lave my balls. She was getting all up in there—Jesus. She licked the base of my cock and glided to the head.
I lurched upright. We moved to the edge of the mattress. She kneeled, lips wrapping me. Watching her take me on the floor zapped me with a lightning bolt of desire.
I stood.
She wrapped her arms around me when I drew out to give her a break. She wanted it rough—all right. I fisted her hair and went to town. She made delicious moaning sounds.
I pulled out and threw her on the bed.
Then I stroked my shaft, aiming over her glistening pussy. Milky ropes shot from my cock. I drenched her in cum. I gathered it all and shoved it inside her. Then I slammed it home.
Liana’s tortured moans told me she was close. She came with a tremor of her thighs and a crushing, long kiss.
A shudder passed through me. I savored the satisfaction I’d left inside her, but a longing tugged at my ribs. I wanted more.
Of what, I had no idea.
Minutes later, we finally stumbled out of bed.
Liana melted as I enveloped her in a button-up shirt. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Giving me the best night I’ve ever had.”
Warmth spread over my chest. “I had fun, too.”
She grinned coyly. “We should’ve done this when I turned eighteen.”
A cold shock gripped me as I pictured her at that age. A teenage Liana lusting after me seemed so outrageous, but she hadn’t faked any of this.
“I’ve no idea how I would’ve reacted if you hit on me.”
“I did. Plenty of times.”
I shook my head, smiling. “You needed to be more blunt.”
Liana snorted. “I don’t know how much more obvious I could’ve been without jumping on your lap.”
I made a sound of disbelief.
Was I fucking clueless, or what?
I thought back to every interaction with Liana. She’d always hung around me, clinging to my arm, seeking me out at family events, texting, calling. She visited me while I recovered in the hospital, and I’d never seen her beyond Michael’s little sister with an abnormal attachment to me.
It’d always confused me because I’d done nothing to deserve her affection.
A burn raked my throat, clawing me from the inside out. “You want pancakes?”
“Sure.”
Liana’s smile was as intimate as a kiss. The glow of it warmed me. I dressed in boxers and strolled into the kitchen, where I grabbed ingredients from the pantry as she rifled through my cupboards. I mixed everything and set a timer for fifteen minutes.
I opened the fridge. “Damn. I don’t have any blueberries.”
Liana settled into the counter stool, sipping orange juice. “I haven’t had blueberry pancakes since I was a kid.”
I closed the door, raking my hair. “Right.”
“You’re cute when you don’t know what to do with yourself.”
I couldn’t stop admiring the red marks dotting her skin. “Honestly, I’ve never gone through the morning-after.”
“Really?”
I pulled a skillet over the stove. “They’re out after an hour or two. I don’t let them stay.”
My mind spun. This was like an out-of-body experience.
The phone beeped, and I spooned a dollop onto the hot pan. It sizzled, and I flipped the blackening pancake. I finished cooking and dropped the stack of steaming cakes in front of her. I ate eggs as Liana feasted on carbs, her plate a pool of syrup.
“Wow. This is good. Letting them rise makes a difference.” Liana stared at me, her eyes sparkling. “Who taught you to cook? Your mom?”
“She wasn’t around much. I learned on my own. Trial and error. Lots of failed dinners.” My insides pulsed with a seething rage. “She gave me nothing but a roof over my head.”
I’d never told anyone how bad my situation had been. I could never risk losing Mike and my zia, the only people who’d made me feel safe and wanted. Even though my zia took care of me when I came over, I couldn’t tell her there wasn’t enough to eat at home.
What if CPS placed me out of Boston?
What if I never saw them again?
Liana gripped my bicep, her voice tentative. “Michael said before how he used to pack two school lunches. One for him and the other for you.”
“Yeah.” I nodded, the bitterness boiling in my gut. “My earliest memory is ripping open a bag of flour and eating until I vomited. I was three. She’d shove me into a closet, lock it, and leave for hours. Sometimes while she was with a man, the heroin dealer. My father.”
Liana squeezed me, but I looked anywhere but at her. I