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Liam has the same one right above his heart. We got them together. It hurt like all hell and I cried like a baby while Liam tried (and failed) to conceal his amusement, but I don’t regret it. I never could.
Because no matter what, I’m human. Imperfect. And imperfect things will happen, guaranteed.
But loving Liam Donovan has been the most perfectly imperfect journey of my life so far. The best happy accident ever. And I want to remember it always. Even if it means having a Bob Ross quote inked on me permanently.
When we eventually pull up to my place, I’m yawning.
And yes, I mean my place.
After Liam and I signed the new SITL paperwork saying that we were in a relationship, things went from good to better. SITL got the funding from Wiseman and, with a secure job future, I was able to put a deposit on a great studio apartment rental in Virginia-Highland—a stone’s throw from Liam’s place in Midtown.
I joked that it was a compromise, seeing as we no longer shared an office at work. After the funding came through, SITL rented out a whole other floor of the building and got to work scaling up the app for V2. The main new feature being the “Color Outside the Lines” addition, which allows users to be flexible enough with their schedules to balance having the best of all worlds in their lives.
The launch was a roaring success, resulting in tens of thousands of new users. Now, I work on a completely different floor from Liam, managing the SITL analytics team. Technically, I still report to him, but I have all the job autonomy I’ve ever desired. And even though I work my tail off every day to do the best job possible, I no longer feel the need to prove myself through my work. Because, just like my mistakes, my career doesn’t define me.
The person I am does. And the person I am puts people before success.
Luke tells me this is one of the qualities that make me a great team lead. And I have one person to thank for teaching me that.
“Wanna come in?” I ask as Liam parks.
Another smile. He bounces his knee as he says, “thought you’d never ask.”
We get out of the car and walk into my building. Call for the elevator.
Liam’s still got this nervous energy radiating off him. When the doors ding open, he practically drags me in there. Pulls me towards him with no small amount of force and kisses me like we haven’t got a moment to spare. Kisses me with all the certainty and confidence I’ve come to expect from a kiss from Liam Donovan.
AKA, pure magic.
“What’s gotten into you?” I laugh between kisses as my lips move along his jaw. “Biebs concert got you all horny or what?”
Liam nips the skin at the base of my neck in response. “No, it just got me thinking... Got me thinking about how much I love you. How, even though I hated every second of that damn concert, I’d do it again in a heartbeat. With you, if you wanted to go. But also with our future kids.”
He draws back so he can look into my eyes. My heart is beating a million times a minute.
“I love you, Annie Jacobs,” he says quietly. “I’m trying to be better about expressing my feelings, so I’m going to tell you how I feel. And that’s that one day, when you’re ready, I’m going to ask you to marry me. Consider this your warning.”
Every bone in my body seems to melt into the floor. “I love you too, Liam. And I want to love you always.” I smile giddily. “I consider myself warned.”
“Good. Now that the emotional stuff is out of the way, can we talk about how I’ve been wanting to kiss you like this all freaking night? You were all I could think about.” He moves his head so his stubble drags along my cheek deliciously. He murmurs into my ear, “I don’t even want to wait ‘til we get into your apartment, I just want to keep kissing you right here.”
My body heats immediately, but I try to keep my voice cool. “Hey now, I thought you believed elevators weren’t sexy.”
“I used to.” Liam turns and presses the emergency stop button with a spontaneousthwackthat thrills me. He then rounds on me, caging me into the corner and up against the steel railing. My pulse picks up at his proximity, at the heat coming off his body and the fierce, resolute look in his eyes that tells me he loves me no matter what.
He skims his fingertips down the side of my jaw, scorching my skin with desire as he moves closer. Dizzyingly closer.
“But, like a lot of other things, I was very wrong about that, wasn’t I?”
I don’t reply. I just kiss him.
