Page 62 of The CEO I Hate

My resolve broke. “Do you see what kind of nightmare I have to deal with?”

“Toilets,” he said, trying to keep things light. “Morticians. I don’t know where we go from here.”

“Downhill,” I muttered. “That’s where.” I laughed abruptly, though nothing about this felt funny. “You know what the worst part was? My parents didn’t believe for one second that you and I were a couple.”

“I thought we sold it pretty well.”

I shook my head. “None of it mattered. You could have kissed me right there at the table, and she would have assumed you were giving me mouth-to-mouth or something. It’s just so outside her understanding of how the world works that you could want me that she’ll come up withanyother explanation, no matter what we do or say.” I huffed, stalking down to the car.

“What kind of love is that? Where they genuinely don’t believe anyone attractive and successful could love me?”

Liam unlocked the car, and I climbed in, slumping down in the passenger seat. He slid in next to me but didn’t hurry to start the car. “I think it might be the only kind they have to offer. It’s not a reflection on you, you know. It’s just the way they are.”

I put my head in my hands.

“When I…” he started, sounding uncharacteristically hesitant. It got me to look up, watching his thumb tap the steering wheel. “My mom’s always struggled with depression. Jake might have told you.”

I nodded hesitantly. Jake had told me a bit—not much. But I’d gotten the sense that even Jake didn’t know a lot more than that. Clearly, Liam didn’t find it easy to talk about.

“She’s in a good place now, but after Dad walked out when Finn and Connor and I were young…it could get bad.Reallybad. I knew my mom loved me and my brothers, but there were days when she couldn’t even see us standing there in front of her. We’d beg her to get out of bed, to come have dinner, to justtalkto us—but nothing we did seemed to reach her.”

He blew out a breath and from the look in his eyes, he was reliving some of it. “Other days, she’d start crying and nothing could make her stop for hours on end. It made me feel so helpless. I was the oldest, the one my brothers expected to have all the answers, but I didn’t know how to fix her. I didn’t know why some days, she’d be okay, and other days, she’d fall apart or check out completely. I couldn’t figure out why us loving her wasn’t enough to make up for the fact that Dad was gone.”

A thousand questions spiraled through my mind, but I kept quiet. I didn’t want to spook Liam when he was sharing something so deeply personal.

“Sooner or later, I grew up enough to understand it’s a lot more complicated than that. But part of me will always feel like a failure when I can’t fix things, and it’s because of my mom that I feel that way. I love her and I know she loves me, but that part of my childhood has left scars that’ll never fully fade. I guess what I’m trying to say is that loving your family doesn’t mean being okay with everything they do. And them lovingyoudoesn’t excuse every choice they make.”

I smiled softly at him. “Can I just take you back inside? You can start the speech over again for my parents. Maybe they’ll listen toyou, even if they never do to me.”

He chuckled. “Parents are difficult. I know. And I alsoknowyou hated every minute of tonight, as you should have. But if it helps, Ireally do think that—in their own misguided way—they just want to know you’re okay. That you’ll be taken care of.”

“And I’ll appreciate that one day,” I grumbled. “Until then, I just want to go home and forget all about mortician Bill.”

Liam started the car. “I have a better idea.”

“What is this place?” I asked as Liam and I walked up to a nondescript brick building in downtown LA.

“You’ll see,” he said, nodding to the doorman who admitted us into a dimly lit venue that smelled of aged wood and smoky bourbon. The soulful sound of a guitar drifted across the darkened space as Liam led me over to a cozy booth, just big enough for two.Blue Dawnwas printed on the coasters.

“A blues club?” I said, surprised. “You don’t strike me as a blues guy.”

“I contain multitudes,” he murmured softly in my ear, making me shiver. To try to collect myself, I focused on the performer stepping onto the low-lying stage accompanied by a couple of musicians. Her voice was rich and soothing, and my shoulders dropped as my tension relaxed.

Liam ordered us a round of drinks, and after the song ended, I clapped enthusiastically. The woman signaled to her guitarist, and a new song started. As she stepped back up to the mic, “I Put a Spell on You” echoed across the club. It was slower and more sensual than the last time I’d heard it—at the Scarlet Parlor—and all I could think about was the moment I’d slid onto Liam’s lap and felt his heat and strength pressed up against me. The memory made me shiver.Again.

Liam held his hand out to me. “We should dance.”

“Should we?” I glanced at the floor where a few couples swayed, tucked together so tightly it made my face flush.

He nodded, pulling me to my feet and leading me out to the floor. My heart picked up its pace as he put a hand on my hip, tugging me against his chest. I let out a shallow gasp. When I woke up tomorrow and realized this was all a dream…Well, it was really going to suck.

“I used to think slow dancing was overrated,” I said as we turned in a slow circle.

“And now?”

“I’ll keep you posted.”

He smirked, his brown eyes reflecting with bits of gold from the stage lighting. I could feel his heart beating, strong and steady, where my forearm pressed against his chest. In his arms, the rest of the world melted away. There was no one else, no responsibilities knocking at our door. There was simply the two of us, giving in to the pull between us I’d felt for so many years.

---