His words wove a seductive cocoon around them, making her feel safe. Relaxed. Aroused. “Years?”
“Tell her, Liam. The truth now.”
Liam glared at the hand Stax had on her thigh, but still held himself in check. “Tell her what? That I wanted her in my bed the first night we met? That I live for the moments I’m with her? That I wake up hard every morning and use her shower just so I can jerk off to the smell of her damn shampoo?”
Dani watched his eyes close as if he were in pain. “Should I tell her that letting her go that morning because she was scared, and that night in the kitchen because she’d had too much to drink, were the hardest things I can remember doing in my life?”
“Liam?” Her heart was racing. She hadn’t known.
His smile was self-deprecating. “It was worth it, all of it, to be here with you now.”
She took a breath and let her towel drop to the bed, making his nostrils flare. “You’re perfect.”
“Yes, she is. And very brave,” Stax praised seductively.
Dani shuddered but didn’t move away when the handsome man lowered his head, brushing his lips and tongue along the top of her thigh.
Liam growled. “My permission, Stax. Remember?”
“Your confession made her smell too good. I couldn’t resist a taste.”
“Me first.” Dani’s heart lodged in her throat at Liam’s possessive response.
Stax lifted himself away from her, taking her towel and tossing it on the floor behind him. “Tell us the truth, Dani. Who is the man you most desire? If you had to choose, who—”
“Liam.” No question. No hesitation.
Liam sounded shaken. “Say it again.”
“How can you doubt it when everyone else sees right through me?” She licked her lips nervously, the moment feeling too important to fumble. “I want you, Liam. I think I have for a while, but I didn’t know what to do with it. Didn’t trust it. You’re so wonderful. What would you want with me?”
Stax lifted a hand to caress her shoulder in approval, watching Liam for any sign of discomfort. When he didn’t find it, he touched her, sending a current of heat through her body, increasing her desire. “After all you’ve experienced, a passion that intense might scare someone else, but not you. Not anymore.”
“Not anymore,” she repeated. “Not with Liam.”
“You can tell him what you want from him now. What you need.”
When she hesitated, Liam leaned closer, cupping her bare knees with his palms. She shivered. “Whatever it is, I’ll give it to you. The world. Anything. You have to know that by now.”
Dani took a breath and the words came flowing out. “I’m not fragile. I was, but I’m not anymore. You don’t have to hold back with me.” She stopped for a moment, studying his hands on her skin, feeling his touch to her core. “I’d like you to give me everything he says you’ve saved up for me. Now, please.”
Liam jerked as if she’d sucker punched him, and she saw him send a suspicious glare to Stax, who shook his head. “This is all coming from her. I say you stop hesitating and give the lady what she’s asked for.”
Dani knew they were about to take a step they couldn’t turn back from, and not just because there was an extra person in the room. An extra person who was kissing her neck and making her feel warm and eager for what came next.
Stax was a mischievous troublemaker. It rolled off him in waves of playful heat. Alone, she would have run the other way and taken the safer path. But with Liam here, Stax was not a threat to her. Instead, he was the hottest, most unusual sex therapist on the planet. A guide, as he put it, sent to bring them pleasure. To bring them together.
Sex therapist? I like that. You are a joy, Dani.
Magic, she repeated to herself, hearing his voice in her head. Tonight, anything was possible.
“Take off those shorts.” Was that her voice Liam was reacting to, nearly ripping the fabric in his haste to obey? Yes. Yes, it was. She smiled in wicked delight and opened her arms.
It was like watching a dam burst. Liam’s expression of relief was so intense it sent an answering ache through her. He fell to his knees beside her on the bed, taking her mouth with a hunger that shook her, despite what they’d already done.
He devoured her.
She reached for the hand curved around her neck and dragged it down her body until he was cupping her breast.
Liam lifted his mouth and pressed his forehead against hers. “You know I can’t resist these.”
“You might have mentioned it,” she said breathlessly. “And then you came all over them, just to drive the point home.”
He smiled against her lips. “I want to make this last. Not for you, you understand. It’s a pride thing. I don’t want Stax showing me up under my own roof.”