“Oh, that’s easy, then.” I laugh. “I’d be on a tropical beach somewhere in the sun, listening to the waves and drinking some kind of fruity drink. I love New York, really I do—the museums and the libraries and the art galleries and everything there is to do, and I’m sure Boston has so much of that as well—but god, I hate the cold.” I shiver, laughing, and I see Liam’s smile broaden, his eyes watching me intently as if he loves listening to the sound of my voice. “I’d go on a tropical vacation in an instant, if I could pick up and go anywhere.”
“Then it’s decided.” Liam grins. “That’s what we’ll do for our honeymoon.”
My heart skips a beat in my chest, but I manage to keep my voice even, light and teasing, as I raise an eyebrow at him. “Oh? Are you proposing to me?”
Liam’s eyes darken just a little. “If I were, would you say yes?”
I can feel my pulse fluttering in my throat.Yes, I want to say, but I bite back the word, because I know he’ll take me at it. I could end up married tonight if I’m not careful—I wouldn’t put it past Liam to sweep me off to the nearest cathedral after dinner, his prior engagement be damned. And I’m not ready for that—not quite. Not yet.
“You don’t even have a ring,” I tell him teasingly, and Liam laughs, though I can hear a slight edge to it.
“Yes, I’ve been known to forget those.”
The server reappears with our food and another bottle of wine, and we both dig in. The food is incredible, some of the best I’ve ever tasted. I force myself to go slowly, cutting each bit of lamb into tiny, respectable bites instead of devouring it the way I want to. I want to seem elegant, like Saoirse, composed and poised.
“Did you put me in green tonight for a reason?” The question slips off my tongue before I can stop it, and Liam looks up, startled.
“I—”
“Did you want to see me dressed like her? A princess in Irish green?” I don’t mean to sound accusing, but I must feel it because the thought makes itself known that way. Liam sits back, and I can see his expression tighten, the mood darkening slightly. I feel bad instantly for saying it, but at the same time, I want to know.
“No,” Liam says calmly. “I suppose I can see how it might seem that way, but no. Ididlike the color of the dress, I won’t lie. I’m partial to that shade of green, I suppose. But there wasn’t any intention behind it. I simply thought it would look beautiful on you. And it does,” he adds. “You do look a bit like an Irish princess. But nothing like her. And I mean that in the best possible way.”
I let out the breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. “I’m sorry,” I say softly. “I didn’t mean to say it that way. I just—”
“It’s okay.” Liam shakes his head, taking another bite of his filet. “It’s not always going to be easy navigating this. I can understand how you might feel that way. But Ana—” He sets his fork down, looking at me squarely, and his hand slides up my thigh again, pushing the silk aside. “I don’t compare the two of you. But if I were to do so, it would always be you that I wanted, you that I found most beautiful.Youare the one I want, and there’s no one else.”
I wonder how many times he’ll say it before I can say it back in truth, before I can think of Alexandre without the slightest shiver down my spine or twist of desire in my stomach. Before the things that happened between us are just that—things that happened and not things that I miss.
We end up with a chocolate mousse topped with berries for dessert. Liam pulls my chair closer to his, dipping the silver teaspoon into the mousse and raising it to my lips as his hand finds its way higher up my thigh.
“I’ve thought about this before, when I’ve fantasized about you,” he murmurs softly in my ear. “Feeding you a luxurious dessert at a restaurant, my hand on your leg beneath the tablecloth, where someone might see, although they probably won’t. And even if they did,” he whispers huskily as he raises a raspberry to my mouth. “They wouldn’t dare say a word.”
My heart is hammering in my chest. His fingers are almost to my inner thigh. In another moment, he’ll discover the decision I made before leaving the apartment—one that I wasn’t sure about, but dared anyway.
His fingers slip higher as he pushes the raspberry between my lips, higher still as he takes a small bite of the mousse. Then I see his eyes widen as he makes the discovery, his fingers sliding against the soft, damp folds of my naked pussy beneath the silk dress.
“Naughty lass,” he murmurs, his tongue running over his lower lip to catch the bit of mousse clinging there, and I feel a fresh rush of desire between my thighs at the thought of that tongue between my legs, sliding over my clit, licking me to one of the fierce orgasms that Liam is so good at wrenching from me.
He feels the arousal, my flesh swelling and dampening, and he makes a noise low in his throat. “You did this on purpose, lass, just like those lace panties the night I spread you wide on the dining table.” His lips lean close to my ear as he raises another bite of the mousse to my lips. “As the leader of the Irish Kings, I own this city. I could put you on this table, here and now, just as I did in our dining room at home, and no one would say a word. No one would dare. I could toss your skirts aside, spread your pretty thighs, and make a dessert out of you in front of every patron here, and they’d all watch.”
I swallow hard, my clit suddenly throbbing, aching for his touch. “You wouldn’t,” I gasp softly, and Liam chuckles, his finger pressing between my folds as the teaspoon slips between my lips.
I taste chocolate at the same moment his fingertip grazes my clit, and I can’t help the moan that escapes me. I see someone at a nearby table looking at me out of the corner of their eye with surprise, as if they can’t believe the dessert is quitethatgood, and I feel myself flush.
“Ah yes, lass, blush just like that for me,” Liam murmurs. “No better way for them to know what I’m doing to you than that.” His fingertip strokes the slick, swollen flesh of my clit, and I shudder, gasping around the piece of strawberry that he slips into my mouth.
“I could make a show of it,” he murmurs. “Every man in here would envy me. Every woman would wish they were you, with the Irish King’s mouth between your thighs. Is that what you wanted, lass, when you came here with no panties on? For me to eat you out in front of this entire restaurant?”
“Oh god, no,” I whisper, flushing even brighter. Liam’s finger is circling my clit now, faster, and I can feel my arousal heightening, dripping, coating his fingers and my inner thighs. I squeeze my legs together around his hand, suddenly terrified I’ll leave a wet patch on my dress, and then everyone herewillknow for certain what we’ve been doing.
“What were you hoping for, then?” His fingers dip lower into my entrance just long enough to make me gasp and clench around him before he drags them back up to my aching clit, pinching it gently between thumb and forefinger, just as he takes another bite and then feeds me one, muffling my tiny cry of pleasure. “For me to make you come while I fed you dessert?”
“I, I just—I didn’t think, I—”
“We have the same fantasy,” he murmurs in my ear. “I want to make you come, right here for me, with my voice in your ear and the taste of chocolate in your mouth. Every time you taste it, for the rest of your life, you’ll remember this—this restaurant, and my fingers on your clit, making you come in front of everyone.” Another piece of fruit, the sweetness bursting on my tongue, the same way I feel as ifI’mabout to burst, my desire trembling on the edge, his fingers rubbing my clit again, harder this time.
“Is that what you want, lass? To come right now, right here, with everyone watching?”