Page 54 of Ward Willing
“Okay, then riddle me this. If something happened to you, I wouldn’t have anyone anymore.”
His brows pull together, but I continue.
“You’re so busy taking care of people, but who takes care of you?”
Liam’s face pinches slightly, almost as if he’s never truly considered this question. I want to run my hands over his face, touch the soft scruff and hair tinged with silver, feel the rough pads of his fingers and the calluses on the inside of his palms. Press my hands against the hard planes of his chest and ruminate on how well we seem to fit together.
“Let me take care of you,” I say boldly. “Because if I don’t, who will?” I say quietly, repeating his words back to him.
For a second, his face grows soft. His eyes roam down to my lips briefly, and my heart turns over in response. As his gaze slowly drags back up to mine, my pulse begins to race. He moves his hands to the backs of my thighs, and I release a tiny gasp. Despite laying in that alleyway for over an hour, his hands are already warm again. And when I look at Liam—trulylook at him—he looks terrified. Unsure.Out of control.
And then his hands move up my thighs, his fingertips grazing the fishnet material, sending a shiver through me. I gasp again as my blood heats and my skin tingles. Emotions flit over his face, and his dark greyish-blue eyes roam over my face like they’re trying to memorize every part of me. Every perusal sends my heart dropping into my stomach and causes the space between my legs to pulse.
God, it’s so intense with him.
As his rough thumb rubs once against the delicate skin of the back of my thigh, my lips part slightly.
“Zoe,” he says, his voice rough.
And I know—Iknow—he’s about to reject me.
I take a sudden step back as someone knocks on the bathroom door, breaking the spell completely.
I don’t look back at him as I open it, only to find Bart standing there.
“Just wanted to make sure you’re okay,” he says to me.
I see Liam stand in my peripheral vision, and I nod at Bart once. As I open my mouth to respond, Liam comes to stand next to me, hip to hip.
“We’re fine,” he tells Bart gruffly. And then a warm hand wraps around mine. “Let’s go home.”
I don’t have time to respond to Bart as Liam tugs me to the staircase. He drags me down the stairs and out the front door before I can get out of his hold.
“Hey,” I snap. “He was making sure you were okay! You didn’t need to be rude.”
Liam puts his hands on his hips as he walks over to me, looking down. “Yeah? Are you sure about that?”
I roll my eyes. “Bart is a nice guy, and he was checking on you.”
Liam laughs. “Right. Because nice guys can’t take their eyes off your ass.”
My mouth drops open. “He wasnotchecking out my ass.”
Liam steps into my space so that we’re torso to torso. “Trust me, Zoe.”
I’m flustered from what happened in the bathroom, and completely plagued by what happened earlier tonight, so my filter is nonexistent. I ball my fists and press my lips together, wanting to catch him in a lie, or somehowforcehim to admit that he wants me.
“So what?” I screech. “So what if he was? Scotty and I aren’t exclusive. And I haven’t promised myself to anyone else,” I challenge. “Right?”
I see Liam’s chest rise with each inhale, and his warmth is so fucking intoxicating.
He’sintoxicating.
Admit it,I think.
Admit that tonight wasn’t a fluke or a mistake.
Admit that you’re jealous.
