Page 30 of The CEO I Hate (The Lockhart Brothers #1)

MIA

I woke snuggled against a broad, warm chest, and for a moment, I just basked in Liam’s presence. In the fact that he was naked beside me. And I was naked too. In his bed! With my post-sex hair and the sheets tangled around my waist. I couldn’t remember when the activities had ended last night.

I remembered letting my eyes drift closed after round I-lost-count, thinking I’d open them in a minute and start touching him again.

But next thing I knew, it was morning. As I looked at him now, two things were true: one, there was a strong pulsing between my thighs, hungry for more of him; and two, I really had to pee.

My bladder won out, and I carefully untangled myself from the covers, trying not to wake him.

I didn’t know how frequently Liam let himself sleep in.

I suspected it wasn’t often—and I didn’t want to spoil this for him—or for me if, as I feared, he woke up to realize this had been a monumental mistake.

I wanted to exist in this perfect little bubble for a while longer, so every move was calculated as I rolled to the edge of his king-sized bed .

As I sat up, I squinted at the floor, trying to figure out what clothing piles were mine. Getting dressed felt like too much effort, so I abandoned the clothes, padding straight over to the ensuite bathroom.

After doing my business and cleaning up, I got a good look at my hair in the mirror and decided I was just going to shave my head.

Taming those curls would take five years or so.

Not to mention the time and effort it would take to cover up the red marks on my neck and chest where Liam had sucked kisses all night.

My heart bloomed at the sight, but I still laughed and dropped my head into my hands.

I was going to have to break out a turtleneck before I went into the studio.

Hell, I was going to need to find one before I saw Jake.

He’d probably assume the party responsible was just some other guy , some random hookup, but he’d still wrinkle his nose, hating the douche that did it to me on principle.

Some random hookup . My chest tightened.

I didn’t want this to be that.

I returned to the room, tiptoeing as quietly as I could. I shouldn’t have worried though. Liam Lockhart apparently slept like the dead—and snored a little. But in an acceptable way.

I picked up my phone from the nightstand.

I’d texted Sophie last night at some point between rounds to let her know I wouldn’t be coming home so she wouldn’t worry.

She’d sent me three emojis. One thumbs-up.

One kissy face. And an eggplant. I put the phone down and climbed back into bed.

Maybe if I was really lucky, I’d get another half hour of cozy comfort before the world arrived to rip it all away.

I tucked myself under the blankets, shifting closer to Liam again. He reached his arm out, snagging me around the waist and hauling me into his arms .

“You’re awake!” I said, surprised.

He cracked one eye open to look at me, then closed it again. “Been awake for a while.”

“What do you mean ‘a while’? You’ve been pretending to sleep while I tiptoed all over the room?”

“Watching your ninja moves while trying to get out of bed was very entertaining.”

I whacked him gently on the chest. “Liam!”

“What? You think I’m gonna interrupt a naked woman wandering around my room?” His arms tightened around me. “That’s a show I’ll never say no to.”

“Mm-hmm,” I said. He turned his head to nip at my neck, and I pulled back. “Don’t mark me any more. I’m gonna have a hard enough time hiding this as it is.”

“I’ll mark you in any way I like,” Liam growled, running his hands over the mark on my neck. His touch felt proprietary, possessive.

Emotion swirled in my chest, sinking straight to my gut, making that pulse between my legs almost unbearable. I wrapped my thigh over his hip, looking for friction.

“I mark what’s mine,” he said, his voice softer but no less intense.

He reached down, grabbed a handful of my ass, and rocked my body against his.

I whimpered at the sensation. Scientists should study how quickly this man could send me from zero to one hundred.

I wanted papers published on this feeling alone.

Liam’s hand curled between my thighs and my eyes fluttered closed—God, yes!—and then my phone started ringing.

“God, no,” I grumbled .

“Leave it,” he said.

“What if it’s important?” I was already reaching across the massive bed for my phone. Liam used the opportunity to explore places that made me squirm as I answered. “Hello?”

“Girl,” Sophie said. “Holy shit! I want to know everything . But we’ll table that until later. This is a best-friend courtesy call.”

“For what?”

“I thought you’d want to know that your brother just came by the apartment.”

“Jake?”

“Yes, that would be the only brother you have.”

I rubbed my eyes, waiting for my brain to catch up. It was still floating in the la-la land I entered whenever Liam’s hand was between my thighs. “What did he want?”

“He wanted to talk about how it went with your parents yesterday. I lied and said you were out running errands.”

“Thanks, Soph. You’re the best.”

“I know. You and Liam should probably get your stories straight, because Jake will likely call one or the other of you any minute now.”

I thanked her and said goodbye, turning to face Liam who was staring at me with a sly smile on his face, his fingers inching across my belly.

