Chapter 23
Liam
“You were right. I liked Captain Wentworth more than Mr. Darcy.”
Kendall pumps her fist in the air at what I’ve said, almost hitting a server walking by her.
She winces and looks over at the server. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!”
He chuckles and says no problem. “Do you two want a refill on your beers?”
We both say yes and thank him. He walks off and Kendall looks at me. We both laugh.
We’re at a pub at the edge of the Gulch, and for the last hour we’ve been talking about Persuasion while drinking beer and snacking on onion rings.
“I’ll admit, I didn’t think I’d end up liking Wentworth more than Mr. Darcy,” I say. “Darcy’s my dude.”
Kendall smiles, her brown eyes bright. “Really? Because you called him awkward when you compared him to Captain Wentworth.”
“Yeah, but it made him likable. And real. He’s not this too-smooth guy who comes off as slimy.”
“I get what you mean.” She swipes an onion ring from the massive basket we’re sharing “There’s a genuineness about Mr. Darcy.”
“Exactly. I like it when people don’t try to be someone they’re not. I like it when they’re real. Even if it means that we don’t get along.”
The corner of Kendall’s plush mouth quirks up right along with her eyebrow as she looks at me. “Is that why you like me even though I can’t stand you and we bicker all the time?”
I grin. “We haven’t been bickering much lately.”
That smile lingers on her pretty lips. “I guess you’re right.”
“And even when we do bicker, I like it. Keeps things interesting. And come on, firecracker. You like me. I can tell.”
She doesn’t say anything at first. She just rolls her eyes and smiles.
I lean forward, closing the space between us. “Admit it. You like me.”
She swallows. “Okay, fine. I like you.”
Those three words send sparks through my chest. I think back to the other night when we almost kissed. When I said the one thing that I’ve been dying to say to her for years…
I’d do anything for you.
I meant it. I still mean it.
Neither of us has brought up that night.
I was tempted to text her so we could talk about it, but every time I grabbed my phone, I lost my nerve.
It was too easy to talk myself out of it, to convince myself that the moment was gone and that I shouldn’t linger on it.
She didn’t reach out about it, so I shouldn’t either.
It would probably just make things awkward.
She clearly just wants to keep things friendly between us, nothing more.
So I ended up texting her about book club. That was fun as hell. I never thought buddy-reading an old book would be a blast, but it was.
She drains the last of the beer in her glass and runs her candy-pink tongue along her lush bottom lip. My dick twitches. The things I would do to kiss her mouth again, to tease her tongue with mine…
I grit my teeth and shove the thought away.
That’s creepy as fuck. Stop.
The server returns with our drinks and takes our empties. We thank him and sip our fresh beers.
“So what else did you think was interesting about Persuasion?” Kendall asks.
“The cousin thing.”
She bursts out laughing and covers her mouth. “Besides that.”
I tug on the baseball cap I’m wearing. “Honestly? The fact that Anne and Captain Wentworth had feelings for each other for years and years and never said anything to each other.”
“Really?”
I nod. “It was kind of sad. They could have gotten together sooner if her family hadn’t talked her out of accepting his proposal when they were younger. But they were hung up on how he didn’t have any money.”
Kendall nods. “You’re right. That is sad. But it was pretty customary for the time. And that sort of thing happens even now. A lot of people will break things off with their partner if their family doesn’t like them, or if they don’t make enough money.”
“That’s messed up,” I mutter, taking a long pull of my beer.
“You’re telling me that you’d choose to date a woman that your family hated?”
“Yup,” I say without hesitation. “I mean, if she was like a secret serial killer or something horrible like that and my family found out and told me I needed to end things, of course I’d break up with her.”
Kendall laughs.
“But if I love her and she’s a good person, then I don’t care what anyone says. I’d choose her, no question.”
Kendall looks at me for a long moment. “That’s honestly really sweet, Liam.”
“Thankfully my brother and parents aren’t like that. Even though they haven’t been crazy about some of the women I’ve dated, they’d never tell me who I should or shouldn’t be with.”
Kendall looks intrigued. “What do you mean? What kind of dates are you bringing home to meet your family?”
I shove an onion ring in my mouth to buy myself a few extra seconds before I tell Kendall about my embarrassing dating history.
“I’m pretty sure one woman ran a pyramid scheme and was trying to rope my mom into it.”
Kendall’s eyes go wide. “Um, what?”
“It had something to do with selling makeup. Or tea. Or yoga pants. I can’t remember.”
“Wow, yeah. That sounds…wild.”
“And then there was the woman who was an Instagram model who I’m pretty sure was using it as a front to launder money.”
Kendall’s jaw drops. “You’re kidding.”
“Unfortunately not.”
She laughs like she can’t believe it.
“I know. I’m an idiot.”
She flashes a kind smile and pats my arm.
