LIAM: We’re supposed to make a business plan for my final project, and I’m struggling to make a fake one. I was wondering if I could borrow the information I looked over on Monday for your shop. I’ll give you everything when I’m done if it’s helpful.
Glancing at the pile of papers on my table and rubbing my temple to abate a growing headache, I clack out the only logical response to this.
ME: Hell yeah, you can have it. When did you want to pick it up?
LIAM: I’m close by if now’s okay.
ME: Oh yeah, no, that’s fine.
Don’t sound too eager. Don’t sound too eager.
I drag myself off the couch to change, digging through my pile of clothes, but not even two minutes later, a knock on the door results in a rake of nervous flutters that travel the length of my body. He must have been outside when he texted me. Well, shoot. I straighten my baggy graphic shirt with Audrey Hepburn on it and a pair of booty shorts I changed into after my morning shower to prevent another falling-while-pantsing incident.
Running my hand over my hair piled high on my head, I accept my hot mess fate. There’s no hope I can improve that bird’s nest in my few steps to the door. “Hey, there. That was fast,” I say, opening the door.
Liam greets me on the other side, wet and shivering. Beads of water slowly drip from his pitch black hair sticking to his forehead. The bags under his eyes have deepened, and my heart stutters as I take in his increasingly unkempt beard and chattering teeth. He doesn’t say anything. His attention lands on my legs with a swallow before raising to meet my eyes again with a heavy stare, devoid of his usual confidence.
Something is off. He’s not okay. Gooseflesh pebbles the skin on the nape of my neck at the thought.
“Get your ass in here,” I chide, pulling him inside. “I’ll get you a towel and start you some tea. What the hell were you thinking coming here without a jacket on a day like today?”
He stumbles over the threshold. His lumbering figure crashes into mine, and he rests a hand on my hip to stabilize us.
“Okay, I didn’t pull you that hard.” I laugh, my breath coming in short bursts this close to him. “But, hi.”
“Hello.” His hand tightens its grip, pulling me against his chest, and his eyes lock on my lips. I wrap my fingers around his neck and jolt at the ice-cold skin that greets me.
“You’re freezing. I need to get you that towel.”
“I’m fine.”
“No, that’s my line.” I smirk. “And you aren’t fine. You look terrible.” I rub the back of my hand over his scruff. “What’s going on? I’m worried about you.”
“Peaches, leave it.”
“No way. You just spent a whole day taking ridiculously good care of me, and I can’t even be concerned? I’m not okay with that dynamic.”
His eyelashes fall softly against his cheeks as my hand slides to the back of his neck, my fingers threading through a few strands of his silky hair. Gently, he grasps my hand and pulls it back down. “I can’t keep doing this, Evie.” He releases me, stepping back and distancing himself.
“Doing what?”
“Whatever the hell this is.” He gestures between us. “I haven’t slept since this damn thing started.”
Guilt falls like a stone in the pit of my stomach. He’s this miserable because of me?
“So let’s call it off, then. I’ll figure something else out. Not a big deal.” My heart fractures at the suggestion, but it’s the right call, even if I’m killing the only chance I have to be this close to him. He’s the priority. He has to be.
He shakes his head. “I don’t want to call this off.”
“Okay... Do you want to pull back? Stop the kissing?”
“No, I don’t want that.” He paces slightly, raking an agitated hand through his hair.
I don’t know what’s going on, but Liam’s acting like he’s a wild animal that’s been kept in a cage for far too long, and it’s starting to put me on edge. “Then what do you want, Liam? Help me out. Whatever it is, I’ll do it.”
“I want you.” The words rip out of him in a brief low-pitched growl.
His eyes darken, cutting to me. I’ve never seen Liam like this, distressed, inhuman, and unguarded. His words and hungry gaze slam into me with such a force that I step back on my heel, eyes wide and face undoubtedly paling from the draining blood. His eyes widen before the stony, bored face I know intimately slams down over him and shields his features.
