Page 8 of Accidental Attraction

“What? I’ve never read those,” he defended himself, but I could tell he was lying by the little bit of pink in his cheeks.

“So they are just here for no reason?” I should have just dropped it, but it was fun teasing Liam. It didn’t happen every day.

“It is just there to fill up space.”

“Riiiiight. We need re-vamp your books in here. They are all older ones,” I said, dropping the Twilight comments, but I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face.

“You’re probably right. I haven’t read half of these,” he said as he looked around the room. “How about we go to a bookstore after we drop off the photos?”

“Sounds good to me.” I smiled at him. Even if he didn’t realize the simple gesture to get me more books was sweet, I did.

“Ready to go?”

“Yeah, just let me change and get some shoes on.” Brushing by him, I ignored the tingling feel that spread across my arm when it touched his. I walked quickly to my room and slipped off my PJ bottoms and threw on my trusty pair of blue jeans. Sliding on my Converse, I grabbed my ring before I forgot it, then grabbed my bag and headed to find Liam so we could leave. It was probably a good idea to wear my engagement ring when we dropped off the photos.

I found Liam standing by the garage waiting patiently with me. Sending me a heart-stopping smile, he gestured for me to lead the way. As I walked to the garage, I realized that was only the second time Liam had ever really smiled at me. He usually just smirked or kept his lips in a thin line. I was already liking this new side to him.

I slid in the passenger seat of the Jeep, and Liam backed out and started to drive to wherever we were going. When I turned the radio up, I nodded along to “Shut Up And Dance.” The ride to pick up the photos was quick. Turning the car off, Liam jumped out and ran to my door before I could open it myself. He held out his hand for me, and I blushed and smiled, putting mine inside of his. Following beside, we walked inside a huge, nice-looking building. A bell chimed above us as we entered, and I immediately heard the voice of Leonardo yelling at us.

“Lovebirds! Here to pick up the pictures.” The sound of his Italian accent was thick and echoing around the room.

“Yes, we are,” Liam answered.

“Follow me.” I looked around as Liam pulled me after him. Leonardo led us down a hallway that was lined with gorgeous photos of sunsets, flowers, people, and stars. Every single one was so beautiful I just wanted to stop and look at them all day. Leonardo was very talented. If our pictures looked as good as the wedding ones lining the walls, I would be beyond happy. “Okay, here they are.”

We came to a stop in front a huge counter that had more than a dozen of our engagement photos spread out on it. Dropping my hand from Liam’s, I reached for the first one I saw. It was the one where Liam and I kissed. My breath hitched in my throat at how amazing we looked. The lighting was perfect and glowed around us as Liam held me up. My leg was popped in the air, my hands gripping his shoulders, my hair framed around his face, almost blocking it. I softly set it down and gently reached for another. I was afraid of ruining it. This one was the both of us at the lake. Leonardo snapped the picture just as I laughed. Liam was saying that Leo was his side babe. My head was thrown back while my hands gripped his, down between us. Liam was looking straight at me with a loving smile on his face.

The way he was staring at me while I laughed made my heart beat faster. It was the look of someone in love. I had seen Tom from the club look at his girlfriend Kendra the same way. The lake in the background looked amazing, and the sun was shining straight down at us, wrapping us in almost a cocoon of light. Smiling down at the picture, I moved onto the next one and grinned wider at the photo of all of us holding the boys’ shirts open, revealing the super hero shirts. It turned out perfect! All three boys were looking down at their chests while Julie, Lennon, and I looked at the camera. All the pictures looked amazing, and I loved every single one. We could only pick two to go in the newspaper, and the decision was going to be tough. When I looked at each of the pictures of Liam and me, the look on our faces as we stared at each other made me smile in response. We looked good together; I wasn’t going to lie.

“We need two photos. What ones do you like, Jenna?” Liam asked a few minutes after we both looked at all of them.

“Only two?” Leonardo interrupted. He sounded almost offended.

“For the paper. The rest we will use for invitations,” Liam explained.

“I like this one.” I pointed to the one by the lake with me laughing. “And this one,” I said shyly, pointing to the one of us kissing.

“I do too.” With a nod from Liam, Leonardo started packing up our photos in a big white box, leaving out the two we needed to drop off. Once everything was packaged up, Leonardo practically shooed us out. Shaking our heads at each other, we got in the car and headed to drop off our pictures. I was nervous about everyone in New York knowing that we were engaged. With Liam being who he was, I wouldn’t be surprised if I got a lot of backlash from this. Women were smitten with Liam, and finding out he was engaged to some random girl wasn’t going to go over well.

“We just have to go inside to the editor and drop these off. Then we can go,” Liam said once we pulled up in front of The New York Times building. Nodding and taking a deep breath, I stepped out of the car. I automatically slipped my hand into Liam’s, and we headed inside. It already felt natural, holding his big hand with my small one. I felt safe, like he was my rock.

Blushing under the looks everyone was sending our way, I leaned into Liam’s side, wanting to disappear. I hated attention, but being with Liam, it came with the deal. I hated when people stared at me like I was some experiment under a microscope, waiting to be poked and examined. As Liam spoke to a lady at the front desk, I discreetly looked around and found a handful of people gawking at us, mostly women. I could hear them whispering to each other, asking who I was and why would a girl like me be with a guy like Liam. I felt small under their gaze, but I didn’t want to show them how I felt. I straightened my back and turned away from their judging stares.

Walking to the elevator, I held my head up and ignored the whispers and looks. My grip tightened on Liam’s hand until the doors of the elevator closed, cutting off the faces of people in the lobby. I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding.

“Don’t listen to them,” Liam whispered down at me even though we were the only ones in the closed space. I nodded and shot him a weak smile. I’d had plenty of people say things about me to my face and behind my back, but it never got any easier. There would always be a small part inside of me that agreed with everything they said, and it hurt, knowing it was true. I’d heard plenty of times that you shouldn’t care what people think of you, but how do you do that when you think the exact same things they do?

“Liam Stanford here to see Mr. Parsons,” Liam said as we came out of the elevator. The eyes of the girl behind the desk widened, and she opened her mouth like a fish gasping for water. She seemed star-struck by Liam and his looks.

“Uh, h-he is right in there,” she stuttered, pointing to a door behind her. Thanking her, we walked to the door and inside.

“Mr. Parsons, I’m Liam Stanford, and this is Jenna Howard. I spoke with you on the phone earlier.” Liam shook hands with the guy. He looked older, about late sixties, with a bald head and a beer belly.

“Oh yes, it is very nice to meet you,” Mr. Parsons said enthusiastically. He gestured for us to sit down in front of his desk. “So this is your lovely fiancé.” The way he was looking at me made my skin crawl. His beady little eyes stared at me as if he was undressing me. Used to guys doing that, I narrowed my eyes at him.

“We are here to drop off a few pictures so you can run them in the paper tomorrow about our engagement,” Liam cut in, ignoring Mr. Parsons’ remark about me. From the corner of my eye, I saw Liam clenching his jaw.

“We would be more than happy to put it in our paper. People are going to be surprised seeing that you are engaged, and to a very beautiful woman.” I squirmed in my seat under his gaze.

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