out and slipped it between my legs. The press of the point against my clit sent a shiver through my body. I couldn’t remember the last time I had been turned on this quickly. Definitely not for the majority of my twenties. But this week, I’d been like a live wire and the barest of touches were setting my nerve endings alight. Sometimes Liam just had to look at me for my clit to perk up.

I clicked the vibe on and closed my eyes, letting images of what I wished had happened last night play in my mind. How I wanted to lick the cream from the hot chocolate that had ended up on his upper lip after the first sip and tease the plush lower lip between my teeth before coaxing him into a kiss. I could feel his hands sweeping up my back and holding me close to him, his thigh slotting in between my legs, a solid pressure where I would need him most. I could hear the sounds he would make the longer we kissed, and as my hands started to stroke across his body, they’d become desperate, low, needy.

The pressure coiling in my lower stomach was starting to build, and I tilted my hips to press the vibe harder against my clit. The promise of relief inching ever closer. I started imagining his hands, so big and slightly calloused, pressed against my naked skin, and his fingertips teasing the pucker of my nipples. The weight of him pressing me down into the mattress, and the kisses he would pepper over the line of my neck.

I felt my muscles tighten and I prepared to fly off the edge into sheer orgasmic bliss.

And then my vibrator died.

“Fuck!” I muttered angrily and punched the mattress with my free hand.

“I can help with that.” My eyes flew open. I refused to believe that the voice I just heard was actually in the room, but there he was.

Liam was leaning against my closed bedroom door. How had I not heard it open? He was holding a tray with two plates of toast stacked with bacon and eggs, as well as coffee so hot there was still steam coming off it.

“What the hell are you doing here?” It was all I could think to say, even though it was pretty fucking obvious what he was doing.

“This is my room for the holidays as well and I’m bringing you breakfast in bed,” he replied. His voice sounded tight. It made my body coil even further in anticipation. I was the reason he sounded like that, and it made me feel powerful.

“What’s for breakfast?” It was such a ridiculous question to ask while my body still thrummed with desire and Liam looked a bit like he wanted to devour me. I was hoping that if I distracted him enough, we could just ignore the last few minutes.

“I went and bought that bread you like, the one with the cranberries in it, and toasted it. And fried some bacon and eggs. I wouldn’t exactly say I made it. But I did bring all the very simple components together.”

“Oh,” I said stupidly. I loved that bread. I had tried to make it myself, but whatever Westchester Bakes did to it could not be replicated. And he’d gone out to buy it for me specifically.

“I’m just saying that I made this coffee too hot to drink right now and I don’t think either of us minds eating lukewarm food,” Liam said as he pushed off the door and started walking towards his side of the bed, settling the tray on the bedside table. So, distracting him hadn’t worked.

“And why are you saying that?”

“Playing dumb doesn’t suit you, Len.”

I groaned. “Can we just pretend that you didn’t see anything and then we can eat the breakfast you made in peace?”

“No,” he said. I was surprised by his bluntness but also, it felt good to be so obviously and openly desired by this man. But still, thinking about crossing the line was very different to actually crossing the line.

“The moment’s passed, anyway. Let’s just eat.” I tried to sit up, but he put a hand on my shoulder and kept me lying down while he crawled on the bed.

“I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want a year’s supply of brownies for winning, I want something else.”

“Huh?”

Liam pressed both of his knees up against my thigh and looked down at me. “I wasn’t recognised on the ice rink. I said I wanted brownies, but I want to change my prize.”

Oh yeah, that bet. Except…

“Muller, you spent at least half an hour with fans. What is your definition of getting recognised? Because mine is the swarming of people who knew your name and wanted your picture. There is no way you won that bet.”

“We said on the ice rink, and they all came up to me when we were off the ice. I won.” He smirked.

I sighed. On a word technicality, he was right. No one came near him whilst he was on the ice. I was the sole focus of his attention, and he was mine.

“What’s your amendment?”

His eyes flicked down my body. It was still mostly covered, but I felt naked under his gaze.

“What do you think I want?” His voice was dangerously deep now, his eyes that shade of almost-grey again.

“I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking.” A small lie. What he wanted was written all over his face.

“Alright Alana, let me be explicit about this. I want to drape your legs over my shoulders and hold you open while I lick and suck—and gently bite if you’re into it—your clit until you get the orgasm that your vibrator just left you on the brink of.”

Like when he had asked me to be his fake girlfriend at the airport, there were a million reasons to say no. The biggest one was that this would complicate everything . But I had already made things complicated when I said yes to being his fake girlfriend.

