“Tell me, Liam. How do you want me?”

Rocking her against me again, I watch as her head rolls back and I bring my head toward her exposed neck. Running my tongue over the soft skin from her collarbone until I reach her jaw, where I once again give her a soft nip.

“Do you feel it, darlin’?” I ask, ignoring her repeated question.

Her head tips forward and she nods.

“No, baby. Do you feel it?”

She takes a few stuttered breaths and as I wait, I run my hands from her hips, up the tight material of her black tee and when my hand passes right under her pits, my thumbs roll over her erect nipples before I continue my path, until my hands curl around her neck and I pull her head forward until she has no choice but to look at me and only me.

“I want you, darlin’, to feel. That feeling your body gets when it’s sparking at every nerve. When your skin feels tight and your stomach drops. When you don’t know if your heart is beating in your chest or coming through your throat. I want you to feel that wind in your hair, pulse racing, wild, free as a bird, stomach-dropping rush. I want you to feel,” I pause, bringing my lips to hers in a soft, eyes-open, kiss, “everything.” I finish and close the distance again.

Her mouth opens instantly and when I push my tongue inside and meet hers, the kiss goes from wild to electric. Her hands slide into my hair and she grabs hold and pulls me as close as I can get while her hips move without reservation. A kiss that is dangerously close to having me rip her clothes from her body and taking what I’ve been craving.

I pull back when I feel my balls start to pull tight, ripping my mouth from hers as we both pant rapidly.

“Fuck me,” I groan, tilting my head back and fight back the orgasm that almost had me coming just from dry humping.

“I want that,” she whispers.

“Words, Megan. You want what?”

“Everything.”

“Well, thank fuck.”

“THIS WAY, DARLIN’,” LIAM TELLS me as he walks us from his truck and into the darkness.

I know we’re in the middle of nowhere. As his truck pushed through the dirt path and into the clearing you could just tell there wasn’t anyone around for miles. When his headlights shut off and you could see millions of stars light up the sky like little gas filled flashlights, it was confirmed. No way you would see something that beautiful, a sky so clear, there wasn’t one single spot you couldn’t see for miles, if there was even a town close. I would guess, seeing as we didn’t pass a single house for at least five miles, that there isn’t much of anything out here.

“Uh, Liam?”

He stops and I almost slam into his back.

Turning, his hand comes up to hold my cheek against his palm and I search through the shadows around his face to find his eyes.

“Trust me?”

“Yes,” I tell him instantly.

His fingers spasm against my skin.

“Finally.”

That one word warms my belly and I roll onto my toes and touch my lips to his.

“I wasn’t ready yet, before I mean.”

I don’t know where all this newfound strength is coming from. If I had to guess, it’s all because of the man standing in front of me.

“Yeah, darlin’, I know you weren’t. You took my hand. That told me everything I needed to know, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t good to hear you tell me.”

“I’m sorry.”

Time for me to take that step. The last one I need to climb from my old life and on to the new path full of hope and promise.

Letting the darkness be my shield, one I know I don’t need against Liam, but one I’m going to hold on to as a safety blanket regardless, I take a deep breath and knock some more of that damn wall down.

“The way you make me feel, it scares me. It’s a good feeling. A different kind of fear. More of an unknown. Never, not once in my twenty-three years have I ever felt a connection as strong as I do when I’m with you.”

He drops the hand he had been holding onto and moves to wrap both of his arms around me. His chin rests against the top of my head and he doesn’t speak until my arms circle his waist.

“The last thing I want to do is scare you, Megan. That’s the last feeling I want you to have when I’m here. What scares you?”

“That’s a long story, Liam.”

“Lucky for you I’ve got all the time in the world when it comes to you.”

I tighten my grasp on him and soak up the way his embrace fills me whole.

“Every time you’re around me I just know I’m that much closer to falling way too quick. It’s something that I know if I let happen, I’ll tip over the edge in a free fall that I wouldn’t be able to pick myself up from if I lost it.”