Page 64 of The Love Chase

I rolled off the bed and pretended to look around. “Nope, where did you have it last?”

I didn’t have the slightest idea where to look for his watch, but I tried to be helpful—not to mention distract myself—and dropped to my knees to look under the bed.

“Em, what are you doing?” Liam asked, amused.

“What does it look like I’m doing? Looking for your watch.”

“Why would it be under the bed?” he asked.

“Well, I don’t know,” I said, pushing to my feet before letting out a dramatic gasp when I turned to find Liam’s chest right there.

My hands slammed into his bare skin and muscle, and like the traitors they were, they glued themselves to his chest.

Don’t think about his soft skin or his rippling muscles, Em. Stay strong!

Liam smiled down at me. “You okay there?”

Listen, I tried to pry my hands from his chest, I really did, but the dang things wouldn’t budge.

“Um, yep,” I managed to get out. “All good here.”

His resulting smile told me he knew the effect he was having on me, and that I was one thousand percent the most awkward person ever.

I expected him to chuckle and pull away, resuming his search for his watch, but instead his feet stepped forward, brushing against mine. Our faces were only inches apart.

Was he going to kiss me again?

We hadn’t talked about what happened in the dressing room, so I wasn’t sure if that was a fluke or something he wanted to keep happening. My stomach made that weird lurch again, but I just chalked it up to nerves at being so close to Liam.

“Are you still angry at me for leaving, Em?”

The question caught me off guard. I’d been so consumed by our wedding and then moving in together and storm chasing that I hadn’t really had time to think much about it. I was angry, for a long time, even after he returned. It had just been so easy for him to leave and that had broken my heart.

But now…after everything, seeing how Bridget had treated him and how awful the tabloids could be, and especially after seeing him come to my defense repeatedly, I couldn’t find it in me to be angry anymore.

“No,” I said softly. “I’m not mad at you. I’m sad that we lost two years of friendship, and wish that it could’ve been different, but I understand.”

His forehead pressed against mine, and for a moment I let myself breathe in his scent, let it calm the swirling of my stomach.

“I really am sorry. I wish it could’ve been different too.”

We stood like that for a long moment, saying nothing else until I finally dared to whisper, “What does your tattoo mean?” Through the dim light of the bedroom, I could just barely make out all the details I had missed earlier. The way the sunflowers swirled and wrapped around his bicep, up over his shoulder, intertwining with music notes, and…were those mini cows hidden in there too?

His fingers gently traced a line across my cheek before tucking a stray hair behind my ear, and the smile that pulled at his mouth set my heart racing.

“It’s a story of us,” he replied, and my stomach flopped onto the floor.

I must have had a confused look on my face because Liam laughed quietly. “The sunflowers—your favorite flower—wrapped in with the music. I worked with a tattoo artist in Cali to design it. I wanted something that reminded me of home, and all I could think of was you.”

My fingers traced over the lines of the tattoo. I reminded him of home? To the point he permanently put it on his body?

“I figured it would be a little creepy to tattoo your face on my arm, so I settled for pieces of each of us instead.”

I snorted at the thought of my face inked on his arm.

“Of course, I couldn’t forget the cows.” His eyes shimmered as he pointed to what indeed were mini cows hidden in the swirls. “Too many memories of cow tipping with you to forget that part.”

Liam stepped even closer. I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t get my tongue to work.

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