Chapter Sixteen: The Surgeon Stripped Bare

The straps dug into Sarah’s wrists and ankles, her body stretched across the cold operating table, the harsh overhead light exposing her in ways no one had ever dared.

She yanked against the restraints again, but they held fast. Fury seared her veins. Fear, too. But beneath it, traitorous heat, molten and uncontainable, flooding every nerve ending.

He stood over her like a predator savoring the first bite, his hands braced on either side of her hips, his gaze sweeping down her trembling body with the hunger of a man who’d been starved.

“Sarah,” he murmured, his voice rough velvet. “Do you have any idea what you look like right now?”

Her breath caught. “Like your prisoner.”

His lips curled. “No. You look like my feast.”

She swallowed hard, her throat dry.

He leaned lower, his mouth ghosting over the shell of her ear. “I haven’t eaten yet,” he whispered, the words sliding down her spine like liquid fire. “And I’m starving. I want to eat you, Sarah. Every inch of you. From head to toe.” His lips brushed her jaw, a sinful graze. “Like you devoured me that night.”

Her lungs stalled. That night. Her tongue on his skin, his body shaking under her touch, the guttural sounds he made, memories slammed into her like lightning.

Liam’s teeth grazed her ear, a dangerous smile. “Can I make my sweet revenge?”

Her thighs quivered, bound too wide for her to close, too helpless to hide her body’s betrayal.

“You wouldn’t dare,” she whispered, her voice breaking.

He chuckled low, the sound vibrating against her skin. “Oh, Sarah… I don’t dare. I promise.”

His mouth trailed lower, lips brushing the curve of her neck, then pausing at her racing pulse. He pressed a slow, deliberate kiss there, and her whole body arched against the restraints.

Her chest rose, desperate, betraying her.

“Ticklish?” he murmured, his breath hot against her collarbone. “Or just… desperate?”

Her teeth clenched. “You’re disgusting.”

His tongue flicked across her skin, a wet, sinful stripe. “You didn’t think that when you had your mouth on me, sweetheart.”

Her cheeks burned. She strained against the straps, but the motion only made her breasts arch higher, her scrubs pulling tight. His eyes followed the motion, darkening.

He bent lower, lips hovering just above her chest, not touching, just torturing. “Look at you,” he whispered, his breath scorching through the thin fabric. “Shaking, trembling, begging without words.”

“I am not begging,” she spat.

His laugh was soft, lethal. “Not yet.”

And then, he kissed her sternum. Just one, feather-light press of lips. The tiniest taste.

Her body jolted like he’d shocked her.

“God,” she gasped, her eyes squeezing shut.

“God won’t help you,” Liam murmured, trailing kisses down, slower, hungrier, each one lower than the last. “Only I will. Only I can.”

His mouth hovered just above her abdomen, close enough that the heat of him seeped through her scrubs, but not close enough to satisfy. He paused, deliberately, his breath warm against her trembling belly.

Her hips twitched involuntarily. The straps bit into her ankles.

“Sensitive, aren’t we?” His voice was mocking, dripping with sin. “Imagine if I… tasted you here.” He let his tongue flick the waistband of her scrub pants, not touching skin, just enough to ignite wildfire.

“Stop—” Her voice cracked, unconvincing.

“Stop?” His hand caressed her thigh, sliding just above the restraint, fingers teasing the edge of her scrub fabric. “Or don’t stop?”

She groaned, arching against the restraints, fury and need colliding. “You’re… you’re insane.”

He smiled wickedly. “And you’re delicious.”

His lips pressed to her hipbone, then nipped, a sharp sting softened by a lingering lick. She gasped, her whole body bucking against the table. The sound echoed in the sterile room, too loud, too intimate.

“Ticklish,” he whispered again, his voice smug. “I could spend hours discovering every spot that makes you writhe like this. Every inch of you, begging, trembling, breaking.”

Her head thrashed against the table, hair fanned across the sterile sheet. “I hate you.”

His mouth lifted, his gaze locking on hers, dangerous and amused. “No, Sarah. You hate that you want me. That your brilliant, disciplined body melts the second I touch you.”

Her chest heaved. She couldn’t deny it, not when her nipples strained against the fabric, not when her thighs trembled uncontrollably, not when every inch of her burned for him.

Liam lowered himself again, his mouth hovering just above her abdomen, lips brushing but never granting the pressure she craved. “I told you,” he whispered, voice husky. “I’m starving. And tonight… you’re my feast.”

He licked a slow, deliberate line across her lower belly, just beneath the edge of her scrubs.

Sarah’s moan broke free before she could stop it.

Liam’s smirk deepened against her skin. “That’s the sound I wanted. The sound of you unraveling.”

His hands slid to her hips, firm, commanding. He nipped once more, a sharp bite softened by his tongue, then lifted his gaze, eyes black with hunger.

“This is just the beginning,” he growled.

Her body trembled violently, strapped down, helpless, blazing with need.