Chapter 7: Liam

The sound of Eve moaning woke me from an already fitful sleep. Was she having sex with Derrick? The thought set my nerves on edge. Or was she simply haunting my dreams again? I lay perfectly still, listening. The cabin was silent. I glanced at the digital clock on the bedside table—3:37 a.m. Releasing a pent-up breath, I flung the covers off and got out of bed. I needed some air. Tugging on my shorts and a T-shirt, I quietly slipped outside and walked the short distance to the beach. I sat, knees bent, and stared out at the lake. It was calm, not a wave in sight. Around me, lightning bugs flashed, crickets chirped, and somewhere in the distance, a frog croaked. I’d always enjoyed staying here. The sounds of nature were a welcomed change from the bustle of the city.

My mind replayed the events of last night. Every touch and kiss. Every moan and cry for more. God, Eve had felt a million times better than I ever could have imagined. What little I’d had of her was amazing, but it wasn’t enough. It was just a taste, a tease. It was like offering a starving man on the verge of death a breadcrumb and expecting it to sate him. And I was far from sated. I was fucking ravenous. I wanted her even more now than I had before I’d arrived.

“What’re you doing out here so early?” Eve’s soft voice caressed my senses. She sat beside me, close enough for our shoulders to touch.

“I could ask you the same thing,” I said, gently nudging her. “I thought for sure you’d be sound asleep.”

“I slept for a little while.” She shrugged. “I just have a lot on my mind.”

That didn’t surprise me. I knew she’d been struggling with what had happened. She’d liked it—I had no doubts about that—but I knew her well enough to know she was having trouble sorting all the emotions she was feeling. When she and Derrick had first gotten together, and I’d brought up the idea of sharing her—after he’d gone almost a year with no invitation—he’d told me she was the most monogamous person he’d ever known and that she didn’t believe in sex without emotion. And that meant only one thing: She had some sort of feelings for me. I didn’t know what those were or how deep they ran, but they were there.

“You thanked me,” she said suddenly, turning to look at me.

“Yes, I did.” I nodded, resting my arms on my knees.

“Do you always thank women after sex?”

I laughed. “No.”

“Oh.” She turned her gaze back to the lake.

I could hear the questions tumbling around in her mind. Would she ask them, though? I didn’t know how much Derrick had told her about our past, and the last thing I wanted to do was betray his trust, but I also didn’t want to shut Eve out, either. She deserved to know what she was getting herself into.

“Then why did you thank me?”

“Because you gave me something you haven’t given anyone else, and it meant a lot to me.” More than she’d ever know. More than I could ever tell her. My throat constricted.

“I’ve done anal before.”

My lips twitched into a smile. “That’s not what I’m talking about.” Her naivety was incredibly adorable and sexy as hell. “You shared yourself with me, Eve. You gave me something that rightfully belongs to your husband.”

She hugged her knees to her chest and rested her head on her arms. “I liked it,” she whispered, her soft voice carrying on the breeze. “A lot. What does that say about me? Am I horrible wife for enjoying letting another man touch me?”

The pain and uncertainty in her voice was like a knife to my chest. “No, Eve,” I said a little too forcefully. “Like I told you earlier, there is no reason to be embarrassed or ashamed. There’s nothing wrong with what we did, or with the fact that you enjoyed it.”

“Maybe.”

“Does it make Derrick a bad husband for getting off on sharing you?”

She stared at me, eyes wide. “No, of course not. He said he did it because he thought I’d like it.”

“And you did,” I reminded her.

“I did.” She sighed. “He said all he wants is for me to be happy, and that giving me that kind of pleasure is what makes him happy.”

I nodded but didn’t say anything, knowing she needed to work through this on her own. It wasn’t unusual for people outside of this life to have trouble understanding why we did what we did. They couldn’t understand that for people like me, giving a woman the ultimate pleasure, that worshipping her body, learning what turned her on, pushing her to her limits was what got me off. But it had never been about me. It was always about her, meeting her needs, giving her what she craved.

“So, I know why Derrick did this. And I know why I did it. But why did you do it, Liam?” She stared at me with those sparkling baby blues, and I had a sudden urge to spill my deepest, darkest secrets to her, to bare my soul in a way I’d never done before.

“Why do I share women?” I asked, stalling.

“No. Why did you share me?” The blanket she’d draped around her shoulders started to slip, and she pulled it tighter around her.

How did I answer that without telling her how I truly felt?

“I mean, other than an orgasm, what did you get out of this? Isn’t there a woman out there you’d rather be with? Someone you can settle down with?”

