It was late, and she should have been walking in the opposite direction. The direction that held the promise of tea, shelter from the rain, wool socks, and an unfinished book with only three chapters to go. Instead she clutched a pile of books to her chest with one arm while steadying her umbrella against the wind with her other hand, attempting as best she could to remain dry as she walked the last block to the Lantern.
When she reached the door, she warred with turning back around. Her hand hovered over the handle as and it was only the bitter gust of wind whipping around her bare knees and inverting her umbrella that convinced her to step inside.
"Get it together, Belle," she whispered and pushed in the door.
Grateful for the tiny alcove between the front door and the bar entrance, she folded up her now crooked umbrella and shook out her hair. Catching a glance at herself in a mirror at the end, she fervently wished she had stopped home to at least change clothes. The pencil skirt and black blouse seemed like a great idea when she left the house that morning, but looking at them now she wondered if they screamed less 'want to make out with me again when you close up' and more 'schoolmarm before her time.'
Fighting the urge to back out the door, Belle opened two more buttons on her blouse as she righted her shoulders and pressed forward through the second door. She kept her head down as she made her way across the room, picking the open seat at the end of the bar where it curved and met the wall. She draped her coat on the stool and piled the books on the bar. She'd barely sat down when she heard Liam shout for her from across the bar. He flashed her a smile as he crossed to her and all of her nerves faded away.
"To what do I owe this surprise?" he asked, pushing a coaster in front of her.
"Thought I might bring you these," she answered, nodding at the stack of books. "They'd been in a few days."
He smiled and leaned forward, hands on the bar rail. "Couldn't wait until I came by this weekend?"
She returned his grin. "I had to get that Nicholas Sparks' book off the reserved shelf and out of the library. Granny nearly knocked me over the head when I told her she'd have to wait until you'd returned it."
"Is that so?" He inched further into her space. Feeling suddenly brave, she traced a finger over the top of his hand and to the back of wrist.
"I'd read that one first, if I were you, Jones. She's determined and I'm pretty sure that pap isn't worth risking a limb."
His jaw dropped and he pulled his hand back to cross his arms over his chest. "Pap? Do you have no soul, woman?"
Belle laughed. "Personally, if I were going to risk injury in the name of reading, I'd at least like it to be over Gabriel Garcia Marquez, or Nick Hornby, or Margaret Atwood. Nicholas Sparks is just sad, Liam. That's like getting a black eye from tripping on a rake in your garden."
He pushed back from the bar with a pout. "I'll have you know it was a sizable rake."
"I'm sure." She pulled her own book from the pile as he walked away and tugged at the bookmark, letting the pages fall open to where she'd left off earlier. When Liam returned he placed a glass on the coaster he'd left earlier.
"You ok over here?" he asked, lingering.
She smiled and tipped the glass towards him in thanks before taking sip. The whiskey burned as she swallowed, but it was a welcome relief after the squall outside.
He ran his hand over where hers laid on her open page. "You'll stay for a bit, yeah?"
"Go. Do your work," she said with a tilt of her chin towards the group that just came up to the bar. "I'm not going anywhere."
Liam tapped his finger against the back of her hand. The small smile on his face brought butterflies to her stomach and she itched to reach out to trace the curve at the corner of his mouth.
"Good," he whispered before pushing back again.
Absorbed in her book, she hadn't noticed the crowd thin out around her until she felt Liam come up behind her, a hand settling on her hip. She looked up to find the bar empty, the only sound in the room was that of the music still playing in the background.
"It's unfair, you know," he said, tightening his fingers on her hip.
"What's that?" she asked, pressing her shoulders back into his chest, relishing the feel of his breath against her neck.
"You've been here for hours now and I've barely been able to touch you." The hand on her hip moved to slide along her belly, his fingers dipping into the high waist of her skirt and pulling her back against him. "Been thinking about you since the other night."
"Yeah?" she asked, cursing at how breathy she sounded when he's barely touched her.
"Aye," he confirmed, his other hand toying with the open collar of her blouse. "Been thinking about what might have happened if my idiot brother hadn't come to help me close up."
"Yeah?" she repeated, still unable to form a complete thought outside of the weight of his hand on her stomach and the graze of his skin against her collar.
He nodded, pressing a wet kiss to the back of her neck. "Wanted to curse myself for letting you slip out."
Belle hummed as he continued to kiss along her neck and up behind her ear. When he pulled her earlobe between his teeth, she gave a soft cry and slipped her hand back to cradle his head.
