Page 72 of The Love Chase

“Emma,” he whispered, staring into my eyes.

Had yesterday’s bubble not popped after all? There was no one around to pretend for, no reason for him to press his lips to mine.

His thumbs traced lines across my cheeks, and I was frozen. And then, because my heart had a mind of its own sometimes, I leaned onto my toes, kissing him first.

I was scared he might push me away, but instead he didn’t miss a beat. His arms went to my waist, pressing me into him as he deepened the kiss.

I had the strange urge to giggle, but his lips halted any sound—any thought in my brain. When he swung us around, my back hit the wall, and he pressed even closer. I kept waiting for him to realize he was kissing me, Emma, his nerdy best friend, and then break off the kiss and walk away to cool down, but he didn’t. Instead, he held me tighter, not relinquishing his hold on me for even a second.

As ecstatic as I was to have Liam kissing me, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of foreboding. What would happen when his reputation was restored, and our marriage was no longer needed? Would he be all too happy to sever ties and go on his merry way?

The way he kissed me made me feel otherwise, but Liam was so difficult to read, even after all these years of friendship.

I think I love you too.

His confession played on a loop in my head. Had I imagined all of that? Had that confession been the result of my sickness warping my brain? I’d always wanted Liam to say those words to me, but there was so much doubt in my head now that I had no idea what was truth and what was concocted by my imagination.

It could’ve been minutes or hours that passed, and I would’ve been none the wiser. Everything was lost in the feeling of Liam’s hands on my skin, his lips on mine.

At least until a bunch of lights started flashing.

Wait, flashing? In broad daylight?

My eyes snapped open, and every romantic feeling in my body instantly shut off.

We were surrounded by at least a dozen strangers, all with cameras glued to their faces, taking pictures of Liam and me. They all shouted questions at us, but I didn’t hear them. All sound felt like it was being filtered through a tunnel, muffled and far away.

Liam immediately sprang into action, turning so that I was directly behind him, out of sight. My lips still tingled, but I forced it from my mind, especially as Liam’s hands clenched into fists and his body language went from relaxed and at ease to defensive and ready to take someone out.

“Liam, is this your new bride?” one of the paparazzi shouted at him even though he was only a couple of feet away.

“Liam, when are you going back to California?”

“Will your wife be moving with you?”

“Why haven’t we seen any new music from you?”

“Is your wife keeping you too busy? Is she a distraction?”

The questions were loud, all running over each other, so it was hard to pick out what they were even asking. Liam continued to get tenser and tenser, but he wasn’t moving. I wasn’t sure if he was frozen out of shock or if it was something else. Grabbing his hand, I tried to infuse reassurance into him as I squeezed it. It seemed to snap him out of whatever haze he had been in.

Liam tightened his grip on my hand before walking straight through the crowd, shoving several people out of his way. He said nothing as he speed-walked back to his truck, yanked open the door, and stood there so I was hidden as I climbed inside.

A moment later, his truck roared to life and the tires squealed as he raced out of the parking lot. A few minutes later we pulled into the driveway of our home, but my heart was still racing. Liam’s chest was rising and falling in a way that made me think the same was happening to him.

“I’m sorry,” he finally said, covering his face with a hand. “This is what I was afraid of. I didn’t want you dragged into this mess.”

I took his hand, lowering it from his face.

“Hey, it’s okay. I told you I can handle it.” I squeezed his hand and felt my spirits spiral downward when he didn’t return the gesture. “I promise it’s fine, Liam. Don’t let them ruin our good day.”

He was quiet for another moment before he let out a long breath and nodded. Silently, he got out of the truck, and opened my door for me. I hoped being back at home, where he was most comfortable, would snap him out of it, but he remained silent.

I was just about to ask if he was all right when he jogged up the stairs and I heard the bathroom door close a second later. The sound of the shower started a moment later. Clearly that was how he dealt with stress.

I let out a shaky sigh, my nerves ratcheting up. We had barely begun to explore what a relationship between us could look like—even though we hadn’t admitted our feelings. I felt like we were finally getting somewhere, especially with how he’d kissed me outside of Dina’s.

But now I feared that the run-in with the paparazzi had spoiled everything, that it was making Liam rethink all of this. Had we just been living in a dream the past few days? Was it some alternate reality we’d fallen into, and the flashing cameras finally snapped us out of it?

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