Fighting With Light (The Coldwell Brothers #2)

5. Aelia

5

Aelia

Last night was interesting. I’ve been with men who are total gentlemen, and that’s not what threw me off, but I could physically feel Liam wanting more. I just don’t know what kind of more he was looking for. Was it sex? Was it questions? I tried not to think too hard about it when he left, but I was somewhat speechless because of it. Men don’t deny me. In fact, I expected him to maul me. I wanted him to do a lot of things to me, but he didn’t and it threw me off . It was disappointing, and that alone made me stop for a second. It made me ask myself a question I’ve never asked before.

What am I doing with my life?

I have spent years avoiding my father and pissing him off, but why does this one man, Liam, make me want to question it all? It’s not because I spontaneously fell in love with him. That’s just ridiculous. But the way he treated me and what I had expected from the start of the night was not what I got. I’m not here for that long. A temporary fling is all I’m looking for and I assumed he was, too.

Everything about him throws me off, but I have been up for two hours, too excited to sleep because we’re going to breakfast. It’s breakfast. I don’t have breakfast with any man, but Liam is not just a man. I don’t know him well, but I want to.

I got dressed a solid twenty minutes ago. I don’t know why I expected him to be early. But then again, maybe he’s an early riser. I also wanted to be ready to go the moment he shows up. I decided on crochet shorts and top with a lavender color swimsuit underneath, just in case we decide to go swimming. I also didn’t miss the way Liam looked at me in my favorite dress last night, yet he didn’t try anything.

Maybe it’s the want , the anticipation that seems to be growing between us . Tarzan is a little mysterious to me, and I think it makes me want him more. It’s the first time I’ve ever felt this way. I’ve never wanted to know a man for more than maybe forty-eight hours. Liam is that exception and I want to explore it. Every. Single. Inch of him.

A knock echoes in my villa and I force myself not to run to the back door. I don’t understand why he won’t just come to the front, but whatever. I slide the curtain and the door back and find him smiling in an open shirt, swim trunks, and bare feet. He looks like a surfer boy today, but he still feels like Tarzan, even as I take him in. He has this wildness to him. It’s unchecked and barely restrained. I can’t imagine what it feels like to have him unleash it on me. I don’t even mean that sexually, but when he’s surfing, I’m positive it’s flawless. Watching him scale that rock face yesterday definitely kept me in rapt attention. He’s hard to look away from.

“Good morning, princess.” His eyes flash something, but then it’s gone before I can catch it. My heart stalls a little in my chest. I’ve been called princess before because of who I am, but he doesn’t know who I really am, so it’s cute. I kind of love it, but only from him. If anyone else calls me that, I’ll threaten their balls.

“Morning, Tarzan,” I say, trying not to giggle.

He chuckles and absently rubs his glorious abs. I mean, the man is a professional athlete and his body shows it. “So I know I said I would take you to breakfast, but something tells me you might like breakfast coming to you.” He looks around the corner of the villa and waves his hand.

A few staff members come around the corner with a cart full of all kinds of fruit, pastries, and other things I don’t recognize. They set the little table that sits on the small patio with plates, cups, and silverware.

“Wow, Liam,” I say, taken by surprise. No man has ever tried to treat me this way. Others do it purely to get something out of it. They didn’t do it because they wanted to, and that alone speaks volumes .

“I hope you don’t mind. If you don’t like it, we can go somewhere else.”

I shake my head and close the door behind me. The heat of the day is increasing steadily, but the salty breeze keeps it comfortable. A staff member sets up an umbrella, then they disappear. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Liam slip the man a fifty and he leaves the way he came.

“This is beautiful, thank you,” I tell him, and I mean it.

He nods and pulls my chair out for me. I sit down and reach for the coffee, pouring myself and Liam a cup.

“Thanks,” he grunts and takes a sip.

We put some food on our plates and eat in companionable silence. I want to ask him a lot of things, but my tongue feels like it’s swelling up and it’s not because I’m allergic to something. My heart feels like it’s coming out of my chest and the only reason I can come up with is because I think I’m interested in him.

“So, what would you like to do today?” he asks.

I lean back, studying his handsome face. The sun has done him nothing but favors. Though I can see a darkness in his eyes that I don’t know what to make of. He’s so chill, smiley, and charming, I can’t imagine what would cause it.

“This is more than breakfast? Careful, Liam, a girl might think you want to spend more time with her,” I say jokingly, even though I mostly mean it.

“Well, the girl would be right because I do.”

My fork full of eggs pauses in front of my mouth. I don’t know why his honesty struck me the way it did, but…I like it.

He chuckles and reaches across the small table and wraps his hand around mine, still holding the fork full of eggs, and slowly lifts it into my mouth. I slide my lips against the fork and then he lets go, leaning back.

“Why do you seem so surprised I’d want to spend more time with you?”

My face gets hot because the honest answer to that question may make me look desperate, and I don’t look desperate for anyone. So I play it cool.

“I don’t know because I am pretty great.”

He grins and takes a bite of his banana. “I mean, I think so, seeing as I’m here,” he says.

I smile at that because, well, I can’t help myself. My stomach is full of butterflies and I really want to kiss him.

Screw it.

Standing from my chair, I take the two steps around the table and sit down on his lap. His hands rest on his thighs instead of my body, and I know he’s waiting to see what I do. Leaning into his imperfectly shaped lips, I kiss the small scar above his top one, then nip at his bottom lip. He grunts and I smile against his mouth. His body is tense with restraint and I leisurely drape my arms around his neck and tilt my head, pressing my lips to his. He lets me take what I want as I feel his warm hand slide up my side and then the other grips the back of my neck, controlling the angle.

I gasp, and he thrusts his tongue into my mouth, and I nip at him again. He growls, kissing me harder. Boy, does he kiss me. His tongue beckons at the thrill of feeling his hands on me. It’s electric, heady, almost primitive in the way he owns my mouth, as if I’m already his.

My heart startles in my chest and I pull away. His eyes are still closed and his lips are deliciously puffy with red tingeing his tan face. He opens his beautiful, jungle green eyes and I swear he just took my breath away again. He shifts and I feel something else beneath me and smile to myself.

“Are you finished eating? Because if you do that again, we will never see the rest of Bali.”

I lick my lips and kiss him on the cheek before standing up. “Yeah, I’m done.” He nods and takes a long, deep breath.

“Great, let’s go,” he says and grabs my hand. He doesn’t tell me where we’re going or what we’re doing, but I go anyway. Yet again, I’m following this man I hardly know because I like the way I feel with him. Violet was right. This place really is magical.