Retracting her hand, Lily considered her next words for a long moment. She decided to probe a bit, gauge Liam’s reaction. “Do you love him?”

Liam gaped at her, eyes wide. “Jude? No. I mean, yes. But as my best friend, not in the romantic sense.”

She gave him a soft, encouraging smile. “You two play together, though, and I can see how close you are. Doesn’t that blur the lines of friendship?”

He flopped back in the lounger, a smile curving his lips, good humor restored. “Not for us. We’re great friends, with benefits. I’d do anything for him and I know for a fact he would for me, too. It’s just…” He waved a hand idly. “You can’t put two highly sexed guys like us together on a daily basis and not have a nuclear reaction on occasion.”

Yum. “Tell me more.”

Liam turned his head to squint at her, expression amused. “As you might have guessed, he’s dominant, which appeals to my inner slut. He fucks like a dream, especially when he’s primed to play a little rough.”

The image of those two beautiful men playing together seared itself into her brain. And the image made her squirm-in a good way.

“Do you share lovers?”

“Sometimes. I have a few friends in the city who hang here once in a while, and then there’s Jude’s models. It’s never dull, for sure.”

“You’re lucky,” she said, almost to herself.

“How so?”

Her gesture encompassed their surroundings. “You have all of this, a hot best friend who shares your open lifestyle, your freedom. You have everything.”

He slanted her an odd look. “But so do you. All of this is yours now, too.”

Again, the burden of why she was really here weighed more heavily than any assignment to date.

In truth? She had nothing and no one to call her own.

You need information, however you have to obtain it, she reminded herself sternly. No matter how sweet he is, this man is not your friend. He’d hate you if he knew who and what you are.

“Thanks. That’s awfully nice of you to say.”

“Call it like I see it,” he said, shrugging. Sitting up, he flashed a sunny smile. “Want me to help you with the sunscreen? You’re turning pink.”

“Go for it, sweetie,” she said, flipping onto her stomach.

She felt his weight settle on the lounger, one knee between her legs, the other foot braced on the ground. Leaning over, he squirted the cool lotion on her back and began to work it in, his touch light and efficient. His palms smoothed over the crease in her spine, her sides. Under the string of her top, to her shoulders, rubbing with more pressure.

“Wow, you’ve got some serious knots,” he said in concern. “Want me to work them out for you?”

“That’s okay-oh,” she moaned in bliss. He ignored her weak protest and began to massage the tense muscles, thumbs kneading the sore knots she hadn’t realized were there.

“There you go. Just relax and let me make it better. Are you under a lot of stress?”

Who, me? Oh, no, I’m just going to kill your boss-you know, your best friend? And I didn’t expect to like him, either. No conflict at all.

“Just the usual. Moving, taking a new position, learning the ropes.”

“You’ll have it down in no time; don’t worry.”

“Mmm. Your hands are heaven. Do you treat Jude to this magical brand of stress relief?”

“Are you kidding? Every chance I get. Besides, the knots in his muscles are always bad. Painting for hours without a break wears him down.”

Through the pleasant haze, Lily became aware of Liam’s erection. It rode the back of her thigh, high and hard, his heat branding her through his trunks.

“Um, Liam? Is the pistol in your shorts for me, or him?” Laughing, he pressed against her back, his breath tickling her ear. “I’m sprawled across the hottest woman I’ve ever met. She’s practically naked and I haven’t had sex in days. Answer your question?”

In spite of how great he felt against her, she couldn’t resist teasing. “So I’m convenient?”

“You’re not convenient-you’re smart and attractive.” He kissed the shell of her ear, nibbled a tender spot on her neck. “We’re young, we’re consenting adults, and I’m dying to know if you taste as sweet as you smell.”

She wiggled onto her back and cupped his face, brushed a lock of black hair from his eyes. “We can’t have you expiring on top of me, can we?”

God, his weight felt so good, his scent clean and male. The encounter with Jude at lunch had merely whetted her appetite, left her aching for a man’s thick cock filling her.

Lily pulled his head down and he took her mouth, delving his tongue inside for a thorough exploration. He moaned, grinding his length into her mound, creating wonderful friction as they sampled each other. His kiss was so different from Jude’s-slow and passionate, where Jude’s was like a tornado tearing at her well-constructed walls, shaking her foundations.

Liam kissed like a lover skilled in gentle seduction, the sort that sneaks up on his partner by degrees until he or she is consumed without quite recalling how it happened.

Two different men, each devastating in his own way.

Pulling back, he kissed a path down her throat, moved lower, and grazed her nipples with his teeth through the fabric of her swimsuit top. Tiny little shocks curled her toes in pleasure and she wanted more.

Arching, she untied the string at the nape of her neck. Taking his cue from her, Liam untied the one at her back and pulled the top away, dropping it to the ground.

“Pretty,” he said reverently, dipping his head.

He flicked one rosy tip, coaxing it to attention with his clever tongue. Then he suckled, laving it, every rasp sending sparks of delight to her nerve endings. She loved how his hair fell around his face, brushed against her ribs. How his long, graceful fingers caressed her skin as though she was priceless.

Shifting, he heaped equal attention to the other breast, scraping and teasing until she writhed under him, eager. “Less clothes, more skin,” she said, voice quavering.

Releasing the nub with a pop, he gave her a grin. “Gladly.” He pushed up to stand next to the lounger and she watched hungrily as he shoved the trunks past his hips and off.

His long cock jutted from a light nest of ebony curls and curved toward his stomach, perfectly proportioned to his body. The mushroom-shaped head leaked pre-cum, the entire length flushed dark with arousal. A yummy, blue-veined treat she couldn’t wait to devour.

Liam started to join her on the lounger again, but she sat up and grabbed his hips. “Stay where you are and spread your legs. I want some of this.”

“Take all you need, baby.”

Widening his stance, he waited for her to make her move. She wasted no time, gripping the base of his erection and licking the salty tip. His balls hung heavy below the shaft and she reached out, manipulated the velvety orbs as she swallowed him down her throat.

“Christ,” he hissed, thrusting forward in reflex. His hands fisted in her hair, guiding her deep.

She loved sucking cock. Always had, ever since she’d discovered the joys of reducing a boy to a puddle of mush. The thrill of power. As she’d grown older, she’d learned a man would do anything, promise the moon, for the decadence of a woman’s lips caressing his cock.

Liam didn’t promise anything, however. Probably because he couldn’t speak.

His dark head was thrown back, eyes closed, lips parted. He looked like a man who’d found heaven by slamming into the pearly gates. Headfirst.

Lily indulged them both, drawing him so deep the hair at his groin tickled her nose, slurping him in slow, noisy rhythm. She pulled out until only the head remained in her mouth, then in again. Out and in, feasting on his rod and glancing up occasionally to watch the bliss grow on his sexy face.

“Lily, stop.” He pulled back. “Jesus, stop or I’m going to lose it any second.”