“Thankfully those relationships didn’t last longer than a few months. I just don’t have the best luck.”
“I don’t remember Aidan mentioning any of that about you,” Kendall says.
“That’s because he’s a good guy. Even if he didn’t like who I was dating, he didn’t interfere. He lets me make my mistakes, then calls me a dumbass later on when I figure it out for myself.”
Kendall smiles. “Like any good big brother would.”
I lock eyes with her. “If I brought home a girl like you, they’d lose their minds.”
“Why? Because I’m not a criminal,” she jokes.
I shake my head. “Because you’re lightyears out of my league. They’d be so excited, they wouldn’t know what to do with themselves.”
A soft smile tugs at her lips, and a pretty blush paints her full cheeks. “Sure.”
“I mean it.”
She tilts her head and flashes that “are you kidding me?” expression. “You’re a professional athlete, Liam. You make tons of money and you’re famous. I’m a normal person with a normal job. We’re not even in the same world.”
“Kendall, you’re way, way off. First of all, you’re smart. Like, one of the smartest people I know. You have a job that everyone respects. You take care of your aunt. You’re an angel. And you’re hot.”
She blinks at me, like she can’t believe what I’ve said.
“You think I’m hot?”
“Yeah.” I say it like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.
The look in her eyes is dazed, like she doesn’t quite believe me. “Liam, I’ve seen some of the women you’ve been with.”
“And?”
“And they don’t look like me. They’re tall models and celebrities. I’m not tall. I’m not a model. And I’m not a celebrity.”
I frown, utterly confused. Does Kendall really not know how beautiful she is?
“Kendall. You are insanely hot.”
Her eyes widen the slightest bit. “You’re serious?”
“Yeah. Why do you think I’m always telling you how pretty you look?”
“I just assumed you were fucking with me. You joke about everything else.”
I just stare at her, upset at how I’ve given her the wrong impression all these years.
“Kendall, no. You’re stunning. Every time I’ve called you pretty or hot, I’ve meant it. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life.”
That blush on her cheeks deepens. Her eyes fall to her lap, like she’s avoiding looking at me.
Shit.
What the fuck was I thinking going on and on about her like that? I sounded like a hard-up weirdo. Now she’s uncomfortable, and it’s my fault.
I clear my throat. I need to get this conversation back on track.
“So, um, I know you’ve read Persuasion a million times, but what was your favorite part of the book?” I ask.
She looks up and blinks a few times and the focused in her eyes returns. “The love letter.”
My brain pulls up a memory from when we were in college.
Sophomore year, I worked up the nerve to write her a letter confessing that I had a crush on her, then I stuck it on the windshield of her car.
It wasn’t a love letter like the one Captain Wentworth wrote—I could never write anything poetic like that.
But it was honest. I told her exactly how I felt about her.
It was the first and only time I’d ever written anything like that.
She never said a word about it. Which meant that the letter probably got blown away in the wind. Or maybe I stuck it on the wrong car.
Or maybe she did read it and didn’t feel the same way…and she was so put off by what I did that she never mentioned it.
A familiar wave of embarrassment washes over me, heating me from the inside out. I push away the memory. It doesn’t matter now.
I try to smile. “Uh, yeah. The letter. Captain Wentworth really knocked it out of the park, didn’t he?”
She laughs, despite the flustered look in her eyes and the blush still lingering on her cheeks. We’re quiet, and for a long moment all we hear is the background noise of chatter, laughter, and TVs in the bar.
“So, um, now that you’re an expert in romantic literature, you could start writing your best man speech,” Kendall says.
“Yeah. I guess I could.”
She glances down at her phone. “I should probably head home. I’ve got class early in the morning.”
“Yeah, me too. I’ve got an early training session.”
“I should start packing soon for Cabo.”
“Right. That’s next weekend.”
I drop cash on the table, shaking my head at Kendall when she tries to pay. We walk out of the bar. The sticky late-summer air hits me in the face the second we step outside.
“Where are you parked?” I asked.
“Just a few blocks down past that alley.”
“I’ll walk you.”
“It’s okay, I can walk by myself.”
“It’s dark. I’m walking with you.”
“Okay. Thanks,” she says softly.
We walk side by side in silence. The tension from earlier is still there. I can feel it between us lingering like an invisible cloud. I silently curse myself. Why the hell did I make things so weird?
When we make it to the alley, Kendall stops walking. I stop and look over at her, but before I can ask her if she’s alright, she speaks.
“You really think I’m beautiful?”
The bluntness of her question catches me off guard.
I hold her gaze. “Yeah. I do. I always have. Since the moment I met you.” The words are practically a growl as they leave my mouth. My heart pounds in my chest.
Heat flashes in Kendall’s deep brown eyes. “Kiss me.”
I grab her waist, press her against the alley wall, and crash my mouth against hers.