Liam

5

THE BAPTISM BRUNCH was already in full swing by the time Sean arrived. Liam watched him walk through the door of Conor and Olivia’s apartment. In truth, Liam hadn’t expected his brother to show up since Fiona was going to be in attendance. When he’d left their flat, Sean had been lying on the sofa, watching a basketball game.

The relationship between Liam’s long-lost mother and her son had grown more and more strained since she’d come back into their lives, and Sean avoided her presence whenever he could. Liam hadn’t minded that Sean might not show up. He had been hoping to get at least a little break from his brother’s constant concern about their case.

Liam glanced over at Ellie. She was standing near the baby-buggy-shaped cake, chatting with Brendan’s fiancée, Amy. He had wondered how Ellie would get along at a Quinn family gathering, considering that his family could be a bit overwhelming at times. And he almost hadn’t asked her to come. But then he’d decided it would be easier to keep an eye on her if he just kept her close.

Bringing a date to a family function had caused more than a few raised eyebrows, but no one commented out loud. Liam’s sister, Keely, had come up first, introducing herself to Ellie, then motioning her husband, Rafe, over to join the conversation. It had been a year since their wedding and though Rafe and the Quinns had had issues in the past, everyone could see that he made Keely very happy. Along with Olivia, Meggie and Amy, Rafe had become part of the ever-expanding Quinn clan.

Olivia and Conor wandered among the guests, introducing their son, Conor smiling from ear to ear and Olivia looking more beautiful than ever. They came up to Amy and Ellie, and a moment later Ellie had the baby in her arms. Liam’s breath caught in his throat as he saw her smile sweetly at Riley, then kiss the soft dusting of hair on his head.

No matter how much time had passed, Liam was still amazed by the circumstances that had brought them together. Had he seen her sipping a drink at Quinn’s Pub or walking along any sidewalk in Boston, he probably wouldn’t have given Ellie a second look. But something had happened to him when she’d hit him over the head with that lamp, something that had jarred loose in his brain, and by the end of that night he’d become completely smitten.

“Will you look at this?” Brendan muttered, walking up behind Liam. “Sean decided to put in an appearance. Conor told me he wasn’t coming.”

Sean stopped short when Fiona approached, then deftly turned and headed toward the table. But he was halted again, this time by someone Sean hadn’t expected-Ellie Thorpe. Liam winced and knew that he was about to catch holy hell.

“Maybe you should introduce him to your new girlfriend,” Brendan suggested.

“She’s not my girlfriend. Besides-”

“What the hell is she doing here?” Sean murmured under his breath as he approached Liam.

Liam grabbed Brendan’s plate. “Looks like you could use a little more to eat, Bren,” he said. “I’ll just go get us a few of those sandwiches.” He headed for the tiny kitchen, but Sean just followed him, cornering Liam at the refrigerator.

“Answer my question,” Sean demanded.

Liam snatched up two sandwiches and shoved one at Sean. “Have something to eat and relax,” he muttered.

His brother tossed the sandwich back onto the plate.

“That’s really good chicken salad,” Liam said. “You should try it.”

“I told you to get close to her. But I didn’t mean this close.” He gave Liam a shrewd look. “Are you sleeping with her?”

“Not right now. I’m talking to you and thinking that I might just have a few of those shrimp over there. Con and Olivia really went all out here, didn’t they? This is quite a spread.”

“Do you think this is funny?”

“No,” Liam replied with a low chuckle. “But I didn’t have much choice in the matter. I think someone is trying to kill her.”

Sean gasped, then grabbed Liam’s arm and dragged him out to the small porch off the kitchen. The sky was gray and a light mist hung over the city. “What happened?” he asked.

“A lot of things,” Liam replied, glancing back over his shoulder to make sure no one could overhear. “And all of them pretty strange. First, there was the burglary. Then Ellie told me she nearly got hit on the head by a brick falling off her apartment roof. And then, yesterday, she almost got run down by a car just outside her apartment building. The burglary might have been random, but that car was aiming for her.”

“Did you get a plate on the car?”

“Yeah.” Liam reached into the pocket of his sports jacket and pulled out the two photos he’d developed that morning. “I enlarged these and you can see there’s a rental sticker on the back bumper. I went to the place, but they wouldn’t give me any information about who rented the car.”

