“My best mate, Wesley. He’s an American expat. We met in boarding school at thirteen and eventually became roommates. His dad was a jazz musician. Took off when he was around ten. Sometimes Wes would play the old classics. Music his dad listened to when he was growing up. His way of holding on to the good memories, I guess.”
“I listened to jazz with my dad every Saturday morning while he tinkered in his workshop in the garage. Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James. Seems like one of them was the soundtrack to every important conversation I’ve ever had with my dad.” A wistful smile lit her brown eyes.
“Does your sister like jazz, too?”
“No.” The warm smile in her eyes was gone. “Kendra hates jazz for the same reason I love it. It reminds her of our father. She tolerates it on special occasions like my birthday.”
“Then she is a very good sister, indeed.”
“She is. I couldn’t ask for a better one.”
He pulled her closer and they continued to dance in companionable silence. The night had turned out different than he expected. Then again, so had she. Maya was opinionated, yet charming. Astute, yet amusing. She possessed a curious sensuality she seemed terrified to acknowledge, let alone explore. There was nothing he wanted more than to help her do just that. His desire for her coursed through his veins like adrenaline.
She broke the silence between them. “I have to admit, you are a pretty good dancer.”
“Pretty good?” He scoffed. “You haven’t seen the half of what I can do.”
Liam twirled Maya, pulled her in close, then dipped her, his face inches from hers as he held her in his arms. Her eyes widened in surprise. His gaze dropped to the little O her mouth formed as her breath came in short bursts. He returned his gaze to hers and slowly brought her vertical again, neither of them moving.
His heart pounded. There was something in her eyes. Something he couldn’t explain. Liam pulled her closer and pressed his lips to hers. Maya went completely still, then slowly relaxed, slipping her arms around his waist, beneath his suit jacket.
She tasted sweet and rich like a decadent dessert you couldn’t get enough of but knew you would regret in the morning. His mind raced, wanting to taste her skin. To be enveloped in her scent.
Her kiss, raw and hungry, evoked a reaction from his body. He wanted her. But not here, not like this.
He tore his mouth from hers, despite his body’s insistence for more.
Maya shuffled backward, fingers pressed to her parted lips.
The kiss had taken them both by surprise. He wasn’t in the habit of snogging in the middle of a crowded dance floor. He should apologize for being so forward. Still, he wasn’t sorry he’d done it. “I don’t know what came over me.” That much is true. “But—”
Before he could finish his sentence, one man swung at another man who stood directly behind Maya. Only the man was ducking out of the way.
Liam pulled Maya to him. The man’s fist just missed the back of her head. He shoved her behind him, his vision blurred with rage.
“Hey, asshole!” He snatched the man by his collar. “You nearly struck my date.”
The man smelled as if he’d bathed with a bottle of gin. He swung at him, but Liam blocked his punch and shoved the man backward. The second man took the opportunity to land a sucker punch that connected with the first man’s jaw. A third man—a friend of the first—landed a punch that connected with Liam’s cheekbone. A throbbing pain exploded behind his left eye.
It’d been a long time since he’d taken a hit like that.
He drew his fist back to hit the man, but froze when Maya shrieked his name. He wasn’t alone and things were going sideways fast.
Liam grabbed Maya’s hand. “I’m going to get you out of here. Stay close to me, all right?”
They made their way through the crush of bodies. Some headed toward the exit. Others pressed toward the growing fight.
The house lights came on and the club owner announced that the police were on their way. Bouncers made their way toward the ruckus and tried to pull apart the drunken brawlers.
By the time Liam and Maya made their way outside, police cars had arrived and were blocking the exit of the lot where his car was parked. They kept walking until they were in front of a little gift shop around the corner. Head throbbing, Liam pressed his back against the brick wall. He winced as he forced a grin. “Hadn’t planned quite this much excitement.”
Maya placed a gentle hand on his jaw and tried to get a good look at his cheek under the streetlight. “We need to get some ice on that. Wait here. I’ll get some from the bartender.”
“You can’t go back in there.” His voice reverberated in his brain. “Who knows how insane things have gotten? Besides, technically, I was involved in the brawl that got this whole melee started.”
The headlines back home would scream “Westbrook family heir arrested in beachside barroom brawl. Again.” Way to show his father he was focused and serious about succeeding him as CEO of the company.
“We need to get ice from somewhere or this side of your face is going to be three times the size of that one.”
Liam nodded down the street. “I live in that building. It’s a couple of blocks from here.”
Maya surveyed the glass-and-steel structure. Head tilted, she shifted her gaze to him. As if trying to decide whether this was part of some dodgy plan to bed her.
It was.
Though he’d planned a smoother transition that didn’t include some bloke’s fist connecting with his cheekbone. One of his best features, if he was to believe the magazines back home.
Liam grimaced as he reached into his pocket. “The address is on my li—”
Maya held her hand up. “Just c’mon before the buzz wears off and I change my mind.” She pursed her pink lips. “By the way...thank you. That’s twice in one night you’ve rescued me.”
“Self-preservation, love. I wasn’t saving you. I was afraid that guy was going to knock you into me.” Liam tried to suppress a smile, but his cheeks rose. He winced.
Maya laughed. “Well, whatever the case, it’s time I return the favor.”
He stood, his head throbbing. He draped an arm around her shoulders as they made their way the two blocks to his flat.
An uneasiness grew in Maya’s chest as they approached the twelve-story structure. It wasn’t fear. She felt comfortable with Liam.
Too comfortable.
They barely knew each other. Yet, something in his penetrating stare made her feel as if he knew her intimately, in ways she didn’t quite know herself.
He instinctively seemed to know what she wanted. The most unnerving part? So far he’d been right.
Until the brawl at the club cut their night short, they’d been having a fabulous evening. Magical even. Maya cringed. That last martini must’ve gone straight to her head. She was a grown-ass woman who knew from experience there was nothing magical about love and relationships. Not that this was either.
Still, she couldn’t shake the heightened sensation that vibrated through her body, making it harder to breathe as her mind returned to the kiss they’d shared. The roughness of his beard. The way he held her in his arms. Nor could she escape the unrelenting desire to experience it again.