Page 38 of New Girl in the City
Liam laughed and put his glass down. “I like it.”
I considered him then. He was looking at me appreciatively, eyes on my face and I knew the look he was giving me. I was getting kissed tonight, at the very least. This was not the face of a man that was scared of a feminist. I was glad because I needed to get kissed by Liam.
“Yeah?”
He nodded and leaned back in his chair. “Yeah. What’s not to like? And besides, he did look stupid.”
I grinned. “Yeah, he did.”
We were quiet again before I asked. “What did you mean by we were gonna start something?”
“Exactly that, Mel. I think it’s obvious what we have going on here.”
“Which is?” I asked, finding that I wasn't really all that enthusiastic about him being vague when things felt like they needed a whole hell of a lot more defining. Especially if I was going to start a damn thing with him, or anyone.
“We want each other. There’s an attraction,” he said, cutting right to the chase.
“That’s true,” I agreed.
“Not a big fan of sending you off on dates to men with shirts like he was wearing, or ones that are gonna talk to you like he did. You need someone, want someone, you don’t have to go looking for it.”
My eyes widened and I took another hasty sip from my wine glass. “I don’t?”
“No.” He leaned forward, elbows to his knees and reached out a hand to me, palm up but not touching me. He was offering me his hand to take if I wanted. I felt myself leaning towards him, wanting to feel his skin all the more because of it.
“And why not?” I asked, voice barely above a whisper.
“‘Cause you got me.”
I set my wineglass down with a clatter and scrambled to keep it up right and from spilling all over the table.
“Holy shit,” I breathed. Shit like this was not what I was accustomed to. Friends with benefits, okay. One night stands, sure. But Liam worked for me, he was going to be there day after day. There wasn’t going to be any avoiding this. We were going to be in each other’s spheres after whatever it was that he was offering me went down and that was new.
What was also new was that I was totally doing it.
“Is this why you said something stupid? Because it’s making me stupid, right now.”
He smiled at me, hand still outstretched. “Pretty much. I know I shouldn’t do this with you. Shouldn’t want it either, but I do. I want to be with you, Mel.”
“But you were an asshole when we first met,” I reminded him. “What changed?”
His hand closed but he didn’t withdraw it from the space between us. He sighed heavily.
“I was a dick because I’ve got some family shit going down. It blew up and got in my head and then,” he cleared his throat and met my eyes with a sincere gaze, “then there you were looking sweet as hell and bringing me coffee. Walt said you were a great girl. That you were one of the good ones. I couldn’t stand all that good looking at me right then, so I pushed it away. Pushed you away to make you stop lookin’ at me like that.”
I reached out putting my hand on his closed fist. “Liam.”
He opened his hand to me, and our palms fit against each other like they’d always been there. “It wasn’t right and I’m sorry. I thought I could make up for it if I treated you nice. Looked out for you but kept my distance. Then that creep was about to grab you and it all went to shit. That’s when I knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That I wanted more from you, Mel. That I wanted good.”
Oh fuck.
“Liam,” I said. My voice cracked and I squeezed his hand, squeezed it hard before I was moving, pushing myself across the space between us and pulling him to me. “Liam,” I said again, but this time it was with my lips brushing against his.
“Fuck,” he groaned, and again our mouths nearly met, just the skimming of lips against the other before he gathered me close and shook his head. “Fuck it. I need you.” He slanted his head to meet my mouth with his, and we kissed.