“I’ll see what I can find. If they won’t tell me, maybe I can get Conor to give me some help.”

“Listen,” Liam said. “I don’t know who Ellie is or what she’s done, but I do know that if I don’t keep an eye on her, she might just end up dead. So don’t give me any grief, all right?”

“All right,” Sean said. “But from now on I’m keeping an eye on you while you keep an eye on her.”

“Here you are!” Liam and Sean turned to find Ellie in the doorway. The cool breeze ruffled her hair and, at that moment, Liam hadn’t seen anything quite as beautiful as Ellie in his whole life.

“Ellie, this is my brother Sean,” Liam said. “Sean, Ellie Thorpe. She lives over in Charlestown. She’s new to Boston.”

Ellie held out her hand and Sean reluctantly took it. “Pleasure,” he murmured.

“I’m not sure I’m ever going to remember all these names,” she said with a warm smile. “You all look so much alike, the dark hair and the…eyes.”

“Right,” Sean said.

As usual, in the presence of a woman, Sean didn’t have much to say. He shoved his hands into his pockets and watched them both with an uneasy smile. “So, how did you two meet?”

“Liam saved me from a burglar who’d broken into my apartment.”

Sean nodded, as if he were really interested. Then he shrugged. “I gotta go.”

“It was nice to meet you,” Ellie said.

“Nice meeting you.”

They watched him walk back inside the apartment, then Liam turned to Ellie. “Don’t worry about him. He’s a little shy.”

“You mean, not all the Quinns are as charming as you?”

“Sean has his own special way with women. He ignores them and they can’t seem to resist the challenge.” Liam slipped his arm around Ellie’s shoulders. “Are you ready to go? I think I’ve snapped enough photos to fill a few albums. No one can say I shirked my family responsibilities.”

“We don’t have to go. The food looks good. And Olivia was going to show me the gifts she got for the baby.” She held up her champagne flute. “And I’m going to have another mimosa.”

“I’ll get you one,” Liam said, dropping a quick kiss on her lips. He was tempted to linger, but knew that they’d already generated enough curiosity without adding more fodder for speculation to the mix. He left Ellie in the kitchen when she offered to help Olivia slice more baked ham for sandwiches. The champagne was on ice in the dining room and he found Sean staring at the cake, a perplexed expression on his face.

“What is this?” he asked.

“A cake.”

“I know it’s a cake.”

“It’s a baby buggy.”

“I thought it was a clam with wheels.”

“Don’t let Olivia hear that. Conor said she spent two days making that.” Liam glanced over at his brother, considering what he was going to say to him next. He’d thought about his options over and over again over the past few days, trying to decide how to handle the situation. “There is one more thing I should tell you,” Liam murmured. “Ronald Pettibone is in town.”

Sean’s head snapped around, his attention focused.

“He’s been in Boston for about a week,” Liam continued. “That was him outside the coffee shop-the guy I mentioned who was arguing with her.”

“How do you know?”

“She told me. He looks different from the photo. He’s not wearing his glasses anymore and he’s changed his hair. It’s lighter. And he has a tan, too. He’s staying at the Bostonian, Room 215. Pretty ritzy digs for a guy who is out of work, don’t you think?”

“How did you find all this out?”

“He left a message on her machine while I was at her apartment.”

“Was she there?”

“Of course she was,” Liam said. “We were…together.”

Sean sent him a suspicious look. “How did she react?”

“It was a little hard to see, since she had her back to me. But I encouraged her to call him back and she said she would. Until then, I think you should keep an eye on the guy. And find out if he rented a black sedan a few days ago.”

“You think he tried to run her down? Then she’s got to be mixed up in this. What motive would he have to kill her? Unless he didn’t want to split the take.”

“He’s her ex-lover. Maybe he’s obsessed,” Liam replied. “Just keep an eye on him.” He paused, wondering about his next move. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. “Here.”

“What’s this?”

“It’s the keys to Ellie’s apartment. I put in a new security system for her in case Pettibone came calling again. The code is 3-5-5-4. Make sure you get it right or you’ll set off the alarm.”

“All right,” Sean said. “Three-five-five-four.”

“I’ve got tickets to the Sox home opener on Tuesday. I’m supposed to photograph the mayor doing some pregame presentation and then he’s going to throw out the first pitch. None of their sports guys want to do it, so they hired me. I’m taking Ellie. She should be safe in a stadium full of thirty-six thousand people.”

