Page 47 of Love Me

Bear.

My heart deflates. Fuck, what I’d give to just be Liam in her eyes.

“You’re the most beautiful woman here.”

“Thank you for saying that, but you’re so full of shit,” she laughs.

“I haven’t noticed another female since we arrived, you’re all I see, and I’ve caught more than half the men here staring at you tonight. Trust me, I’ve thought of a million different ways to gouge out their eyes.”

“I didn’t expect you to be so territorial. I can see it with Sawyer, even Dallas, but you’re so chill. Are you like this with all the ladies?”

Everyone knows me as the easygoing Hayes brother, the one who doesn’t lose his cool often. Levelheaded Liam. Never makes any mistakes, always keeps his nose clean and works hard. But fuck if I’m not sick of playing by the rules.

“There aren’t any other ladies, Han.”

She smothers her laugh by burying her face in my chest.

“You forget that we’re best friends, bear. I know that you date.”

“Yeah? Who was the last one?”

She thinks hard for a moment, eyes starting to go wide as panic sets in.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” I tell her, rolling my eyes, because there hasn’t been anyone in a very long time.

“Okay, so it’s been a minute.”

“It’s been longer than a minute, Hannah, give me a break.”

“So what do you do then to, you know, take the edge off?”

“Change the topic, Han.”

She laughs and lays her cheek against my chest, her little fingers moving slightly against the breast of my jacket where her hand lays under mine. Fuck, it feels so good to have her close to me. The song changes again as the string quartet plays classical tunes, and Hannah and I continue to dance, not altering our rhythm, even as the songs do. Eventually, the music dies out altogether.

“They stopped playing,” she whispers, her head still resting on my chest, right above my heart.

“Yeah . . .”

But neither of us makes the move to break apart. I feel the eyes from onlookers focused on us as I keep my arm wrapped around her waist, my thumb rubbing back and forth on the exposed skin at the small of her back. Just that small touch is lighting up every fuse in my body, making rational thought completely dissipate. She’s all I want. With the dance floor empty, I keep Hannah tucked into me, swaying slightly back and forth, our bodies completely flush against one another.

Moving back just enough for my hand to gently nudge her chin up to look at me, I’m completely lost to her in this moment. Wisps of her pretty hair have fallen loose from the chignon she had twisted it into. Her face is slightly flushed, the apples of her cheeks rosy, eyes holding so much depth you could get lost looking into them.

“You are so fucking beautiful, Hannah.”

“Bear . . .”

“It’s true.”

Hannah slowly closes her eyes, and when she opens them, I see nothing but desire reflected back at me. She meets my eyes then glances at my lips and slowly swipes her own with her tongue in a teasing, seductive movement that I couldn’t have looked away from if I wanted to.

Sliding my hand to frame her jaw against her soft face, I angle her head back so that she’s forced to look up at me, giving me complete access to what I want more than anything. I haven’t been able to think about anything else since our kiss at the theater, how badly I want a redo, how badly I want to kiss her for real.

Her breath hitches, and fuck do I love her response. In a painfully slow motion, I bend and lower my head to hers so our foreheads are pressed together, sharing air, so close that our lips brush against each other when I speak.

“Hannah . . . I desperately want to kiss you right now.”

“People are watching.”

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