Page 131 of Make Me Dream of You

“No, Liv.” I say it softly, still holding her, but the thought makes me want to smash this sink with my fist.

She lifts her head, looking up at me with tear-streaked cheeks, red eyes, and a runny nose.

She’s beautiful. She’s mine.

“And nothing happened at the lake house?”

“The lake house?” I contort my face trying to figure out what she means.

She wipes her face with her palm. “I saw a text on Bex’s phone. She asked you not to tell anyone about what happened at the lake house.”

“Oh, that. I caught Bex and Jake together at the lake house. She didn’t want anyone knowing about it. I didn’t ask why. It wasn’t my business.”

Livvy starts crying again. “I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you. I wouldn’t have believed it if Bex hadn’t said it to my face. I should have?—”

“Shh.” I wipe her eyes with my thumbs and kiss her forehead. I kiss her nose and then both damp cheeks as her stuttering breaths start to ease. “You should have talked to me,” I whisper against her lips.

“I know,” she breathes. “I should have trusted you.”

“I wish you had. But I gave you reasons not to.”

“No.” She shakes her head. “You didn’t, I?—”

I take her face in both my hands. “I did. I was getting scared. Scared when I realized how in love with you I am. I started pushing you away because I was afraid if I let you all the way in, I’d just get hurt when I lost you.”

But that was a lie. She was already in. Embedded so deep there’s no way to disentangle her from my heart. No way to forget her. And I knew the day she walked out my door last week I was fucked.

“You’re in love with me?” She sniffles. Her black eyelashes are wet, sticking together in little spikes around her big, green eyes.

“Yes.” And for a second, my heart stops, my lungs deflate, and I’m alone and vulnerable, about to crumble to dust.

Until she says, “I love you, too.”

I can’t help but smile, and she smiles back. Breathtaking.

I crush her to me, kissing her hard. Our teeth clank together because we’re still smiling while we kiss like idiots.

“Ow.” She breaks out into a giggle.

I pull back, still holding her face, and look into her eyes. “I’m sorry you ever had a reason to doubt—to think that I had eyes for anyone else. I don’t. There is only you. You’re everything. Promise me you’ll come to me next time. Whatever it is, I know we can fix it, but you have to talk to me, angel.”

“I promise.” She curls her fingers around my hands, a silent tear falling.

“You’ve got to trust me. Trust in us.”

“I do,” she whispers, eyes closed.

“And I promise I won’t push you away again. Ever. I’ll always fight for you. I want you by my side. Forever.”

She looks up at me, eyes watery but happy. I’ve never said forever to anyone. I thought I’d feel vulnerable, scared, weak. But I feel strong and free and happy. Safe and secure in this thing I have with her.

Livvy stretches to kiss me, then pulls me in hard for a deeper kiss. She tastes sweet with the slightest hint of salty tears, and I’m going to do my best to make sure she never cries sad tears again—not over me, at least.

She breaks the kiss, panting, our breaths heated. Her nipples are hard and perky in her little satin dress with the tiniest straps. Knowing she isn’t wearing a bra and knowing how perfect she is under this dress has been torturing me all night.

I slide a hand up her leg, pushing her dress up to her hip, squeezing the soft flesh of her thigh, the curve of her hip and around to her perfect ass.

She moans at the touch. It makes my cock jump.

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