Page 90 of Wants and Needs
“He got the call from Tristan Thursday evening,” I explain. There’s no mistaking the sadness on Sam’s face, and I sympathize, I do. “Then yesterday he talked to Parker and William, then to Tristan, and then he came by the gallery to tell me he wanted to be alone.”
I leave the article out of it for now because it really isn’t relevant.
“He’s been busy,” Sam remarks in a monotone voice. She looks more worried than sad now.
“He has, but my question is, should I push him to let me in? Is being alone what he really needs?”
Sam stares at me like she’s doing her damndest to look into my soul. The seconds tick by so slowly I could swear an hour has passed, and only when she nods one decisive nod do I dare breathe again.
“Liam does like his alone time, but when he’s having big emotions he does better with someone there to... hold him.”
The way she says it makes many things clear to me. First and foremost that she knows Liam is comfortable with my touch, and second that she trusts me enough to give me an honest answer.
Of course, there’s also a hint of a threat in the vagueness of her answer.
The fact that I’m the right person for Liam is still up for debate, and I don’t begrudge her for that.
“I’ll try again, then.” I nod once and take a tiny step back from the table.
She spins on her heel and takes a deep dish out of a cupboard, then she opens the box from the bakery and takes out four cinnamon rolls, closes the box again, and hands it over to me.
“Liam loves cinnamon rolls. Let me get my keycard so you can go down to his floor, all right?”
“Thank you,” I tell her, something beyond relief filling my veins.
I smile at her one last time when I walk into the elevator, and her answering smile gives me hope that I’ll live up to her standards.
I’ll sure do my best.
21LIAM
I openthe door expecting to see the doorman with a package of something I forgot I’d ordered, and instead find Carter wearing a trembling smile.
He holds up a box with the MP logo between us.
“I come bearing gifts,” he says, and sounds... cheerful. This is the way he sounded last week after he hung out with all his friends. At least I think that’s it. Maybe he’s in a good mood because he did spend yesterday evening with his friends?
His smile as he looks at me tells me he’s happy to be here in front of me, though.
I didn’t expect that.
Considering our last interaction, I expected a lot more... emotions. Bad emotions to be precise.
I thought some time apart, maybe a day or two by myself would be enough so I could get back to focusing on starting arelationship with him, but spending hours upon hours staring helplessly at the ceiling didn’t help at all.
The worst part is that ESoothe and its uncertain future was only in my thoughts for a fraction of that time.
Mostly I thought about Carter.
I thought about how I would go to his place on Monday and explain...
That’s as far as I got. I still have no idea how to explain what happened yesterday, or how I could’ve done things differently, said things differently so he’d understand my motivation to leave.
I reach for the box slowly, and I know it’s cinnamon rolls as soon as that mouthwatering smell reaches me.
“Thank you,” I murmur slowly. I know this is the right thing to say when someone gives you a gift, so that’s easy, but now I don’t know what else to say.
Should I invite him in?
