Page 70 of Had To Be You

Ellie eventually breaks our silence.

“Liam?” she asks.

“Mm-hmm?” I murmur into her hair, which smells like her shampoo that I love.

“You brought my parents home to me.” She says it quietly, just above a whisper, while running her hands down my suit jacket from my lower back to my hips. “I still can’t believe they’re really here. I don’t know how I will ever be able to thank you.” She pulls back, eyes as blue as the deepest part of the ocean staring back at me. A tear rolls down her cheek and I pad it away with my thumb.

“I can think of a few ways,” I say, chuckling. She steps back into me and her hands slide up the lapels of my jacket. We stare at each other in a moment of clarity, knowing we both want this. We both want us. And it feels so damn good.

“I bet you can, and Liam, count me in for them all.” That flirty gleam in her eyes is back. I fucking love it. I’ve missed the way she looks at me, draws me in.

Then those same eyes fill with lust as they lower to my mouth, and I can’t wait another second. I frame her face in my hands and press my lips to hers, kissing her with everything in me. The kiss feels intimate and full of passion and it still amazes me how much her touch affects me. Angling my head to the side, I slip my tongue between her lips and when my tongue meets hers, it tastes like hunger and want, but more importantly like love.

This is love.

Her face softens when I pull back to meet her eyes and she starts to say something, but I raise my finger in the air between us to stop her. “Wait. Not yet, Ellie. It’s my turn. Just listen. There is so much I need to say to you.”

I can’t hold it in anymore. I want to tell her everything in my heart. Everything that needs to be said. Everything that should have been said before. I start to speak and then stop to make sure I have every word right. I pick up her hand and hold it in mine. “When you told me you were married, I was livid. I’ve never let anyone into my life, into my home and my family, until you. And then finding out that you’re married made it all feel like one giant lie.”

“I know,” she whispers, visibly shaken, slipping back in time momentarily.

“I didn’t want to forgive you. I swore to myself I wouldn’t. But seeing you today changed everything.” I rest my palm on her cheek and for several seconds, the two of us stand in silence. We take each other in, our eyes never leaving one another’s, and I realize that the love I have for her is boundless.

“How so…?”

“You stole my heart a long time ago. I’m crazy about you.” I take her face in my hands as she blinks back tears. “And I’m very much in love with you.”

Her eyes go wide and her breath hitches and everything in me needs to feel her lips on mine. I seal my mouth to hers in a long, slow, torturous kiss before pulling back, unable to stop looking at her.

“What are you saying, Liam?”

“I’m saying I was never going to be able to stay away from you. The other stuff doesn’t matter. It can all be fixed. But what we have is perfect. No one can make me feel like you do. Nobody, Ellie. It’s you.”

I watch her bite down on her bottom lip as tears begin to spill over and flow down her cheeks. “It’s you, Ells,” I say against her mouth, my heart soaring. “I am so crazy in love with you.”

The motherfucking one.

I wait for my words to settle in her mind. I lean forward, pressing soft kisses to her forehead, her nose, the corner of her mouth. I rest my forehead against hers. “I love you, Ellie. I’ve loved you for weeks but didn’t know how to tell you.”

“I love you too, Liam. Madly. And I’ve wanted to tell you, too. You mean everything to me.”

I kiss her, like it’s the first time. A scorching, fiery, heated kiss that feels like more than any other kiss we’ve shared. It tastes like the salt from the tears streaming down her cheeks, like promises and above all - love.

Breaking the kiss, I meet her gaze.

“I just have two conditions.”

“Anything.”

“One, you need to divorce that Mason asshole.”

“Already in the works.”

“Good. Two,” I say, raising my eyebrows in a devilish smirk. “I need you now, Ells. Come with me.”

Her eyes pop. Then she smiles. Taking her hand, I lead her towards the pool and inside the house, catching Parker’s eye along the way. He flashes an I’ve-got-you-covered smirk and I nod my head in his direction. Leading her up the stairs to my old childhood bedroom, I look at her over my shoulder, my intent made clear in my eyes.

Pulling her into the bedroom, I shut the door behind us and turn the lock. Within seconds, her body is up against mine and I’m walking her backwards towards the bed. I inhale her, my favorite scent in the world. “I love the way you smell,” I tell her, dragging my nose along her neck.

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