Finally, she began to fall. Twisting and spinning as she gained more and more momentum. The ground was racing towards her too fast. Dimly, Talia realised, the best that she could hope for was that Liam would be there, at the bottom, to cushion her fall.
* * *
Liam felt her pull away from him, a startled sound on her lips.
Doing something like this in his new place of work should have been the most indecorous thing he’d ever done. Yet watching Talia—his Talia—crack and splinter beneath his touch was too raunchy for him to care about what was proper and what wasn’t.
It felt as though he’d been waiting a lifetime for this moment again. And now it was here, he didn’t want to let it go.
Talia, however, clearly had different plans.
He stood motionless as she put some distance between them, then adjusted her scrubs with shaky hands. When she stood up again, her eyes blazed at him.
‘What the hell was that about?’
‘Do I really need to explain it?’ he questioned dryly. ‘You’re a medical professional after all.’
She actually gritted her teeth at him, and it was all he could do not to smile at how adorable she looked.
‘I mean, was that your way of proving a point?’
‘A point?’
‘You thought I recommended you to my chief of staff to get you here, to St Victoria. Is this your way of proving that was true?’
‘I wasn’t actually setting out to prove anything,’ he replied evenly, though the dangerous fact remained that he hadn’t been able to think of anything at all. ‘All the same, it’s a little late to be acting so prudish, don’t you think?’
She glowered at him even harder.
‘No, I don’t think it’s too late at all.’
‘Really?’ he challenged. ‘When I only have to do this to taste you?’
And then, to ram the point home, he lifted his hand to his mouth and sucked on his fingers.
She made a half-gurgling sound, and her eyes widened all the more. Liam was grateful for her indignation. At least it meant she was too preoccupied to see how affected he was by what was happening between them. How badly he wanted to taste her on his tongue properly.
He really needed to get out of the office and take a moment to regroup.
‘I think it was,’ she whispered, at last.
Too quietly, for Liam’s peace of mind. Too controlled. He wanted to find safe ground before he lost what was left of his fragile self-control with Talia but the left and the right side of her brain didn’t appear to be on the same page.
‘Was what?’
‘A test,’ she said. ‘You wanted to get your revenge.’
‘Revenge for what?’ he bit out instantly.
‘You more or less accused me of leaving Duke’s—you—in the way that I did because I wanted to goad you into racing here to St Victoria, after me.’ Her voice shook, though he thought it was more out of shame than anger. ‘I think this is your way of getting revenge.’
‘I’m insulted that you would think so little of me,’ he ground out. ‘I might think any number of things about what happened three years ago, but what just happened was about primal lust. Revenge didn’t come into it for a second.’
However, he had no intention whatsoever of revealing what emotions had entered into his decision to blow up every career rule he’d ever had, and do that with Talia. Here. Now.
He could barely even think straight. He might have given Talia her release, but he had denied himself his own. Now his body was making it clear to him exactly how badly it wanted to claim her the way he knew they both wanted. However much they were each trying to deny it.
But these were base desires, and he refused to give in to them. He tried to focus on her words.