And I’d had a better time this week as a result because even though we had said it wasn’t real, Liam was taking the role of being my boyfriend very seriously. He didn’t have to take me on a Christmas lights walk, but he did because he knew I loved Christmas lights. He didn’t have to make sure that I was properly fed at every moment. He didn’t have to go out this morning and stand in a queue to buy a very specific bread that he knew I liked when we were teenagers. But he did so he could surprise me with breakfast in bed, which I didn’t even think he would remember he was ‘supposed’ to do. An oversight on my part because Liam always made good on his forfeits.

My fake relationship with Liam was the easiest one I had ever been in, and it hadn’t even been a week. So why not add another layer to it?

I pulled the duvet off me and Liam inhaled sharply. “Amendment accepted. Oh, and Liam, I’m into it.”

Within seconds, Liam was straddling my waist, keeping his weight on his knees. It was only now that he was sitting in front of me that I noticed the thick bulge in his shorts, visible even though they weren’t exactly tight. I swallowed thickly.

“Fuck Len, you are so beautiful.” He sounded almost breathless as his hands came to rest above my shoulders and he tipped forward bringing his face close to mine.

“You’re not totally hideous.” I tried to go for a teasing tone, but it ended up sounding desperate. Which, in some ways, I was. I saw a sly smirk break out on his face just before he ducked down and nuzzled against my neck, his lips brushing against me in featherlight presses that made me feel even needier.

“Are you all wet for me?” he whispered against my ear. He nipped at my lobe, and I tilted my hips up against him, bringing my clit into direct contact with his hard cock. It pulled an unexpected moan out of me that made Liam chuckle.

“So that’s a yes, then?” he asked as one of his hands started trailing down my side until his fingers hooked into the top of my shorts.

“Shit,” I said suddenly. Liam’s hand immediately moved, and he sat up, still keeping the majority of his weight off me.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing exactly. I just remembered that it’s been a while since I bothered to extensively groom down there. So, like, there’s hair there.” I felt dumb saying it out loud, but I’d also been in this position before and well, it had a disappointing end every time.

“Is that it?” He sounded a touch amused.

“Well, yeah, I guess.”

“Okay, fine. Can I get back to what I was doing then?” His fingers tickled along my waistband. His total indifference to something considered a deal breaker with others made me feel bold. It had been a long time since I felt bold in the bedroom. Figures Liam would be the person to bring it back out of me.

“Are you lying when you say that your shoulder is the only serious injury you’ve ever had?”

“No, shoulder is my one and only, and once again, I assure you that it’s fine,” he answered, not phased by this line of questioning.

“Great. Get on your knees at the end of the bed.” I had never seen pupils dilate in real time quite like I did in that moment. I felt so powerful.

“Do I get a pillow?” he asked as he climbed off me and shuffled to the end of the bed. I took the second pillow on his side and threw it at him. He put it on the floor and sank to his knees. I took a deep breath before I lifted my hips and pulled my shorts down my legs.

“You’re bare under your pyjama shorts?” Liam asked breathlessly as I scooted down the bed, bringing the apex of my thighs closer to his mouth.

“If I’m not on my period, yeah, usually,” I replied as Liam’s hands wrapped around my thighs and pulled me in the rest of the way. I expected him to say something else, but instead, he sealed his mouth over my clit and started circling his tongue around it.

“Oh my god,” I moaned, my back arching and pushing my pussy down on his face. Liam seemed to relish in that and sucked lightly before getting back to teasing my orgasm out of me with the tip of his tongue. It had been so long since I had felt the warm press of someone’s mouth on my sensitive flesh, while their stubble teased my inner thighs, that I had forgotten how much I loved it.

Liam was laser-focused, and I could only lie there and quietly moan into my hand to muffle the sound, as he brought me closer to the orgasm that had been buzzing under my skin since I woke up.

“I’m gonna—” I couldn’t finish my sentence because my entire body fell over into complete bliss, and all I could do was ground myself by tugging on Liam’s hair with my free hand.

Just as I started to feel more over-sensitive than felt good for me, Liam pressed one final kiss against my pussy and lifted his head. The bottom of his face was slick with my orgasm, and, combined with the dark look in his eyes and the smile on his face, he looked downright filthy. He let go of my thighs, a loss I felt more keenly than I wanted to admit, and stood up, not an ounce of self-consciousness about the evident, unattended bulge in his shorts. He walked back to the tray loaded with our breakfast.

“Now, we eat breakfast.”