Page 27 of Reckless Liar

He shook off my arm and glared at me. “You have no idea how miserable this is making me.”

“I make you miserable? How the hell doImake you miserable?”

He threw up his hands, his voice loud. “I love you, Ana.”

I stared at him stupidly. “Well, I love you too, Xander.”

“No, I mean, I amin lovewith you. You know I am.”

“No, you aren’t. You’re drunk,” I argued.

He shook his head at me. “I’m not drunk. And even if I was, a little whiskey has nothing to do with it.”

“Youaredrunk. You’re drunk and emotional and you don’t know what you’re saying right now.”

He stepped closer to me, and I took a reflexive step back. “I know exactly what I’m saying. You just don’t want to hear it.”

“You don’t love me,” I said feebly.

“Don’t you dare tell me how I feel, Liliana Pryce. I know what love feels like.”

I turned away from him. “I can’t do this right now, Xander. We’re both tired. You’re not thinking straight.”

He tensed his jaw. “You kissed me back.”

“I did not!” The words rang false against my lips. I could still feel his hand on the back of my neck, his fingers in my hair, his lips against mine.

“You did. I could feel it. If you want to pretend it didn’t happen, that’s one thing. But I felt it. You kissed me back, even if it was only for a moment.”

“You’re confused. It’s been a long day,” I retorted. “I’m emotional. We went through a traumatic thing together and obviously we’re going to have some odd feelings coming out of that...”

“It’s not that. This has nothing to do with—“

“Don’t.” I put my hand up. “Just don’t say his name. You don’t get to kiss me then bring up his name as some fucked up justification.”

“I wasn’t going to.” He struggled.

I shook my head at him. “I’m going to bed. Tomorrow, we’ll put all this behind us and keep going like this never happened.”

“If that’s what you want, I can do that. But it won’t change how I feel.”

I pursed my lips and closed my eyes, counting to three. I flexed my fingers, digging each nail into my palm.

“We’ll see about that, Xander.” I turned away and walked to my bedroom, pausing in the doorway. I could feel him watching me. My skin felt warm from his gaze.

Behind me, I could hear him in front of his room. “You can come up with whatever justification you need, Ana. It won’t take this back. I’m still going to love you the same.”

I fought the urge to give a retort, but what could I say? I was out of words.

Instead, I closed my bedroom door and made my way across the floor, sinking into my bed. Anger boiled in my veins. He was confusing our friendship with something more. We’d always been friends, and we’d shared something with love—we shared Max. I knew what love was. I loved Max. Didn’t I?

In the dark of my room, what happened reverberated through me. His kiss had rocked me to the core, sending everything I knew about Xander away. I had no idea he could kiss like that. As much as I wanted to act as if I’d never thought about it, I had. But I never imagined he’d kiss me like that. And I never imagined I’d want him to.

Whatever this thing between Xander and I was, it stopped being platonic long ago. In that moment when his lips met mine, I knew there was something much more between us.

The recognition of this didn’t clear up any of my confusion. If I thought I was miserable before, it looked like my pain was only starting. As I drifted off, Xander’s kiss stung my lips, and his words echoed in my head.

Chapter eleven

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