Page 86 of Our Radiant Embers

For some reason, it made me squint against the last reflections of daylight as I swallowed. “Hi.”

“Have we met?”

It was silly and sweet. I lost a moment staring at the laugh lines around his eyes before I managed an inexplicably wobbly grin. “Not sure. A full-body inspection may refresh my memory.”

“Is that so?” He shaped the words against my lips, and then we were kissing again—slow and thorough as I learned the contours of his mouth, the catch of his breath as my hands slid down to pull him against me. Minutes lost while night seeped into the room, me lost in him. My fingers tripped along the curve of his spine as my magic wound around him once more. For a few beats, we didn’t move, simply listening to the sounds of the sea, the distant calls of seabirds, and a car passing somewhere, a laugh floating up from the beach.

Then Liam pressed another kiss to my lips. I sought to deepen it and he allowed it briefly before he moved down my body. Gentle bites and wet, open-mouthed kisses marked his path.

I grappled for the bedside lamp just as he settled between my legs. Brightness washed over us, his back a beautiful relief as he blinked up at me and into light, his voice wry. “Warn a guy.”

“Sorry.” I reached down to pat the side of his head, the leather bracelet sliding along my wrist. “Didn’t want to miss this view. Please keep doing what you’re doing.”

“As you wish,” he said with an impish smile, and I sighed even as I fought to keep the amusement off my face.

“You’re not going to let me live that down, are you?”

”Never.” It was said with utmost confidence. Before I could think to respond, his mouth opened around the tip of my cock, and words slipped away. Heat and darkness, his tongue painting a path along the length of my erection as one finger probed at my entrance. I spread my thighs wider.

“Okay?” he asked, a husky edge to his voice, and I needed a moment before it made sense.

“Yeah. Stuff, though?”

He glanced up at me, a flush to his cheeks, hair a mess. A brief sense of vertigo gripped me, my centre of gravity suspended. It passed in just a blink of an eye.

“I’ll get it.” He pressed a lingering kiss to my hip before he rolled off the bed. At the foot, he paused for a bright look. “Don’t go anywhere.”

“Nowhere else I’d rather be.”

Another slow scan of my body, like he simply couldn’t help himself. Then he dashed out of the room. It was an old house, so I could hear the creak of wood as he moved along the hallway. I wondered whether I should feel nervous. This was a big deal, right?

But it was Liam.

I trusted him. I?—

No.

I wrapped a loose hand around myself, no real intent behind it—let my thumb swipe over the head of my cock, fingers lightly tracing the vein along the underside as Liam’s steps returned. He stopped on the threshold, body outlined against the darker hallway, all lean muscle rather than the heavier build I often saw at my gym.

“Jesus, Adam.” His voice was low and steady. “You are so fucking beautiful—you have no idea.”

I didn’t know why it damn near had me blinking back tears. I didn’t usually set up camp this close to the water, had mostly learned to tie a decorative bow around my emotions and pack them away as needed. “No need to butter me up,” I managed, perhaps a tad wobbly. “I’m a sure thing.”

Liam drew closer on quiet feet, his smile nearly hidden by the shadows. “You’re not very good at accepting compliments, are you?”

“I’m just not used to them.” My breath hitched as he covered me up, skin to skin, one of his thighs between my legs.

“Maybe,” he said, words shaped against the corner of my mouth, “I should work on changing that.”

I caught his mouth for a soft, tentative brush. “Promises, promises.”

“I tend to keep mine.”

He would. Liam was the kind of guy who made up his mind, and once he had, he could be trusted to follow through. Me? I didn’t really know what kind of guy I was anymore.

I brought both arms up to pull him down on top of me, freefalling again, control slipping through my fingers like sand. Our kiss deepened in increments, shadow and light dancing through my mind.

When he moved down my body once more, I closed my eyes and hooked a finger under the leather bracelet, something to anchor me as his breath, hot and quick between my legs, sent ripples of warmth up my spine. I’d fingered myself before, had tested out toys as well, but God, it didn’t come close to the gentle yet firm pressure of Liam’s touch, how patiently he prepared me until I was shifting back against him at the slightest crook of his fingers.

---