Liam laughed for almost an entire minute. I, on the other hand, was displeased. I let out a little growl and raked a hand through my hair as I sat down on the edge of my bed. I contemplated ways to get my brother back later on. Michael had yet to date anyone since he started college two years prior, but I was patient. The scowl on my face must have worried Liam, because he walked over to sit beside me.

His breath was shaky as he finally settled down his laughter. “I don’t mind, I know he was just playing with us,” he pointed out as he took hold of my hand and threaded his fingers through it.

He began to gently run his thumb along the back of my hand and I started to forget what I was even annoyed about. “You know, that’s really not fair,” I began as I squirmed. “Distracting me with the hand rubbing thing…”

By the small smirk that tugged the corner of Liam’s lips, I knew that he knew. Instead of irritation, the feeling that began to bubble up inside me was pure excitement. I was about to tackle the auburn-haired man to my bed, but the conscience in the back of my head reminded me that I should go at Liam’s pace.

Liam surprised me by tugging me onto his lap in a way that my legs straddled either side of him. His large, warm hands left a fiery trail as they slid up my outer thighs and settled on my ample backside. “Hmm, I find it hilarious how obsessed you seem to be with that part of my anatomy,” I commented as I stroked at his upper back in a relaxed manner.

“Not gonna lie,” Liam responded as he gave it a squeeze. “I think you might be right about that.” He admitted. “When I was being interviewed and shown around the company, I would have completely botched it all if I kept staring in your direction when you bent down to pick up a sheet of paper that had flown off the copier.”

I let out a snort. “So, you’re saying that even before you saw my face, you were enamored with my butt?” I questioned.

Liam grinned. “Yeah, I had the most dumbstruck expression on my face. It was actually thanks to Kathryn that I was able to snap out of it.”

“Kathryn? Really?”

“She called me out and said ‘his name’s Seth Slater, so come and find him later’,” he recalled.

“That fashionista traitor,” I huffed. “So, she was trying to hook us up from day one.”

 “When I first saw your face, you were laughing at something your old boss said. Your smile really did a number on me,” Liam confessed.

“Heh. And then at the staff meeting, you heard me open my mouth. That would have been enough to deter anyone.” I joked. “The way I gripe and complain.”

The grin on Liam’s face widened. “On the contrary, I thought you were just the funniest thing. I wanted to, at the very least, be your friend.”

I raised an eyebrow. “And you’d have been content just being friends?”

He shook his head. “I would have wanted more of you no matter what,” he affirmed as he looked me right in the eye.

My heart skipped a beat without my permission, as it always seemed to like to do around Liam. “Well,” I drawled. “If you can live with my grouchiness and cleaning routines, I guess I could make the effort to get used to your stubborn streaks and energy.”

The next thing I knew, I felt one of Liam’s hands on the back of my head and was pulled into a searing kiss. His tongue eagerly invaded my mouth and I savored the heat of the appendage rubbing against my own. I flicked the tip of my tongue against his upper lip and his teeth gently tugged at my lower ones. Heat began to rise right off my body from head to toe as my shaft gave a nearly painful throb inside my pants.

Why the fuck was I still wearing pants?

I don’t remember which one of us pulled away first, but it was probably me. My hands quickly undid the button and zipper of my pants. I then lifted myself high enough to roughly tug the pants down enough to free my stiffening erection.

Liam let out a pleased sound and gave my shaft a few strokes before he urged me back up enough for him to free his own length. His lips found mine once more as the two of us stroked our own members. I felt him make his way down to nip and suck on the side of my neck.

He seemed to really like marking me. As a rush of pleasure rolled through me, I realized that I really liked it, as well. I blindly reached for one of my pillows and shoved it between us as we grinded and rocked against each other.

I pulled off my dress shirt and he pulled his shirt off as well. We both dove into another kiss, all but devouring one another. His arms wrapped around me and tugged me impossibly closer. My fingers dug into his scalp as the heat continued to radiate between us.

Liam pulled away to gasp a few moments later and I had the pleasure of seeing his honey hued eyes darken into an amber shade. He held on to my hips tightly as he humped up against me, pillow and all, and came. I followed shortly after.

“Damn,” I panted. “One of us really has to pick up some condoms already.”

A part of me seemed to look forward to hearing Liam’s laughter. I wasn’t disappointed.

:::

Liam was once again a rumpled mess by the time I walked him out to the door. He gave me a sound kiss on the lips before taking off. As I gazed at the closed door, I tried to ignore the mixture of giddiness and the desire to see him again as soon as humanly possible. But, I couldn’t bring myself to deny how much I liked him anymore.

“Soooo, did you tap his ass or was it the other way around?” Michael teased from the sofa in the living room.

I walked over and sharply flicked his ear.

“Ow!”

“Are you trying to scare my new boyfriend away?” I questioned with my hands on my hips.

“No, I was just kidding, you know?” Michael insisted as he rubbed at his ear. “I’m your brother. It’s like a universal rule that I gotta give Liam the test.”

