AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Jesus, Liv,” he exhales.
I grow warm, swipe a hand down my face. “I’m sorry. I just—when you touch me, I—”
My teeth press into my tongue, seeming to sense that the words on it don’t need to keep being spoken.
I get nothing from him for a second.
Two.
Three.
Then his fingers leave my hair and the tip of one presses lightly against my jaw, urges me to turn my head toward him. I do, and I open my eyes and find him mirroring me, his face close to mine.
Lips parted for light breaths. Magnetic eyes. Low voice. “Say it.”
More silence while the half of me that doesn’t approve of our closeness speaks up for the first time in hours:Don’t even think about it. You’re on the thinnest of wires right now. Tell him no and move away.
I don’t move away. Can’t.
But I do tell him, “I shouldn’t. I shouldn’t say it.”
He isn’t fazed. He’s calm as he whispers, “Get out of your head, Liv.”
No,that part of me says sharply.It’s safe in your head. Look where beingoutsideyour head has gotten you: so close to a man that he’s touching your face.
I love it, though. I love his gentle touch on my face. His has always been the best, loveliest, safest touch I’ve ever felt.
He’s close enough to ruin you.
No, Landon would never ruin me. He isn’t full of blackness.
He’s not for you. He doesn’t want you and youcan’twant him.
But…
My breath catches in my throat.
…I do.
With him looking at me this way and touching me so delicately after everything we’ve been through tonight and every other night, every other day…the difficult things, the fun things…I honestly can’t fight it off anymore. I can’t act like the adoration isn’t there.
“Liv-Andria,” he whispers, “please.”
And yet I—I can’t—I’ve always known I can’t….
“I wish things were different,” I confess in my own whisper.
The backs of his fingers skimming down my jawline. Deep warmth growing in his eyes. “What things?”
The sadness is back—the sadness from the time I admitted this to myself in my bathroom. “Me being a mess. You not wanting to date anybody.” I feel longing burst across my face as I look at him, and I don’t care. “I just—I think we would be so good together if….”
I stop talking as that exact same longing flares up in his eyes, which move along my lips so tenderly it feels like a touch.
As he looks at me straight again, the breath he draws is as trembling as mine, and his fingers fit beneath my chin with purpose. His face moves an inch closer to mine.
White-hot delight burns through me.
And then something much darker digs hard into my very bones because…oh, no.
