“What the hell was in those shots Andy gave us?” I ask. “They’ve made us all very—”
“Horny?” The roughness in his voice is crazy sexy.
“I was going to say ‘friendly.’ ”
Fingers trace over my back. Soft and electric. “Right. That’s what I’m feeling for you. Intense, throbbing friendship.”
“You’re making me dizzy.”
“There’s a treatment for that. Come home with me and I’ll show you what it is.” His voice is just as distracting as his touch. When he pulls me more firmly against him, I can feel the hardness in his crotch. It awakens a deep ache inside me. “I want to be alone with you, Liss. Naked. Right the fuck now, please.”
“I can’t leave yet. I just got here.”
Without meaning to, I run my hands down his arms, and revel in the flex of firm muscles as he continues to stroke my back. He makes a contented noise in his chest and closes his eyes.
“Put your arms around me,” he orders quietly. In a daze, I trail my hands up over his broad shoulders and clasp my hands behind his neck. “Good. Now, loosen up and dance with me.”
Loosening up when he’s pressing against me like this isn’t even a little bit possible. I glance down between us. “Judging from your current condition, you’re after more than just a dance.”
He keeps stroking my back. “Then we’ll start with dancing and see what happens.”
“Liam, where, exactly, do you see things going between you and me?”
He moves his hands from my back to my hips, and when his fingers tighten, goose bumps run up my spine. “Well, for starters, back to my place. More specifically, my bed. After that, I have no clue. Maybe the shower? The roof garden? That would be pretty spectacular.”
It really would. I close my eyes to banish the mental image of us naked, wrapped around each other beneath the stars. “Spectacular or not, you’re leaving on Monday.”
His confidence falters and his hands freeze. “Elissa—”
“You weren’t even going to tell me? I had to hear people gossiping about it backstage?”
He looks down and sighs. “Telling everyone else was easy. Telling you?” He looks into my eyes. “I couldn’t. Just thinking about leaving you . . .” He tightens his arms. “I don’t want to.”
“Liam . . .” I stroke his face and make him look at me. “Yes, I’m pissed I heard about it from someone else, but this is a once-in-a-lifetime deal. You have to go. If you want proof of fate, then here it is. What are the odds of a talent scout coming to your first show and begging you to let her make you a star? That only happens in movies.”
He gives me a wry smile. “You’re trying to cheer me up by talking about fate? A concept you don’t believe in?”
“Maybe I don’t, but you do.”
He cups the back of my head. Before I have time to figure out what’s going on, he leans forward, and oh-so-gently brushes his lips over mine. Every single molecule of oxygen in my lungs rushes out.
“Yes, I do believe in fate,” he says, still so close we’re sharing the same air. “And that’s why I’m so torn. My head is telling me to go, but my heart wants me to stay. With you.”
“But you can’t.”
His hand is on my cheek, his thumb grazing slowly. “No. I can’t.” I grip his arms as he rests his forehead on mine. “So us being together is now or never. And since I can’t cope with the concept of never, I vote for now.”
I draw in a shuddering breath. “But what’s the point of us getting in any deeper when we know it has to end?”
“The point is, I’d get to make love to you in all the ways I’ve been dreaming about since the night I met you.” He brings his mouth next to my ear and whispers, “If I only have one more day in New York, I want to spend it with you. Please, Elissa.”
He’s not allowed to say stuff like that. Not when the only valid response is to drag him into a shadowy corner and mount him.
“Liss?” I look up at him as strong arms tighten around me. “Come home with me. If you don’t want to have sex, that’s fine. Talk to me. Touch me. Whatever you feel comfortable with. Just be with me. Please. We don’t have much time left. And I have the strongest feeling that having part of you is going to be better than having all of anybody else.”
I close my eyes and sigh. How can I say no to that?
Without another word, I take his hand and lead him out of the party.
Anticipation is tingling in all of my limbs, making me hot and restless. Liam seems equally tense. His hands are shoved in his pockets, shoulders hunched, eyes darting around nervously before coming back to me, time and again. My face. My breasts. My legs.
All of me.