HDU #2: Dirt Read Online Free Page B

barely lit by the lone chandelier
on the seventy-foot ceiling.   Her
heart begin to pound in her throat, she tried to take in a deep breath despite
the feeling of her air passage tightening up.   Okay, Amanda .   You
need to relax and not have a heart attack when you’re alone in some dark
hallway where no one will find you.   Calm down.   Maybe it was
just some weird, technical glitch.   Those happen sometimes.   Right? Right.
    Leaning back
against the wall, she finally let out a long, heavy sigh.   “God.”   Eyes closed, it took her a good five seconds to realize that
she was standing square in the middle of the corridor — that there was no
wall behind her to lean against.  
    Jumping half a
foot in the air, Amanda spun around.
    “ Jesus Christ! ” she half-squealed,
half-shrieked, her body rippling with shivery goosebumps.  
    Gathering Amanda
with a strong arm around her waist, Liam laughed.   The gleam in his dark eyes indicated that he was about to
say something snarky but it faded into something else once he held Amanda away
from his body to get a good look at her.   He raised his eyebrows.
    “Hello,” he said
to her dress.
    Eyes wide,
Amanda stared at him and then her hands, which were flattened against his
chest.   It was harder than she
remembered.   Broader, too.   In all fairness, he did bear some
resemblance to marble.   Swallowing,
Amanda willed her breath to slow down enough so she could speak.   “Liam.   God, you scared the shit out of me,” she breathed, though
the last few words of her sentence faded into gibberish as her eyes roved about
him, from his chest to his arms to his neck.   Well, shit .   For once, the tabloids weren’t
lying.   He’d gotten big.   Huge, even.   She blinked, confused by how unfamiliar his body felt under
her skin.   She was too much in awe
to care about the fact that she could actually feel Liam smirking as he watched
her get acquainted with his new form.
    “I…” Eh, whatever .   It wasn’t worth trying to speak when her mind had taken such
a decided break from working.   And
when she apparently had a Spartan warrior for a boyfriend.   Biting her lip back, Amanda ran her
hands up to his broad shoulders and down to his arms.   She delighted in the fact that her fingers failed miserably
to wrap around even half of his new biceps.   Happy birthday to me ,
she thought, since apparently, cheesy lines existed for a reason.   They couldn’t be helped when someone
looked as damned good as Liam did.   Tilting her head, Amanda ignored Liam’s amused gaze to watch her own palms
return to his chest before sliding down to his abs.   She could see her own lashes fluttering like a hummingbird
as she ran the tips of her fingers along the new, severely defined ridges of
his six pack.   Jesus .   She exhaled
hard and as they did whenever she wanted something, her fingers curled,
scratching Liam through his white button down.
    Suddenly, he
held her wrist.
    “Stop.”
    Startled, Amanda
blinked, feeling her lower lip protrude as she gave Liam a quizzical look.   He laughed, gently removing her hands
from his body.
    “You’re not
allowed to feel me up right now.   Not while we’re in public and you’re wearing that dress.”
    “Why?”
    “Because I’m
going to have you up against that wall, that’s why.”
    Amanda’s jaw
dropped.   A grin touched Liam’s
lips as he held her chin and eyed her open mouth.
    “Don’t make this
face either.”
    “What — ? Oh! ” Amanda slapped his hand hard away
from her, the sound echoing loudly in the empty hall.   Liam quickly caught her hands, holding them both still with
one of his.
    “Easy, tiger,”
he laughed.   “No hitting.”
    Amanda failed to
fight the huge grin tugging at her lips.   “Fine.”   She flashed him a
look and only then did she really notice his hair.   Huh .   Despite initially despairing the idea
while he was in Jordan, she had to admit that the soldier-like buzz