“You’re welcome,” he said.
Natalie closed her eyes briefly in defeat. She really had irreparably insulted him by asking him to take this job.
Why had he accepted it, then?
“Well, I’ll see you,” she said awkwardly.
“Have a good night.”
Liam’s deep, rumbling voice seemed to vibrate in her mind as she hurried around the corner of the house. She felt such a bewildering mixture of emotion that her chest ached with it. Was she really surprised he’d turned distant? She was the one who had hired him to relive old, painful memories. Surely she couldn’t expect him to adore her for that.
Still, it hurt, his abrupt coldness there at the end. Her heart leaped, making her catch her breath when she heard Liam call out to her.
“Yes?” she asked, turning around.
She stood next to her car, the tension in her building by the second as she watched Liam walk toward her. It was a little like watching that storm rush the beach a while ago. His face was impassive but his eyes looked every bit as wild as a summer tempest.
He reached for her.
“Liam?” she asked, bewilderment and wonder mixing in equal measure in her query. He leaned down over her so close that she inhaled the intoxicating scent of clean male skin and spicy aftershave. How could his lips look so hard and determined and yet so sensual at once?
“Just one more thing before you go,” he said, his voice husky.
He leaned down and seized her mouth in a kiss. Natalie swayed on her feet, knocked off guard by the heat and power of Liam Kavanaugh striking her in a flood of sensation.
After a few seconds, desire burned away Natalie’s shock. He caught her against his body.
And she was swept away by the storm.
Chapter Four
He’d approached her like a conqueror, his mouth firm and very persuasive. But as soon as he felt her melt against him, he gentled, as if he were apologetic for the onslaught on her senses. He used his lips like a blind man uses his fingertips to know his world, discovering the shape and texture of her mouth through his sense of touch. He sipped, he nibbled; he sucked at his leisure. His mouth slanted unevenly over hers, sandwiching and caressing first her upper and then lower lip. She shivered uncontrollably when he bit with exquisite care and dragged his white teeth over the sensitive skin of her lower lip.
He took advantage when her lips parted with a sigh and entered her neatly, his tongue searching, seeking, stroking. She found herself responding in kind, stroking him back tentatively at first…then not so tentatively.
The kiss turned hot and wild, like a spark igniting in a forest of dry timber.
Liam shifted his hips, pressing her bottom against the trunk of her car. A wave of heat flooded her body, making her dizzy. He continued to kiss her as if his existence depended on it. Maybe it was that imperative, because if he stopped, Natalie wondered if she’d be able to draw breath from the unpleasant shock.
His hands swept down her body, skimming her ribs and the sides of her breasts before they encircled her waist and finally settled on her hips. He hooked his fingers into the belt loops of her jean shorts and tugged. Their bodies slid against each other as he gave a low, vibrating groan, and Natalie thought she knew why. He’d just cradled his hardness against her softness. It’d been like he’d shifted them into a perfect template…a divine fit.
Natalie touched his shoulders as their tongues dueled. Excitement surged through her when she felt how tense he became in response to her caress, how he pulled her gently, but also almost desperately against the hard angles of his body.
She felt strange—as if she’d been plunged into the middle of a carnal dream. The sun broke through the clouds and warmed her skin, but Natalie hardly noticed when Liam heated her so effortlessly. A tingling, hot feeling of excitement curled in her lower belly. Her rational nature and tight control receded into a misty background under the influence of Liam’s hands and mouth. She tangled her fingers in the hair at his nape and then explored the bare skin and corded muscles of his neck.
It thrilled her to feel a shudder run through him at her touch.
Amazing…awesome, even, that she could make such a strong man tremble with just a caress. He was having the same effect on her, causing her to quiver by spreading his big hands over her hips and rubbing her in a slight circular motion, increasing the already taut friction between their straining bodies.
She perfectly felt his arousal but she wasn’t offended. It all seemed so natural…so good, despite the newness of the sensation. She gloried in the knowledge that she could evoke such a strong response from him. A hazy fog of sensuality encapsulated her. For a brief, magical moment she knew only the taste of Liam, the feel of him…and the fierce need to experience more.
She was so overwhelmed by the power of Liam’s kiss, that it didn’t really penetrate her awareness that a car was approaching until Liam pulled away. She opened her eyelids sluggishly, feeling like there was a weight pressing down on them. His face hovered just a few inches above her own. He studied her through a narrow-eyed gaze, his eyes gleaming crescents.
She started when a car door slammed just feet away. A sound of distress leaked out of her throat when she saw Brigit Kavanaugh, Liam’s mother, hesitating by her dark blue sedan.
“Liam?” Brigit asked uncertainly.
“Ye