Page 43 of Captivated By You
“She was at some college party her freshman year. Went out with some friends, got ditched, found a guy.” The plastic bottle in his hands cracked from his tight grip. “He found a few more friends and they hauled her off to one of their apartments.”
“No.” My fingers covered my mouth.
His jaw clenched and he stared at the ocean, turning his head. The bottle in his hands, forgotten, became crushed plastic. Water dribbled down his hands onto the deck but he didn’t notice. I couldn’t take my eyes off him, the muscles popping from his anger so many years later.
“Short story, she called me, told me where she was and I got her help, took her to the police station and then I went back. Fuckers were sitting around, drinking more beer, higher than a kite.” His gaze snapped to mine. All the fury rolling through him, this could have happened yesterday not over a decade ago. “I’d kill them still if I could. Instead I beat the shit out of them, all of them, until the neighbors heard the noises and called the cops.”
“And you were arrested.”
“Got off because what man wouldn’t do the same damn thing for his sister, or mother, or daughter? Judge gave me a warning and community service and when I hit eighteen, the record was supposed to be expunged.”
“What happened to Sophie?”
“Trial. They were guilty. They’re also fucking out now and this is the first time all of it’s surfaced since I hit it big. But with the rape accusation last year…”
His voice drifted. Had I had any doubt before on the kind of man he was, he would have evaporated it with his vengeance on the innocent and abused. There was no way, this man, who would defend his sister so viciously against her attackers would ever turn around and become them. “Never expected her, never fucking wanted her to, but if this could have come out, if she could have said something earlier, it could have changed shit for me. But I’d do anything to protect her, and now, it’s coming. I can fucking feel it snowballing out of my hands or Anne’s.”
“I’m sorry.”
His jaw snapped shut. “Spent all day talking to her, warning her. Every time this shit gets brought up it’s hard for her. She spent years in therapy, moved on, but it’s always there. She knows it, I know it, her husband fucking deals with it every day and he’s protective of her. My arrest being leaked will only lead to the reason why and the snowball…” He shook his head and pushed off the chair. Moving to the railing, he gripped it in his hands like he wanted to tear it from the bolts.
Who could blame him? I wanted to do it, too. “Kevin’s pissed off. She’s scared. And I’m fucking helpless to do anything to stop it.”
I went to him and wrapped my hands around his stomach before thinking of what I was doing. He was just a man who needed comfort. My cheek pressed against his shoulder blade and I held him tightly. He was so large, my hands barely reached the front, and every muscle in his body was coiled to exploding and popping levels.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered against him. His back was hard as steel, hot and I could feel his blood pumping beneath my cheek. “I’m sorry it happened to her, to you. I’m so sorry. You’re a good man, Liam Allistor.”
He made a choking sound, shook his head, but was otherwise silent.
I held him until the sun set, until the light from his bedroom was the only thing illuminating our figures. I held him until his shoulders finally drooped, his limbs relaxed and he covered my hands with one of his at his stomach.
It was that touch, the beautiful, soft and tender touch that made me close my eyes. I moved my head, kissing away the tension in his spine, his shoulder blades. The expanse of his back. Once I started I couldn’t be pulled away from him. He tasted like body wash and sweat from stress. He tasted like real good, honest hardworking man who fought for what was his and earned the right to call it so.
Not like so many men I knew who made their success with backdoor, hidden deals and conniving.
Liam Allistor was unlike any other man I’d ever known and I ached with wanting to show him how much that meant to me.
In every way.
My kisses continued until his breath left him in short, little pants that showed his pleasure. Beneath my lips, his skin warmed. Goose bumps popped where my fingers brushed his lower abdomen, above his waistband and we stayed there in the silence, my coming to him. Comforting him.
Hiding so much of me, I still wanted to give him all I could.
“Liam,” I whispered, my hand moving south of his waistband.
“Don’t.” He stopped me with his palm before I reached him. “Not tonight. Too fucking strung tight and pissed to be gentle with you.” I went to yank my hand away. Rejection stung, even if I understood. The thought of him being anything but gentle though sent a quiver of excitement I couldn’t resist thinking about. “But I want you to stay with me tonight. Next to me. Let me hold you.”
“Of course.” He was paying me. I’d do anything. But in that moment, it wasn’t about the payment. It was about a man needing comfort, asking for it unashamedly. Like everything else I would give to him, that was something he didn’t need to ask for. “Of course I’ll stay with you.”