“Good. That should give me plenty of time.”

Liam’s jaw went tight. “Just don’t make a mess, all right? I don’t want her to be all upset again.”

Sean nodded.

Satisfied that the matter had been taken out of his hands, Liam sighed. “I’m going to go talk to Ma. Why don’t you come with me?”

“Nah, not today.”

“Why not today? It’s as good a time as any. Sean, you can’t carry this grudge any longer. Da has forgiven her. So has Keely-and they had a whole lot more to be pissed about than you and me.”

“She walked out on us, Li. You were just a baby and I was three years old. She says she had to get away and she did. But why didn’t she come back?”

“Why don’t you ask her?”

“Because I don’t want to hear her answer.”

Liam shrugged. “Suit yourself.” With that he grabbed a bottle of champagne and decided to find Ellie. Right now he needed to hear her voice, to remember what they’d shared together in her bathroom and how good it felt to touch her. He didn’t need to worry about whether he was lusting after a criminal or whether her boyfriend was out to cause her harm.

He caught Ellie’s gaze from across the room and motioned her to meet him near the front door. She sent him a coy smile and then a tiny frown, but Liam wasn’t about to give up. He slipped out of the apartment, leaned up against the wall and waited for her. A few seconds later she poked her head out the door. He reached over and grabbed her, pulling her out into the hall, the door slamming behind her.

“Come on,” he murmured, heading for the stairs. They walked down two flights until they reached the street. Liam shrugged out of his jacket and draped it around Ellie’s shoulders as they stepped outside. After they sat down on the front stoop, he popped the cork on the champagne bottle. “I didn’t bring glasses,” he said. “We’ll have to drink from the bottle.”

Liam took a sip, then handed the bottle to Ellie. She tipped it up, but the champagne bubbled in her mouth. She wrinkled her nose as she swallowed, then coughed softly. Liam used the opportunity to pull her into his arms. “I should never have brought you here,” he said, pressing his mouth against her neck.

“Why is that?”

“Because I prefer to kiss you whenever I feel like kissing you.”

“Then you’d better get kissing,” Ellie teased, “because if we stay out here too long, we’ll be missed.”

Liam pulled back and looked down into her pretty face. There were times when he felt he could see into the corners of her soul. And then, other times, he wondered if he was just fooling himself. But as he captured her mouth with his, tasting the sweet champagne, all of his doubts seemed to dissolve. For now, Ellie was simply the woman who made his blood run hot and his heart pound hard.

For now, that was enough.

“NOW YOU’RE A TRUE Bostonian,” Liam said, tugging on the brim of Ellie’s brand new Boston Red Sox cap. “You’ve been to Fenway and seen someone hit a home run over the big Green Monster. Unfortunately, it wasn’t one of our players.”

She stared out the front window of his car as they waited for the light to change. “I’ve never been much of a baseball fan. In New York, you have to choose sides-Mets or Yankees. I never knew enough about baseball, so I stayed neutral and didn’t get involved.”

“I’ve loved baseball since I was a kid,” Liam said, turning the car onto Charlestown Avenue. “I remember the first time I went to Fenway, I must have been about seven or eight. I walked in and it was so green. We’d come from Southie on the T and it was the middle of a heat wave. Our neighborhood was dry and dusty and everything was faded by the sun. And then we walked into Fenway and it was like an oasis-although I didn’t know what an oasis was back then.”

“Did you go to a lot of games as a kid?” Ellie asked.

“No. We didn’t have the money for tickets. But Conor had a couple of buddies who sold popcorn at the park, and if the crowd was thin, they’d let us in before the seventh inning stretch. We never got to see a complete game, but we’d hang around outside afterward and get the players to sign our baseball cards.”

“Sounds like fun,” Ellie said.

“It was. We didn’t have much, but we always had fun.” He chuckled softly. “When I first saw Fenway, I thought it was Ireland.”

“What?”

“I’d always heard my older brothers and father talking about how green Ireland was. They were all born there. And Fenway was the greenest thing I’d ever seen, so I thought it was Ireland. I wasn’t ever good with geography, at least not in second grade.”

