Page 63 of City of Liars

I dropped my head, taking her nipple into my mouth and sucking, hard. She moaned, a sound that went straight to my cock. My hands tightened on her hips, and I moved her, dragging her back and forth, letting her feel how hard I was—for her.

Those gorgeous blue eyes opened and fixed on mine. The look in them was searing: lust, but also something else I didn’t care to explore too closely, because it scared the shit out of me. Instead, I laid her down on the rug in front of the fire and did what I wanted to since I’d pulled her on top of me. I hooked my fingers under the waistband of her pants and yanked them off. I’d been right—there was nothing underneath them but Liv.

“Christ,” I muttered. “You’re trying to kill me.”

Before she could reply, I spread her wide and buried my face between her legs. She was as wet as I’d imagined, and the scent of her was an aphrodisiac—salt and musk and the taste that was just Liv. My tongue speared into her, and she moaned again. I ground against the carpet, desperate for release.

“Theo.” Her fingers wound their way into my hair. “I want you inside me. Now.”

My heart beating an uneven tattoo, I reared up, over her. She was impossibly beautiful, her red hair spread out all around her and the flames casting shadows on the curves of her pale body. “Yeah?” I said, the corner of my mouth tugging upward in a smile. At least she wanted me as much as I wanted her; I wasn’t in this alone. “Well, I’m all yours.”

She scrambled upward, yanking my shirt over my head. Her fingers went to my belt buckle, and then she was pushing my pants over my hips and tossing them aside. Then it was just the two of us, naked in the firelight, our shadows rising and falling on the walls. Looking at her, something in my chest caught and twisted.

I didn’t believe in love, wasn’t made for it. But in this moment, with the taste of her on my lips and her eyes fixed on mine, I couldn’t deny what I felt was more than lust.

I didn’t know what to do about that. But I did know how to satisfy both of us, to silence the craving that had clawed at me since the very first night. There was no way sex between us had been as incredible as I remembered—right? So I would fuck her now, like she’d asked me to, and get it out of both our systems. I’d make the unfamiliar, twisting feeling in my chest disappear once and for all.

“Lay back.” It was a command, and she obeyed, falling down to her elbows, her body opening for me.

Kneeling between her legs, I let my gaze drift over her—those eyes that could shred me with a glance, glassy now with desire, the rise of her breasts, with their pale pink nipples, the line of her belly, the pink, glistening flesh between her thighs. I traced her with my fingertip, then with the tip of my tongue, and she shivered.

“Jesus, Theo. Stop teasing me.” Her voice was as hoarse as my own.

I sucked in a breath and drove into her, feeling the heat of her body clutch at me, bottoming out inside her. She pulled me down to her, her mouth taking mine, as her hips rose and her legs wrapped around me, pulling me deeper. I thrust and her body clenched mine tighter, small spasms that hinted of the storm to come. I had to grit my teeth to hold on, to stop from spilling myself into her.

Shit. It wasn’t as good as I’d remembered—it was better.

Her kisses were as greedy as mine as her hands roved over my body, her nails marking my flesh. I moaned and she swallowed the sound; she arched upward and I pressed into her, circling my hips to find the spot that made her shake, until she came apart again and again, calling my name.

I held on, clenching my jaw so tightly I was sure it would ache in the morning, thrusting deep into her heat until she began to shudder around me again. Only then did I let go, coming until constellations of stars clouded my vision, every pulse of her body rousing an answer in my own.

Afterward, we fell asleep in front of the fire, with me still deep inside her. And if the ghosts that haunted both of us passed judgment, they didn’t say a word.

41

Liv

Iwoke in the morning with Theo curled behind me, his arm thrown across my body and sunlight streaming through the living room windows, bathing both of us. For a moment I thought that was what had woken me. But then the front door creaked, and I knew better.

Crap. Either it was a burglar or Krista and her family were home early. Regardless, this was bad news.

I rolled away from Theo, who gave a complaining groan and reached for me. Searching desperately for my T-shirt, I shook off his hand. “Wake up!” I hissed. “There’s someone here.”

“Huh?” He blinked and rose to his knees, half-awake.

Spying my shirt draped over an end-table lamp, I grabbed it. I was tugging it over my head as footsteps made their way down the hall. A second later, Krista said, incensed, “What the hell?”

I managed to get my arms through the sleeves. When I looked up, Theo had grabbed one of the pillows from the couch and was clutching it to his midsection. Krista stood over both of us, eyes wide. Her daughter, who was a year older than Chloe, stood next to her, making my humiliation complete. Behind them was Art, Krista’s husband, who looked...amused.

“Seriously, Liv?” Krista tugged her scarf off, making her short brown hair stand on end, as if electrified by her fury. “Claire, go to your room. In fact, Art, why don’t you take her there.”

“Hello, Aunt Liv,” Claire said as her father took her by the shoulders and started steering her away. “It’s nice to see you!”

“Not another word,” Krista told her. “And you!” she said, turning on me. “How could you do this? On the floor? What are you, an animal? We have beds!”

“I thought you weren’t coming home until tonight,” I said lamely, tugging my shirt down over my knees and looking for my pants.

Krista unearthed them from beneath the sofa and hurled them at me. I got a hand up to catch them just in time. “Claire didn’t feel well. We had to drive back. And who the hell is this?”