I heard his follow-up and smiled, but my heart didn’t take the bait. It was far too deep, weighted with swirling debris of my thoughts.
“I’m sure she would love that,” my mom gushed. She looked genuinely pleased by his words, and it was then that I noticed her eyes were bright and shining. I knew that look of hope—hope that her daughter had finally found “the one” to settle down and make her grandbabies with, hope that just made the inevitable so much worse.
Liam was leaving. Soon. And I had no guarantees that I would ever see him again.
My heart had been aching all afternoon and into the evening after I left the twins to head home. How could I become so attached to a guy after three weeks? I was being ridiculous. I couldn’t even look at Liam after we left the tearoom for fear of bursting into tears or asking him what he meant by “soon.”
When was soon? In a day, in a week? A month? All of it was too soon, and it was my own damn fault for letting myself get in too deep. Hadn’t that been precisely what I’d been trying to avoid before succumbing to his spell?
The trouble was, I knew exactly what the breaking point had been for me. It was when he’d taken me to Newport and confided in me about his brother, when I’d felt the vulnerability wrapped around his words. I didn’t just have a crush on Liam. I wanted more of him just like that, vulnerable, raw, nothing like what I’d seen on that reality show.
I may not have wanted to believe it straight away, but Liam wasn’t the guy the media had painted him to be, and I was totally fucked.
I’d just thrown on some cotton shorts and a tank top when the knock came at the side door of the pool house. It was the first night in the past week that I hadn’t left it open for him to just walk right in. We’d gotten too comfortable, and I knew we had to change that. But also, I hadn’t been expecting him so soon, not when Simon and Bridget were home next door and everyone was still awake.
Glancing at the time, I confirmed it was only eight thirty, way too early for Liam to come by. By the time I pulled open the door a few seconds later, my head was spinning with all the reasons why he would show up unexpectedly. But all thoughts vanished when I got an eyeful of him outside my door.
He was wearing his favorite sweatpants that he’d labeled “easy access,” and that was all. His chest was bare, and his hair was wet like he’d just gotten out of the shower. My first thought was to step into his arms and run my hands through his thick locks. My second thought was that he’d just left my bosses’ house looking like that.
“What are you doing here?” I hissed as I glanced over his shoulder like someone could be following him. But the entire section surrounding the pool area was closed off with tall shrubs and a gate. No one was there. No one could see us.
Liam chuckled and stepped inside, kicking the door shut behind him. Then he placed his hands on my hips and pushed me backward as he moved us into my bedroom. “Visiting my girl, of course.”
My eyes widened, and I shook my head, flattening my palms on his chest. “But Simon and Bridget could have seen you come here. You usually wait until they’re asleep,” I scolded.
He was still all grins as he picked me up and wrapped my legs around his waist. “I told Simon I had to go on a run.”
It was hard not to laugh at the ridiculous lie. Liam was a swimmer and as athletic as they come, but I’d never seen him run. “Wearing that?”
He shrugged. “Why not?”
I shook my head and rolled my eyes. I couldn’t even look at him. “They still could have been watching you, Liam. The entrance to the pool is a little bit off your pretend jogging trail.”
“Simon and Bridget were playing with the twins in the master bedroom. They didn’t see me.” Then his lids narrowed. “But I probably shouldn’t return until I’ve worked up a sweat.” His mouth dipped lower until he was at my neck, kissing and sucking while his hands made their way under my shirt. “I missed you.”
Those words. So simple, so sweet. At least they should have been. The problem wasn’t that he had said them but that I missed him too. The reality behind that sentiment was the scariest of all. Because it had only been a few hours since I’d last seen him. What would happen when he was thousands of miles away with a five-hour time difference? Just asking myself some basic questions tied my insides in knots.
He was running his kisses along my jawline when I swallowed and dared to bring up my fears. “We should talk, Liam.”
His kisses slowed, and I swore I heard him sigh. “Not tonight, okay?”
His gentle eyes met mine for a few moments before I gave in and nodded. “Okay.”
But as his fingers brushed over my breasts, searching, teasing, I couldn’t help but notice something different in his touch, something possessive yet raw, like he was trying to slow down the clock by taking his time with me.
When he set me back on my feet, it was only to give himself enough time to undress us before I was back in his arms. My arms wrapped tightly around his neck as he pushed into me, his pace excruciatingly slow. His kisses were tortuously sweet, his breath hot like fire as it came in waves over my skin.
Deep down, I knew what Liam was doing to me that night, and just like all the nights that had come before it, I allowed it. I let him claim me with his touch. But that was the first night I knew with every fiber in my being that Liam Colborn was worse than a tattoo inked permanently on my skin. Liam was a branding iron permanently etching himself into my heart.
29
Liam
By the time I crept in through the back door of the Hogues’ house, it was well past midnight. I was returning with a heavier heart than I’d left with. After her mother’s question at the tearoom earlier today, all I knew was that I wanted to see her, hold her, kiss her, touch her. I wanted Chelsea in all the ways I’d come to familiarize myself with. Most of all, I wanted clarity.
Heading back to London had always been the plan, but the question of when was still unclear. All I knew was that if Chelsea and I were to pursue something more than what we’d established, then I would need to shut the door on my past once and for all.
I shut the back door quietly behind me and turned. My heart punched through my chest when I saw Simon standing there with fury written all over his face. “I thought I’d made myself clear.”
There was no point in darting around the truth or trying to hide from it any longer, especially knowing the end was near. “Shit, Simon. You scared the bloody hell out of me.”
“I had my suspicions, but I was hoping for the best. I still am.” He raised his brows and pointed to the seat beside him. “Sit and start talking.”
Sighing, I did as he said, but I didn’t need more prodding to confess. It was time to get everything out in the open, and I would start with Simon. I told him almost everything. Leaving the intimate details aside, I was honest with him about how Chelsea and I had met, about how I’d gotten to know her so fast, and how I’d fallen so deeply. We talked about Blake and the trip Chelsea and I had taken to Newport. We talked about an uncertain future and all that it entailed.
In the end, Simon wasn’t angry. At least—not for the same reasons he’d started to be angry. It seemed, in some strange way, he understood. “So, this isn’t some kind of fling then?”