Ellie nodded. “When I was a kid, I used to think that my teachers lived at the school. That they all slept together in a little room somewhere and talked about books and chalk and school paste all day and all night. I figured that’s why I never saw them around town. They weren’t allowed out.”

Liam turned his car onto Ellie’s street and scanned the length of it for a place to park. He found a spot right in front, and when he shut the car off, he waited for her to ask him in. Since their encounter in the bathroom, they’d both been a bit hesitant about where to go next. Though Liam didn’t regret what they’d done, he had to admit that the event had brought a change in his feelings toward her.

With other women such an intimacy had always signaled the start of a very passionate but brief affair. With Ellie he was afraid to repeat what they’d shared, afraid that he’d have just a finite number of nights with her before it was all over. He’d have to use them sparingly.

Liam hadn’t given a thought to the future. Until he knew who’d embezzled the money from Ellie’s bank, then he couldn’t completely believe that she hadn’t. And allowing himself to get wrapped up in her life right now was not a smart move.

“Do you want to come in?” Ellie asked.

He’d refused after he’d taken her to the baptism brunch, but it would be difficult to say no again without her wondering why. “Sure. For a little while. I gave the film to one of the sports guys before we left Fenway, so I just have to go down to the Globe before seven to look at the proofs.”

“I’ll make us some hot chocolate and we can warm up.”

They strolled up to her building, then climbed the stairs to the third floor. But when she reached her front door, Ellie stopped short. The door was ajar. She reached out and pushed it open, but Liam slipped around her side and stepped in first.

“What happened here?” Ellie murmured, peering over his shoulder.

It was apparent to Liam that the apartment had been torn apart from top to bottom, completely ransacked. He held his arm out to keep her behind him. “Just wait,” he murmured. “Stay right here.”

“You think he’s still here?” Ellie asked with a gasp.

Liam slowly walked through the apartment, checking each room and flipping on lights, finding them all in the same condition as the others. When he was satisfied that they were alone, he carefully evaluated the scene. He wasn’t really sure what to look for. Sean was the P.I. and Conor was the cop. He was completely out of his element here.

He walked back out into the living room to find Ellie sitting on the edge of the sofa, still in shock. “Is anything missing?”

“How am I supposed to tell?” Ellie asked with a defeated shrug.

“Well, let’s just start to pick everything up and put it in its place and maybe you’ll notice if something is missing.” He sighed. “I guess we shouldn’t touch anything until the police take a look first.”

“No,” she said, jumping to her feet. “I don’t want to pick this up. I don’t want to hang around until the police arrive. I don’t want to stay here. This is the second time someone has come into this apartment and I don’t feel safe here anymore. We have to leave.”

“I can’t understand how they got in without setting off the security alarm.”

Ellie gnawed her bottom lip as she glanced furtively over at the keypad he’d so patiently explained to her.

“You didn’t set the alarm?”

“I was in a hurry and you were waiting. We were late for the game.”

Liam closed his eyes and sighed deeply. “Well, at least you weren’t here.”

“And I’m not going be here tonight, either. I’ll find a hotel-with big locks on the door and a burly security guard in the lobby.”

“No,” Liam said. “I’ll take you somewhere safe. You can come home with me.”

Ellie blinked, clearly surprised by his offer. “I couldn’t do that.”

Liam glanced around the apartment again, a thought creeping into his mind. Sean had a key. Had he done this to Ellie’s apartment? Liam couldn’t believe his brother would be so obvious-unless he meant to scare Ellie on purpose. Now he was glad they hadn’t called the police.

“You can,” Liam said. He pulled her into his arms, pressing his lips to her forehead.

Ellie sank against his body and he held her gently, stroking her back. “Maybe I’m just not meant to live in Boston. Maybe I should go somewhere else. I was reading this book the other day that said-”

Before she could continue Liam brought his mouth down on hers, stopping her words in her throat. The kiss was soft and reassuring and Ellie opened beneath his gentle assault. She smoothed her hands over his face as he kissed her, exploring with her fingertips, her touch heating his blood.

He pulled back and smiled down at her. “We can talk about books later,” he said. “Why don’t you go grab what you need and we’ll go over to my place? Tomorrow we’ll come back and clean up.”

Ellie nodded. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For being here. For watching out for me.”

