Escaping Reality

through every nerve ending in my
    body, until I am limp in the chair.
    I blink the image of my leg over his shoulder into view and blush
    furiously. I try to pull it down and he leans in and licks me one last time. I
    shudder with the impact and he chuckles, then settles my leg on the
    ground. I quickly try to shimmy my skirt down my legs, and can’t get it.
    Liam pushes to his feet and pulls me with him, caressing my dress
    back into place.
    “I can’t believe we just did that here.”
    He leans in and kisses me, pressing his tongue into my mouth, before
    he whispers, “And now we can both have a taste of what the rest of the
    night will hold. Mike be damned.”

Chapter Twenty-One

    The restaurant is a circle that rotates and has a bar in the center with
    spectacular views of the city. Liam and I join our group of what will be six,
    including us, and Mike, Mr. A-Hole himself, greets me with a handshake.
    Mike is as Liam has described: rather short for a man, no taller than my five
    feet, four inches, forty-something, and otherwise quite decent looking. I say
    a quick hello to the others attending the dinner and we all are seated. Mike
    to my left. Liam to my right. Derek on the opposite side of Mike, and two
    other investors on the far side of the table.
    The first order of business is wine, which I refuse for fear I might be
    pregnant. “Diet whatever you have,” I say, and Liam squeezes my leg,
    pulling my gaze to his, and there is awareness and approval there. And
    heat. Lots of heat. I think the idea of me being pregnant actually turns him
    on. But I think all men get a macho rise out of the idea of creating a baby on
    some level. That doesn’t mean they’re happy when the round belly and
    dirty diapers come around.
    “So tell me about yourself, Amy,” Mike encourages.
    “I’m a boring secretary,” I reply, automatically slipping into deflection
    mode. That’s who I am, deflection girl, and I am so ready to change that.
    “I’d much rather hear about you,” I continue. “Were you an investor in this
    spectacular building Liam designed?”
    Derek laughs, drawing my gaze. “Glad you’re along for dinner, Amy.”
    He nods to Liam.
    “Good call.”
    Liam squeezes my leg. “I couldn’t agree more.”
    “She certainly knows how to start things out with a bang,” Mike
    concedes, “but she makes my point. This building is spectacular. Let’s do it
    again a little bigger.”
    “But you’re creating a place that is more than a workspace this time,”
    I argue. “You’re creating a small city, from what I understand.”
    “This building is more than a workspace.”
    “A pyramid—”
    “Is Las Vegas fodder for tourists,” Mike finishes for me.
    “Tell that to the Egyptians who spent years creating just one of the
    structures. Tell that to the many scientists and experts who spend year
    after year trying to figure out how it was even possible for an ancient
    society to build the structures. And do you really think Liam would build
    something that would be Vegas-like unless he was creating it for Vegas?”
    Mike gives me a hard look, glances at Liam, and then back at me.
    “Okay Amy,” he conceeds witha smile, “you have a point. Considering the
    masterpiece of a building we are sitting inside at present, I cannot say I
    think Liam would do anything that wasn’t spectacular.”
    I grin my approval and watress appears. Once she takes our orders,
    the conversation shifts to the stock market for what seems like forever.
    Even if I understood any of it, Liam’s hand stroking my leg isn’t allowing my
    brain to work, and no matter how many times I clamp down on his fingers,
    he sets them in motion again, each time tugging my dress a little higher up
    my thigh.
    Dessert time finds Derek and Liam in deep conversation with the
    opposite side of the table, and Mike and I restart our conversation about
    buildings. Mike points out the many amazing buildings around the world
    that are record-breaking heights, or were, when first built. I quickly remind
    him that he is forgetting the many amazing structures that get attention for
    uniqueness, rather than height.
    When Mike is without any true knowledge of the miracle of
    pyramids, I glance at Liam and Derek, confirming they are still distracted,
    before I dare to dare to be a tad more liberal about my knowledge of the
    subject. .
    “I wonder,” I say, after we’ve talked a good hour in which Mike
    appears genuinely enthralled by the mysteries