Chapter 238: Hold

Sophie went to bed early.

The leg had been loud all afternoon. She said goodnight without drama, took the stick down the short hall, and closed her door.

The blue house settled around the sound of the sea and the soft click of that latch. Sarah stood in the kitchen with a cloth in her hands and did not pretend she was still busy.

"She’s out," she said.

Liam waited by the table. He had come to return a cup and stayed because leaving would have been the easier lie.

Sarah set the cloth down, wiped her palms on her skirt, and looked at him the way she had on the terrace the night beforetoo long, then almost not at all.

"The few days are nearly done," she said.

"I know."

"I told myself I was only being practical. A room. Extra plates. Letting Sophie decide if she could stand the sight of you." She exhaled. "I wasn’t only being practical."

He didn’t move toward her. "Sarah."

"Don’t." She shook her head once. "If you talk carefully at me I will talk carefully back, and then you will leave, and I will wash cups and pretend this was only guilt on both sides."

She crossed the small kitchen and stopped in front of him. Close enough that he could smell detergent and skin and the faint salt that lived in everything near the coast.

Her eyes were tired and clear. Up close the years showed in the fine lines at the corners of them, in the set of her mouth and none of it made her less.

"I’m not a girl," she said. "I don’t need soft lies. If this is only pity, walk out now."

"It isn’t."She kissed him.

It wasn’t careful. It was the end of holding still mouth firm, hands fisting in his shirt, a sound in her throat when he answered and pulled her in. She tasted like tea and heat.

When they broke apart her breath was uneven and her forehead rested against his for a second as if she needed the pause to stay standing.

"Your room," she said. "Not here. If Sophie wakes"

"I know."

They left the blue house without turning on more lights. The lane was dark. A cat slipped along the wall and vanished.

Madame Rossi’s window was shut. Inside his narrow room Sarah closed the door with her back against it and looked at him like she was still deciding, even with her mouth still wet from his.

The key was still in his hand. He set it on the table without looking away from her.Then she crossed the space and kissed him again.

This time he met her halfway. One hand at her waist, the other at the back of her neck, angling her mouth so the kiss went deeper.

Sarah made a low sound and pressed closer, full breasts against his chest, fingers sliding into his hair.

The careful woman from the kitchen was still there he could feel her in the slight tremor of her hands but she was done pretending she only wanted talk.

He walked her back toward the bed without breaking the kiss. When the edge of the mattress met her legs she sat, then pulled him down with her.

The narrow bed took their weight with a soft complaint. Liam braced over her and kissed along her jaw, down the side of her throat, lingering where her pulse beat against his lips. Her breath caught.

Her hands moved over his shoulders, down his back, as if mapping something she had not allowed herself to reach for until now.

"Still all right?" he asked against her skin.

"Yes." Softer. "Don’t stop to ask again unless I say."

He found the buttons of her blouse and opened them slowly. One. Two. The fabric fell aside. Beneath it she wore a simple bra, pale against her skin.

He kissed the soft upper curve of each breast, then the valley between, before reaching under her to unfasten the clasp.

When he drew the bra away her breasts spilled free full, heavy, nipples already tight in the cool air of the room. He looked at her for a second too long. Sarah’s flush deepened, but she did not cover herself.

"You’re staring."

"You’re worth staring at."

He closed his mouth over one nipple and sucked. Sarah arched with a quiet, startled moan, fingers tightening in his hair.

He took his time licking, sucking, the faint scrape of teeth that made her hips shift under him then gave the other breast the same slow attention until she was breathing unsteadily and the sounds leaving her throat had lost their careful edges.

He cupped the weight of her, brushed his thumb over the wet peak he had just left, and listened to the way her breath broke when he did it again.

Only then did he move lower.

He kissed down her stomach, the soft skin there, the faint lines that work and a daughter and years of carrying both had left behind.

Her skirt bunched under his hands as he pushed it up. She lifted her hips so he could draw her underwear down and off.

When he looked up she was watching him, lips parted, eyes dark, one arm thrown over her head against the pillow.

He kissed the inside of one thigh, then the other. She trembled. When he dragged his tongue through her folds in one long, patient stroke, her whole body jerked and a broken sound filled the small room.

She was already wet. He held her hips steady and licked her slowly, thoroughly, focusing on her clit with steady pressure while she tried and failed to keep quiet.

The taste of her, the heat, the way her thighs tensed against his shoulders — he did not rush any of it.

"Liam"

He slid two fingers into her while his tongue kept working. She was tight and hot, clenching around him in small pulses.

He curled his fingers and rubbed until he found the place that made her thighs tense and her breathing fracture. Sarah’s hands gripped the sheet, then his hair.

When she came it was with a shaky, muffled cry, cunt fluttering around his fingers, hips lifting off the bed as the tremor ran through her from the core outward.

He worked her through it until the shaking eased, then kissed her thigh and rose up over her.

Sarah looked wrecked already flushed, eyes glassy, blouse open, skirt pushed up around her waist. Her breasts rose and fell with uneven breath.

Liam stripped off his shirt, then the rest, and settled between her thighs.

He rubbed the head of his cock through her soaked folds, coating himself, giving her a moment to feel the heat and size of him there.

She looked down between them, then back at his face. Yes," she whispered.

He pushed into her slowly.

Inch by inch, feeling her stretch around him, the tight heat taking him in, until he was buried to the hilt.

Sarah’s mouth opened on a silent sound. Her hands clutched his shoulders. He held still, forehead against hers, the heat of her clenched tight around him, neither of them moving yet.

Outside, the lane was quiet.Inside, the night had only started.And neither of them was finished.