“Sorry.” He retracts his fingers. “Sorry. Sorry.”
“No, it’s fine—I just—” My tongue ties itself into knots. How do I explain all this to him? That I’m twenty-seven today, and my list of partners is limited to one man when I was nineteen. That it hurt like hell repeatedly, and I never felt like trying again, so I’m clueless when it comes to navigating these waters.
I flip over on my other side to face him. I feel my heart stutter, still not used to how he’s somehow more devastatingly gorgeous in the morning. When his hair is a mess because he runs his fingers through it unconsciously in his sleep, and the light from the window falls on his cheekbones just so, and I’m reminded that his jawline is of the “cut glass” variety. Thick black eyelashes shroud his face, and mirth lines the edge of his eyes peering back at me. Like he knows I’m lost in all of him right now and he’s soaking it in. “I’m not very experienced with a lot of things, so I get anxious about them, but with you, I want to do—those things.”
Liam raises an eyebrow. “You’ve never—”
“Oh, no. I have. A few times, with this one guy, but I wasn’t exactly overwhelmed by it, or maybe I was, just in a different way—I don’t know. It wasn’t like what I’ve read about in books or seen on TV.”
“We can go slow. Not a problem.” He brushes a piece of hair off my cheek, leaning in and laying a soft kiss on my lips. “I need to feed you and then kick you out anyway.”
“Kick me out? On my birthday? Rude.”
“Well, yeah, I gotta get ready for our date tonight.” He flutters his eyelashes. “You think this charm just happens naturally?”
“It’s adorable you think you’re charming.” I giggle, wrapping my arm around his back and pulling him in for another kiss.
Oh, can I be cheeky now?
“You really think you can insult me and then just pull me in for a kiss, and it’ll be okay, huh?” He halts inches from my lips with a devious smirk.
“I was admittedly entirely too confident for half a second, and now I regret things.” I swallow. “But I’m hopeful you wouldn’t do anything nefarious to me on my birthday.”
“Definitely not,” he says while his hand pins my shoulder to the bed, suggesting otherwise. “It’s just clear I still have some major work to do tonight.”
“That sounds vaguely threatening,” I squeal as he burrows a rash of kisses into my neck.
“It should. You’re screwed.” His thumb rubs the fabric over my nipple, and I lose a breath. I glance up at him hovering over me on the bed. The light catches his dimple and reflects in the glittering depths of his eyes.You love him, screams through my mind in the quiet moment, and I let it, hugging the thought tight to my chest. “Tonight, I’m going to woo your socks off, and then you’re going to be doomed with how in love with me you are, Peaches.”
I already am.
He lifts my chin, tracing the curve of my jawline with his mouth.
“I was thinking of wearing heels, and I don’t normally wear socks with those.”
He picks his head up with a pause. “I’ll have you falling head over heels then.”
I tilt my head, laughing, and it grants Liam better access. “So confident.”
“Determined.” He winks. “I need to return the favor.”
It is a rather unfortunate fact that I only own shift dresses. Nothing against them—they’re my life force—but now and again occasions arise where I wish to resemble something other than a potato. Liam threatening to take me on a date so swoony that I will be forever doomed is one of those occasions.
In a panic, I clack out a shopping SOS to Maria and rush to the Marais, hoping to find something in one of the Free’p’star thrift shops. After a fitting room montage worthy of an early-2000s rom-com, we find “the one” in the third and final location.
A pink fit-and-flare dress reminiscent of another Givenchy dress that Audrey Hepburn wore. Miraculously, it’s a perfect fit, like Audrey herself is looking over me with an“I’vegot you, darling.”
Maria handles my makeup, my hand far too shaky thanks to an internal cocktail of excitement and anxiety.
I’m not feeling great, which for me is almost okay, but Lord knows that can switch at any moment, and I really, really, don’t want to ruin tonight.
“You took something for your pain?” Her brow furrows as she applies my lipstick.
“Mm-hmm,” I hum, smacking my lips together.
“And your anti-spasmodic?”
“Oh, not yet, but good call.” I fluff my loose curls, standing to let Maria assess me one last time.
