“Butyou’ve shown me how much they mean toyou, which means if I have to use them to get what I want, I will.”
Liana’s silent for a moment, that twinkle quickly disappearing from her eye and being replaced with dark fury.
“I will never marry you,” she grinds out.
“Then I will continue to fuck with Alessia and her boyfriend even more than I already have,” I say, my tone slow, controlled, anddark.
I’ve given Lianayearsof space. I’m done.
She’s silent again. Her jaw tics with every clench she makes, as if she’s trying to bite back whatever else she wants to say to me.
After several seconds of this silent standoff, Liana finally speaks. “What if I have sex with you? Then will you leave them alone?”
“Sure. But that sex will need to be consistent and come with a ring on your finger.”
“I’m trying to compromise. The least you could do is give me the same courtesy,” she grinds out.
“I refuse to compromise on such a remarkable thing as yourself.”
Her eyes widen, but she doesn’t have a response.
“Let me ask you something. What is keeping you from marrying me?”
“Well, for starters, I don’t really like you.”
“But why is that?”
“Because you’re an asshole who’s trying toforce meinto marriage.”
“Is that it?”
“I feel like that’s a pretty good reason to not like someone.”
“So if I wasn’t trying to use Alessia and her boyfriend to get you to marry me, you would like me?”
“No.”
“Then why else don’t you like me? Why else wouldn’t you give a guy like me a shot? Why wouldn’t you give me the time of day at CU when I know you felt the chemistry between us that night.”
“Because.”
“Becausewhy?”
“Because of what you do for a living!” she finally spats out. “I don’t know why you’re so adamant about thatonenight between us. Did we have fun dancing? Sure, you’re not the only guy I’ve had fun dancing with.”
I clench my jaw, not liking the image that pops into my head of her dancing with any other man.
“But you don’t know me. What is with this crazy obsession you’ve developed for me? You don’t know anything about me.Anything.”
“I don’t know anything about you?” I snap. “You sure about that, Liana?”
She throws her hands in the air. “How could you? We’ve never gone on a date, so much as even reallytalked. You don’t know anything about me, just like I don’t know anything about you.”
“Okay, so I don’t know that you’re an incredibly hard-working and self-driven woman who has built a fashion empire for herself at a young age, and is now a force to be reckoned with in the industry?”
“Anyone can Google that,” she throws back at me, her nostrils flaring.
“And I don’t know that your heart is bigger than anyone else I know? That you’ll put the people you care about before yourself if it truly fucking comes down to it?”
