Page 25 of Until We're More
“I seem to remember using my best intimidation tactics back in high school to get someone to clear up rumors about you being easy.”
My cheeks flushed red, because of course they did. “I… That… Grr, you’re seriously the worst.”
He stepped closer, the tips of his toes bumping my shoes. “You know, along with intimidation tactics, you might consider working on your persuasion skills.”
“When it comes to you, I think I’ve already got those mastered.”
Surprise showed in his expression, but instead of looking mad about it, he cupped my cheek. “Hell yeah, you do. And the selfish part of me doesn’t want you using them on anyone else.”
My blood rushed to the spot where his palm warmed my skin, everything in me reaching for his touch.
Then he quickly dropped his arm and cleared his throat. “Okay, so step one in intimidation…”
I lifted my chin, focusing on him for learning purposes. Not that it was a hardship.
“Just stare at them. The longer you do, the sooner they’ll give in.”
“Or will they think you must be having a stroke?”
Liam’s expression turned steely. Three seconds in, my heart rate kicked up a few notches. By five, I was ready to confess to things I didn’t do.
I reached up and rubbed the side of my neck. “Okay, point made. Please stop glaring.”
“No ‘please.’DemandI stop.” His blue eyes contained so much intensity that my pulse went to thudding like crazy.
“Stop glaring and get back to work,” I said, using my firmest voice.
“Or what?”
“Or…” I swallowed. “Or I’ll do bad things to you.”
His eyebrow arched the tiniest fraction, and heat wound through my body. How did I manage to always say the wrong thing?Right now, it feels more like the right thing.
“Hey, Liam?” Mr. Roth called, and Liam turned in the direction of his dad’s voice. “Oh. Sorry. I was about to leave and just wondered if you’d lock up.”
“Sure,” Liam said.
An odd combination of relief and disappointment tumbled through me. The way he’d stared at me left me completely unraveled, but it was a delicious sort of out of control, one that sent heat pooling low in my stomach and made me want things I’d vowed to stop wanting.
Liam placed his hand on my shoulder, and with every cell in my body already pricked up and on edge, it made me jump. “I’ll lock up real quick and then we’ll head home.”
Home. Once again I loved when he called it home, something I shouldn’t—and couldn’t—get used to.
Liam dragged his thumb across my shoulder, and the ridiculous side of me wished there wasn’t any fabric in the way, as if I didn’t have enough goose bumps already. “To be continued?”
I nodded, although inside I was thinking that what I should do was shut it down before I went and did something crazy, like attempt to line up another kiss where I didn’t chicken out. Since he wouldn’t have anything like “depth perception” issues to blame—whether he’d used it as a gentle rejection or he’d legit thought that was what had happened—I’d end up making a complete fool of myself.
There’d be no amount of any kind of lessons that could bring me back from something like that.
Chapter Ten
Liam
In a lot of ways, it was a good thing Dad had said my name and broke me from mystaring at Chelseatrance. In other ways… I really wanted to hear what bad things she’d like to do to me.
Okay, time to shut down that train of thought.This was what I got for not going home with the blonde on Monday. I couldn’t get Finn’s words about messing up a future with Chelsea out of my head, and we didn’t have a future, so it didn’t matter… But when it came down to it, I didn’t want the blonde.
Just like I didn’t want to ruin things with the sexy redhead who flopped over the back of the couch to babble at her cat. This morning I’d woken up to a picture of her and George on my phone, only they both had dog ears and noses with long tongues, and how fucking weird was that? And an even better question, why did I find it so damn adorable?