Liam waited while she packed, walking through her apartment and picking up where he could. When he found the phone beneath a pillow from the sofa, he put the receiver back into the cradle. He was tempted to call Sean but he’d leave that for later.

Ellie reappeared a few minutes later with a small duffel bag. “He went through my dresser,” she said. “But he didn’t touch my jewelry.” She paused, then shook her head. “No, it couldn’t be him.”

“Who?”

“I’m just being paranoid.”

“Who?” Liam demanded, slipping the strap of her bag from her shoulder. He reset the alarm, then closed the door behind them and locked the dead bolt. They walked down the stairs to the street and Ellie stopped. “Ronald,” she finally said.

Liam wasn’t sure how he ought to react. Either Ellie was genuinely confused by all that had happened or she was very deftly throwing suspicion onto her partner in crime. “Ronald Pettibone?”

“I just don’t know…” she said, shaking her head.

“Why would you think it could be him?”

“He broke up with me. And he was pretty clear that he didn’t want to remain friends. That’s why I left the bank. And then, out of the blue, he shows up here. He claimed to have friends here, but we spent a long weekend in Boston about a month before we broke up and he didn’t mention any friends then. Do you think he’s stalking me?”

“I don’t know,” Liam said. “But I’ll find out.”

Liam glanced up and down the street before they got into his car, noticing a black sedan with tinted windows parked down the block. Now he was feeling a little paranoid.

As they drove through the city, he kept his eyes on the rearview mirror, swinging around the block every now and then to make sure he wasn’t being followed. When he was satisfied that the black sedan wasn’t tailing them, he headed toward Southie.

He hoped that Sean would be gone when he got home, but when he stepped inside his flat, he found both Sean and Brian sitting on the sofa, eating pizza and watching a game show. They both registered surprise at seeing Ellie again, but for completely different reasons.

“Hey there, Ellie,” Brian said, standing and brushing the crumbs off the front of his sweater. “It’s nice to see you again. How was the game?”

“It was great,” she said, giving him a warm smile. “The Red Sox lost, but it was still fun.”

Liam ignored a tiny sliver of jealousy as Brian held on to her hand for just a bit too long. “You know, if you spend much more time at our place, you’re going to have to start paying rent,” he told Brian.

“I’ll remember that next time you come over to do your laundry for free.”

Sean pushed to his feet. “What are you two doing here?”

“Someone broke into Ellie’s apartment,” Liam said.

“Again,” Ellie added.

“Again?” Brian asked. “You’ve had more than one break-in? Gee, Charlestown doesn’t have a real high burglary rate. Do you think there’s some kind of crime wave starting there?”

“I think I’m being stalked,” Ellie said. “That, or I’m really unlucky.”

“Ellie is going to stay here until we figure out what’s going on with her apartment.” Liam took her arm and tugged her along to his room. “Why don’t you get settled? Then we’ll go out and get some dinner.” He closed the bedroom door behind her, then strode over to the sofa. “Did you ransack her apartment?” he demanded, his voice a harsh whisper.

“No,” Sean said. “I went though everything, but I put it all back in place before I left. Someone must have been there after me. It wouldn’t have been too hard for him to get in-I couldn’t reset the alarm because it wasn’t set in the first place. Ellie might have noticed.”

“This wouldn’t have happened if you’d been watching him like you were supposed to,” Liam said.

“Wait a second here,” Brian interrupted. “Sean broke into her apartment?”

“No, I had a key,” Sean said. “The other guy broke in.”

“How’d you get a key?”

“Liam gave it to me.”

Brian frowned. “I’m seriously out of the loop here, aren’t I?”

“It’s a case we’re working on,” Liam said.

“Ellie’s an embezzler,” Sean commented.

Liam bristled. “She is not.”

“She might be,” Sean snapped.

Brian got to his feet and grabbed his jacket from the end of the sofa. “I don’t think I want to be in the middle of this. I’m going down to the pub to have a pint of the black stuff. Guinness always seems to clear the head. There should be a pretty good party going on there now after the game. Da is serving free hot dogs.”

“I’ll go with you,” Sean said.

“No way,” Liam said. “You’ll go figure out what Ronald Pettibone is up to. Did you trace that license plate I gave you? I know he was the one who tried to run Ellie down.”

“Someone tried to run down Ellie?” Brian asked. “Forget the Guinness. This sounds like a good story.”

