Page 22 of Rejected Heart

Nothing made me happier than to see her so happy. It didn’t seem to take much to lift Layla’s spirits in any scenario. She wasn’t materialistic, and she seemed to come alive whenever she had the chance to just spend time with those who mattered to her.

“What did you bring with you?”

I held up one of my mom’s tote bags between us. “This is a special treat I brought for your birthday. You know how much Jules loves to bake, so?—”

“Did she make me a cake?” Layla asked, her eyes rounding as the excitement littered her face.

“Close. She made cupcakes.”

“Oh, that was so sweet of her. Do you know what kind she made?”

I nodded. “You should take them out and look. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”

Layla reached inside the bag, pulled out the container with the cupcakes, and opened the lid to look inside. “Are they… They look like chocolate cupcakes with strawberry frosting topped with a chocolate-covered strawberry.”

“That’s exactly what they are. When I told Jules about how much you enjoyed those chocolate-covered strawberries I gave you on Valentine’s Day, this is what she came up with.”

She shook her head in disbelief as she peeked in at the cupcakes again. “They smell divine. If your sister doesn’t become a baker when she’s older, she’ll be wasting her talent.”

I laughed. “I think that’s her plan.”

Layla’s eyes dropped to the small gift bag in my other hand. “What’s in there?”

She was trying to pretend she wasn’t too excited about what I got for her, but I could see how hard she was struggling to contain that excitement.

I held the bag out to her. “This is your present from me.”

“Can I open it?”

“Yes. I can hold the cupcakes for you.”

Layla handed me the container with the cupcakes and all but dove into the gift bag. She pulled out the card, teared up as she read it, and pressed a soft kiss to my lips. “That was the perfect card for us.”

“I thought so, too.”

After tucking the card back inside the bag, she reached in for the gift. She pulled out the small, wrapped box, tore off the paper, and pulled the lid off the plain white box. Flipping it over, she dumped thevelvet jewelry box into her hand, her lips twitching with excitement.

Then, it happened.

Her face lit up in a way I hadn’t ever seen before when she took in the sight of the necklace that I’d gotten for her. “Aw, Liam. This is beautiful.”

It was a delicate silver chain with a heart pendant on it. At least, that’s how it appeared in the box. “There’s a hidden message there.”

“What?”

“Place your thumb on top of the heart and slide it to the side.”

Layla did as I urged her to, revealing the second heart with our names engraved. Whenever she was wearing it, all someone would see is the simple heart there, but Layla would know what was underneath. “Oh, I love this even more.”

Tears filled her eyes.

“You have my heart, Layla. You have for a long time now, and I thought this might be the perfect way to tell you. I love you.”

She covered her mouth with her hand as she tried to blink back the tears. Layla didn’t get them under control before she lowered her hand from her mouth, reached behind my head, and pressed her lips to mine in another sweet kiss. “I love you, too.”

My heart felt like it had exploded in my chest with all the warmth I felt hearing her say those words to me. “You’ll always have my heart now.”

“I’m keeping it forever. Thank you for this.”

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