A Vine Mess (Love on the Vine #4)

22. Ella

“Liam!” I protested. “I’m not sending him a naked photo.”

“You’re not. It’ll be very tasteful,” he said with a wink.

Though I glared at him skeptically, I did as he asked, putting on a show for him as I slowly slipped from my robe, then my swimsuit top and bottoms and laid it all on a bench off to the side.

The way his eyes darkened with desire, how he licked his lips when he stared at me made my skin tingle and my core tighten deliciously, desperate for him to fill it. I’d never had anyone look at me the way he does, like he’s never seen anything quite as perfect as me. Like he could look forever and never get his fill.

“Like what you see, Wills?” I asked cheekily.

“I fucking love your body. Your skin is perfection, and I didn’t spend nearly enough time last night mapping those sexy tattoos with my mouth. But don’t worry, baby,” he said with a grin. “I’m going to reward you tonight for being such a good girl.”

I glanced down at myself, at my previously creamy skin now turned golden thanks to so many hours outside, my tattoos seeming even more vibrant against the new backdrop. At my full breasts, the dip and curve of my waist and hips, my long, shapely legs.

“You’re my goddamn dream girl, Ella Delatou,” Liam added when I met his gaze again.

“You’re not so bad yourself, Wills.” I gestured to him. “And now it’s your turn. Let me see the goods.”

He shed his own robe and trunks far quicker than I had, and I couldn’t help but laugh delightedly at his haste to get naked. In that moment, I rediscovered how much I loved that sound, how much I’d missed it, and how thankful I was to Liam for bringing it back. Mostly, I loved that I’d been able to move past the dark cloud that had shifted over me with Alfie’s text.

Liam moved to the bench where my suit was and picked up my phone.

“Wade into the water,” he instructed me. I was having difficulty focusing on anything when his entire perfect body was on display, that glorious cock engorged and begging for attention. “Waist deep, Wildflower. You can play later.”

With a mock salute, I did as he asked, hissing as the heat of the spring caressed my skin, which had pebbled in the cool air.

“Now turn away from me but reach back your hand, and don’t move.”

I faced away from him but stretched out my arm, and he clasped my hand in his. I could see the vision—it would be one of those “follow me” type trends I always saw couples participating in on social media. He continued to direct me, subtly shifting my body this way and that until I was right where he wanted me .

“Hold still,” he said softly, and a moment later, I heard the shutter of my phone going off, taking several photos in quick succession.

When he was finished, he tugged me to him and held out my phone.

“I’ll let you pick which one to send.”

I gasped as I swiped through my camera roll. Taken from the waist up, only my back was visible in the photos, showing off the scrawl of words that decorated my left shoulder blade and the floral piece that covered my right rib cage and wrapped around my back. My hair had grown longer in the months since the breakup, tickling the tops of my breasts, and the slight sideways angle of my body offered a tantalizing glimpse of the side of one. The sun was a paid actor, giving my skin a healthy, beautiful glow and silhouetting my body. It was obvious I was naked, but it was tasteful. Sexy. Powerful.

Liam’s hand and forearm appeared in the bottom left corner, showing the viewer I wasn’t alone.

I wanted to frame it, to always remember this moment with him.

“Go ahead,” I directed Liam after I’d settled on one. “Send it.”

After a few taps of the screen, he turned it to face me, showing the message he’d tapped out to my ex.

You don’t speak to her anymore. You don’t even think about her. Lose this number. I’m the only one that gets her like this from now on.

My phone made that little beeping sound as the text flew off into the ether, and I took it from Liam, turned it completely off, and handed it back.

“Put that away and come here,” I said, crooking a finger at him as I sank deeper into the water, until it lapped gently at the upper curves of my breasts.

The temperature was pure heaven, doing wonders to soothe the irritation Alfie had elicited, and I dropped lower until my entire body save my head was submerged, watching Liam as he stalked toward me and slowly descended into the spring.

“For what it’s worth,” I told him as he approached, “I fucking love your body too. The tattoos, the muscles…you’re incredibly sexy, you know.”

When he stood scant inches away from me, looming in a way that probably would’ve been intimidating had I not gotten to know the soft-hearted man beneath the bearded brawn, he tucked a finger under my chin and tipped my head back. Our gazes collided, and I swear I lived a thousand lifetimes in that look. Seeing my future stretched out before me in his depthless, clear blue eyes was disconcerting, to say the least. Something deep within me clicked into place in that moment, like I’d finally found this missing piece of my genetic makeup that I’d been searching for my entire life.

Liam.

Wills.

William Preston Danvers, III.

He was that missing piece.

So I whispered the three words that would change everything—but, somehow, not change anything at all.

“I love you. ”

Liam’s entire face lit up like that was the best thing he’d ever heard, and a heartbeat later, his mouth was on mine. I rose out of the water to eagerly greet him, twining my legs around his waist and his arms cupping the backs of my thighs to support me. The kiss was insistent and claiming, nothing gentle about it as he nipped at my lips and drove his tongue into my mouth, exploring every inch, marking me wholly as his. And I met him with equal fervor, unable to press myself close enough, breathing harshly through my nose so I didn’t have to be separated from him for even a second.