He groaned as he moved to kiss along her shoulder. "Was this for me?" he whispered, trailing a finger down the open line of her blouse, tracing down her breastbone.
Belle nodded. "Was hoping to see you." She felt a thrill of triumph when his lips curled up against her neck.
"It's the best view I've had from behind that bar in days," he said, moving back to the blouse's opening, popping a button. He fingered the hint of lace he exposed, kissing the back of her ear as he did. "I've spent all night wondering what it would feel like to touch you. The fabric looked so soft and there was all this skin exposed." He ran the back of his fingers along the swell of her breast. "Tell me, have you been like this all day? Could any of one of your patrons have glanced down and spied the curve of your breasts as you checked out their books?"
She shook her head as she grabbed at the curled ends of his hair.
"Ahh," he sighed. "So these extra few opened buttons were just for me then." He pushed another through its buttonhole and she could feel his smirk broaden against her skin. "I appreciate the effort. Though it does present a challenge when you're trying to work and all you can think about is splaying the lovely lass at the end of the bar across its surface and having your way with her."
Belle's breath stuttered at the ache that pooled in her belly at his words. And as he grasped at her blouse to pull its ends from her skirt, she was torn between wanting to turn and shuck all of his clothing from him now and letting him continue the maddeningly slow pace he seemed set on. Once it was free, he ran a hand back up through the opening of her blouse, brushing between her breasts and along her collarbone before settling on her shoulder. "I'm going to go lock up. Don't move."
She tried to collect herself as she listened to his footsteps echo across the room, but when the locks snicked her breath hitched and she felt heat gather at the base of her spine. When Liam returned, he circled his hands around her waist and she reached back to clasp her hands at the base of his neck. Liam hummed when she arched against him and he cupped at her breasts as she turned her head to slide her lips against his.
At his first press back, she opened to him, welcoming his tongue with her own, breathing the scent of him through her nose as she sank further against him. When he pulled back, he left only a hint of space between their lips and his hands dropped to her waist. She untangled her hands from his neck and turned, facing him as she dipped back in for another kiss. She got lost in the feel of him as he snaked one hand up her back and into her hair, angling her head and deepening the sweep of his tongue in her mouth.
When they broke again, panting against one another, he squeezed his hands up her thighs, pulling the fabric of her skirt with him as he went. "Wrap your legs around me," he whispered as he returned to kissing down her neck, worrying the skin at her collarbone between his teeth.
She hissed at the sensation, forgetting what he'd asked of her until he felt the sweep of his thumbs on her inner thighs. She then hooked her legs around his waist, tucking one foot against his ass as he wrapped his hands around the backs of her thighs, lifting her to the bar behind her. She hardly registered the sound of her stool toppling over as they moved, focused more on the press of him against her core.
Liam stepped back and worked at the last few buttons of her blouse, pushing it from her shoulders when it finally fell fully open. He dipped his head to place a kiss between her breasts before he reached back to wrap his hands around her ankles and untangle her legs from around him. Letting them fall to either side of him as he did, Belle dropped her hands to her thighs and worked her skirt over her hips so she could sit comfortably. When she looked up, she found Liam staring at her, eyes wide and a hand scratching at his jaw. Something about his awestruck expression made her giggle, and a feeling of boldness bubbled up through her.
"As good as you imagined?" she asked, reaching out to hook a finger behind his belt buckle to draw him back to her.
He swiped his tongue along his lower lip. "Oh, fuck, Belle," he whispered. "Is this always what you have on underneath when you're behind that desk?"
"Might be," she said with a grin, before letting go of him and leaning back, curling her hands around the edge of the bar behind her.
Liam palmed her through her bra, tracing his thumbs along the scalloped edging that only just covered her. "Stuff of wet dreams," he growled as he pushed her breasts up to his lips, leaning in to nip at the top curves. His thumbs dipped beneath the lace as he did, circling her tightened nipples and pulling another moan from her.
She wrapped her legs around his, tucking an ankle behind his knee and pulling him closer. "Liam," she whimpered and closed her eyes. The pleasure radiating from where his thumbs laid on her breasts and down through her spine was almost too much. She bit her lip, trying to tamp down the urge to come when he'd barely touched her.
Belle looked down when he pulled back, staring at the heave of her breasts as she tried to catch her breath and the small, red welts scattered across her skin. When she glanced up and caught his eye, she smiled as he shook his head at her.
"If you'd been the librarian back home, I'd have never passed A Levels."
