Page 2 of Falling For Liam
My mind begins to wander to my first time here. The first time I met him.
It was Nicole’s birthday, and we’d spent the day at a hotel being pampered before an evening that Declan had arranged as a surprise. Thoughts of the life I’d left behind were never far from my mind while I was here, but that day, I was able to be the young and carefree twenty-four year old that I should be. I felt light and free for the first time in a long time as I laughed and joked with Nicole and Lilly. I knew we were expecting company for our evening meal before heading out for the night—Lilly had filled me in on the secret plans earlier in the day—but I didn’t think much of it.
That all changed when I walked into that dining room with Nic and Lilly either side of me. As they took the attention of their men who were waiting for us to appear, I discovered I was also being ogled. Not just by one set of eyes, but two.
The first guy was massive. I allowed my eyes to run over his short hair, wide shoulders and thick arms as his own travelled over my body. I soon realised the tingles I felt weren’t because of his scrutiny. They were courtesy of the guy stood next to him. He looked small next to his friend, but that’s only because of the sheer size of the first guy. I took in his shaggy dark hair, his sharp cheekbones and defined jaw. They were phenomenal but paled in comparison to his rich chocolate eyes and the smile that erupted on his face when our eyes met. I felt a physical blow to my chest when his full pink lips curved up, making a dimple appear in his cheek.
The beast of a guy was the first to move and introduced himself as BJ. The smirk as he said it suggested I should be impressed by the nickname, but honestly, I couldn’t care less. He wasn’t the one holding my attention.
“This is Liam,” he said, nodding towards his friend, whose eyes were still burning into me. It was the weirdest feeling. I’d never met him before, that I was sure of, but I felt like I knew him. Tearing my eyes away, I managed to head farther into the room and towards where the others were chatting, but his attention stayed on me. I felt it.
I could feel it all night, even though he pretty much stayed in the shadows. BJ was such a big character that Liam barely got a word in edgeways—not that he seemed overly bothered. I got the sense that he was quite content with being the quiet, brooding one of the three of them. I discreetly kept my eye on him, trying to figure him out, but it was hopeless. He gave nothing away. The only time I saw a part of him was when he caught me staring and our eyes would connect. In those few seconds, it was like I could see directly into his soul. It was weird. At no point did he make any real effort to talk to me, other than the usual group chatter, and I was beginning to think I’d imagined the connection between us. I did my best to ignore the fluttering within me and focused on enjoying myself. It had been a long time since I was able to let my hair down. After we graduated, all my friends left, either to go back home or to embark on their new careers. I was desperate to do the same, and I felt cheated when I agreed to stay in Cardiff with David. I longed to experience what the rest of the country had to offer, but when given the ultimatum, I chose him.
By the time everyone started to leave, I’d had enough drinks to push him to the back of my mind—or so I thought.
We were the last of our group to leave the table in the karaoke bar we’d spent the evening in, and I’d only taken a few steps when warm fingers wrapped around my wrist. I was tugged back until I was inches away from his body. His eyes bored into mine with an intensity that weakened my knees. No one had ever looked at me like that before. Like they wanted to devour me. Own me. It was an unnerving feeling, although not totally unwelcome as I felt myself becoming slick with arousal the longer he stared.
The heat of his fingers continued to burn my wrist as his breath tickled gently over my face. His eyes eventually broke from mine in favour of my lips. I didn’t want to lead him on, but I couldn’t help but run my tongue over my bottom lip.
When his eyes came back up, they were darker than before, if that was even possible.
“Tell me I can see you again.” His deep, husky voice vibrated through me as my heart began to race.
“I…uh…” I stuttered, the wordsI’ve got a boyfriendright on the tip of my tongue, but for some reason I couldn’t force them to be spoken aloud. “I’m only visiting.”
His mouth opened to respond, but he was interrupted.
“Liam,” BJ called, “put your dick away. We’re leaving.”
“For fuck’s sake,” he muttered under his breath before releasing his hold on my wrist in favour of guiding me from the club with his hand burning into my lower back.
* * *
Shaking the memories from my head, I stand from the wall, right my clothing, hold my head high and walk towards the lights of the party in the distance.
The excitement is palpable even as I walk up towards the decking, the joy and laughter flowing from the open doors.
Taking a deep breath, I step inside and glance around, looking for Nicole. My original plan was to get here this afternoon, get ready with her and help with the final touches for tonight, but my douchebag boss soon put pay to that.
A few pairs of eyes turn to me, but none that I recognise. It’s only a few seconds before I hear my name called, and when I look over my shoulder, Nicole is running towards me with a wide smile on her face. She doesn’t stop when she gets to me, instead colliding with my body as she wraps her arms around my shoulders.
“I was beginning to think you were lying about coming.”
“I wouldn’t do that,” I just about manage to get out of her death hug crushing my chest.
“All right, put the poor girl down,” Dec says, walking up to us with an amused expression on his face. “Good to see you again, Liv.”
“You, too.”
It feels incredible that I only met Nicole at the beginning of the summer at my sister-in-law’s hen do. It feels like we’ve known each other forever. I don’t think she knows how much she rescued me when she allowed me to stay with her before the wedding, but I will be eternally grateful for the bit of respite from my life.
“The traffic must have been awful,” she says.
I recall my nightmare before explaining about getting dressed in the car. Taking pity on me, Nic grabs my hand and pulls me over towards the bar so she can get me a drink.
“What’s your poison?”
“Uh…” I pause, looking at all the colourful bottles lining the bar. I feel like I should ask for something exotic, but my mind goes blank. “White wine?”