Liam was the one to break the kiss, only so he could rest his forehead against mine and whisper, “You mean it?”

I angled my head so our lips brushed and said, “Always. I love you, Liam Danvers.”

“And I love you, Ella Delatou.”

His hand rose from the water, fingertips tracing my lips, my cheekbone, tucking my hair behind my ear before burying at the nape of my neck. Thumb under my jaw, he pressed against my pulse, and I could feel it thumping against him, fluttering rapidly. Then he dragged his palm along my neck, along my collarbone, until it came to rest over my heart.

“This heart is mine now,” he said. “And I promise I’ll take good care of it.”

“I know you will,” I said. “That’s why I’m trusting you with it.”

“And you get mine in return.” Almost absently, his hand slid lower, the rough pad of his thumb arcing across my nipple in a way that had me gasping and arching into him. “Actually, I think you’ve always had it. ”

“Liam?” I breathed.

“Yeah, baby?”

“Kiss me.”

He straightened to look into my eyes, smiling softly before he did as I asked.

The kiss was tender in that I could feel him pouring all of his love and adoration into it, reminding me not only with his words but with his body how deeply he cherished me, and how safe I was with him. I responded in kind, looping my arms around his neck and pressing myself flush against him until there was absolutely no space to be found between us.

“Think we’ll get in trouble if I fuck you right here, Wildflower?” he murmured against my mouth, moving his lips away to press them to my cheek, jaw, throat, pausing at the crook of my neck and scraping his teeth over that sensitive spot just above my collarbone. Like he wanted to be gentle with me but couldn’t help let a little bit of ferality slip through.

“I think you ’ll get in trouble if you don’t.”

“My girl,” he breathed. “Fuck, what did I do to deserve you?”

I didn’t answer, and he didn’t seem to expect one as he moved us deeper into the hot spring, walking me backward until he was setting me down on the natural stone ledge on the far side. Brazenly, I leaned back on my hands and spread my legs wide, hooking my heels on the edge, baring myself fully to him.

“Fuck.”

I chuckled, which quickly morphed into a low moan as he reached out and swiped his thumb through my slit.

“Tell me I can have you like this,” he said, his eyes never leaving that exposed apex. “Tell me you don’t give a fuck if someone walks out here and sees you getting off on my tongue.”

“It’s yours, Liam. All of it. But especially my pussy.”

“Fucking right it is,” he told me, grinning as his eyes flicked up to mine as he drifted closer and sank lower so his face was level with my sex.

Using two fingers to spread me open, he licked from back to front, agonizingly slow, and I canted my head to the side as another moan slipped free. I wanted to pay attention, couldn’t think of anything hotter than watching how much this man enjoyed unraveling me, so I rested my head on my shoulder, eyes heavily-lidded as he dove into his meal.

The only way to describe his expression was pure bliss as he ate me, lapping at my pussy like I was a treat he couldn’t get enough of, passing that pleasure onto me until my limbs were singing with it. I’d never felt like this with another man before, and that simply heightened every sensation until I was acutely aware of each wave of ecstasy zipping through my veins.

“Fuck, you’re delicious,” he murmured against me, tongue tracing a path around my clit, toying with me. My hand went to his hair, yanking, and he chuckled darkly. “Patience, Wildflower. You want my fingers too?”

“ Please .”

He inserted two painstakingly slowly until I was bucking against him, desperate for him to fill me completely.

“My needy fucking girl,” he praised. “Never happy until your cunt is completely full. So be a good girl and come on my tongue so I can give you the cock you so desperately want.”

“You want it too,” I snapped, though the words lacked any heat behind them, especially when they were cut off by the moan he dragged from me as he pumped his fingers in and out and scraped his teeth at my clit. “Fuck, Liam. I love when you’re rough.”

“You like me unhinged?”

“I fucking need it. Need to know you feel as unglued as me when I remember I’m the only one who gets to see you like this. That every part of you belongs to me.”

I reached between my thighs and gripped his chin in my hand, and he made a noise of protest as I forced him to look at me. I was walking a razor wire, my orgasm right fucking there as his hand continued to work me, but I said, “Promise me, Liam. Promise me you’re not like him.”

Liam rose up until we were eye level, capturing my mouth savagely, both of us panting as he continued to fuck me with his fingers. His thumb swept softly over my clit, and my hips twitched, eager for more pressure. I knew it wouldn’t take much to set me off.

“I promise, Ella. Your body, your heart and mind, your fucking soul—they are the greatest gifts I’ve ever been given. Now,” he whispered after dragging his tongue along my bottom lip and burying his fingers as deep as they could go, then crooking them in a come hither gesture that had my thighs quaking wildly, “come for me, Wildflower.”

As soon as his thumb pressed down on my clit and stroked it once, twice, three times—I came apart, screaming his name at the clouds.