Page 94 of A Vine Mess
“You new in town?” a gruff voice asked as I attempted to pull away.
I looked to Aria for help and found her in the arms of a different guy, forgetting about me for the moment. “Just passing through,” I told him, trying to back away, searching over his shoulder for Liam. But his spot at the edge of the dance floor was empty.
“Even better,” the guy said with a grin, exposing his too-white teeth. “I’m—”
“She doesn’t give a fuck what your name is,” a new voice said, and Liam appeared from behind him, shoving him back and putting his big body between us.
“Why don’t you let her decide that?” the guy said, giving me a smarmy grin. “You wanna come home with me, don’t you?”
My upper lip curled, a disgusted sound leaving me. “Fuck no.”
“C’mon now,” he said. “You don’tmean that.”
“I definitely do.”
Liam turned his head to look at me. With that wicked gleam in his eyes I loved so much, he took his hat off his head and set it on mine. “What about me, baby? You wanna come home with me?”
I grinned, making a show of looking him up and down, fingering the brim of the hat coyly. “I don’t know…” I trailed off.
“Hey man!” the new guy protested. “You can’t do that.”
Liam barely spared him a glance. “My hat, my woman. Now fuck off.”
“How about we take this outside and settle it like real men?”
“I don’t think that’ll be—”
The expression on Liam’s face cut me off as he fully put his back to the new guy. Then he hauled me up over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, one hand planted firmly across the backs of my thighs to keep my dress down. The guy who made a pass at me shouted for someone to help me, but I was laughing so hard, it was obvious I wasn’t in danger. The Lawless family, finally recognizing the commotion, hooted and hollered at Liam as he walked me down that long hallway toward the back.
We pushed outside, finding the small parking lot entirely abandoned, the streetlight that normally would’ve illuminated the area burned out. Liam set me on my feet slowly, my body gliding down his as he did, his hands settling low on my hips and pushing me backward until my spine met the side of the building.
“Impressive display,” I told him. All I could see was the way his eyes captured the light of the moon—dark, endless pools I wanted to sink into and stay there forever.
“He was touching what’s mine.”
“Yours, huh?” I said playfully.
I knew the answer—hadn’t needed to ask. I was his in every way, shape, and form. Mind, body, soul. In all the ways he’d already had me and all the ways he wanted me in the future.
But as surely as I belonged to him, Liam Danvers belonged to me, and I couldn’t say for certain I wouldn’t have reacted similarly had another woman put her hands on him.
Liam merely tapped my head. “You’re wearing my hat, Wildflower. Tell me, what was that rule again?”
“Technically, it’s West’s hat.”
“Ella,” Liam growled.
Tipping my head back, I let loose a laugh, and the hat fell from my head.
Liam’s mouth was on mine in a heartbeat, hands in my hair, clutching me tightly, fusing our lips together until there wasn’t a millimeter of space between us. We came together fervently, sloppily, like we couldn’t survive going a second longer without being together like this. I moaned when his tongue swept inside, caressing mine, and the sound seemed to slow things down. Liam moved more intentionally, sucking on my tongue, pulling at my lips with his teeth, peppering my cheeks and jaw with kisses.
When he pulled away, I chased after him with a sound of protest, and he obliged me with another kiss—chaste, closed-mouthed, and entirely too short.
“Why’d you stop?” I asked.
Liam reached down and tangled our fingers together, bending first to pick up the hat before pulling me around the buildingto where the van waited in the full parking lot. The band had kicked up again, and Aria’s full, gorgeous voice floated out into the night, the neon sign flashing, attempting to lure us in.
Instead, we got in the van, and Liam finally answered my question, sending shivers skittering across my skin.
