Page 13 of Unfinished

I never had a man fight so hard to take me on a date. I was so close to saying yes, but I kept thinking about what that would mean after the summer was over. There seemed to be this connection between us and the conversation we had last night was one of the best I ever had.

Turning towards the door as the bell above it chimed, three men walked into the diner carrying orchid plants. My eyes went wide and then they kept leaving and coming in with more until the entire diner was filled with plants. Looking over at Liam, he smiled wide at me and Mary was shaking her head with a laugh. I snatched a card from one of the orchid plants.

Hannah, please go on a date with me.

Liam

I grabbed another card and it had the same note. Every card was the same and I couldn’t help the smile on my face as I blushed. Walking back behind the counter and placing the cards in front of Liam, I looked at him.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“I’m wooing you.” Liam’s confidence was obnoxious but it was working on me.

I laughed and shook my head, then announced to the restaurant's customers, "If you would like an orchid, feel free to take one as you leave."

With everyone’s eyes on me, I walked down and grabbed a plant and went back over to Liam. I set the plant in front of him and looked him in the eyes.

“One date,” I acquiesced, and he smiled wide. My coworkers giggled and Mary high-fived Liam as other customers broke out in chuckles and cheers. I shook my head and blushed harder.

“When is your next day off?” Liam leaned forward, victory shining in his eyes.

“Monday.”

“Great, we will have our date then.” He sat back in his chair and pulled out his phone.

“You can leave now.”

“Oh no. We have plans tonight… as friends.”

“Oh really?”

“Yes, when your shift is over I’ll follow you home and then we are going to hang out tonight. There’s no way I would survive not seeing you till Monday,” Liam stated.

“It’s one day.”

“Yes and I have a limited amount of time here, so I have to make the most of it while I can.”

An unintended smile spread across my face at Liam’s persistence. Last night, we had such an amazing conversation and he’d made it more than clear he wanted to date me. The problem was we had two or three months max, then we were both leaving for college again. I didn’t even know how far away Trident King University was from FIT, was it even doable? Maybe I was overthinking this. Maybe it’d be a summer fling. Did I want a summer fling?

I finished my shift about an hour later. Most of the flowers were taken during the lunch rush. I told my coworkers to keep letting customers take the flowers. I carried one plant out to my Jeep and Liam followed me.

“I’ll see you at your place.” Liam winked at me and before I even thought about objecting, he was in his car.

I didn’t have the energy to hang out tonight. I really wanted a nap. As I drove home, I tried to come up with a plan for sending Liam on his way, but I kept smiling at how adorable he acted at the restaurant instead.

Once at my house I let us in and set the orchid I took on the entryway table. I failed to stifle a yawn as I set my purse down. Turning to Liam, I mentioned, “I need to take a shower to get rid of this diner smell.”

“That’s fine, I can wait,” he insisted, and I huffed a laugh.

My father left sometime this morning for a job up north and wouldn’t be back till the end of next week, so at least I didn’t have to worry about explaining the whole Liam situation to him yet. I did want to hang out with Liam and he must have had less sleep than me. I could push through if we made it an early night.

I kicked off my shoes and Liam did the same. I walked up the stairs and Liam followed me to my bedroom. He immediately went to my bed and laid down, grabbing the TV remote and pulling his phone out of his pocket. I grabbed some clothes out of my dresser and walked into my bathroom. After closing and locking the door, I showered quickly.

Dressed in a white tank top and gray jogger shorts, I walked out of the bathroom and stopped dead in my tracks at the sight on my bed. Liam was lying shirtless and passed out with one arm behind his head. My eyes went wide and my lips parted as my eyes roamed over his well defined and tanned body. Heat spread through my body as my eyes traveled over his smooth chest and stomach to the small patch of hair under his belly button and the V that pointed directly towards his— I looked away quickly. Breathing softly to try to cool the heat pooling in my lower stomach, my eyes landed on my TV which was playing The Fifth Element.

Looking back at Liam, I noticed the darkness under his eyes. I should let him sleep. He probably shouldn’t be driving if he was this tired and it would be irresponsible of me to make him leave. I didn’t want to be responsible for him getting hurt if he got into an accident, right? Letting this incredibly attractive man sleep shirtless in my bed was for public safety.

I walked around my bed and climbed in hoping I'd catch some extra sleep myself. Except how in the hell was I going to sleep next to him? My eyes were glued to him and my hands itched to reach out and roam over him. Rolling over, I gave him my back because if I didn’t, I’d end up staring at him instead of sleeping. A few minutes later, Liam rolled and wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me to him. His breathing remained even so he must still be asleep. With his warmth and rhythmic breathing, sleep took me quickly.

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