Page 92 of I Can't Even

“Dealing is a more active verb than what I’ve been doing,” I said. “I should have told you all this before but I just...I just wanted to be with you.”

A small smile tipped his lips. “Oh, surfer girl, what am I going to do with you?”

“Accept my apology for that night and for all the misery I caused you,” I suggested. “I really am so sorry.”

“First tell me what she did to make you run away?” He kept his arms clenched over his chest.

“Do you remember when she slammed into the room and start screaming ‘Get out!’?” I asked.

“Oh, yeah,” he said. “That moment has been seared into my brain since it happened.”

“When she was handing you your backpack, she slipped her diamond ring into it,” I said. “Babs told me after you left that if I chose marriage to you over college, she was going to call the police and have you arrested for the theft of her ring. She would have done it, too.”

Liam went pale and staggered on his feet. I knew exactly what he was feeling as I’d felt the same the night Babs had hit me with the ultimatum.

“I found the ring in my bag,” Liam said. “I brought it back to her the next day. I thought she’d lost it when she tossed me out on my ass. I was hoping to see you, but she said you were gone and then she shut the door in my face.”

This did not surprise me at all. Babs never pulled her punches.

“Why would she do such a hateful thing?” he asked.

“Dante says she did it for my own good, because she didn’t want me to end up married and trapped like Soph, but I don’t know. I’ve long suspected she did it to get rid of me once and for all,” I said. “And despite wanting to believe she did it for commendable reasons, I still believe it’s more likely that she wanted me gone because I was a constant reminder of my father’s infidelity. It must have eaten her alive.”

“You know I never would have let you give up your dream of going to Columbia,” Liam said. “Yes, I wanted to be engaged to you, to know that we were going to stay together no matter what, but I never would have stopped you from going to New York or finishing college. I was planning to wait for you, for as long as it took.”

“I know that,” I said. “But maybe I was the one who couldn’t wait.”

“What do you mean?”

“I chose you,” I said. “When Babs forced me to choose between college or you, I told her that I chose you.”

“Oh, Jules.” His voice was so soft I could barely hear him.

“I would have chucked away all those years of study to get into my dad’s alma mater, my scholarships, my dreams of living in the Big Apple for a few years, all of it, to be with you. Babs knew it, which is why she gave me no choice, whether it was for my own good or hers, I don’t know.”

Liam stared at me. “Did you really mean it?”

“Mean what?” I asked.

He began walking toward me, his gaze intent on my face, purpose in his every stride. My heart rate kicked up a notch when he stopped right in front of me.

“Would you have thrown it all away for me?” he asked.

Chapter Twenty-seven

“Yes,” I said. No hesitation. No doubt. To spend my life with him, I would have given up everything.

“Oh, surfer girl.” Liam cupped my face. His thumbs wiped away my tears and then he kissed me.

I had never been much of the polished princess type, you know, the sort who believes in true love and happily ever after. I was too wild and untamed and, I suppose, volatile. But if ever there was a moment where I believed in true love’s kiss, this was it.

His mouth fit mine perfectly, just as it always had. He was gentle, even tentative at first as if the honesty between us begged a new beginning. But the heat that always simmered just below the surface bubbled up and as I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him in close, our kiss became fierce.

He lifted me up off my feet and strode toward the bed. I wrapped my legs around his waist, perfectly okay with the direction this kiss was taking. I dug my fingers into his hair, holding his head at the perfect angle so I could kiss him as deeply as I’d wanted to for days, weeks, or a few years at the very least.

“Liam,” I gasped his name. “I need—”

Whatever I’d been about to beg for was interrupted by the bedroom door slamming open against the wall.

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