“We could have stopped sooner.”
“I didn’t want to ruin the moment. Believe it or not, I like kissing you too.”
“Nope, still don’t believe it.” His fingers delicately stroke the back of my neck, and my fine hairs stand on end. “And you didn’t ruin anything. This right here is perfect.”
I pick my head up as a satisfied exhale collapses Liam’s chest. A wide smile dimples his cheeks to catastrophic proportions. That look of reverence, like Gene when he’s singing and dancing in the rain, sits dreamily on his face, rimming his eyes with a gorgeous revelry.
“Just promise me you’ll speak up next time, Peaches.”
“Who said there’ll be a next time?” I tease. “Maybe I got it all out of my system.”
He peeks at me with one eye and catches the grin on my face. Tucking a finger under my chin, he angles my lips to his and lays a soft, breathless whisper of a kiss there. Pulling away, my lips chase his for half a second.Busted.“I hate to be the one to tell you this, but I think you’ve got it bad there, baby.” He winks, smug and satisfied. “And I intend on keeping you that way.”
“I shouldn’t have let you in on that secret. I could have done some serious damage letting you think it was unrequited, would’ve been much less of a headache for me.” I pout, sticking my lip out, hoping he comes back to meet me with another soft caress.
“I’m glad it slipped.” His arm tightens, bringing me closer to his chest. “I’d done a pretty good job keeping it in check all these years, but then you went and kissed me likethatat the Eiffel Tower,and I knew I was done for.”
“If it’s any consolation, that kiss broke me too.” I giggle, snuggling into him, a question poking the back of my mind.All these years.The words shouldn’t be the snag they are with how he’s acting. But there’s one thing about our history that doesn’t fit, and my gut is screaming that maybe it’s the outlier, not his current sweet disposition. “Can I ask you something? You don’t have to answer if you don’t feel comfortable, and I promise I trust you—it’s just . . .”
“You want to know what happened at the debutante ball.” Liam sighs.
“Am I that predictable?”
“After today, I can’t say yes to that.” He laughs. “But it’s probably time to have this talk anyway.”
I lay my hand on his chest. He covers my hand with his, lightly stroking the top of it with his thumb. “You need anything first?” he asks into my hair. “It’s kind of a long story.”
“No.” I shake my head, heart pounding becauseI was a dick and pranked youisn’t that long of an answer, and after he showed up soaked to the bone today, looking like death, Maria’smaybe something went drastically wrongnarrative seems to be lining up more succinctly.
“So I guess the best way to start this is by admitting that I haven’t been exactly truthful about what happened that night, and I’m sorry it became such a nightmare for you, too, but I never meant to hurt you. I can promise you that. I meant to be there that night. And I hoped this—” He crooks a finger between us. “I don’t know, I’d started catching you looking at me differently, and I was hoping you were warming up to the idea of us too.”
“I was.”
“Right. I don’t know if that makes this better.” He laughs. “Because trust me, Peaches, if we had it my way, this would have been how we spent most of our time in college too.”
But then I wouldn’t have Paris or Maria. The what-ifs and could-have-beens slice through, but I don’t want any of them, as lovely as they sound on the surface. I wouldn’t trade a single one for Maria.
Huh. It’s entirely possible that the worst night of my life also gave me some of the best parts of my reality.
“So what happened?”
“Well, I went to get your corsage,” Liam repeats the words he said in a fluster at the bar before Harmony interrupted the situation. “I had one made with lilacs and some of the ribbon woven through the crown you and Nana made that time we had our play backyard wedding. I doubt you even remember that, though.”
“We ate peaches on a blanket after,” I add.
“We did, and I pocketed some of the ribbons from the crown and somehow still had them. Thought it’d be a good way of telling you how I really felt.”
“It sounds impossibly sweet,” I whisper. My pulse quickens. Something terrible must have happened if Liam didn’t show after keeping a bunch of ribbons safe for twelve years.
“The lady at the florist shop gave the corsage to me with a huge smile, saying it reminded her of my father, who was always doing romantic stuff like this for my mom and that I was growing up to be the spitting image of him.”
“But your dad is like five-foot-four and blond.”
“Exactly.” He exhales. “And you wouldn’t know this, but he’s not exactly a sentimental guy, either. Anyway, I must have looked wicked confused because then the florist amended she meant my biological father, not Harry.”
My heart pounds against my ribcage like a chorus of timpani drums. Please tell me I haven’t been holding the ultimate grudge against Liam over a day he found out Harry wasn’t his biological dad. Please tell me he already knew.
“I didn’t know.” I breathe out, trying to lighten the tightening in my chest.
