Page 52 of Had To Be You

“Are you already having second thoughts?” I tease, crinkling my nose.

He laughs, smoothing his hands up my back to my shoulders. His mood is light, his shoulders relaxed, the usual tension in his jaw is missing. He looks like a different person. “Not for a second. I want this. Us. I want to be your boyfriend, Ells.”

I lean into him, silently promising myself I’ll do what I have to do to make things right when we get back to Reed Point. Liam planned this spectacular two days for me, and I don’t want to ruin it for him. So instead, I tell him what’s in my heart.

“Me too, Liam. I’m happy when I’m with you. Looks like we’re officially official.”

I go up on my toes, sliding my palms over his chest, and take his face in my hands. He bends forward, meeting me in the middle, and we kiss. A slow, deliberate, passionate kiss. A kiss that tells me everything I need to know.

I melt for this man.

Liam pulls back to face me, breaking the kiss. “I have plans for us tonight, but if there’s something you’d like to see this afternoon I can arrange for it to happen.”

“Hmmm… A double-decker bus tour?” I ask, bouncing on my toes in excitement.

“If that’s what you want to do then we’ll do it,” he says, although I’m sure he’d find a three-hour Zoom meeting with his camera on less painful than a sightseeing tour of a place he’s probably been to countless times. But I’m starting to come to the realization that if it makes me happy, Liam makes it happen.

“Oh, and Central Park. And the Statue of Liberty. We can’t forget about Rockefeller Center and the ice rink with the giant Christmas tree. Oh, and the Theater District.”

Liam laughs and his eyes crinkle at the corners, “You realize it’s May, and that Christmas tree isn’t up all year long, right? And we are only here for two days? I’m not sure we’ll have time to make it through your entire list.”

And yet, the entire list is exactly what we attempt to do. We hit Rockefeller Center on the way to our pick-up spot for our double-decker tour. We spot Lady Liberty in the distance when our bus takes us through Lower Manhattan and we finish our tour right outside Central Park, where Liam takes me for the most incredible lunch at Tavern on the Green. Somehow, we manage to get a table in a cozy, back corner of the crowded restaurant that requires reservations weeks in advance. It’s so Liam to have connections wherever he goes.

Five hours later, we shove off our shoes back at our suite and fall onto the large plush couch, exhausted from our marathon of sightseeing. Liam shifts our bodies so he’s lying on his back and I’m lying beside him with my head on his chest. The fading sun peeks through the windows, casting a tangerine glow over the room.

“Everything about this hotel is unbelievable. They even somehow know lilacs are my favorite flower,” I say, admiring the fresh cut flowers in vases that are placed everywhere around the suite. The scent of my favorite blooms floating through the air.

“How could a Seaside hotel staff member possibly know that lilacs are your favorite flower?”

“Are you making fun of me?” I tease, tickling the dip of his throat under his chin. He squirms and grabs my hand away, linking his fingers through mine. “I think it’s far too big of a coincidence to ignore.”

Liam laughs softly, his chest shaking beneath my cheek. I look up to meet his eyes, which are brimming with mischief. “What?” he asks, feigning innocence.

“Was it you?” I ask, shifting so I can see him better. “It was you, wasn’t it?”

“I know you love flowers, so I asked Olivia which ones are your favorites, then had them delivered. Not a big deal.”

My heart melts into a puddle right there on Liam’s chest, and I feel my cheeks heat. They might only be flowers, but they are more than that to me. It’s one more thoughtful gesture by Liam, one more bit of proof that he really sees me, that he listens to me and wants to know me.

“Liam,” I gush, amazed how in only a few weeks of spending time together, he has figured out the little things that make me, me. My love of flowers is so much more than owning my own shop. It started back when I was a little girl playing in my mom’s garden, plucking flowers weaving them into tiny crowns for my pets.

Wanting him to know how much this night away means to me, I sit up and straddle his thighs, pinning his hands above his head.

“Thank you for bringing me here,” I say, my voice low, raspy. “No one has ever done anything like this for me.”

A slow, easy grin slides over his lips, his erection hard and heavy underneath me, causing an ache between my thighs.

“Kiss me, Ells,” Liam begs.

I’m only too happy to. I love it when he begs. Dropping forward, I press my mouth to his, and when my lips part, he slips his tongue inside. A low moan escapes the back of his throat, and I smile into the kiss, loving that I turn him on.

Breaking the kiss, I slide my hands down over his pecs to his abs, feeling the hard grid of muscles underneath his shirt. I rise up off of him and walk towards the staircase that leads to the bedroom.

“Where are you going?” he pouts. His eyes follow me as I grip the edge of my t-shirt and I slowly pull it up over my head, glancing back at him. My eyes saying, you like what you see?

And then without a word, Liam is off the couch and we’re moving towards the bedroom. We leave a trail of clothes scattering the staircase, the hallway, the foot of the bed.

His gray eyes are brimming with desire and lust as he crawls over my body on the bed where he’s placed me. He’s devastating on the eyes and I couldn’t look away if I tried. Staring at Liam, I realize that everything I’ve always ever wanted is right here in front of me. This man owns me.

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