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37
CERYS
Liam arrivesa couple of hours later wary, hands burrowed in his jeans pockets. Standing in the dusk, this is the man who turned my world upside down and filled me with a depth of love that terrifies me. Add to that the mind-blowing attraction I have to the smoking hot man who can reduce me to a bundle of hormones with one kiss—the one who does things to me inside and out nobody else ever could.
“I’m sorry,” I blurt as soon as I open the door.
Liam steps inside and wraps his arms around me, inhaling against my hair. “I fucking missed you.”
I tuck my head under the spot beneath his chin where the scent of his soap pulls me back to our safe place of happiness. We shouldn’t give up—Ishouldn’t give up.
“Uncle Liam!” Ella stands at the top of the stairs in pink cat pyjamas, holding her blanket.
“We really need to stop her calling me that,” he whispers. “Uncle feels strange, like I’m your brother or something.”
Ella thunders downstairs two at a time and almost knocks Liam over with a tackle hug. The panicked look he gets when Ella is overly physical with him crosses his face so I tug her arm.
“Ella, you should be in bed.”
“Will you be here in the morning?” Ella asks him.
Liam glances at me and I bite my lip as I slide my gaze away.
“I’ll see you really soon. I came to speak to your mummy.”
“Good.” Ella puts her hands on her hips and narrows her eyes. “You made Mummy cry.”
Oh, what?“Ella, bed, now!” I chase her upstairs and tuck the sleepy child into bed.
Liam is still in the hallway when I return downstairs, and the minute my foot leaves the bottom step, he sweeps me into his arms, surprising me with a hard kiss. The amount my body has craved being with him will take over and we won’t resolve anything if I return his desire. I wriggle from Liam’s embrace and head into the kitchen.
This is awkward; now he’s here I’m embarrassed about the things I said. “I’ve missed you. I’m sorry I told you to leave us alone.”
Liam takes his jacket off and hangs it over the back of the sofa before following me into the kitchen. “I shouldn’t have walked away without sorting this out, Cerys, but you pissed me off.”
I look up into the eyes of the man who changed my world. “And I shouldn’t have said those things. My insecurities took over.”
“I sort of understand why you think that about me, but I’m not trying to fix you. You’re managing that bloody well yourself.” Liam touches my face, reconnecting us. “All I’m doing is helping out the amazing woman who’s let me into her life.”
I take his hand from my cheek and squeeze his fingers relieved to be holding his hand. After everything I said Liam could’ve given up. If he needed a ‘get out’ I gave him one, but he’s here.
“Liam, everything in my life is up in the air, and I’m scared to rely on someone else again, and so quickly after Craig. You came back to me two months ago and this is intense. Can you understand why that freaks me out?”
He shakes his head in the despairing way I recognise, and I know when he does that he wants to shake sense into me.
“Cerys.” He pulls his hand from mine and cups my chin. “The fact we’re here this quickly says something, right? Remember what I said about feeling as if I was home when I kissed you? I think home is wherever I am with you, because suddenly, I can see why this never worked with anyone else. I was always in the wrong place, with the wrong person.”
How can I doubt Liam? The sincerity with every words he’s ever spoken to me is unmistakable and I did the wrong thing denying this. I tiptoe to reach his mouth and place my lips on his. “I’d love you if you were still the dodgy, grungy guy from St Davids. Be him, because he’s the person fate pulled me back to.”
Liam studies me curiously. “He’s here; you do know that, right?”
“I do, dodgy guy.”
Grabbing my face in both hands, Liam kisses me hard on the forehead. “You infuriate me sometimes.”
“Sometimes?”
“A lot.”
