Liam's Witness Protection (Man on a Mission 4)

But he seemed to read her mind, because his hand stopped reaching for his gun and cupped her cheek instead. “Tell me, Cate. Tell me what you need.”

At first she couldn’t get the words out, then she managed, “You. I need you.”

Chapter 14

Cate could never remember exactly how they ended up back in the double bed, but somehow they did. And Liam was touching her as he’d done last night, with lips and hands that made her ache and want something just beyond her grasp. But this time she wanted more. She just didn’t know how to ask.

She was also afraid. Afraid that when it came down to it, she’d panic as she’d done this morning when she’d woken in Liam’s arms. She didn’t want to do that to him, but she didn’t know how to prevent it. And the fear made her stiffen against him. Only a tiny movement, but she knew he could feel it.

Again he seemed to read her mind. “Hey,” he said as his hands touched hers. “Your hands are cold, sweetheart. Let me warm them up.” And he drew them up underneath his T-shirt, pressing them against his chest. Letting the furnace of his body drive the chill from hers. After a moment she daringly slid one hand around beneath his arm and caressed his back, which was even more searingly warm than his chest. Then she hid her face against his shoulder.

“Hey,” he said again. “You don’t need to be shy with me. It’s just me, Cate. You know I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do.”

“That’s just it,” she said in a small voice. “I want you to...but I... I don’t know how to tell you what I...and I’m afraid.”

He cuddled her close. “Afraid of me?” The way he said it indicated there was absolutely no reason for her to be afraid of him...and she believed it.

She shook her head. “Afraid of me. Afraid I’ll remember...and panic.” Her face contracted in fear she wouldn’t be able to go through with it. Fear she would hurt him if that happened. And she’d rather do anything except hurt Liam.

* * *

Liam marveled that he hadn’t thought of it before. He laid back against the pillows and murmured, “Make love to me, Cate.”

“What?” She gave him one startled look, then glanced away.

“You want me...that way. I know you do. You said it yourself, so you know it, too...in your heart. But the only way to get past what he did to you is to let you be in control of your body. All the way. To let you be in control of my body. To take whatever you want, however you want it. However little or however much.”

He tore off his T-shirt and stripped away his boxer shorts, letting her see him completely naked for the first time. Letting her see his arousal. “This is what you do to me, Cate,” he told her gently. “But this is a good thing...when a man loves a woman the way I love you. I want you to know it in your head. I want you to believe it in your heart. I want you to feel it in your bones there’s no reason to panic. No need to be afraid. I love you. And I’ll never force you in any way. Never take anything you don’t willingly give. That’s why I want you to make love to me. To prove it to yourself. You can do whatever you want to me, for however long you want. But the minute you stop, we stop.”

She hesitated. “How can you know...” Color suffused her face. “What if I can’t go through with it? What if I can only go so far, without remembering...”

“Because I love you. That’s how I know.” His voice was husky with repressed desire. “I want to be inside you, Cate. I want to feel you tight around me, and I want to be so deep it’s as if we’re one—as if we’ve never been apart. I want to breathe in unison with you, sharing those little tremors of desire. Then I want to move inside you until we both can’t bear it, until the pleasure is so great we both explode.” Her shiver of awareness told him his words affected her powerfully, and he knew she did want him nearly as much as he wanted her.

“But I swear to you, I’ll stop the instant you say stop. Because no matter how much I want you, I want something else more. I want you to trust me in every fiber of your being. I want you to know you’re safe with me...in every way. Because I love you.”

Say it, he begged her in his mind. Say the words I know you want to say. The words I need to hear.

She touched his face tentatively, then his lips. As if her fingers were able to distinguish truth from lies merely by touch. “I love you, Cate,” he whispered, brushing a kiss against her fingers. “Let me prove it to you. Trust me. Trust me this once, and I swear you’ll never regret it.”