“Don’t you mean the talk?” I countered.

“Right, what you said,” he agreed as he waved a set of noise-cancellation headphones around in his hand. “I meant to say the talk.”

I let out a long sigh and shook my head. “Not that it’s any of your business, but there wasn’t any ass tapping involved. Ass groping maybe.”

“…was it because of me?” Michael asked, a touch of concern bleeding into his voice.

I ruffled the top of his head and clicked my tongue. “No. Though he didn’t mind having a brat hovering at the door. If I insisted enough, it probably would have happened whether you were down here or not.”

“Then, why didn’t it?”

“Why? That’s for me and Liam to know,” I responded. “I can’t give you all the details.”

Michael tilted his head as he regarded me. “Well, you don’t really seem too upset over it, so I’ll take it as a good thing!” He then stood up and stretched. “I’m going to take a shower first in the guest bathroom. If you’re lucky, I might even leave you some hot water!”

He was already halfway there by the time I called out to him. “You better not take all the hot water!”

:::

When my brother emerged nearly a half an hour later, he was towel-drying his hair. But, there really was plenty of heated water left for my own shower. The two of us then watched an episode of one of Michael’s favorite TV shows when my phone gave off a text alert.

“I made it through the wilderness!”

I frowned in confusion. I didn’t set my alerts to that sound.

“Michael!” I hissed as I reached for it. “When did you change my alert tones? How did you even unlock my phone?”

Mike shrugged. “Your pattern was in the shape of an ‘S’ for ‘Seth’ so it wasn’t that hard to figure out. And you left your phone out here while the two of you were having fun, I couldn’t help myself.”

“So you set Liam to Madonna?” I questioned. “How…?”

At that, he snickered. “You were the one that wrote out in your journal how the song ‘Like a Virgin’ was beginning to suit him!”

My eyes widened. “You read my journal?”

“I was bored waiting for you to get home after your dinner date,” he confessed in a whiny voice.

Before I was able to strangle him, the phone gave off another text alert. I gripped the device in my hand and scowled. “We’ll talk about this later,” I warned as I headed to my room for some privacy.

I could still hear him giggling in the distance up until the moment I shut the door. I dragged a hand down my face in frustration as I began to remember how little privacy I had whenever the brat was around. When I glanced down at the screen, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Michael had changed Liam’s screen name from ‘Shameless’ to ‘Virginal.’

Virginal  9:47PM

< Looks like I took up your usual reading time. My apologies.

< Not sure if you’re even still awake.

I’m awake! Sorry for the late reply. Michael’s been more mischievous than usual. >

< Oh? How so?

Well, he read my journal while we were having dinner and then sabotaged my phone while we were…distracted. >

< You have a journal? And how did he sabotage your phone? How are you able to text me?

No, not physically. > (My fingers hovered over the digital keyboard as I thought of how to tell him.)

He, uh…he set a Madonna song as your text alert and then changed your screen name to match it. >

< Which one? Material girl? Holiday?

…Like a virgin. >

< Wait, you mean from that one conversation? You wrote about it in your journal?

…yes.>

< I’m in your journal? Really? That’s awesome! <3

(I glared at the screen for a moment. Did he really just text an exclamation mark and an emoji heart?)

Once again, I think you’re happy for all the wrong reasons.>

< Would you ever let me read it?

What? No! …maybe? On second thought, just no.>

< What’s Michael’s number again?

Don’t collaborate with my brother against me!>

< What about when I need to plan a surprise for you?

I’ve never been a fan of surprises.>

< Even if I let you know before hand?

Just how did we end up in this conversation, again?>

< Mike messed with your phone after reading about me in your journal.

Then how about we get back to why you texted me in the first place?>

< Wednesday’s a fairly slow day for everyone. How about we make it an outing after work?

An outing?>

< Yeah, Michael included! How does bowling sound?

(I thought about it for a moment. A part of me wanted to spend more time with Liam alone. But, another part of me understood that he wanted to get to know my family. I wondered if it would always feel as if he’d slow things down whenever we got too close. I couldn’t remember the last time I dated anyone that was that serious. Was it really as bad as I kept making it out to be?)

I’ll ask him and let you know tomorrow at work.>

< Great! See you then.

:::

I don’t know how long it took me to fix my settings, but I let out a long sigh of relief when my phone was finally back to normal. I then headed back over to my brother. The wide grin on Michael’s face when I told him about the possible outing made me feel equal parts joy and suspicion.

“I still haven’t agreed to this,” I warned him. “If you’re to go with us, you better be on your best behavior. That means no teasing Liam to the extreme, no embarrassing tales of our childhood, and no intentional injuries.”

Michael lifted a finger to his chin as he thought it through. “So…I can tease Liam a TINY bit and tell NOT-so embarrassing stories of our childhood?” He offered.

My lips thinned as I thought it over. I then held out my hand for him to shake. “Deal.”

::

a/n: Is anyone still reading this one?