Page 60 of How to Write a Rom-Com

“No, me first,” he says, lowering one hand to press it against my hip. “The other day,” he starts, sneaking his fingers under my top. He glides his wet fingers up my abdomen, and I shiver at his touch. “When you said I was skeptical of you when you first got here—”

“Liam, I didn’t mean—”

“I wasn’t skeptical. I just couldn’t believeyouwere here,” he finishes, and I tilt my head back, confused by his statement. He cups his hand around my ribs, using the other to fold a piece of hair behind my ear. “I couldn’t believe I was seeing you again.”

What? “Sorry?” I say a little too loudly.

“I’d seen you before. In Manhattan. I was with Jill and the kids to see the Christmas tree. You fell—”

The rest of his words sound far away. I squint at him as his hands reach for my hips.

“Manhattan—?”

“Lucy,” Liam says, snapping my attention back into focus. “I saw you. I saw you fall. And I couldn’t get to you. And then you were gone.” He pauses, a look of disbelief spreading across his face. “I don’t know why that moment stuck with me—seeing you across the way. Then when you showed up here, it was surreal. At first I thought I’d lost my mind.”

My eyes are surely wide enough that he understands the level of disbelief I am feeling right now. “I was in disbelief that it was you, the same girl from New York. And that I was getting a second chance to actually meet you. Because I’d thought of you every day since.”

He was there. On the other side of Sixth Avenue. He was the one who saw me. The one who looked like he was coming to help me. My knight in shining armor.

“Please say something. And please don’t tell me you think I’m some sort of creep,” he says, chuckling bashfully.

I can’t resist this anymore. I can’t pretend like the last few weeks haven’t changed something for me. Because this man… this man has changed everything. I was starting to believe that the stories I read about—the ones that talked about meeting your “person,” the person who makes all the ones who came before seem like distant memories—I thought they were bullshit. But I’m standing here looking at a man who has been longing for me—me—for a year, and I can’t believe it. I finally found the moment I’ve been reading about all my life. I finally found my Big Romance Moment.

And in this moment, nothing else matters. Not Anne, or Ruby, or the book, or my job. I don’t care about any of it. I’ll throw the book away and delete all my notes. I’ll delete any evidence of anything that could hurt this golden soul in front of me. Because I’ve finally found what I’ve been looking for my whole life.

I lean forward in what can only be described as an animalistic fashion, crushing my mouth against his. He smiles against my lips, and I can’t help but smile as well. Together, we slide to the floor, and Liam presses me backwards. He cradles my head as he lays me down, breaking our kiss to trace my jaw with his lips, licking the last of the raindrops off my neck. I let out a mix between a giggle and a moan, completely intoxicated by his touch.

He kisses my chest while he unbuttons my shorts, my hips already rocking with anticipation. Did I shave my legs last night? What’s the situation down there? Do I care? His fingers skate beneath my panties and his palm cups my center. Scratch that, I don’t care. Nope. Not one bit.

“Oh my God,” I whine, as he starts to rotate his thumb around the most sensitive part of me. I can’t believe this is happening. My body can’t believe this is happening. My hips move in tandem with his hand, and I throw my head back. Liam reaches behind my neck to support me and presses his lips to mine again, tracing the inside of my mouth with his tongue. As the intensity of his kiss deepens, so does the speed of his hand, and I moan even more. There’s a tingle in my toes that slowly creeps up the backs of my legs, and a squeeze in my abdomen. I tense beneath him, every muscle in my core spasming under his grip. I feel Liam press himself against my hip to show me what I’m doing to him, and in the midst of my pleasure, I think I mumble something about wanting him inside me, but I’m not sure that any of it comes out coherently.

When I open my eyes, Liam is grinning. I smile back, because how can I not? Liam presses his forehead against mine.

“I’ve been dying to do that,” he whispers, his lips moving against mine. I let out a weak laugh. Just as I’m about to respond, I see a flash of white out of the corner of my eye. I turn my head to peek out of the small window that lines Liam’s front door. Liam must see the confusion on my face, because he follows my gaze, to where a white sedan pulls up behind Anne’s car. Liam looks at me, and I communicate my uneasiness to him with my eyes.Who could that be?

We both sit up. Liam looks out the window and I see his shoulders relax. I pop my head up in time to see an elderly man opening the passenger door of his car. A woman of equal age steps out.

“It’s Al and Mella,” Liam says, looking at me with a puzzled expression. I match his gaze with an even more confused face. What are they doing here? I’m supposed to be here until Saturday.

Liam stands up, pulling me up with him, and opens the front door. Blue scurries out beside Liam. I readjust myself, run my hands through my hair, and follow him.

“Liam!” Mella calls as she shuffles toward the house. Liam meets them at the entrance to the porch of my—their—house and I stand behind him warily, unsure what my next move should be.

When did this day become so derailed? I try to avoid Liam, then I kiss him, and then some other stuff happens, which was totallynotpart of the plan, and now these two show up? My brain is on overload. And boy are my shoes wet.

“Al, Mella, what are you doing here?” Liam says, embracing Mella as she opens the front door of the house.

“What do you mean?” she asks, finally spotting me behind Liam.

“Hi, I’m Lucy,” I say with a pathetic wave, coming up behind her. It’s odd to be entering my rental without the feeling of it being mine, since its actual owners are opening the door and letting themselves in.

“Ah, Lucy!” Mella exclaims, holding her arms out for an embrace. “It’s so nice you met our lovely neighbor Liam. But I have to ask, what are you still doing here, sweetie?” she adds as I give her an awkward hug.

“What do you mean?”

“Why don’t we take this inside, Luce? Because it’s, you know, pouring,” Liam says, ushering Al under the small awning.

“I’m so sorry,” I say once we’re inside. “Did we get our dates wrong?”

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