Apparently that statement was like waving a red flag in front of a bull. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean, not with me?”
I felt like I was trying to calm down a two-year-old. “It just means you’re my brother’s best friend and I don’t exactly want to talk about my”—I lookedaround to make sure no one was eavesdropping, but still lowered my voice even more until it was basically a whisper—”sex life.”
His jaw shifted as he stared at me like I was a puzzle he couldn’t quite figure out.
“Can we get back to these questions now? Class is almost over.”
“No.”
Now it was my turn to stare. “No? Why not?”
“Because I want to know what your plan is with that list.”
Was he serious?
By the stubborn set to his stupidly handsome jaw, he was one thousand percent serious.
I shook my head, closed my laptop, and shoved it in my bag. “I’m not talking about this with you.”
There was no way I was going to sit here any longer when it was clear he was just going to keep pushing, and I had no intention of talking about this with him.
It was rude to leave a class early, but considering we were doing independent work, I didn’t think Professor Hanks would mind if I walked out.
I was barely five feet from the room when a warm, calloused hand clamped around my arm, just above the elbow, his fingers firm and unyielding and the heat of his palm branding me even through my sweater.
It stopped me dead in my tracks.
“Liam, let go,” I whispered, desperate not to have this conversation he seemed so intent on having.
“No.” He spun me around, and then looked around before pulling me into a secluded study alcove and caging me between his arms. “Tell me what you’re planning to do with that list.”
God, he was so infuriating and pushy. “Forget you saw it. It was stupid. I was angry at Chris for calling me boring, and I wrote that stupid list because those are things I want to check off someday, but relax. You can take your overprotective macho act and put it away. I’m on a dating hiatus, so it’s not like I have anyone to even do those things with.”
God, that made me sound pathetic which I hated more than thinking I was boring in bed. When did I become this girl? How did I get off this train and onto the one that made me feel like I was actually in charge of my own life?
I waited for him to lecture me about Drew, about how this was a stupid idea and he was glad to hear I had no plans of following through on it anytime soon.
But he didn’t.
His gaze was more intense than I’d ever seen it as he stepped fully into my space until I was boxed against the wall. Instead of feeling panic, a thrum of excitement skittered through me.
And then he said the last thing I expected.
“I’ll do it.”
SEVEN
The words hung in the air between us like a challenge I’d just thrown down, and I waited for the regret to hit me. Waited for that familiar voice in my head to tell me this was crossing every line I’d ever drawn for myself.
But the regret never came.
Instead, all I felt was a fierce, possessive satisfaction at the way Ava’s eyes widened, at the sharp intake of breath that made her lips part. She was staring at me like she was waiting for me to laugh and tell her I was kidding.
I wasn’t.
I felt a low, heavy hum ofrightnessthat started deep in my chest and vibrated down to my fingertips. It was a focused certainty that this was the only move that mattered.
It was reckless as hell—probably the most reckless thing I’d ever done, and I’d once jumped off a twenty-foot cliff into the river on a dare when I was sixteen. But I couldn’t find it in me to care about the potential consequences. Not when I saw red just thinking about her finding someone else to check off this list with.
