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He shook his head again and stared at the elevator door.
Desperation flooded through her, and she fought to hold on to the thread of connection between them. “Does this have something to do with us working together, or living together, or whatever the heck makes you think we can’t be more than friends?” When he didn’t answer, it was answer enough. “You’re wrong, Liam. We can if we want to. There’s really nothing stopping us.”She slid her hands up his hard chest and linked her fingers around his neck.
Liam sucked in a breath, his large hands opening against the small of her back, sending shivery trails of warmth over her skin. As if on reflex, he pulled her closer. He made an almost desperate sound in the back of his throat, and for one blissful moment, Cora felt his grip tighten on her waist. She could almost feel the battle raging inside him, as if he were trying to resist her but failing. His heated gaze landed on her mouth again. A surge of giddy elation swept over her. Finally! Whatever his reasons were, none of them could negate this bone-deep connection between them, and he knew it. Cora stretched on her tiptoes, tilting her mouth toward his.
The elevator jolted to a stop.
Liam jerked back. Still gripping her waist, he set her away, holding her at arm’s length. There was a war going on inside him; that much was clear. Even in her inebriated state, Cora couldn’t miss the tension around his mouth. The sharp rise and fall of his chest. The banked heat in his eyes. Then, as if by magic, his expression smoothed into something bland and unreadable. “Time to go.”
Cora felt stiff and unsteady on her feet as he led her into the parking garage. He kept his arm around her waist, but they might as well have been on opposite sides of the planet. Whatever intimacy they’d shared in the elevator was gone, and in its place was nothing but an empty pang of loss. He was rejecting her. Again.
Liam hurried toward the car with swift strides, forcing her to almost jog to keep up with him.
“Slow down,” she said, trying to pull back.
He didn’t seem to hear her as he guided her toward the car. When they were a few feet away, he pulled the keys from his pocket with his free hand and pressed the button to unlock the doors. Then he jerked open the passenger door and tried to guide her in.
“I’ve got it,” she said irritably, shrugging out of his hold and lowering into the passenger seat. The happy buzz she had going earlier evaporated into frustration and angry resentment. Head pounding, she glared at him when he dropped into the driver’s seat. “What’s wrong with you?”
Liam didn’t answer; instead, he adjusted the rearview mirror and began to put the key in the ignition.
On impulse, Cora snatched the keys away. “I asked you a question.”
He held out his hand. “Give me the keys, Cora.”
“No.” She clenched them tightly in her fist. “Not until you tell me what your problem is.”
“My problems are too numerous to count. Not the least of which is my inebriated roommate, who’s keeping us from going home right now.”
Roommate.His impersonal tone was like a crossbow arrow to the chest. If she’d been standing, she’d have staggered backward. Instead, she waved a hand in the direction of the elevator, demanding answers. “What happened back there?”
Liam gave her a questioning glance, all courteous and polite and unaffected. It made her want to slap the expression right off his face. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“You...”said I was beautiful.“We...”almost kissed.So many things hovered on the tip of her tongue, but his carefully blank expression stole them right out of her mouth. A tendril of shame flared in the pit of her stomach, but she blanketed her mind fast, smothering the flame before it could catch and stomping it down deep. He wanted to pretend nothing happened? Fine. She still had some dignity left. “Never mind.”
“Let’s go home, Cora,” Liam said wearily. “It’s been a long day. We’ll both feel better if we can get some rest and put it all behind us. The important thing is, we got Magnus’s phone, right?”
Put it all behind us.Cora’s heart began folding in on itself, end over end like a crumpled piece of origami paper. She hoped by the time it was done it would resemble something entirely different. A lump of volcanic rock, perhaps. Or a military tank. Something impenetrable and unbreakable.
“Sure thing.” She handed him the keys, knowing he saw straight through the brittle, plastic smile she was selling, but they were playing a game of pretend, so he bought it, anyway.
They drove in silence, Cora staring blindly out the window as the scene changed from residential buildings to a bustling downtown area filled with live music, restaurants, and Friday night revelers, and finally to the quiet, tree-lined street of her own neighborhood. She was suddenly so tired she just wanted to fall into bed and sleep for about a hundred years.
“Finn really came through tonight,” Liam said suddenly.
“Mmm-hmm.”
“We should invite him over for dinner this week.”
She shrugged noncommittally, massaging the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger. Her temples were beginning to throb, which was a clear precursor to tomorrow’s main event: the hangover from hell.
“Would you like Finn to come over?”
“Sure.”
“It seemed like you two were getting along quite well in the living room. I saw you laughing together. He makes you smile.”
Something in his tone sounded off. Cora glanced over at him with suspicion.
