Catching Liam (Good Girls Don't) (20 page)

When it was only the four of us left in the room, Markson handed Liam and me a sheet of paper. “Your presentation was excellent, but remember to watch those ‘I’ statements Liam.”

Liam bowed his head to him. “Will do.”

“But there were supposed to be two final presentations today,” I pointed out.

“There were,” Markson said. “Yours and Mr. McAvoy’s.”

“You told me you already presented.” I turned on Liam.

“‘I’ statements,” Markson said behind me.

“I didn’t want to stress you out any more,” Liam confessed. “So I fibbed.”

“I feel like that wasn’t very good communication.” But even as I said it, I took his hand to let him know I was grateful. He was thinking of me, like always.

“So what did you get?” Liam asked, pointing to my sheet of paper.

My heart froze when I realized what Markson had handed to us. He’d graded the presentation in class and given us our final scores.

“What did you get?” I asked, wanting to avoid the moment of truth.

“I got a B,” he said, “with a note to work on my ‘I’ statements.”

If Liam got a B after attending every class and doing all the work, I was going to be lucky to skate by with a D. Tara wouldn’t be pleased, but it was technically a passing grade. I turned the paper over and read through it. I’d missed enough classes to drop my participation score to an F, but it was only a small percentage of my grade. The midterm project and final presentation accounted for well over eighty percent of the points. I held up the paper to show Liam a clear C written at the bottom.

“I’ll take it,” I told him as he leaned down and gave me a swift kiss. When our lips met, it felt victorious, as though we’d overcome something huge together. Suddenly, all the things that had stood in our way vanished, leaving only the two of us for that brief second.

“Save it for the bedroom,” Jess said, and Markson looked at his feet.

She grabbed my paper and raised an eyebrow.

“I know, I know. You got an A,” I said.

“That’s a passing grade, Jills. You know what that means! First round is on me tonight.” She wrapped me into a tight hug.

But I knew that it meant a lot more than meeting Tara’s ultimatum. It meant I was staying at Olympic State, and that I’d finally faced the one thing I’d been hiding from for two years. It meant I’d finally realized I wasn’t broken.

chapter twenty-nine

When we arrived at Garrett’s, the party had already started. The bar was packed with students drinking to their successes or drowning their sorrows, and we had to fight our way through the crowd. We finally spotted Jess and Brett in a booth, waving us down. Liam and I slid into the seat across from them while Jess poured two beers from a pitcher.

“Sorry,” she called over the din surrounding us. “I figured a pitcher was our best shot at getting drinks tonight.”

“It’s cool. Where’s Cassie?” I asked.

“She stepped outside to call Trevor. He’s MIA.” Jess raised her glass to us. “To being done with our fifth semester.”

“It’s all downhill from here,” I said as we tapped our plastic cups in a toast.

Liam’s arm snaked around my shoulder, bringing me close to him. I cuddled against him, dropping a kiss on his neck. Across from us, Jess and Brett didn’t touch, although Brett shifted a little closer to her.

Cassie plopped into the booth beside me, still holding her phone.

“Any luck?” Jess asked.

“No. He was supposed to be here by now.” Cassie frowned, trying to look pissed, but her eyes glinted with something else: fear. She checked her phone again and sent a text.

“Let’s dance,” I suggested, eager to get her mind off Trevor for a second.

Pulling her arm, I dragged her out to the dance floor. Jess followed close behind us, and we began to dip and move spastically to the latest Billboard hit. This is what I loved about Olympic State: my best friends and me. Despite being independent women and set on very different paths, we always came back together in the end.

Two familiar hands grabbed my hips, drawing me against the firm body I knew so well. I gyrated close to him as his hands held me tightly. It was the perfect end to the semester. Laughing, dancing, being together. The deejay called out for karaoke participants and we took the cue to flee the dance floor, heading back to our booth.

Brett sat, guarding our pitcher and jackets, and looking mildly put out that we’d left him there alone.

“I tried to get him to come out there, but he said he doesn’t dance,” Liam whispered against my hair.

That hardly mattered. None of us could dance, but I resolved to stay in the booth for the rest of the evening anyway. We managed to procure another pitcher while Cassie checked her phone again.

