My mouth opened on a muted sigh when his fingers found the piercing there and moved in a slow, steady rhythm while his other arm wrapped around my hips hard enough that I couldn’t move against him the way I wanted to. I had to raise a hand up to wrap around the back of his neck to keep myself from falling when the pressure increased, leaving me only seconds away from falling apart against him. I whimpered when Liam’s lips met the sensitive skin behind my ear, and after a few soft kisses there, he bit down gently just as my body began shaking before completely exploding. His arm around my body tightened to keep me standing when my knees went weak; and when my orgasm ended, he easily pulled me back toward the bed and laid me down.

I grabbed at his shoulders to pull him toward me as he took off his shorts; but the second he was on top of me I released my hold on him—knowing that it wouldn’t have been long before he’d remove them for me. Unlike last year, I never once tried to fight for control of what we were doing. Instead, I waited for what he would do.

This wasn’t me. I liked being on top. I liked having control of any heated situation, and not being in control usually left me panicking—but not with Liam. Everything about Liam, from last year in Vegas through now, had me being someone I didn’t recognize. But nothing about that bothered me now like it had before. I liked the way he silently demanded control, I liked the way he made me feel like I was someone to be cherished and protected during sex rather than just a means to an end. And I loved that he had me forgetting everything except the two of us just by kissing me.

Liam pulled one of my legs up so my knee was curved around his narrow hips and lowered himself onto me. With his arctic-blue eyes on mine, he squeezed my thigh as he pressed against me, and my breath came out in a quick rush at the feel of him pushing inside me.

“You’re still on birth control?” he asked through rough breaths, and when I nodded, he whispered, “Good,” just before his mouth crashed down against mine and he began moving inside me.

His grip left my thigh, and soon both of his hands were curled around mine and pinning them to the bed, where they were stretched out beside me. The way he was pressing against my piercing had me whimpering as I got closer and closer to another orgasm, but his mouth never once left mine, even when my high-pitched moan was swallowed by his kisses as I came again.

My body felt weightless and heavy at the same time when he released my hands. Pressing his forearms into the mattress on either side of my head, he dipped his face down to place it against my neck as his movements quickened, and I took the opportunity to run my hands over the muscles in his chest and torso. My arms were shaking from the aftereffects of coming again as I trailed my fingers up his back to grip his shoulders, but the way his muscles tightened and relaxed beneath my touch had my grip tightening instead of releasing him.

His hard breaths rushed against my skin as he moved harder and faster for long minutes until they stopped when his body froze above mine. My grip on his shoulders relaxed when I felt the way he was vibrating above me, and as soon as I released him, he rested his body on mine, then rolled us over so he was on his back and I was draped on top of him.

Neither of us spoke as we waited for our breathing to return to normal, and when I felt my body moving in time with Liam’s steady breaths a couple minutes later, I looked up into his bright eyes just in time for him to press his lips to mine. I smiled against the kiss, and couldn’t stop the giggle that bubbled up my throat when he pushed me aside only to climb over me and off the bed, and then pull me up into his arms.

He didn’t break away from the kiss until we were in the bathroom and he was setting me down on my feet. “I’ll use the other bathroom to clean up,” he said, and turned to leave.

Liam was returning to the bedroom when I walked out of the bathroom a couple minutes later, and without giving me a chance to put any of my clothes back on, he grabbed one of my hands and towed me back to the bed. Once we were under the covers, I moved closer to him until I was pressed against his chest with his arms around me.

My body instantly relaxed against his, but it wasn’t long before I realized that his felt tight—too tight. I looked up to find Liam watching me with a worried expression, but before I could ask what was wrong, I felt the smallest pressure where his hands were touching me—like he was worried I was about to disappear—and I knew.

“I’ll be here in the morning,” I assured him.

He nodded once, and his face instantly relaxed as he settled in against the pillow. “Good night, Moon,” he whispered, and I hid my smile against his chest.

“Good night, Liam Taylor.”

10

July 17

Liam

“YOUR MOM’S MAD at you.”

I looked over to where my dad had just sat down in the sand, and set down my board before sitting next to him. “Mad? Why?”

“Jesus, Harper isn’t the only one who is mad. Your aunt Bree wouldn’t let me get ready or leave the house this morning without lecturing me the entire time about you,” Uncle Konrad added as soon as he was sitting on my other side.

“Doesn’t surprise me,” Dad groaned, and lay back. “The two have been on the phone every time I’ve come home from the gym this week.”

“Well, are you going to tell me why they’re mad?”

Dad looked over at me with his eyebrows up high. “Seriously? You have no clue? You’ve been with Kennedy for how long now?”

I shook my head slowly as I tried to figure it out. “I don’t know . . . a month? We’re not really together. Kennedy’s afraid of commitment. She says she doesn’t believe in it, but I don’t buy that and I can’t figure out why she’s scared of it.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Uncle Konrad mumbled, and Dad nodded in agreement.

“Yep, doesn’t matter. The girls see it as a relationship, and they’re mad that you haven’t brought her by the house to meet them.”

“What do you mean? Mom sees her almost every day because she brings you lunch at the gym. And I have no doubt that Aunt Bree has been stopping by so she can spy on Kennedy.” I turned to look at Uncle Konrad, and found him smiling. “Figures.”

“Still doesn’t matter. Your mom wants you to bring her by for dinner or lunch or something to formally meet her as your girlfriend—or some shit like that.”

“Dad, Kennedy would take off running if I introduced her to my family as that. Shit, any girl would probably take off running after trying to introduce her to my family after only a month. But you should have seen her when I let the word ‘girlfriend’ slip to one of my friends—she completely froze and wouldn’t say anything the rest of the night. A family dinner is not going to happen.”

“Then invite both her and her sister, act like it’s nothing special or uncommon for us to have people over for dinner.”

“It’s not,” I reminded him. “But you don’t invite the employees from the gym over. Whatever I come up with, she’s going to see right through it. She’ll know what it really is.”

“I’m sure you’ll figure out a way.” Dad sent me an amused smile, like he knew exactly how difficult it was going to be. “Have fun with that.”

“And don’t be surprised when we show up and Bree starts interrogating her.”