Page 55 of Worth the Risk

I feel my eyes go glossy, tears forming in the corner. The way this man cares about me is beyond anything I ever thought I would have. Before him, Rosie and Garrett are the only people in my life who ever cared about my safety and well-being. Liam turns to me as the salesman scurries inside, probably trying to find an answer to one of his million questions.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” He grabs my elbows, examining me. Making sure everything’s in place.

“Nothing.” I sniffle but with a smile. “I’m just so happy, so thankful for you.” I earn a big smile at that.

“You deserve the world, Emi.” I fight the urge to pounce him right here, forget about everyone around us.

“Here we are.” The salesman, Bill I think he said his name was, appears at our side holding out a set of keys.

“Ready for a test drive?” Liam points to the car we’re standing next to that I hadn’t even noticed because I had been so focused on him. It’s a dark blue midsize SUV, it’s at the top of my price range but still doable. “This one has great safety features and all-wheel drive. Plus Bluetooth so you can connect your phone and call whoever you need.” That might not seem like a luxury to some but considering my price range I’m impressed that it has it.

“It has a good amount of miles but these cars are known to be able to go a lot so I think we could get a few good years out of it.” I don’t miss the way he says we, like he’s planning a future with me. I haven’t let myself think too deeply about the future yet, unsure if he would see us working past graduation with me going to graduate school and him the MLB.

“Let’s try it.” I agree, forcing those thoughts out of my head and trying to live in the present.

Turns out Liam has great taste in cars, the test drive went great, it drove smoothly and felt safe. A few days after the test drive we were able to pick it up to bring home. Buying a car is apparently not just like buying anything else at the store, there's quite a few more steps involved that Liam’s stepdad, Dean, was more than gracious to help us through. Us. That’s still weird to me. I’m used to looking out for myself but Liam has been by my side every step of the way. Through comparing insurances to getting a cashier's check from the bank, we’ve been doing it all together.

∞∞∞

Throughout the rest of break we flopped back and forth between staying at Liam’s house or my apartment. I’ve been soaking up all the time we’ve been able to spend together because with classes starting tomorrow and Liam’s first game of the season just three weeks away our lives are about to get a lot busier.

I’ve been cleaning our apartment for Rosie’s arrival this afternoon. We have a planned girls night in to catch each other up on all things that happened over break. I may have been extremely vague about my time at Liam’s so she has no idea we’re a couple. Not because I was trying to hide anything but because I was just enjoying the time as the two of us. It’s still foreign to me to have someone besides Rosie in my life who cares so deeply for me.

There’s a triple knock at the door signaling Liam’s arrival. He insisted we had to go out for lunch after his morning practice since we’ll be spending the night apart for the first time in weeks he ‘needed his fill.’ I practically skip to the door, yanking it open.

“Hi baby.” He’s wearing a backward baseball hat and I practically swoon. Whenever he wears his hat like that it seriously does something to me.

“Hi babe.”

“Ooh, I’m babe now, am I?” He moves into the space, hands reaching out and gripping my waist to pull me to him.

“Thought I’d try something new.” I say with a pop of my shoulder.

“Well, I like it.” He kisses the top of my nose before his lips land on mine. “Ready for lunch?”

“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?”

“Nope. It’s a surprise.” One thing I’ve learned about Liam is he loves surprising me. He files little bits of information away, keeping them for later. It’s one of my favorite things about him. No one has ever listened to me the way he does, he actually hears what I say, every time.

Forty minutes later we’re pulling up to a cute little pizza place, which is kind of surprising to me. Don’t get me wrong I love pizza but considering we live in a college town there’s plenty of pizza joints within ten minutes so this seems like a far drive for just pizza. It must be some crazy toppings or something. Liam opens the car door for me, grabbing my hand and helping me out so I don’t slip on the ice.

“Is this one of those pizza places with crazy toppings or something?”

“No.”

I look at him slightly puzzled, still confused as to why we drove all this way for pizza. Until he turns me around and across the street I see the cutest little shop. ‘Enchanted Books’ is painted in gold cursive letters on the window. My gaze shoots up to Liam, my eyes wide and he has a smirk on his lips.

“I’ve been doing some research and apparently this shop is known for getting collector edition fairytales, lots of signed copies and everything.”

“Oh my gosh, Liam. I...” I swallow the three little words at the tip of my tongue. We’ve only been officially dating for about a month. That’s too soon for those words, right? “You’re amazing.”

Our little lunch date had me smiling from ear to ear. I browsed through the rows and rows of books, finding the most beautiful copies of the stories my grandparents read to me growing up, even one signed copy. Liam held every book I picked out as I continued to browse and then bought them for me, despite my protests. It also turns out the pizza place across the street is known for making different kinds of pizza toppings so we split a taco pizza that was to die for.

“Have you told Rosie about us yet?” Liam holds my hand lightly in his as we drive back to campus.

“Not yet. Tonight I will. She’s going to freak.” I let out a little laugh at the thought of her reaction.

“In a good or bad way?”

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