Chapter 198: Unannounced

Morning light cut through the gap in the curtains.

Liam woke early, the villa still quiet around him. The residual ache in his ribs had settled into something dull overnight.

He sat up, ran a hand through his hair, and decided a shower would clear the last of the sleep from his head. He left his clothes on the chair, stepped into the bathroom, and let the hot water run over his shoulders until the stiffness eased.

When he finished, he shut the water off, dragged a towel once over his hair, and wrapped it loosely around his waist. He needed the charger he had left on the dresser thirty seconds, in and out, then he could finish getting ready.

He opened the bathroom door. Veronica was already in the middle of the room.

She had come in without knocking. Whatever she had been about to say died the moment she saw him.

Her eyes dropped before she could stop them over the wet plane of his chest, the cut of his hips, the towel sitting low enough to leave very little to the imagination then snapped back up to his face.

For a second neither of them moved.

Veronica’s face went hot. She recovered fast, shoulders straightening, professional mask slamming back into place, but the damage was already done. She had looked. And he had seen her look.

"I" She cleared her throat. "I need to"

"Why are you in my room?"

The question cut cleanly through whatever explanation she had been trying to build. Veronica’s mouth closed.

Her fingers tightened around the tablet she was still holding. Water dripped from Liam’s hair onto his shoulder and ran down his chest. He made no move to adjust the towel.

"I came to talk to you," she said. Her voice was steadier than her eyes. "About the overnight coverage. I didn’t realize you were..."

"Showering."

"...Yes." Liam stepped further into the room. Veronica didn’t retreat, but her weight shifted slightly toward the door.

He stopped a few paces away, close enough that the heat coming off his skin reached her. Close enough that she had to work to keep her gaze above his collarbone.

"You didn’t knock." I thought you were downstairs.

"Well i wasn’t."

Silence stretched. Veronica’s throat moved as she swallowed.

The controlled version of her was fighting hard to reassert itself, but the image of him wet and nearly naked was still sitting behind her eyes, and both of them knew it.

Liam’s gaze drifted over her face the flush she hadn’t fully killed, the too-even breathing, the way her fingers had gone white around the edge of the tablet.

"You’ve been avoiding me," he said.

"I’ve been working."That’s not what I meant.

Veronica held his gaze for a second longer than necessary, then looked away.

The admission sat in the space between them without her needing to say it out loud. She had been careful around him for days.

Careful in hallways. Careful in the kitchen. Careful in every room where the other women had already stopped being careful.

Liam took another step closer.

Veronica’s back met the wall beside the dresser. She could have slid sideways toward the door. She didn’t.

He braced one hand against the wall beside her head and looked down at her. Water still beaded along his shoulders and chest. The towel hung precariously at his hips.

Veronica’s eyes flicked down once more before she forced them back up, and the second glance lasted longer than the first.

"You’re staring again," he said.

"I’m not."

"You are."A faint, frustrated breath left her. "You’re standing in front of me half-naked. It’s distracting."

"Then stop looking."

She didn’t. Liam lifted his free hand and brushed his knuckles along the side of her neck. Veronica’s breath caught.

She didn’t pull away. Her skin was warm. When his thumb traced the line of her jaw, her eyes half-lidded for half a second before she forced them open again.

"Liam"He kissed her.

Veronica made a soft, startled sound against his mouth then melted into it almost immediately.

The tablet slipped from her fingers and hit the carpet with a dull thud. Her hands came up to his chest, not pushing him away.

Sliding over wet skin. Holding on. Liam pressed her harder into the wall, one hand in her hair, the other still braced beside her head.

She opened for him with a quiet, hungry noise that seemed to surprise even her.

The kiss deepened.

Liam’s hand slid from her hair down her side, settling at her waist. Veronica arched slightly into the contact.

When he pulled her flush against him, the towel shifted and she could feel the hard heat of him against her hip.

A broken little sound escaped her throat. Her fingers curled against his wet shoulders.

He slipped his hand under the hem of her top. Warm skin. The faint catch in her breath when his palm spanned her ribs.

He didn’t rush higher. He just let his hand rest there, thumb stroking slowly, while he kissed her deeper. Veronica’s hips shifted against him almost without her permission. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ

When he finally brushed the underside of her breast through her bra, she arched into his hand with a quiet, broken inhale.

"Liam..."

Her voice was shaky. Wanting.

He cupped her fully, squeezing, thumb dragging across the nipple until it tightened under the fabric.

Veronica moaned into his mouth. Her hands had moved to the back of his neck, pulling him closer, fingers sliding into his wet hair.

The careful, measured woman who had walked into his room without knocking was slipping, moment by moment, into something less controlled.

Liam pinched her nipple through the bra and felt her whole body jerk. He did it again, slower, and she made another soft, helpless sound against his mouth. Her hips pressed forward. The heat coming off her was unmistakable.

He broke the kiss just enough to speak against her lips."You’re not leaving this room."

Veronica’s eyes were dark, lips swollen, breathing uneven. Whatever resistance she had walked in with was gone.

She didn’t argue. She didn’t try to step away. She simply held his gaze, flushed and wanting, as his hand slid from her breast down to the waistband of her pants.

The towel around his hips finally gave way and dropped to the floor.

Veronica’s breath hitched hard at the sight of him fully hard and bare against her. Liam kissed her again, deeper this time, and started working her pants down over her hips.

She didn’t stop him.

Her hands only tightened on his shoulders as he stripped her, piece by piece, until there was nothing left between them but heat and the quiet certainty of what was about to happen.

Outside, the villa was fully awake.Inside the room, Veronica had already crossed the line.

And Liam had no intention of letting her step back.