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A scream crawls up my throat at his statement, but I swallow it down, not wanting him to know what I’m thinking.
“Where is the laundry detergent, Park?” I sigh, forcing my anxious energy to present as irritation.
He pauses, looking at me, perplexed, before pointing to the top shelf where the pods are clear as day. Okay, I should have found a better excuse.
“Silly me. Silly little bird brain, thanks.” I go to push him toward the door, but he latches onto my wrist.
“What is up with you?” He sounds almost concerned again, but I can’t escape the way the heat of his palm sears into my wrist.
“Nothing,” I say as I yank my hand away before reaching for the hem of my dress.
I pull the dress over my head, toss it into the top-loading washer, throw a laundry pod into the drum, and slam the lid. Heat crawls up my neck as Liam clears his throat, reminding me that I am now standing in front of him in a lace bralette and a thong.
Why the fuck did I just do that?
The thought dies on my tongue as I turn around to find his eyes on me, the irritation from before nowhere to be found. His expression is something I’ve never seen from him. Well, something I’ve never seen directed at me, anyway.
“Hannah, you’re naked.” He says it but doesn’t seem bothered by it, only confused.
“No, I’m not.” I clear my throat. “I’m clearly wearing a bra and underwear, it’s nothing worse than a bikini.”
“True. Butyoudon’t wear a thong bikini…ever.”
“So?” I pin him with a glare, irritation crawling up my spine at his picking me apart. “You basically see me like asister, so it really shouldn’t matter to you. It’s not like I’m walking around outside like this.”
I reach to grab a T-shirt from a hanger above the washer, but Liam’s hand wraps around my wrist again.
“I don’t,” he whispers.
“You don’t what?” A lump lodges in my throat, but I don’t yank my hand away.
“I don’t see you as a sister…not even close.”
The revelation causes my eyes to dart to his, and a heady expression paints his face. I may not have ever seen it directed toward me, but I know that look. Lust.
Realizing this warms my skin, at the very least because I know that this new attraction isn’t one-sided, even if I would love nothing more than to steep myself in a bucket of cold water.
“What do you see me like?” The question comes out nearly as a whisper; I’m not even sure he hears me.
“Don’t play dumb, Hannah.”
“I’m not playing.”
A smirk washes over his lips, causing me to smack his shoulder with a grin. “Shut up.”
I expect this to lessen the tension in the room, but it does the opposite. The air is so thick it’s unavoidable. The hand wrapped around my wrist loosens. I think he’s about to retreat, but the moment I feel his hand skate upward to cup the back of my neck, my stomach lurches.
I’m in complete disbelief and entirely consumed by him in the same thought, the cognitive dissonance causing my head to spin.
Liam leans in, his lips a whisper from my own. He pauses, I think to see if I’m going to pull away from his touch. I know I should; my brain is screaming at me to back away.
I close the distance, my lips melting against his. It’s gentle at first, but quickly becomes frenzied. Every shred of reservation I had before is replaced with an undeniably clear emotion.
Desire.
TWENTY-TWO
PRESENT DAY
