Page 30 of Izzy and Her Off-Limits Love

“It’s total reverse psychology,” Liam agrees, lifting his shirt a little to scratch his stomach. I eye the sliver of skin with interest until he tugs his shirt back down. “I think their goal must have been to say nothing and see ifthatworked since saying a lot of things didn’t.”

“But in this case, I wish theyhadtold me you and Natasha broke up. I’ve spent the last year trying in vain to get over you.”

Liam sits up suddenly. “Really?”

Oops. I guess we haven’t gotten into the specifics of how long these feelings we’re no longer ignoring have been around. Now I feel silly. Because it’s embarrassing to admit how long I’ve liked Liam. Iflikeis even a strong enough word. Especially if this only just started forhim.

I can’t really dial it back now though. Might as well go all in. “Yep. It didn’t work. Clearly.”

Liam is blinking at me, and his hand comes up to touch his glasses. “But if you spent the year trying to get over me, does that mean you liked mebeforethis year?”

“Come on, Liam.” I roll my eyes and smile, ignoring the heat in my cheeks. “The family’s favorite thing to do was tease me about my crush on you. For years.”

“Yeah, but they stopped. And also, I wasn’t sure how seriously to take it. Our family isn’t mean. Meddling. Overstepping. Clearly willing to obliterate any sense of privacy and autonomy,yes.But notmean. I guess I didn’t think they would have given you a hard time if you had real feelings and not just a teenage crush.”

“Maybe that’s why they stopped teasing me,” I say.

It takes him a moment to realize what I mean. When he does, his expression softens. “So … when I brought Natasha home, you …?”

I bite my lip. “Yeah, that was pretty painful.”

He drops back onto the couch, an arm tossed over his head for a long moment before he turns to face me and says, “I would have hated that if the roles had been reversed. Is that why you spent so much time with the littles down at the beach?”

“Volunteering as babysitting tribute meant not having to see you together as much.”

“But you were dating someone at the time too, right? Graham? Or … Grady? You talked about him a lot.”

I set down my fork and clear my throat. “Because I needed to talk about something, and Merritt kept giving me these pitying looks. But Grady and I were never serious.” I put down my dinner and lift my hands to cover my cheeks. “Ugh, can we talk about something else, please? This is awful and embarrassing.”

Liam is off the couch and knee walking to me across the carpet in seconds. As soon as he reaches me, he pulls me against his chest, kissing the top of my head.

“Please don’t be embarrassed. I’m having a hard time knowing exactly what to say because, on the one hand, my ego is thrilled with this information.” I snort, and he continues, stroking my hair. “But I’m also flattered and humbled and really, really glad you couldn’t get over me. I mean, not that I understand why, but?—”

“Liam.” My voice is muffled in his shirt.

“Sorry. But I do mean what I said. And I want you to know—the moment I saw you and Natasha in the same room, that’s whenIrealized.”

I lean back a little until I can see his hazel eyes. They’re dark now, a roasted caramel with golden flecks. “Realized what?”

He slides his hands around until he’s cupping my cheeks. He swallows, and it looks like he’s having a hard time forming words.

“I know it’s not the same, but that week was hard for me too. I couldn’t break up with Natasha right then and there, but I knew it was over. All I wanted was to spend time with you, to be with you. That’s when I knew what I hadn’t let myself realize all along—you’re it for me, Iz. When I went back to New York, all I could think about was moving home, and it was excellent motivation. Make Change launched six months earlier than expected. I credit that to you.”

Leaning forward, Liam kisses me so tenderly that I’m basically a puddle by the time he pulls away.

“You’re it for me too,” I tell him. “And it’s going to make our family so stinking happy. They’re going to try and take credit for this, you know. Those stinkers.”

“I know. But it’s okay.” Liam’s grin is wicked. “Because we’re going to make them suffer a little first.”

Liam

I thoughtit might be hard to work alongside Izzy after spending so many hours with our arms around each other and our mouths fused together. But we are both total professionals come Monday morning.

Even if, in my head, I’m remembering what it was like to kiss her while she sat on the desk in my home office.

Integrating Make Change into the Whitmire Group is so much easier with Izzy’s help, and by the middle of our workday on Thursday, I’m wishing I could take her with me so she can fill this role every time. Though I’m no longer the awkward kid I was, Izzy’s ability to people far surpasses mine. I let her take over the training for the accounting staff, and it’s like she was born to do this. So far, there have only been one or two questions she hasn’t been able to answer on her own.

“You’re amazing, you know that?” We’re standing in the stairwell where we first reconnected, cramming a day’s worth of kisses into our forty-five-minute lunch break. “Watching you explain how my software works ishot.”

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