Sean grabbed his twin brother’s arm. “You’re always sniffin’ for a story, aren’t you?” Sean muttered. “Come on, I’ll let you drive. Let’s see if we can find this Ronald Pettibone.”

“And don’t come back tonight,” Liam warned. “Sleep at Brian’s.” When they’d both walked out the door, Liam flopped onto the sofa and grabbed a piece of pizza, munching on it distractedly. How the hell was he supposed to keep Ellie safe if Sean didn’t do his part? This was his case and here he was, feet up on the coffee table, eating pizza when he should have been out doing his job.

Liam tipped his head back. There were moments when he cursed the day he’d decided to help with this case and his impulse to ride to Ellie Thorpe’s rescue. Now it seemed he was pulling her out of harm’s way nearly every day.

“I’m doomed,” Liam murmured. If this wasn’t enough to bring the Quinn family curse raining down on his head, he wasn’t sure what was. He and Ellie might as well start picking out the china and monogramming the towels. Marriage couldn’t be far behind.

ELLIE STARED at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, then forced a smile. A nervous knot tightened in her stomach and she wondered if it might be better to just stay in the bathroom until morning. But then the bathroom at her place had been the scene of their last intimate encounter. Perhaps the hall closet here at Liam’s might be a better choice.

She smoothed her hands over the Patriots jersey that Liam had given her to wear to bed. Like a fool, she’d brought everything she’d needed-except a nightgown. And the last thing she wanted Liam to think was that she’d done it on purpose in the hope that a naked body in his bed might be too tempting to resist.

Ellie groaned softly. Sex. That’s what this was all about. If the opportunity presented itself, how could she refuse? Liam was just too much to resist. But her past troubles with men still nagged at her. What had she done wrong? Had she been too aggressive or maybe not aggressive enough? Had her skills in the bedroom been a disappointment? Ellie stretched the jersey tight across her breasts. Maybe it was her body.

She’d only have one chance with Liam and she didn’t want to blow it. He was the kind of man who would bring out her passionate nature. He made her feel sexy and uninhibited and a little bit naughty. She glanced down at the sink and her stomach did a little flip as she remembered that afternoon in her bathroom.

Their first intimate encounter had been…overwhelming. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to remain conscious for anything more exciting than that! Taking a deep breath, she raked her fingers through her hair, then turned for the door. When she stepped out, she found Liam smoothing a sheet over the sofa.

She pasted a smile on her face. They hadn’t discussed sleeping arrangements, but it was obvious that they wouldn’t be sharing his bed. She tried to hide her disappointment. “You don’t need to do that. I can fix it.”

Liam shrugged. “I’ll sleep out here. You can have my bed.”

Ellie reached out and took the pillow from his hands. “No, don’t be silly. I’ll be fine here. I don’t want to put you out.”

“All right,” he said softly, clearly uneasy with the discussion. “But if you need anything, I’ll be close by.” He sent her a sideways glance and, in that instant, Ellie saw the desire in his eyes. But for some reason he’d chosen not to act on that desire tonight. What had changed?

Liam reached out, hooked a finger under her chin, then gave her a quick kiss. “Sleep tight,” he murmured. “I’ll see you in the morning.” With that he turned and walked into his bedroom, closing the door behind him.

Ellie sat on the sofa and pulled a down comforter around her shoulders. Things had been going so well. Though they hadn’t spent a night in bed together, she sensed that their relationship was moving forward. But now it had come to a full stop.

“He’s just another man,” she muttered, reaching for the light. She flopped down on the sofa and pulled the comforter up to her chin. “Nothing special.”

She pinched her eyes closed, but as she tried to relax, her head spun with thoughts of Liam. She settled on an image of him lying in his bed, naked, the sheet low on his waist. She’d never seen him completely naked, but Ellie knew what was beneath the shirt-a broad chest and narrow waist, muscled arms and a smooth back. She could almost feel his skin beneath her fingers and she clenched her hands into fists to banish the sensation. And she could certainly guess at what was beneath the jeans.

Though she tried everything she could to relax, nothing worked. At first she thought it was the upset over her apartment, but after considering all that had happened during the day, Ellie decided that the reason she couldn’t sleep was lying in a bed just a few short steps away.

