Page 112 of Summertime Friends

“Show me.”

My eyes sparkle with imagination.

“Not here,” he says. “Not right now.”

I remove my hands, letting them fall to my side. Liam takes them and puts them around his waist.

“It’s about time!” someone yells at us. Liam pulls away. I glance over my shoulder to see that it’s Cal. Chloe is sitting next to him, throwing double thumbs-up at us. “You might want to get a room,” he yells again.

I look at Liam. He looks at me.

“Want to?” I ask him. Biting the corner of my bottom lip.

“Only if you can tell me you want us.”

“What?”

“This.” He points to me and then to him. “Only if you properly want us,” he repeats himself.

I’m taken aback by what he’s saying. Is it not obvious I want him? I kissed him. I’m roving my hands on his body. I’m liquid under his touch.

I want Liam. Is that not obvious?

Liam reads my expression. “Not only me, Emerson. Us. I told you what I wanted. I don’t want one night of sex with you. I want you forever. If you don’t want the same, then this can’t happen.”

I don’t move. I’m frozen. By the confession? By the hurt? By the heat that eviscerated my body only moments ago?

“I’m going home. Be brave this time.” He kisses me and then walks away. “Enjoy your birthday, States.”

I watch from the upper level as he approaches Cal. Grabs his jacket and exits.

46

LIAM

Now

Cal was kind when he invited me to Emerson’s birthday. It stung that she didn’t invite me herself, and I tried my best not to read into it.

I shouldn’t have assumed that confessing to her that Natalie and I were off, would put her and me on. It didn’t. She went upstairs, claiming she needed to think.

What is there to think about?

In the past two weeks, we’ve texted, chatted after work meetings, and taken a couple of strolls during her lunch break, but that’s it.

She doesn’t want us. She wants me.

I saw that tonight.

It’d be easy to give in. To quench my thirst for her. A night together would do precisely that, but it wouldn’t solve my problem of wanting her forever. I don’t want to only be inside her for a night, but inside her life forever. I wish she wanted the same.

I had to leave before I gave in, and I would have been disappointed in myself if I hadn’t.

Cal could see it all over my face when I grabbed my jacket. He asked if I wanted him to leave with me, but I shook my head no.

There’s a pounding on my door. The knock is eerily like the one I heard every morning in Paris from Emerson, but with more force, almost frantic.

The knocks don’t stop as I walk to the door.

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