She laughed and shifted to unhook her bra, but he reached out and stopped her hand. "Keep it on. I want to enjoy the sight of you spilling out of it when I fuck you."
"That so?" she teased. She settled her hand back behind her and tightened her legs around him to pull him back towards her.
"Oh, Belle," he breathed. "I've such plans." He ran his hands up her legs and settled them at her hips. "Budge up," he said as he crooked two fingers of each hand around the sides of her underwear and tugged. She lifted herself and he pulled them over her hips.
As she sat back down, she moved the edge of the bar and untwined her legs to allow him to continue his progress down her legs. When he stepped back to her, he brought his hands up her thighs, placing just enough pressure to spread her open to him. As he reached the crease of her thighs, he skimmed his thumbs along each side of her slit and she gave a breathy sigh.
"You're bloody gorgeous," he whispered and she felt a blush creep across her cheeks.
He bent down and placed a kiss to her mound before righting himself and brushing his lips against hers. She opened to him again, sliding her tongue along his lower lip, coaxing him to her. As he angled his head and curled his tongue with hers, one of his thumbs began a gentle, repeated sweep, teasing the bare skin beneath it. He inched towards and over her folds before moving back to where he started at her thigh and repeated the progression, working her up again with the lightest of touches.
Belle broke from his mouth and pleaded, "Please, Liam."
"In a hurry?" he asked, removing his thumb from where it had been pressing at the edge of her entrance. She whined and nudged him with her knee.
He laughed and kissed down her neck. "Want to take my time, lass," he whispered. "Been thinking about this all night. Watching you. Wanting to know what you taste like. What you look like when you come perched on my bar." He moved his hand back to her center, pressing between her folds.
"Yes," she breathed. "Like that."
"This?" he asked as he rolled her clit between his fingers.
She closed her eyes as she bit back a cry, letting everything that wasn't the movement of his fingers against her fall away. She felt the tension build beneath her skin as he drew patterns between her folds and around her clit, pulling a litany of moans and stuttered nonsense from her as he did.
"That's it," he murmured against her ear when he – finally – sank his fingers into her and she cried out. "Let me hear you." He dragged his fingers along her walls before pressing back in to start all over again. "Let me hear how much you love taking me inside you, knowing how you can't wait for it to be my cock." He continued his slow, repeated assault and her arms shook in the effort to maintain her balance. She cursed and rocked against him, the pressure coiling in her belly almost too much to bear any further.
"Soon, darling," he promised before sweeping his thumb back across her clit in counterpoint to the thrust of his fingers. He picked up his pace and ground against her swollen clit again, rolling and dragging and pressing almost more than she could take.
With one final thrust of his fingers, she shuddered and came with a hoarse shout. He slowed his movements but didn't stop as she came down, riding out the last of her trembling with a soft press of fingers and quiet words against her temple. She rested her head on his shoulder, taking several laugh breathes to steady herself.
Belle started to right herself, meaning to pull him to her when she felt him slip from her and found his mouth on her core, his tongue mapping along her folds before wrapping around her clit. She cried out, the sensation almost too much in the aftermath of her orgasm. But then he slipped his fingers within her again and shifted just so, and she her body throb in response. She grabbed tight to the bar again and lifted one leg over his shoulder and held him to her.
He growled and grazed his teeth along her clit, working her in rough movements as he continued the thrust of his fingers. She chanted his name as she tightened around him, suddenly finding herself tipping over the edge again.
When she came back to herself, she took a deep breath and looked up to find him smiling at her, eyes shining.
"As gorgeous as I imagined, lass," he said, pushing her hair from her shoulder.
She blushed and glanced away. He reached to tilt her chin back so she would look at him. When she did, he leaned in and brushed his lips against hers. She followed with a brush of her own, tasting the bitter remnants of her arousal before she tilted her head to run her nose along his.
"Now what about you?" she whispered, threading her fingers under his t-shirt and pulling it over his head. He grinned when she tossed the shirt across the room.
"Can I interest you in a nightcap?" he teased as he pulled at his belt.
She raised an eyebrow as she pushed her fingers into the waist of his boxer briefs.
"Perhaps upstairs," he continued, popping open the button of his jeans. "In my bed. While naked."
She laughed and curved her hands to hips, yanking him to her. "I thought you wanted to fuck me while I was still half dressed?"
He drew her hands from his hips and wrapped them around his neck before grabbing her legs and coaxing them back around him. He smirked. "That too." He then lifted her from the bar and started towards the back stairs. "We're just getting started."