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What a stupid, simple thing to bring tears to my eyes.
But it wasn’t stupid. It wasn’t stupid that it meant so much to be seen.
I managed a small nod. When I opened my eyes, his hand was tight around the wheel, and the muscles in his jaw twitched ominously.
“We here yet?” Mira asked from the back seat.
“Almost, Mirabelle.” As Liam pulled his SUV into an open spot across the street, I pointed to a short brick building with a simple sign on the lawn. The white door was flanked by large black planters overflowing with red and white flowers. “It’s right here.”
“Looks like a house,” Liam said.
I nodded. “Used to be one. Makes the kids more comfortable than a sterile office.”
He hummed, distrust still clearly stamped over his features.
“Thank you for agreeing to this,” I said quietly. “I know you don’t believe in therapy.”
Liam’s eyes found mine, and what I saw there left me breathless again. How could someone say so much with a single look?
He wanted me.
He didn’twantto want me.
And he didn’t know what the hell to do with me. That was clear as day.
Mira started unhooking her straps, and Liam pulled his gaze from mine, arching an eyebrow at the little girl in the back seat. “When did you learn to do that?” he muttered under his breath.
She simply giggled, pulling her arms out once she was free. “You coming inside, Liam?”
Oh.The way he looked at her, loaded with affection and reluctant love. My heart would never, ever survive it.
He nodded. “I won’t let you do it alone, duck. Zoe and I will be right there with you, yeah?”
She clambered across the console until she straddled it like a seat. “And I go meet a new friend?”
I picked up her bag and smiled. “Yup. Her name is Miss Carol. She’s got a bunch of fun toys for you to play with.”
Zoe bounced excitedly. “Okay. We go inside now?”
Liam and I locked eyes again.
He swallowed roughly. “Is it weird that I’m more terrified to walk into that building than I am to face down a linebacker?”
I exhaled a laugh. “No. I think it’s pretty normal.”
Liam narrowed his eyes. “If she makes me cry, I’ll never forgive you.”
Quite desperately, I wanted to cup his face with my hand, lean forward, and kiss him. A normal kiss, with no desperation or frantic edge. The kind you’d take for granted if you’d done it a million times.
When his gaze flickered down to my lips, I wondered if he’d read that in my face as clearly as I seemed to have read his.
“I don’t think today will be too intense,” I told him. “She’s just getting to know us.”
“Promise?” he asked.
I held out my hand. “If I’m wrong, I’ll do your stinky football laundry for two weeks.”
Liam’s lips twitched. Then he slid his palm against mine, and when his long fingers curled around, I exhaled shakily.
