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He exhaled a soft puff of air. It was an incredulous sound. “Jumping right into this, are you?”
“I don’t know any other way to do it, Liam.” I raised my shoulders in a slight shrug. “We certainly can’t pretend it didn’t happen. I can’t, at least.” My gaze stayed locked on his. “Can you?”
There was a moment of quiet, and judging by the look on his face, he was trying to decide how to reply.
Without a single word, his eyes on mine, he let the silence stretch.
I opened my mouth to say something, and my phone dinged with an unfamiliar tone.
Blowing out an exasperated breath, I snatched it off the counter and let out a surprised “Oh.”
“What is it?”
There was a nerve-laden brick lodged in my throat, and I attempted to swallow past it. “My doorbell,” I said quietly. As I stared at the app, Tyler’s clearly nervous face came into view.
I couldn’t help it—I started laughing. Settling a hand over my face, I tried desperately to get myself under control, but it felt like some giant cosmic joke.
At the actual moment when Liam and I had started making some headway, one of those reminders from my past decided to physically show up at my door.
Liam didn’t ask who it was; he simply watched me.
I let out a deep, slow breath and pressed the button on the app so I could talk to the person on the other side. “Hey, Tyler,” I said.
Liam’s gaze sharpened, his throat working a visible swallow, his chin notching higher. A slightly defensive gesture.
Tyler leaned in toward the camera. “Hey. I’m sorry to drop by unannounced, but I found your sweatshirt. The one with the holes in the sleeves that you loved. Figured you’d want it back.”
Liam’s eyes—bright with curiosity and something much deeper—refused to drop from mine. Every inch of my skin burned from the heat in his look.
“Thank you,” I said quietly. “I’m not there at the moment—”
“Go over there,” Liam interjected.
My hand released the button. “What?”
“Go talk to the man.” There was no malice in his tone. No nasty, jealous tinge in his eyes. If anything, Liam looked calmer than I’d ever seen him. “You said you never got closure, yeah?”
I nodded.
“So go fucking get it.” There was a charged urgency in his tone that had my pulse racing.
Why?I almost asked.
“Go,” he repeated before I could.
I blinked down at the floor a few times, and with a slight shake of my head, I pressed the button again. “I’ll be over in a minute, Tyler. Hang on.”
In the pixelated shot from the camera, he exhaled in visible relief.
Guilt tore at my insides. Maybe he really did just want to drop off a sweatshirt, but if Tyler was relieved for any other reason, he was about to be disappointed.
Staring down at the floor was easier, because if I looked Liam in the eyes again, I might not go. I wasn’t going to ask if this was some weird man test, because he wasn’t the type to play games. And if he was, I’d probably feel less inclined to have his tongue in my mouth and his hands in my pants. I’d feel zero desire to hand him my heart.
Mira came hurtling down the hallway, running full speed at Liam. “You home!” she yelled.
He swung her up in his arms, his face softening. “Got you something.”
She wiggled excitedly. “I get a present?”
