Page 72 of Lost in You (The Monroes 3)

“What is it?” she asked.

Shaking his head, he pulled away. “Nothing.”

Macy crossed her arms over her chest and watched as he picked up the ladder and left the room. Okay. So he was just going to shut her out?

Macy stood in the doorway from the kitchen and watched as he went down the hall toward the attached garage and hung the ladder back on the wall.

When he turned to face her, she merely raised her brows.

“It’s just resort stuff,” he told her.

“Resort stuff? That’s why you look like you’re torn into several pieces?”

His lips thinned, the muscle in his square jaw ticked. “Macy . . .”

“What? I wouldn’t pry into your personal calls if you didn’t look like you were ready to run away.”

When he remained silent, Macy threw up her arms and went back into the kitchen. She wasn’t begging.

Footsteps followed behind her as she headed toward the hallway. It was getting late, so whatever the call was about must’ve been important. Not important enough to share with her, but whatever. Hadn’t she already told herself he didn’t owe her anything?

She had fallen in love. Maybe she’d been fooling herself to think—

Liam’s grip on her arm as he spun her around cleared all thoughts from her mind. Suddenly she was backed up against the wall of the hallway, looking up into a set of heavy-lidded eyes. She couldn’t tell if it was passion or anger staring back at her. There was such a fine line between the two emotions.

“I’m not shutting you out,” he claimed. Those powerful hands came up to frame her face. “Sophie threw me for a minute, that’s all. I just need to think some things through.”

No matter what headway she thought she was making with him, she kept finding herself slammed against the blocker he placed between them. Exhausted, Macy dropped her head back against the wall.

“You don’t owe me an explanation,” she murmured. “I just . . . I thought I could help.”

His thumb raked over her bottom lip. “You help, Macy. Just being here helps. I wasn’t looking for this and that’s what makes everything so damn difficult.”

She reached up, gripping his wrists as he held her face. “I wasn’t looking for this, either. But I want—”

“What?” he whispered as he stepped closer, lining their bodies up together. “You want this? I told you that I wasn’t going to be like other guys in your life, Macy.”

The warning of those words hit her hard. Liam wasn’t a man to just sit back and let her control every aspect of their intimacy. That ever-present fear coursed through her, and as much as she willed it away, she couldn’t just dismiss how she’d purposely kept herself protected.

“Liam, I can’t.”

His thumb slid over her bottom lip. “You trust me?”

Macy couldn’t look away from those eyes. How could one look make her feel so vulnerable, yet so protected at the same time? She knew in her heart he’d never physically hurt her, never force her. She’d given herself to him many times, but what he was asking was so far outside her comfort zone.

“I don’t trust myself.” How humiliating that was to admit aloud. “What if we get in there and I can’t stand it? What if I embarrass myself and you—”

His finger covered her lips. “And what if I get you in that bedroom, your bedroom, and you have an experience like nothing you’ve ever had before?”

Macy opened her mouth, but he kept his finger in place.

“And what if you stop questioning everything that scares you and let me show you that you’re worth so much more than a quickie in some random place.”

Liam removed his hand and brushed her lips with his. Those strong hands came to encircle her waist as his mouth traveled along her jawline and toward the sensitive part beneath her ear.

“Say the word, Macy, and I’ll make sure you’re never afraid again.”

How did he do that? How did he obliterate every single nightmare she’d held inside her for so long? There was something special about Liam, not that she needed this moment to prove her theory. But he wanted to crush that defense mechanism she held so firmly in place.

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