Page 46 of The Cocky Neighbor

"Oh, yeah. Our friends thought we were dating this entire time," he said with a shy smile.

"There's never a dull moment with you, is there?" I said as I smoothed back his messy hair.

He nuzzled into my hand. His eyes were shining as he looked at me."Nope. At least you'll never get bored with me around."

I pressed our noses together as I lay beside him and said, "I can't wait for all the fun we're going to have in the future."

Laughter busted out of us as we held each other. We couldn't predict the future or guarantee that every single moment between us was going to be perfect. That was just a part of life. However, I knew that whatever was in store for us, we'd get through it together with kindness and lots of laughs.

I couldn't wait.

EPILOGUE

ERIC

A few weeks later

We stood in the dark as soft voices echoed into the large room.

"Did Grandpa say what he needed to talk about?" Noah asked.

"I dunno. He said it was a secret," Liam’s brother replied. Their footsteps got closer, and the lights turned on in the next second.

"Surprise!" we all shouted. Colorful streamers flew all over the room as we jumped to surprise Noah. "Happy birthday!"

Noah covered his mouth with his hands as his eyes widened. "Oh, wow! This is so amazing. I had no clue you were going to throw me a surprise birthday party," he said without any conviction.

I snickered at his lack of believability, and Liam nudged me in my stomach. On our drive to the Wright manor, Liam told me that Noah found out about this party over a month ago. He'd kept quiet since his fiancé was having so much fun planning it.

Noah turned to Lucas and placed a peck on his cheek. "Thank you for this. I love it."

"I helped plan it too," Lucas and Liam's grandpa said as he went up to Noah for a hug.

"Thank you, Grandpa. I can't believe you did this for me," Noah said, returning the hug with a huge smile on his face.

The rest of us also went up to shower Noah in hugs. There were dozens of people there to celebrate his birthday, including the entire gang from Corio Heights, and I was included in that group.

I wasn't proud to say it, but I had basically moved into Liam's loft in Corio Heights. I had sworn to never move into the building and catch the love disease all residents seemed to have, but look at me now. The damn cupid had his eyes on me long before I'd even moved in, and as I stayed longer in Corio Heights, I'd turned into his latest victim and had lost my heart as well.

After the wedding, I'd spent the night at Liam's place and had intended to go home the next day. But then Liam kept inviting me over, and I'd realized that I’d much rather fall asleep in his warm arms than my cold bed. Liam had cleared out space in his closet and drawers for me, and that was basically the end of it.

I still had my own apartment, but the only time I returned there was to get more stuff to bring to Liam's—our—home. My lease was set to end in a month, and we talked about me officially moving in with him. We discussed how fast things were moving, but it felt right. We fit in each other's lives like we'd always been there.

There was also the newest member of our family—Star. The little cat had gotten attached to Liam and had followed him straight into his flashy blue car. I was annoyed and very jealous when I found out.

Star was the least feral of the stray cats I'd fed, and I'd tried numerous times in the past to catch him and find him a new home inside the comforts of someone's house, but he'd always resisted. I thought he was reluctant to leave the forests behind Roslyn Hotel, but it seemed that he was just waiting for a certain man with a cocky smile and sexy dimples to find him. I couldn't blame him, considering Liam had found me when I wasn't looking for anything permanent either.

My friends, Zack particularly, teased me relentlessly when they learned about my staying in the building. It didn't help that Liam didn't hide his affection for me even in front of our friends. Zack had a field day with that. He claimed that it was finally his turn to pay me back for all theembarrassmentI'd caused him when he and Caleb first met.

Besides that, they all took our relationship very well. Noah, especially, was ecstatic to see the two of us together and kept insisting on having double dates with us. We'd had dinner at their place a few times, and I'd gotten a lot closer to Noah and Lucas.

I thought living life together with someone like this would be terrifying. There were sure to be growing pains and lots of arguing, but I was surprised to find that there was none of that with him.

Liam was always patient with me and never pushed me beyond my comfort zone. In fact, at times he was a little toopatient like he was afraid it would all be too much for me and I'd run away.

There were times that I had to reassure him that I was happy in the relationship. I wasn't feeling stifled or like I was forced to be with him. I wanted this just as much as he did. And with each passing day, I felt freer being with him than I had been when I was alone.

I knew now that relationships weren't meant to keep someone tied down. It was the opposite. When you were with someone you loved, you became their strength, their wings to help them fly and be whoever they wanted.

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