After an hour of tossing and turning, Ellie threw the comforter off and sat up, cursing softly in the dark. She walked to the small kitchen at the back of the flat and pulled open the freezer door. When she couldn’t sleep, a pint of gourmet ice cream always did the trick.

“Oh, my,” Ellie murmured. Half the freezer was stacked with frozen pizza and the other half with a variety of ice creams. She pulled one carton out after another. “Rocky Road, French Vanilla, Cookies and Cream.” Ellie grabbed another carton. “O-oh, Chocolate Chip Mint. I love that.” She rummaged through the drawers until she found a spoon, then opened the first carton, leaving the freezer door ajar so she could gaze at her selection.

Ellie had never trusted herself with more than one pint of ice cream in her freezer at a time. The temptation was just too great and ice cream was her drug of choice when she felt depressed about her social life. She opened the carton of Rocky Road and scooped out a spoonful, then let it melt in her mouth.

“This is better than sex,” she murmured.

“Couldn’t sleep?”

A tiny cry slipped from Ellie’s lips, as she spun around, her spoon clattering to the floor. Liam stood in the kitchen, wearing only a pair of boxer shorts that rode low on his hips. A wave of mortification washed over her and she quickly turned and stuck the ice cream back in the freezer. “Sorry,” she murmured. “I just thought something to eat would…”

He raked his hand through his dark hair. “No, it’s all right.” He reached around her, his chest brushing against her arm, the heat of his skin against hers making Ellie feel a bit dizzy. “I came out for the same thing.”

He grabbed the open carton and handed it back to her, then selected Chocolate Chip Mint for himself. Ellie handed him a clean spoon. Liam scooped a spoonful out of the carton and held it out to her. Hesitantly, Ellie leaned forward and let the ice cream slide onto her tongue to melt in her mouth.

“Mmm. Good,” she said.

Liam grinned, then took a bite himself. “What do you have?”

He reached over and scooped out some Rocky Road and held it out to her. But as she took the spoon into her mouth, a bit of melted ice cream dribbled down her chin. Liam reached out and caught it, then held his finger in front of Ellie’s lips.

She took his finger in her mouth and only then realized what she was doing. Ellie glanced up at him and slowly pulled back. “Yum,” she said, her voice cracking slightly.

They stared at each other for a long moment and Ellie held her breath, waiting, wondering what would happen next. Then suddenly, Liam tossed the carton to the floor, grabbed her Rocky Road and threw it down, as well. In an instant his hands were on her body, cupping her face, spanning her waist, slipping beneath the football jersey and smoothing over her bare skin.

He kissed her as if only her mouth could satisfy his hunger, delving deep, tasting fully. Ellie’s head spun and her limbs felt weak, his kiss like a drug, wiping away the last traces of inhibitions. She’d never wanted a man as much as she wanted Liam. The need was so intense, it frightened her. His lips moved to her throat and Ellie tipped her head back, sighing softly. Her fingers furrowed through his hair and she sank against him.

Skimming her hands over his chest, she reveled in the way he was made. She’d always admired the male physique but had never experienced a man quite as perfect as Liam Quinn. Every inch of his body was taut and toned, muscle and sinew covered by smooth skin.

When he pulled away for a moment, Ellie took the chance to explore. She kissed the hollow at the base of his neck, the few soft hairs there tickling her lips. Then she marked a trail across his chest with her tongue, circling his nipple. She didn’t want to leave any doubt at all about what she needed from him.

He sighed softly and Ellie pressed her body against his as his mouth came down on hers again. She felt his need, hard and hot through the thin silk of his boxer shorts. With deliberate intent, she moved her hips, tempting him with pleasures that they had yet to share. He couldn’t refuse her. Every movement, every subtle reaction, told her that he wouldn’t.

Ellie had never considered herself a highly sexual woman, but with Liam her inhibitions seemed to vanish. She wanted him, his body above her, beneath her and inside her. She wanted to lose herself in the rhythm of their joining and then experience his release, the ultimate surrender. Yet she couldn’t bring herself to ask out loud.

She moved her hand along his belly but he grabbed her fingers at the last moment and brought them back up to his chest. “We should go to bed,” he murmured, his breath ragged against her ear.

A stab of disappointment shot through her. But then Ellie realized that maybe he was offering her an invitation, not calling an end to this seduction. She took a shaky breath and swallowed hard. “Your bed or mine?”