Page 34 of Love in Times of Contempt

Chapter Thirteen

AFTER THE PANEL, LIAM and Ana attended a cocktail event to network and, after that, a VIP hang at an exclusive bar with several of the producers from the initial event. He and Ana didn't return to the hotel until much later.

Liam was exhausted but, seeing how Ana threw herself to bed face down, maybe she was doing worse. She seemed boneless; her hair a splayed, messy halo all around.

"Tired?" Liam asked. He stood in the middle of the room, watching her.

Ana grunted. The annoying pressure in the pit of his stomach relaxed a little at the domesticity of it.

He reached for the top button of his shirt. "Remember that first time, when you went back to Bloomington after filming and I went on a tour? How I would call you when I got to my hotel room?"

Ana turned on the bed, her listless body minimizing movement, and her arms fell wherever they'd followed her torso. Her hair covered most of her face.

"You must have been really into me," she said, voice gruff.

His lips curled and the pressure in his gut released further. He unbuttoned his shirt, hands slow as he approached her. She lifted a hand to clear the hair off her face, revealing twinkling eyes.

"Does it make you want to gloat?" He pulled at the sides of his shirt to reveal more of his chest to her admiring eyes.

She bit her lips. Her eyes followed his hands. "Yeah."

"Do you want me to take off my shirt?" He wet his bottom lip.

She bit hers. "Yeah."

He didn't take off his shirt. He unbuttoned his jeans and crawled into the bed, laying down beside her.

Elbow bent, he rested his head on his hand. "Are you into me?"

"Yeah. Very."

He lifted a hand and followed the long chain of her necklace from her solar plexus up, in between her breasts, and to her neck. He caressed the soft skin with the pad of his index finger, testing the strength of her pulse there.

"How much?" He searched for every piece of her answer she'd give him.

She considered him, eyes roaming over his face, down his torso.

"This is where I wish I knew poetry, because nothing else would suffice."

The knot in his stomach fully released for the first time in hours.

He leaned down to kiss her, softly, exploring. Her stomach growled. He grinned against her lips.

"How about we order some food?" He asked. "Sounds like you could use a bit more today."

"You're perfect." She sighed. "A snack would be great. I drank more than I ate today."

He laughed. "I'll feed you in exchange for more of these adoring eyes you're bestowing on me."

"I'm bestowing you with adoring eyes?"

He nodded, still grinning. "We'll eat, then get cozy in bed, then we'll sleep."

She kissed his cheek and lied back on the bed. Liam took his phone from a nearby table. He sat on the side of the bed, feet planted firmly on the ground. It turned out to be a saving grace, because the email he saw from Alex took his breath away. His heart stopped working.

"What? What happened?" Ana asked. He wasn't sure what had told her something was wrong, but she knew him well enough to notice anyway.

His shoulders slumped low with the weight of the words he read.