Page 124 of Back to Willow

It makes me blush. My whole body heats up, especially in all of the places he touched last night. The curve of my bum, my lips…all of my front while it was trapped against his chiselled one. For the first time in years, I felt alive again.Completely.

I hadn’t felt this…burning hot from desire—without panicking—for a long, long time.

Dormant feelings and emotions are back, hitting me full force and undoing years’ worth of work.

“There’s only one week left until Christmas,” he tuts, looking around the half-decorated living room. “You’re only decorating now?”

Looking at him, I can see the amusement on his face. A sly smirk and a cocked eyebrow are enough to give him away.

“Yes,” I answer. “Nana refuses to do it earlier, saying it’s a waste of money to have the Christmas lights skyrocketing the bill for a whole month.”

“Damn right,” she hollers from the top of the staircase before coming down. “I don’t care if it was Mandela or Jesus that was born on the 25th of December, I won’t pay more than I have to!”

We all laugh at her words, and I beckon Liam to come inside so I can close the door behind him. It’s freezing outside.

“Well, thanks for including me.” My stomach flutters violently upon seeing his charming smile.

With a deep breath, I try my best to keep my heart rate stable, only nodding in response.

“You do that damn tree,” Nana orders, halfway through the hallway, walking towards the kitchen. “I’ll make some hot chocolate and French toast!” Nana beams at us with an excited Dylan following her.

She loves every excuse to cook those at this time of the year. And like the gluttonous kids we are, we always shut up and let her do it because we love eating it.

“Are those the ones she used to cook us when we were kids?” Liam’s eyes light up at the memory.

Back when she came over to my parents for the holidays, she’d cook us some after school. Those were easy and happy times with a happy and united family. Liam was around for some of those afternoons, eating away like a starved person.

“Yes.” I giggle with the happy memories overflowing in my brain.

“God,” he groans wistfully. “I missed that a lot.”

“A lot, huh?” There’s a tinge of taunting in my voice as I arch an eyebrow.

Liam’s expression sobers when he looks at me, a smirk plastering itself on his face as he moves closer to me. He stops only when his body is barely an inch from mine. The heat that irradiates from his body warms mine, and the moment his lips graze my ear, I can’t help but close my eyes in contentment.

“I didn’t miss anything as much as I missed you,” he whispers, his hot breath fanning my ear, making me shiver.

The slight tremble in the words coming out of his mouth is the only clue of how much he’s effected by the moment. Just like I am. And my suspicions are confirmed when I open my eyes to look at him and see how heated his gaze is. The black pupils are blown wide to the point the bright blue shade of his irises is almost invisible.

“Liam…” I whisper in a plea for him to stop, but it comes out more as a moan because let’s be real…I don’t want him to stop.

Nana and Dylan are separated from us by a mere wall, yet we’re both acting as if no one is here. I can’t help it. That’s exactly how he makes me feel—like nothing else exists or matters in the world.

“Yes?” he says with a nonchalant tilt of his head while his right hand finds its way to my cup my cheek.

“We-we’re not alone,” I stutter, looking around, afraid that Nana or Dylan will barge in at any moment now.

“Lo…” Liam brings my attention back to him. “I can’t—” He takes a deep breath. “I can’t take this anymore.”What?What is he talking about? But before I can ask what he means, he resumes his speech, “Every time we’re together, all I want to do is touch you, hold onto you, and never let go. Every time I go, I’m afraid you won’t be here when I come back.”

The pain in his voice tugs at my heart, knowing the extent of the damage caused by my actions and how much I hurt him.

“I won’t leave,” I whisper back, trying to reassure him. “You’ll be the one who wants to leave at some point. I’m sure,” I mumble, remembering the words still left unsaid.

But he shakes his head, “No. I could never, Lo. I love—”

“Okay,” A loud, little boy barges in, cutting Liam off. “I want to do the tree now.”

The intense tension that was surrounding us is immediately cut off. Liam’s forehead falls onto my shoulder with a chuckle while Dylan wedges his body between the both of us, latching onto my leg.

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