“After you move to the couch. It’s been a long day, and you’re still injured. I don’t want us both to end up sitting on the damn kitchen floor with you curled around this fucking bottle.”
Liam took a step around the counter so that it no longer separated them. He towered over Seth, and the bodyguard struggled to keep his brain from shutting down completely. His libido was demanding that they submit to this beautiful, powerful creature. Blood rushed to his dick. It was now straining against the front of his jeans like the fucker was reaching for Liam.
Leaning forward, his lips right next to Seth’s ear, Liam drew in a deep breath, scenting him. As if he could smell the desire rolling off him in thick waves to perfume the air. “I thought you liked it more when I was the one in control.”
“Liam…” He tried to make that single word come out as a warning, but his voice broke and came out in a breathy whisper.
“I could bend you over the couch right now, and you’d beg for my cock the same way you begged in the hotel. I could bend you over the counter. Push you to your knees and you’d suck my dick right here in the kitchen. And you’d love every second of it. Beg me for more.” Liam’s low voice was insidious, sliding over Seth’s entire trembling body. Every part of him was oversensitive and screaming for Liam’s touch. Demanding that Seth submit to every filthy thought crossing his brain.
And he wanted it. He couldn’t remember wanting anything so damn bad before.
But there was a little part of his brain clinging to the rationale that they couldn’t do that. Couldn’t fuck again. Couldn’t wallow in the pleasure they found in each other’s bodies.
Seth licked his lips, and he could feel Liam’s eyes lock on to that motion like he’d waved a red cape in front of an enraged bull.
“We can’t,” Seth said, hating the shakiness of his words. “We’d regret it tomorrow.”
“I don’t regret our night at the hotel.”
Seth closed his eyes, but he could still feel Liam staring at him. His lips tingled, and it was a struggle to not run his teeth across his lower lip. “That was different. We thought we’d never see each other again. It was just sex.”
“So’s this.”
Seth shook his head. “You’re hurting. And I…I don’t have anything to offer you.”
Liam didn’t make a sound as he moved, but Seth could feel that he was closer. The heat of his body. The lingering scent of dirt and flowers that danced around him at all times. His warm breath brushed across Seth’s lips, and Seth barely held back the whimper that rose in his throat.
“I think you’re selling yourself short,” Liam whispered.
Seth nearly broke trying to hold his body perfectly still. The moment stretched for what felt like an eternity, but Liam moved past Seth, his arm brushing against Seth’s shoulder as he headed for the bedroom.
Only when he heard the door close did Seth open his eyes and release the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. His entire body was on fire, but it was Liam’s parting shot that left him wanting to storm into the bedroom and pin that sexy man to his mattress.
Holy shit, this is going to be a long job!
Chapter Seven
“Seth, did you move that bag of soil we were using for the peace lilies?”
Seth closed his eyes and counted to three before he called back. “I closed up the bag and put it under the worktable. You said you were going to work on some floral arrangements next.” He tried to keep his tone from becoming snide, but he was pretty sure he failed.
Liam didn’t answer, but he returned to banging around in the storeroom a little louder than usual. Seth finished dusting the vases at the front of the shop.
This had easily been the best and worst week of his life.
Liam was amazing. He was smart, funny, and so damn thoughtful. Seth had never believed discussing what to have for dinner each night could be an enjoyable experience, but Liam could make it fun. In the evenings, they’d sat at opposite ends of the couch and had long talks about everything under the sun from childhood misadventures to lifelong dreams to what shows they were currently binging in their free time.
But between all the good moments, they were endlessly snapping at each other, and there was zero question as to why.
They were both horny as fuck.
And well, also worried about Gerald and the loan shark, but that seemed to pale in comparison to the constant simmering desire between them.
They couldn’t be in the kitchen at the same time and risk brushing against each other. They couldn’t work together in the back without things deteriorating into yet another argument.
But confrontation was not Liam’s style. A short time after each one, Liam would come looking for him, apologizing when there really was no need. The enforced closeness was driving them both insane.
Seth knew he couldn’t make do with his hand in the shower much longer. It wasn’t cutting it. Not when he knew exactly what he was denying himself.
Rowe had called twice in the past week, offering him relief in the form of a temporary replacement bodyguard for Liam. Common sense said that a break, a little breathing room, would do them both good. But Seth couldn’t make himself take Rowe up on the offer. He trusted every guy he worked with to protect Liam with their life, but there was no way he’d be able to rest if he couldn’t see Liam with his own eyes.
He was so fucked, and it wasn’t even the good kind of fucked.
“Seth,” Liam called again, but his voice sounded a little closer this time. Seth turned to find him just past the open doorway to the back room. Liam was flushed and glaring at the floor. “Could you…could you come help me move some pottery?”
“Sure,” Seth easily replied.
Liam was mostly healed from his attack. The bruises were largely gone from his face, though there was some darkness around one eye. Unfortunately, his ribs were still tender, forcing him to rely on Seth for heavier things. His injured pride combined with the growing strain between them was only making the big man testier.
Seth dropped the duster he was using behind the counter as he walked to the storeroom. He got on the other side of the enormous pot Liam indicated, and they very carefully carried it across the open space. The thing was gorgeous with its swirls of colors. It would look amazing on someone’s patio with maybe a type of palm tree inside of it.
A smile curled on Seth’s lips as he caught the thought. Before Liam, he’d never given a second thought to plants. He appreciated them, but that was about the extent of it.
“I’m sorry,” Liam murmured.
“Don’t.”
“But—”
Seth shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans to keep from reaching for Liam. He wanted to put a comforting hand on the man’s shoulder, to grab his wrist and reassure him that everything was okay, but he didn’t trust himself. “We’re spending almost as much time apologizing as we are snapping at each other. I know you don’t mean it. You know I don’t. We’re both stressed. We were sure we’d have this settled already.”
“That’s not the only thing,” Liam said.
Seth met Liam’s gaze and immediately regretted it when he clearly saw the desire burning there. Clearing his throat, Seth dropped his eyes to the floor. “Yeah. I know.” He took a deep breath and released it, but his voice didn’t sound any steadier when he continued. “Let’s get this loan shark thing settled. Then…you know…we’ll be thinking more clearly.”