Page 27 of Falling for the Wrong Billionaire
But still, I can’t shake the feeling that I’m not quite a part of it. I’m on the outside, watching this warm, familiar group as they share their inside jokes and histories. I’ve never been good at letting people in, and the more I hear about their lives, the more I feel the weight of my own separation from it all.
Later, after dinner, Liam pulls me outside for a walk. It’s cool now, the evening air crisp, and the stars are starting to twinkle in the sky above us. The moonlight bathes everything in soft light,making everything feel surreal, like this moment is too perfect to be real.
We walk side by side, the silence between us comfortable but charged. Liam is casually asking me questions about my life, about how I grew up, about the things that matter to me. It feels easy, like we’ve known each other for years instead of a few short weeks. But even as I answer him, there’s a part of me that holds back.
“I don’t have much to share,” I say, my voice quiet. “I’ve always been more comfortable in my own space, you know? My whole life’s been kind of... small. But I like it that way. I like the quiet.”
Liam glances at me, his expression softening. “I get it,” he says. “I think I’ve always been the same way. There’s something nice about just... being. Not needing to be part of something bigger.”
His words settle over me, and I can’t help but wonder if he understands me more than I’ve let on. We’re both so alike in the ways we keep to ourselves, in the ways we hide parts of ourselves from the world.
We keep walking, the conversation flowing easily between us, until I notice something in the sky. My heart skips a beat.
“Look,” I say, pointing up. “A shooting star.”
Liam follows my gaze, and I can feel the magic of the moment before I even say the words. “Make a wish,” I whisper, half laughing, half serious. “Quick. Before it’s gone.”
Liam’s laughter fills the air, light and warm. “You’re serious?”
“Of course I’m serious,” I reply, teasing. “It’s a shooting star. You’ve got to make a wish. It’s tradition.”
He smiles at me, shaking his head as if he’s not sure whether to believe me or not. But then, with a slight shrug, he closes his eyes and I do too, both of us caught up in the moment.
We stand there for a few seconds, the night air cool against our skin, the quiet of the world wrapping around us like a blanket.
When he opens his eyes, I glance at him, half afraid of what I might see, half curious. “What did you wish for?” I ask, almost shy.
Liam’s expression turns teasing. “I can’t tell you,” he says with a grin. “That’s the rule.”
I roll my eyes, trying to hide my smile. “Come on, you can’t keep a wish secret forever.”
He laughs, a low sound that makes my heart skip a beat. “It wouldn’t be a wish if I told you.”
We fall into a companionable silence as we continue to walk. The night seems endless, the moonlit path stretching out before us, but neither of us speaks. There’s a certain tension between us now, a magnetic pull I can’t quite explain. I want to reach for him, to close the gap between us, but I hold back. I always do.
We stop walking, and Liam turns to face me. The space between us is small, but it feels like a chasm. I can feel his breath on my skin, the intensity of his gaze, and it takes everything in me not to close the distance.
And for a moment, I think—no, I know—he’s going to kiss me. And I want him to. My heart beating rapidly against my chest as the urge to kiss him fills me.
This time, he does.
He reaches out, his hand brushing a strand of hair from my face, and his touch lingers against my cheek. His eyes search mine, like he’s looking for permission. I give it, silently, in the way I lean in just slightly, in the way my breath catches.
And then his lips are on mine.
It’s slow at first — tentative, almost unsure — but then he deepens it, and everything else falls away. The weight I’ve been carrying, the walls I’ve built, the guilt, the fear, the doubt — all of it disappears in that moment.
All I feel is him.
His hands slide to my waist, pulling me gently closer. I grip the fabric of his shirt like I’m afraid to let go. The kiss is tender but charged, full of everything we haven’t said, everything we’ve tried to deny.
Chapter thirteen
Liam
"You’re zoning out again, West."
Bryan’s voice cuts through the noise of my thoughts like a blade. I blink and realize I’ve been staring at the same spreadsheet for who knows how long. The numbers blur into meaningless columns on the conference table between us.
