“What is it?” Like he’d just tell me because I asked. Can’t blame a girl for trying, but now that I know he’s hiding something, it will eat me up inside until I find out what I’ll probablyneverknow.
He respires with defeat and slouches his shoulders forward, bowing his head with what appears to be shame. “I—ugh, this is hard. I’ve never told anyone thisbefore.”
Oh, my God, he’s actually going to tell me? I place my hand on his pec and tilt my head to look up at his face. “It’s okay, I won’t tellanyone.”
“I can’t,” he argues against whatever thoughts are clearly fighting through his head. “It’s too hard toadmit.”
“We all have secrets, Liam. You know mine from earlier today.” That wasn’t really a secret, more like a lie, but I’m trying to ease his discomfort in any wayIcan.
“You’re right. You did come clean about that.” Hearing him suffer through his words is something completely different. It’s a side of him I haven’t seen yet, and I kind oflikeit.
“Before I tell you this secret, you have to promise mesomething...”
“Anything, of course.” My God, this man has me eating out of his handrightnow.
“Promise you won’t have pizza with Sterling again.” There it is, the controlling aspect ofthisgame.
“Liam, I can’t promise you that. Regardless of what happens between Sterling and me, we’refriends.”
I’ve officially friend-zoned two guys in one day, and I think that may be a new recordforme.
Although, I’m debating if I can even consider Liam a friend. It’s not like we’ve been exchanging funny stories and having nice conversations. Seeing as that’s been missing from this equation, I’m not okay with being told who I can orcan’tsee.
“Fine, but ... just keep an open mind, okay?” heconcedes.
“Mmm, I don’t know,” I agree. “But I think you should still tell me your secret.” Did that sound like I was begging? Yup. It did.Iam.
“Okay, okay.” He blows a long gust of air from his pursed lips. “Here it goes ... I—” he squeezes his fingers around his temples with the appearance of suffering through this moment.Just say it, Liam. He’s beating himself up over whatever this is, geez. “I—I have a ... fetish for ...” He groans and sighsagain.
“What?” Where the hell is he going with this. “What do you have afetishfor?”
“Red vibrators,” he says, as serious as anyone could be while saying something like this without cracking asmile.
I close my eyes and nod my head, knowing I fell for another one of his stupid “games.” When my eyes reopen, he’s beaming from ear-to-ear, and I take the opportunity to hurt the palm of my hand by slapping his chest again. I already saw that this method of venting my rage was ineffective, but he’s making me so angry, I don’t know how to manage myemotions.
He jerks back a bit, recoiling from my girly hit, and bursts out laughing. “I couldn’t help myself. It was too easy.” All of that, and he still has a goddamn secret I am now determined tofigureout.
“Just like you. You’re too easy,” I tell him again. He steps forward once more because there is no more space for him to move. He’s in my bubble again, hovering over me and making my heart beat so hard it mightexplode.
“I play games with you because I think you might be able to play them back with me. You’re tough, funny, smart, and drop-dead gorgeous, so you’ll have to excuse me for making you my prime target fortorture.”
“You’re still too good-looking for me to like,” I lie. Yeah, I like him. I liked that kiss. Hell, I loved that kiss. It’s been on the forefront of my mind for the past sixhoursnow.
“How do I fix this problem?”heasks.
“Prove to me you aren’t a jerk.” There’s no way to prove that. I always find out after my heart has been handed over on a silver platter and wrapped with a bow that heartbreak will always come when least expected. However, any writing professor I had in college would tell me there’s no such thing as too much research when it comes to writing about a subject that expert knowledge isneededfor.
“I can’t prove I’m not a jerk because I’ve already proven that I am,” he tells me. “But I can tell you one thing,though...”
“If it’s about my vibrator, I don’t want tohearit.”
His hands reach over and cup my elbows as he pulls my body in against his. Clearly, my rule doesn’t prevent me from breaking it. Expecting him to say something as ridiculous as his fetish confession, he opens his mouth to talk and releases one hand from my elbow and places it under my chin. “I’ve never broken a heart. It’s always been my heart surrendering.” There’s truth in his eyes, and the only reason I think I know this is because I haven’t seen it therebefore.
“So, you’re saying my rule shouldn’t applytoyou?”
His face lowers toward mine, bringing his nose to my nose. “I can give you several reasons why your rule shouldn’t applytome.”
“I’d like to know one of those reasons,” I tell him, maintaining little strength in thismoment.
