Page 92 of Debt of My Soul

My heart aches for Liam. Tightening with each step he moves, it squeezes until I can no longer watch from the inside. I throw open the door and run down the steps to him. Solar lamps line the brick sidewalk, and I’m grateful for them as I dash to the driveway, reaching Liam as he redoes his bun.

“What are you doing?” he asks. Those hulking shoulders have fallen, and his eyes are black and flooded with a warring I’m not sure he’ll ever confide in me about.

I twist under his scrutiny. Antsy, I whip around, noticing the pitch-black night shielding us. Three feet in front of me is about all I can see.

“Done with your pissing contest?” I ask.

“Never.”

I throw my hands up, irritation bubbling to the surface. “Are you upset I said something?”

“No,” he grits out.

Liam is barely holding on—I can see it. Anger and fear are written all over his normally collected and steeled face. He’s letting me see it all in this moment and I recognize it. The desire muddled in with all the rage and fear. My heart rattles in my chest as his savage form towers over me.

His boots toe my flats as he invades the space between us, and I glance back toward the house to avoid the way his eyes skim down my body.

Backing up, I bump into the passenger side of the truck, and he follows me. Unrestrained, the rough pads of his fingers glide up the side of my thigh, catching the hem of my dress. I shudder at his touch. It’s light, tender, everything he’s not right now.

He stares at my mouth, where my lips quiver, and I smack his hand away. As soon as I do, I want to yank his hand back to soothe the ache building inside me. To knit his fingers between mine and guide his hand to the places I need him. But I don’t, and he doesn’t try again.

His touch heightens my senses. The large oaks thrash in the wind. Whippoorwills call to each other from some unseen place, and inside me the roar of desire matches what I find in his stare.

This was not in the plans. Not in a million years. This can’t happen, this?—

His left hand leans on the truck, brushing past my right shoulder, and I suck in a breath at how close he is. Bringing his mouth to my ear, he whispers, “Did you kiss my brother?”

I scowl, tilting my head away from where his warm breath practically licks the side of my face. His brother is the furthest thing on my mind. Why does he care?

As if he can read the question in my eyes, he continues, “Because I’m going to snuff out any memory of him.”

His mouth crashes down on mine. Fluttery sensations sweep through my body before I can register what’s happening.

The kiss is rough and demanding. Fire erupts and gnaws in my belly as he works to scrub away any lingering trace of his brother. But it’s doing more than that.

So much more.

It challenges everything I knew with Chris, the man I thought wasit. Rewriting what I know.

Liam’s kiss is beyond passion. It’s raw need and it sends a chill into the marrow of my bones. He pauses to bring his mouth to my chin, nipping me, and I throw my head back into the truck window. He cushions the back of my head before kissing me once more.

I meet him. Every stroke of his tongue and tease of my lips, I give it back tenfold. Pouring out the building attraction ever since I saw him at the bank months ago.

Fisting his shirt, I whimper and immediately regret it because he rips away. Two steps back, and he’s panting while he frowns at me.

“Shit, Fleur.”

I wince. “Y-you kissed me.”

Pressing both hands to the side of the car, I support myself. This kiss—my knees wobble, weak and utterly wrecked. Ravaged so thoroughly, I’m now a mumbling, bumbling idiot.

He steps forward, a hand lifting to my face but stopping short. Instead, he slides both in his pockets while his eyes trace the narrow curves of my body, lingering where his hand searedmy thigh. They then dart to my lips, where the exquisite burn of his passionate kiss brands me.

Gosh, his lips.

“I’m sorry. I’m, I’m being?—”

“A brute.” My words find their mark and Liam flinches, his head rearing back like I’ve struck him. Guilt immediately clouds me. I meant it to lighten the mood.

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