“I’m going to head over there,” she told us after another hour. Poor thing. She couldn’t be having too much fun hanging out with her best friends and their boyfriends. I’d been in that situation myself these last few months, so I gave her a hug and watched as she pushed her way through the crowd to the exit.

“When do you leave?” I asked Jess.

She shrugged, casting a sideways glance at Brett. “I haven’t decided yet. Things are kinda up in the air.”

It occurred to me then that a single word hadn’t passed between the two of them all night. Later—in the morning maybe—I’d ask her about what was going on. Brett wasn’t much of a partier, but this was morose, even for him. For now though, I downed the remnants of my beer and turned to Liam.

“I’m exhausted. Take me home?” I asked him.

Something wicked gleamed in his eyes as he nodded at my request. “I’ve been waiting all night for you to say that.”

“I’ll see you both in the morning,” Jess said as we stood to leave.

“I’ll make waffles,” Liam promised her.

Jess winked at me, and I realized I was going home with him tonight because of her. She had guided me to Markson’s class and nagged me to give Liam a second chance. Tomorrow, I would give her a giant hug and thank her.

As we made our way past the bar, Liam grabbed my hand and motioned for me to stop. He disappeared past the crush of bodies and returned a few moments later with a bottle of water.

“You should drink this,” he suggested as he handed it me.

“Worried about my hydration?” I asked, twisting off the cap.

“A couple of beers and your meds are not a great combination.” But before I could be annoyed, he added, “And I want to make sure you stay alert. I have plans for you.”

A shiver ran through me, raising bumps on my skin. I liked the sound of that. The thought of taking Liam home for the night made my knees feel weak. Of course, he usually had that effect on me, but tonight there would be nothing hanging over our heads. My new medications were working wonders, I was through finals, and I’d managed to pass all my classes per Tara’s orders. Best of all, I was staying in Olympic Falls.

Who needed Garrett’s? The party was at home tonight. In my bed. With Liam.

He hooked a finger in the back pocket of my jeans as I led the way out of the bar. Night had fallen while we were inside, and the world was painted in shades of deep blue. A chill cut through the air, so I tugged my jacket together and pressed against him. There was no rush as we walked toward my apartment under the star-speckled sky. When we reached my complex though, it was a different story, Liam took the stairs two at a time, bouncing on his heels as I struggled to unlock the door.

As soon as were inside, he lifted me off my feet, cupping my ass and pressing me against the door, pushing it shut behind us. His lips moved slowly against mine, soft and certain, but I felt greedy, hungry for more after weeks of stress and distraction. I clutched his neck and slipped my tongue into his mouth, licking against the back of his teeth, biting gently on his lower lip. Liam groaned and carried me into the bedroom.

He laid me on the bed softly, but it wasn’t an act of caution. He watched me with reverence as I unbuttoned my shirt in slow, precise movements, letting it fall open to reveal a lacy bra I’d worn just for him.

“I want to stare at you all night,” he murmured as he stripped off his shirt to reveal his chiseled chest and carved abdomen. I could same the same thing to him. Except for the fact that his jeans hung low on his hips, showcasing the deep V cutting down past the waistline of his pants.

“This is a hands-on exhibit,” I told him, wiggling off my shirt and tossing it to the floor.

“In that case.” Liam bent forward and tugged off my pants in a swift, urgent motion as he dropped to his knees, positioning himself between my dangling legs. He hooked his arms around my thighs, kissing along them until his lips brushed against me, sending a tremor of anticipation through my body. Blowing softly against my sensitive skin, he trailed up to kiss along my pelvis. “I want to worship you.”

“I won’t stop you.” My words came out as moans as he bit down on the elastic edge of my thong, drawing it slowly off me until his hands removed it completely. He stayed there, nestled between my legs, dropping kisses along my skin as my core coiled and tightened, ready for him. Instead, he gripped my left leg and urged me on to my stomach, pushing me further up on the bed and spreading my legs apart. My hands clutched the sheets and he continued his exploration along the curves of my back down to my ass. His fingers traced its outline, their marks scorching into me, leaving a trail of fire and longing in their wake until they tracked down between my legs. He lingered there, massaging long caresses across the sensitive area as my muscles tensed and pleasure mounted in my body.

“I need you,” I whispered. “I need to feel you.”