“No.” I cleared my throat. “There’s no other woman in my life.” And there hadn’t been, not seriously anyway, in the past five years. I’d been waiting for Eve, for the day when I’d be invited into her life, her bed. Her heart. I was fucking pathetic.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“I did it because I like you, Eve. I always have. You’re smart and gorgeous and funny, and I wanted to be with you.” I needed to shut the hell up before I poured my heart out to her, before I told her I loved her, that I’d loved her for years. “Now it’s your turn,” I said. “Why did you do it?”

“Because I wanted to.”

I laughed. “That’s not a reason.”

She graced me with a breathtaking smile, and my heart raced. “I don’t think it’s a secret any longer that I’m attracted to you.” Her face flushed, and she looked away.

I gently clutched her chin and turned her face back to mine. “And?” I let my hand slide down to rest along the back of her neck, my fingers tangling in her hair.

“And…” She swallowed. “I wanted to know what it would be like to be with you. To have you touch me and kiss me. I’ve fantasized about it. About you,” she whispered.

My heart lodged in my throat, and my cock thickened. She’d fantasized about me? Fuck. I hadn’t expected that. A spark of hope ignited in my chest, creating a slow burn that scorched everything in me. Was there a possibility for something more than just last night? Is that what Derrick wanted, too?

“When Derrick first brought up the idea, I laughed it off, but then I couldn’t stop thinking about it. And when you showed up…” She shook her head. “I knew I wasn’t going to say no.”

“I’m really fucking glad you didn’t.” The words were rushed on an exhale. I pulled her to me, my mouth slanting over hers, my tongue parting her lips, teasing and tasting. I knew I shouldn’t be kissing her like this, not without Derrick present, not now that I knew she’d been thinking about me the same way I’d thought about her. Because this wasn’t a kiss meant to lead to more, it wasn’t me playing some role to loosen her up and get her ready. It was a possession. It was laying claim to something I had no right to want or have.

But she wasn’t stopping me.

She pressed closer, moaning into my mouth, whimpering for more as her fingers curled in my hair, her nails scraping across my scalp in the most erotic way. “Eve,” I gasped, forcing myself to tear free from her decadent lips.

Her chest heaved with her labored breaths, and her eyes were a hazy, lust-filled shade of blue. “Derrick never kisses me like that,” she said, as if she needed to explain her reaction to me.

“And that’s exactly why this works.” I caressed her cheek with the back of my hand. “I can give you things he can’t. He can give you things I can’t. Together, we’re a total package, able to give you everything you desire, able to fulfill your darkest fantasies.” My heart thundered in my ears. Was I really sitting here trying to convince her to be in a relationship with both of us when I didn’t know that’s what Derrick wanted? For all I knew, this was just another fun weekend of sex for him. Maybe he expected me to leave and not come back.

“Are you staying the rest of the weekend?” she asked.

“Do you want me to?”

“Being Fourth of July, there’s a lot going on. There’s a carnival in town and fireworks over the lake. We’re having some friends over on Sunday for a barbeque. Derrick mentioned taking—”

“Eve,” I cut her off. “I didn’t ask for a schedule of events. I asked if you wanted me to stay.”

She hesitated, her bottom lip tucked between her teeth.

“I have no expectations, if that’s what you’re worried about.” I hoped to hell she’d let me touch her again, but I knew getting her to say she wanted me to stay wasn’t an open invitation to her bed.

“I want you to stay.”

I momentarily closed my eyes and blew out a breath. Okay, that was a step in the right direction. “Then I’ll stay.” I smiled.

She rested her head on my shoulder, and I placed a kiss to the top of her head, letting her previous admission sink into my mind. I knew Derrick wasn’t a big kisser, never had been, but didn’t he realize how starved his wife was for a simple kiss? Not that I was complaining about being the guy to give her that type of affection, but I also couldn’t be the guy who wedged himself into their marriage. Like it or not, I was going to have to have a long talk with Derrick about what he wanted from this situation. I probably should’ve done that before I agreed to come here, but I’d been blinded by my need to have Eve.

I put my arm around her shoulders and tucked her closer to my side. “So, now that you’ve done it and had time to think about it, would you do it again?” I trailed my fingers down her arm.

“Do what? Let Derrick share me?” She snuggled closer and draped her arm across my stomach, her hand sliding up the front of my shirt.

And just like that, with one simple touch, my cock was hard enough to pound nails. “Yeah.”

“No.”

My body tensed, and I clenched my jaw. She’d enjoyed it but wouldn’t do it again? What kind of fucked up logic was that?

“I mean, I’d do it again with you, but I would kill Derrick if he tried to invite anyone else into our bed.”

“I’d fucking kill him, too,” I grumbled. Yeah, I was definitely going to have a talk with Derrick. He needed to know where I stood in this situation and what I wanted. And hopefully, we were both on the same page, because walking away now would kill me.