“Did you tell Sophie that calls while you’re still naked in my bed are now forbidden?”

“No, because she doesn’t know I’m still naked in your bed.” Though she probably suspected it. “But also, she called to tell me Jake stopped by my apartment this morning to chat about dinner last night. ”

“Oh.”

“Oh,” I agreed. “How do you want to handle things?”

“I don’t like the idea of sneaking around behind his back,” Liam said, running smooth circles around my hip bone. Hope bloomed in my chest. Did that mean he wanted to tell Jake? Could we be upfront about this?

“But on the other hand,” he continued, and my heart sank at his tone, “he’s in such a low place, dealing with all the changes in his life. It doesn’t really seem fair to dump another change on him. And we’re going to have to be discreet anyway, since we don’t want to start any rumors at work.”

Right , I thought. There’s that too . I knew there wasn’t a specific policy about interoffice relationships, but I understood the optics of this situation if viewed from the wrong lens.

I could see the headline— CEO Shacks Up With New Head Writer After Falling Out With Old One . My mood was quickly souring.

“I think we can be careful,” Liam said, caressing my thigh in a way that made the hairs on my arms stand up straight. “Make this work.”

At least I could take comfort in the fact that he wanted to continue this…relationship? Situationship? I wasn’t exactly sure what we were. But he seemed to want us , even if it had to be behind closed doors.

Still, I didn’t want to have to be careful.

Liam rolled on top of me, bracing his forearms on either side of my head. “What are you thinking so hard about?” He kissed my neck, my collar bone, making my heart flutter.

“Nothing,” I said.

“Oh, I can tell there are many thoughts tumbling around that pretty little head of yours.” He ran his stubble over my nipple, and it hardened.

His tongue darted out to taste the peak before he sucked it into his mouth, sending sensations shooting through my body.

I groaned. “That’s more like it,” Liam said.

“I’ll help you forget whatever you’re overthinking. ”

Maybe I was overthinking this. Maybe I should just enjoy it…have fun with it. Especially with the way I could feel his cock hardening between us. He inched lower, kissing his way down my belly, his tongue swirling around my belly button. Then?—

My phone rang. Again.

“Jake,” I said as I looked at the screen. I bit back a moan.

“Let it go,” Liam said, pressing a trail of kisses down my left thigh.

“I can’t,” I said, answering it. “Hey!” I said, trying to sound cheerful and not at all out of breath. I sat up a little, moving to pull my legs closed, but Liam’s body was in the way. He shifted beneath the sheet, kissing his way down to my knee and back up, sucking softly against my thigh again.

Oh shit . He wasn’t planning to back off at all. Time to brush off my acting skills and hope they were good enough to keep my brother from figuring out what was going on.

“Where are you?” Jake asked.

“Went for coffee,” I lied. “Then I gotta grab groceries. Sophie wants to have a movie night.”

I felt Liam’s hot breath against my center. The rational part of my brain told me to push him away. But that part wasn’t calling the shots as my stomach tightened in anticipation.

“How was dinner?”

Liam’s lips brushed over my clit, and I bit down hard, squeezing my eyes. “Lousy,” I said, trying to fob him off. “But Liam was there for moral support when Mom and Dad got out of line. ”

Liam stopped teasing and finally started sucking on my clit.

I held the phone away from my mouth as a gasp shot up my throat.

I ripped the sheet back and glared at him.

But that was the wrong move because the sight of him between my legs only made my blood burn hotter.

My hips moved against his tongue, desperate. Needy.

“Heading home soon?” Jake asked. “Maybe we can order brunch?”

“No,” I stammered, watching Liam’s tongue swirl wickedly. “I’m not coming yet.”

“You will be soon,” Liam muttered with a sly grin, too low for Jake to hear.

The pulse between my legs ached.

“How about a late lunch?” I suggested.

“Sure,” Jake agreed.

“Perfect. Talk to you later.” I hung up before he could say anything more, tossing my head back into the pillow as Liam worked me over with his tongue. I sank my hand into his hair, eyes closed as the pleasure began to take me over.

He was too damn good at this.

Before I could fully unravel, he climbed up my body, a fresh condom on, and slid his cock through my wet heat, tracing over my clit again and again. I was so wound up it didn’t take much more, and I came as soon as he finally sank into me, my orgasm rippling across my body as he thrusted.

Liam went still as he came, letting out a hard grunt as the aftershocks of my orgasm milked him. There were so many sensations running through me that I felt like jelly as Liam collapsed beside me.

“You can’t do that,” I muttered, nudging him when my good sense came back. “Not with Jake on the phone. ”

“You’re just going to have to learn to hold it together,” he said, smug and sated. “Or else you’re going to have to answer a lot of awkward questions.”