He wrenched my hips up to him. My chest remained flat against the mattress as he slid inside me agonizingly slowly. I was full of him, stretched to the line between pain and pleasure as he slipped in and out of me in hard deep strokes.

“I could do this all day,” he said, and I could feel his gaze on me.

“Promise?” I flipped my head to the side to watch him as he moved against me, our eyes meeting as I moaned his name, and he met my call by plunging faster and farther, his hard abdomen smacking against the soft flesh of my ass. He stopped, leaving me empty and swollen, but only to flip me over so that our eyes could meet.

“I want to see you, Jillian,” he murmured, his words half whispered, half growled.

As he reached for my thighs, something animal took over in me, and I pushed him onto his back, settling in on top of him with the sort of graceful expertise that would have been a little embarrassing with anyone else but him. Liam and I fit together so smoothly, so easily, that I allowed my body to make the decisions for me.

“Even better,” he said, staring at me in wonder as I took charge. Our eyes stay locked together as he grasped my hips, urging me to slow down, and when I did, he reached for my shoulders and drew me down for a gentle kiss. He released me immediately, and I sat up, reveling in having control of him for the moment. Seeing Liam pinned beneath me gave me a wild thrill that sent my head flying back, loosening my hair to fall over my shoulders.

His hands gripped me tighter at the exact moment that my body tightened, and my orgasm burst through me, splintering through every piece of me in glorious surges of pleasure. My name was a whisper on his lips. A promise that in this moment we were whole and infinite.

Liam wrapped his arms around my waist and drew me to the bed without leaving me. We lay in near-silence, the only noise our quick shallow breath. Although I was sure the rapid beat of my heart vibrated in the air around us.

The stillness of the dark left room for thoughts of tomorrow and the months ahead. I tried to push them away, to ignore the burning ache that consumed me at the thought of the end of next semester. There would be no celebrating for me then, but, I argued to myself, that was months away. I was sure to fuck things up before then.

“What’s wrong, chicken?” Liam asked in a whisper. I realized then that my entire body was tense, rigid with self-doubt and fear.

“I was thinking about next semester,” I said in a quiet voice.

“You were thinking about me leaving?” he guessed. He brought his hand to rest over my heart, and I thought it might collapse under the weight of our uncertain future. I would always love Liam, but I couldn’t bring myself to believe the old platitude that it was better to have loved and lost. Still, I would never ask for a do-over. He was a permanent piece of my life, etched irrevocably into my heart. From now on, there would be a Before Liam and someday there might be an After Liam, but I realized then that I hoped there wouldn’t be.

“How do you feel about Scotland?” he asked me.

I laughed joylessly at the suggestion. “I barely convinced Tara to let me stay at Olympic State. It might kill her if I cross the Atlantic Ocean.”

“I think you would like Scotland,” he continued, ignoring my response. “We have months left before we have to make a decision.”

My breath hitched at his last statement. “Before
we
have to make a decision?”

“
We. As in you and I. Together.
I know you want this to work as much as I do, and the only way it will is if we discuss things. My student visa says I’m going back to Scotland in May, but that’s a piece of paper, chicken.” His arms tightened around my waist as he spoke, as though he was waiting for someone to try to rip us apart.

“The U.S. government might think differently,” I said, but even though I knew there were complicated decisions ahead of us, I felt safe and reassured in his embrace.

“People have fallen in love on different continents before,” he said in a soft voice. “That’s how we became a global community.”

“But —”

“We have time to figure things out, and I promise we will. You aren’t getting rid of me so easily, Jillian Nichols,” he promised and I relaxed into his arms. “Not when I finally caught you.”

It was silly to be worrying about this now when we were together, so I rolled over to face him. Minutes—maybe hours—passed as we looked into each other’s eyes. We didn’t need to speak to understand how far we’d come over the last few months. The “we” he spoke of was a fixed point in time that would define us both for as far ahead as I could see. And while part of me wanted to reject that and spare myself the chance of future heartache, I knew I was as much a part of him as he was of me.

Liam’s brought his lips to mine to seal the unspoken vow flickering between us. Our limbs tangling together, our breathing slowed until we were dependent on each other for the air we needed to survive. No matter what happened in the coming months, it was worth it for this one moment. His kiss ravaged me, rendering me incapable of any thought, except one.

He had finally caught me indeed.