Page 67 of Unfinished

Finally, I dropped down to my elbows and began to kiss her softly along her shoulder and neck. We caught our breath and let our hearts slow down. I was afraid to look in her eyes, afraid I would see regret, but when I did look into the depth of her green eyes, regret was the furthest thing from them. Instead, all I saw was everything I used to see that summer. She looked at me like she loved me.

Adjusting us to lay next to each other on the bed, we stared at each other. At that moment, I wished I knew what she was thinking because I wanted to tell her how much I still loved her. I wanted her to understand it was still her and would always be her.

Instead, I pulled the sheet over us and pulled her into me, burying my face in her hair. We would figure it out in the morning. For this night, I wanted to pretend that nothing would tear us apart again. That she truly belonged to me and was safe despite the danger that followed me.

Chapter 30

Hannah

I was slowly waking up. Liam’s soft breathing behind me and his arm wrapped tightly around my waist like I might disappear if he let go. I didn’t want to wake up from this. I wanted it to be yesterday. I wanted to relive last night over and over again for all eternity.

I wanted him to fill me, use me, and make me come harder than I ever had. Again and again. It was his smell I wanted on my body and his mouth on my skin day in and day out for the rest of my life. Maybe, if I lay here silently, time would stop because I wanted to live forever in this moment.

“I know you’re awake,” Liam whispered.

“Shh, I don’t want to be,” I whispered back and he chuckled into my hair, sending chills down my spine.

“I don’t either.” Liam buried his face in my hair.

We laid there like that for a while, soaking in every single second that we had left. The conversation we needed to have may ruin it all.

“You’re thinking,” he said.

“Yes, I am.”

“Where do we go from here?”

I rolled over to look at him, not wanting to hide from what needed to be said. I needed him to see me and hear me. His eyes looked at me but he was trying to keep his emotions hidden. I couldn’t read him and I feared this was going to be too hard on us.

“We are halfway through,” I whispered.

“We can make it work for the second half.” The almost hopefulness in his tone had my heart cracking open. I wanted nothing more than to try to make it work. But I also knew that I wasn’t quite ready.

“Until I can be by your side, we can’t.”

“Why?”

“It’s the same reason as before, Liam.”

“My mom is completely out of the picture, the prenup gave her three million and she’s living in a small condo somewhere in LA. Her social standing is completely ruined. She can’t do anything to you again.”

“Mhm, how many events have you taken women to?” His eyebrows pinched slightly when I asked the question.

“You can’t hold that against me, there are —”

“Exactly! I have no right to be jealous, upset, or angry about it because our deal works. Without this we would be arguing because someone kissed you and a camera caught it. I’m still six hours away and have to hope that we can reach each other before one of us spirals. I still barely have any time. Ashley made this weekend happen, otherwise I would have been working.”

Liam was quiet, his icy eyes searching mine for anything. I steeled my expression to hide how close I was to giving in. How close I was to trying to make long-distance work. The relationship would end up distracting me when I was so close to the finish line. My dreams and my goals were important to me and I needed to put myself first.

“Okay,” he said, nodding.

Liam pulled me close and kissed me soft and slowly, savoring each second.

“This doesn’t change anything for now. We have no expectations, weekly conversations, and visits on breaks if we can,” I said.

“I understand.” He was trying to understand, at least, but I knew something wasn’t sitting right with him. He wanted me and as much as I wanted him, but I couldn’t afford the distraction. I really hoped he did understand, because I needed to not be caught up in a relationship yet.

“Should we discuss benefits again?” Liam asked, rolling so he was lying over me with a mischievous grin.

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