I’d been sitting on my couch since I left the hockey game early, replaying the same scene over and over in my head. Drew’s face contorted with rage. His fist connecting with Liam’s jaw. The blood on the ice. And Liam’s lips moving while his own frustration was mirrored on his face.
I love her, Drew. I fucking love her.
There’d been people whispering around us, so I wasn’t sure I’d heard him right. After sitting here waiting for him to arrive, I’d convinced myself I’d imagined those words and heard what I wanted to hear instead of what he’d actually said.
Because Liam didn’t fall in love. He’d always been clear about that.
He didn’t think he was capable.
Two raps on my door pulled me from my stupor. I pushed myself off the couch and padded to the door, my heart hammering against my ribs. I opened the door and found him standing there, his face bruised and his lip swollen while rain had started to fall behind him in sheets.
“Hey.” His voice was hoarse, his green eyes searching my face like he was looking for something specific.
“Hey.”
We both stood there for a moment too long before I realized he was getting soaked.
“Come inside. You’re getting rained on.”
“I noticed.” The corner of his lips lifted in that soft little smirk he’d sometimes give me, but he didn’t move toward the doorway. Instead, he reached for my hand. “Come outside with me.”
I blinked at him. “What? It’s pouring.”
“I know.”
“Liam, we’re gonna get soaked. Just—come inside.”
His fingers tightened around mine, and he tugged gently until I stumbled across the threshold. The rain hit me immediately in fat, cold drops that plastered my hair to my face within seconds.
“Did my brother give you a concussion when he hit you?” I tried to pull back toward the apartment, but he held firm, walking backward and dragging me with him until we were standing in the middle of the courtyard. The rain was coming down harder now, soaking through my thin T-shirt and making me shiver. “Li, this is insane. Let’s go inside.”
“There’s just something we need to do first.”
Before I could ask what he meant, his hands were cupping my face, tilting it up toward his. And then his mouth was on mine.
Everything disappeared—the rain, the cold, the chaos of the day, the image of my brother’s fist connecting with Liam’s face. All that existed was the press of his lips against mine, urgent and tender at the same time. His thumbs traced along my cheekbones while the rain ran down both our faces, mingling between our mouths.
I melted into him.
My hands fisted in his soaked shirt, pulling him closer even though there was no space left between us. He groaned against my mouth, the sound vibrating through my entire body, and deepened the kiss until I couldn’t remember why I’d ever been cold.
This wasn’t like our other kisses. Those had been hungry, desperate, tinged with the thrill of secrecy. This one was different. Slower. Like he was trying to memorize the shape of my mouth. Like he wanted to savor the moment.
When he finally pulled back, we were both breathing hard. Rain ran in rivulets down his face, dripping off the sharp edge of his jaw and his bruised cheek which looked even worse up close. But his eyes—God, his eyes were looking at me like I was the only thing in the world worth seeing.
“There,” he said softly. “Now your bucket list is complete.”
The words knocked the air from my lungs.
Kiss outside in the rain.
The last item.
I’d been so lost in the kiss that I’d forgotten. But he hadn’t. He’d remembered exactly what we were supposed to be doing here—checking off boxes on a list I’d made when I was angry over a guy who didn’t matter in the long run.
This was only supposed to continue until the list was done.
And now it was.
