REFINED ROMANCE

Honesty

I waited. The traffic hummed below. Horns blared.

"I'm not going to lie, Sophie, " he said hoarsely, looking at me, "the first time I set my eyes on you, I immediately fell in love with you but had to hold back because I don't know you. You never knew me. And it was f****d. So this is why I have been staying in L.A. Now I'm back and my life is about to crash and burn, and all I'm asking is for you to just..." my hand was taken and his chest heaved.

He sobbed and the sound stabbed my heart because it was so sudden.

"What do you want me to do?" my voice was weak. I held onto his hand.

Liam 's lips remained parted, eyes lowered. "Can you just prove to me that I've made one good decision in my life so far? Can you allow me to show you that I am not a horrible person as everyone believes me to be. That I hide behind a facade. But when it comes to you today, somehow I'm just...Liam?

Blinking back tears, I shifted position on the chair and moved in closer. Wrapping him into a tight embrace, his fragility was felt. So slack in my arms, weak and crumbling. My fingers ran through his choppy hair and I felt hands caress my thighs between us. He sobbed, shook and I just held him. A man who had been really hurt. Terribly hurt. Had crashed and had almost died. And yet he picked himself up and came through.

"So I gave you hope?" my lips were pressed into her hair. I smelt apples.

"Yes," he croaked. Fingers slightly tickled my thighs, dancing upon them. "I can't believe this. Am I still dreaming? Are you really here?"

"Yeah," the paranoia had faded away. Maybe this was too good to be true because it was meant to be somehow. I just needed to relax. "Crash and burn all you like with me. Because I'm not going anywhere."

"Very soon I wouldn't be your boss," he said softly. I felt him playing with my hair from behind. "So working for me wouldn't be a challenge."

"Don't say that," I held hope in that too. "You're not going to get fired. It's ridiculous. I like you being the boss at Dazzle.

"I'm not going to fight it," he said. "It's her company. She's not going to sack him. And I cannot put up with dealing with him on a daily basis...business-wise. So it's for the best. I already managed to get an offer somewhere else. It's not as CEO but Vice President and I'm just waiting to accept. The woman who owns the business is a childhood friend of mine."

We pulled apart, fingers still entwined. "Good, so at least you have options. And no one can bring you down just because you're being you. Plus you were wronged. Not the other way around. So no one has the right to throw blame your way. I'll just miss the thought of actually seeing you around the place if you leave. Especially after this."

"We haven't done anything yet," he said in that husky voice of his. Fingers danced around the top of my shirt, two buttons undone. Clipping the material, it was slightly moved aside to expose the lining of my black bra. "It's barely 10:30..."

"I have to get up at 7..." I sent him a sympathetic look. "I've got like one hour more to burn."

"I can manage an hour," his husky voice trembled my skin.

"But let's take things slow," I suggested, taking his ands around the wrists. "You're slightly wounded still. I don't want to push things."

"Sophie I have been waiting for you for a very long time and I can't anymore.To satisfy me the way I wanted. I've never slept with someone am inlove with, "it has always been forced ",he said .

My eyes widened when he slowly stood up, taking my hand and pulling me up.

"And we have an hour. An hour to explore. Each other. An hour that will possibly stretch onto two or more. Based on our chemistry. And what will happen when we touch each other..."

I tried to press my fingers onto his llps but he moved them, this look on a handsome face. No smile. Just a deep look. Intense brown eyes.

"When I devour parts of you with my...mouth."

"Liam..." I pulled him close and felt how my body burnt to be touched.

"I didn't even have to arm wrestle to get a chance to play with your hair."

"Right now I want to play you like an instrument."

He gasped into my parted lips and led me towards his bedroom, the bottle of wine tucked under one arm. "Yes."

"Wait," I gestured to the glasses on the table.

"We don't need those. I will destroy your happiness." His fingers began to unbutton my shirt. "Over and over again."

My mind was in a trance. "I can't wait..."

Crushing our lips together, I believed now when people said that your life could change just like that. Something could happen just like that. And when I was pushed onto the bed, the mattress feeling like a cloud, my heart began to gallop faster. Because he slipped out that suit . He was wearing a vest and his boxer shorts , I realized that I had always been sucker for strong musclesand chest. Swaying his hips in front of me, Liam ran hands down his hips and danced, a thumb hooked inside his boxer shorts.

I lost another one of my nine lives.