Page 26 of Stronger Than Love

“We normally eat here. The table’s for more formal affairs.”

I added the noodles and began to toss everything together in the wok. “Island it is.”

The plates were piled high with steaming hot noodles and I sprinkled some chopped coriander and sesame seeds on top. Liam continued to watch me, his deep blue eyes never leaving me. They unnerved me with their intensity, and I felt like prey being stalked by a powerful predator.

Liam was a black panther and I was a gangly deer, stumbling about under his gaze.

I was just putting the wok in the sink when he reached over to get glasses from the cupboard above me. His chest pressed into my back and my fingers gripped the edge of the sink. Tingles infused from the skin on my back into my body until a flame kindled deep in my stomach.

“Oonagh?” His voice washed over me and my eyes fluttered shut.

I gasped as his hands landed on my waist to tug me against his hard chest. It wasn’t our bodies that recognised one another, it was our souls. They were imprinted with the energy of one another until it responded only to his touch.

Sucking in a deep breath, I shook my head. Everything was catching up to me and my fragile emotions couldn’t cope anymore.

Liam slowly spun me to face him until our eyes locked. His fingers grasped my chin to hold my head in position when I tried to look away.

“You gave me one summer, Oonagh, then we can get each other out of our systems so we can liveour lives.” He pressed a soft kiss on my open lips. “For one summer, you belong to me, your body is mine alone to enjoy. Understand?”

A denial played on my lips but wouldn’t emerge. There was something about his tone that made my thighs tremble and an ache to form between my legs.

“And what happens when the summer ends?” I finally asked in a shaky voice.

“By then we’ll have fucked each other until we can finally say we’ve had enough.”

I swallowed hard. It didn’t work the last time when we spent the summer shagging like bunnies on hormone replacement therapy. In fact, after the last time, I’d been unable to let any man touch me sexually because Liam owned my body and soul.

“Tonight, we’re going to show each other what we’ve learnt over the years. I’m going to make you scream until you’re hoarse and you can’t stand afterwards.” He pressed another lingering kiss on my mouth. “Then I’m going to do it all over again.”

I knew I didn’t have the strength to stop him, and that afterward I would be even more broken than before. My teeth bit into my bottom lip and I sucked it into my mouth. This was the point that I should walk away, to try and preserve what remained of my heart. My life was devoid of emotion but filled with so many other experiences. I’d convinced myself that I didn’t need this level of intimacy.

Liam was so sexually confident there was no doubt that he was no longer the shy boy trading kisses and sexual experiences with an equally shy girl. Unfortunately, I wasthe same girl from ten years ago, and if he touched me, he’d find that out very quickly.

Every bite of my dinner was a struggle to swallow, the tension in my body starting to make my limbs tremble. Finally, there was nothing left to hide behind as I forced the last mouthful down. Liam took our plates to set them in the sink and came to stand in front of me, holding his hand out.

“Come on,” he said in a husky voice.

The crescent moon and scattered stars illuminated the dark night. Liam led me to our mound, pulling me down beside him. “Every time I lie here, I imagine you’re beside me.”

I slowly sat up to stare down at him. “I’m not who you think I am, Liam,” I confessed in a hushed tone.

His fingers interlaced through mine, his thumb tracing over my pulse. “We’ve both changed,” he replied. “And yet when you’re here, I’m the same person I was back then.”

“I can’t do this,” I whispered, struggling to escape his grasp. The stars above us, our mound, it was all too much and the need to run consumed me.

“Stay with me, Oonagh. Please don’t leave me again.” It was the hurt in his voice and the way he faltered on the ‘again’ that made me meet his eyes.

Liam pushed himself up until we were staring at each other. His head moved to mine with infinite slowness, as if he didn’t want to scare me. “Stay,” he pleaded as his lips met mine.

There was no desperation, just a gentle coaxing, his mouth saying what both of us were terrified to put into words. His tongue swept along the seam of my mouth intender persuasion to gain entrance. I was never able to resist him, never able to walk away when he needed me.

Liam’s hand on my cheek held me in his possession as he leisurely explored my mouth, claiming me all over again. Time became irrelevant as he ran light caresses over my body, his mouth never once leaving mine. Every instinct in me responded to him because only Liam had the power to scatter my thoughts with a single touch.

All resistance left me when he tugged me up against his body as he stood. With deep, drugging kisses, he led me back into the house until I vaguely heard a door closing somewhere. A soft mattress met my back, his body pressing down on mine. This was the point that I normally froze to make my excuses. But instead, my fingers combed through his hair.

There was no way I would be able to keep doing this all summer and then walk away. One night, I promised myself. I would have this one night and then leave after my birthday party and never return.

Liam trailed my top off to reveal my breasts. His teeth grazed my nipple and I hissed in arousal, my hips arching up toward him in a silent plea. He swirled his tongue around my hardening peak, driving me crazy with the sensation, while his thumb stimulation my other nipple.

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