Chapter 21 #3
The craziest part is that I’m not in it alone. Liam is right there sharing this magical, whimsical feeling. Whether he realizes it or not, I can see it in the way his eyes dance and his grin shines as bright as I feel. He feels it for me.
There’s no ending this. I don’t care what we have to go through with Nate, this thing between us isn’t ending today. Not if he’ll have me.
He’s moving my fingers all around, gently applying pressure between my knuckles, looking for any signs that I might be hurt. When his eyes finally lift to mine, he must see something that stops his examination short, his pupils dilating as his nostrils flare.
My heart feels like it stops from the intensity of his gaze, my stomach swooping with behemoth butterflies.
A second later his hand is at the back of my neck and he’s hauling me up against him for a kiss that I feel from the ends of my hair to the tips of my curled toes.
An arm wraps around my waist as my fingers dig into his chest, bunching his t-shirt in my hands.
Passion hasn’t been a problem between us since day one, but this kiss is on another level. It has my head spinning and my mind reeling, and god knows if I could climb him like a tree right now, I would.
“Damn. I’m only watching and it’s making me horny.” Quinn’s voice breaks through the fog that Liam’s kiss has brought on.
Hailey’s laughter follows the sound. “You’re always horny.”
We’re both out of breath when our lips part.
His forehead rests against mine, and without opening my eyes I know he’s smiling the same as me.
I wish I could stay in this moment with him forever because I’m pretty sure this is as close to heaven as I can get without actually dying.
Our friends, however, would probably like to get home at some point today.
Before I can lean away from him, his hand is moving to grip my chin between his fingers as his head lifts. I’m once again captivated by the intensity in his brown eyes and how there’s the smallest line between his eyebrows, denoting a seriousness in him that the moment shouldn’t call for.
“Be my girlfriend.”
A hush falls over our friends as my mouth pops open in surprise. I’m stunned into silence. If it weren’t for Liam’s arm around me, I’m sure that shock would have knocked me flat on my ass at his request.
Did Liam King just ask me to be his girlfriend? Surely I misheard him. This is some kind of after effect of standing up for myself, and then the kiss he just planted on me. It has to be. Because Liam King does not date, let alone have girlfriends.
“We can deal with Nate. As soon as he’s back, we can talk to him. We explain everything that happened. He’ll be pissed at first, but he’ll understand. I know he will,” Liam says, the words tumbling out in a jumble.
He’s mistaking my silence for worry about my brother, but Nate is honestly the furthest thing from my mind right now.
It should probably be front and center, but somewhere between telling Liam goodbye this morning and feeling his pride for me, I’ve realized that what he’s saying is right.
We can talk to Nate. Maybe we should have days ago, but days ago I know I didn’t see this coming. There’s no way Liam did.
“Look, I know I’ve never had a girlfriend before, and I get that that’s probably a total turn off, but I can learn.
I’m a really fucking quick study, okay? I promise I’ll figure it out.
” I can feel the tremble in his hand as he moves it from my chin to the side of my neck.
“Probably not without you getting upset a time or two, but if you have a little patience, I swear I can—”
I silence him by pushing up on my tip toes and pulling him down to me so I can crush my lips against his. It lasts long enough for me to quiet his ramblings, then I break it off so I can finally answer him.
“Yes.”
His head jerks back while his eyebrows nearly hit his hairline. He repeats the word like it’s completely foreign to him. “Yes?”
“Yes!” I laugh with a giddiness I feel in my soul. “Of course, yes! Where the hell have you been all week that you’re surprised about this?”
Liam blinks at me, completely stunned, like he thought it was going to be a lot harder to convince me of this idea. “But… Nate?”
“Nate is going to have to figure it out.” My hands slide up Liam’s chest and wrap around his neck. “Nothing about saying goodbye to you felt right.”
The smile he was wearing before our kiss is starting to slide back into place as he comes to terms with what I’m telling him. “No, Fireball, it didn’t. But this sure as fuck does.”
“You guys going to keep acting like you’re the only two in the world, or you plan on fucking right here? I mean, I’m good with either,” Quinn says with a snicker.
“You realize both of those options keeps us ignoring you, right?” Liam calls over his shoulder. After a quick kiss to the tip of my nose, his chest puffs out and he grins, turning away from me so we’re both facing everyone else. “Guys. Meet my very first girlfriend.”