Page 3 of Love in Times of Contempt

few hours

Ely: Tell him

he's a champ

Ana: Lol, I will!

Ana worked on administrative tasks for her and Liam's new production company, music playing in the background. She worked at Liam's desk; as she'd spent more time in LA, they'd rearranged the office to have two work surfaces, one for Ana's editing hardware and another for more general laptop use. Her eyes lifted from the screen in front of her as she caught movement in the hallway.

"There you are." Liam let go of his luggage and stepped into the office.

"You're here!" Ana got up and walked around the desk, approaching him with glee in each step. "I didn't hear you arrive."

He wore a hoodie she'd given him for his birthday, and her heart pitter-pattered at the image that came with it: him choosing it to take it with him as a concrete memory of home. Of her.

God, she'd missed him.

She strode to meet him in the middle of the room, where she jumped into his arms— she was a tall-ish woman with plenty of padding around her form, but one thing she'd learned over the past year? He could hold her up.

She grinned and surrounded his neck with her arms while his hands wrapped around her thick thighs, his fingers squeezing the softness there. He patted and grabbed all the way up her legs, until he settled with firm hands on her ass. She kissed him deeply.

"You're early." She kept her lips within kissing distance. "Your text said you'd be later than this?"

"Yeah, there was a change and things actually moved faster than I thought." He kissed her once on each cheek. "And now I'm on a break. I can already feel the stress leaving my body."

She kissed him on the mouth, a silent complaint against his demure gesture. "I can't wait tofinallymeet your family this weekend."

He rolled his eyes but accompanied it with a smile. He released her and her feet found the ground again. "You too? My parents have been giving me grief over it. You know we tried several times and it just didn't work out."

Her smile widened. She lifted herself onto the balls of her feet and leaned against him; her arms remained on his shoulders. "Doesn't mean I'm not going to tease you about it."

"Do I need to remind you I've only met your parents for dinner twice?"

"Anyway," she said, her eyebrows lifting. "I prepped food earlier, but was waiting for you to come home to finish getting dinner ready. Are you hungry?"

"Ravenous." The sparkle in his eyes told her he wasn't thinking about food. His hands found her ass again.

"Oh? Did you miss any particular home delicacies?"

"Some in particular." Not letting go of her, he walked her back until she collided against the bookcase.

"Anything that could satisfy your appetite at the moment?"

"This is something." He made a show of studying the shelves. "'Cause it just occurred to me that I haven't fucked you against these yet."

She faked hesitation, and twisted around to inspect the large piece of furniture as well. "I don't know if it'll work—"

He interrupted her by grabbing her by the thighs and lifting her to sit her on a small decorative ledge. "Your sexy ass fits perfectly here. If I remove your jeans I can make this work. Or I can bend you over and fuck you like that, too. Or both."

"Show me," she whispered, before he got down to business.

Chapter Two

LATER, AFTER LIAM FOUND a third position against the bookshelf and gave her two orgasms, they succumbed to hunger for real food. He went to take a shower while she finished dinner, all with a sore backside from the way the wood had dug into her flesh. Worth it, though.

Now Ana sat at the dinner table across from Liam; his face held a level of relaxation he never seemed to reach while on their video calls across the world.

He swallowed a big bite of the encocado de camarón she'd made. "Did you hear from Carruthers?"