I scurried off his chest-totally not paying any attention at all to how my hands felt gliding down his abs-and grabbed the sketchbook, hiding it behind my back.
"Thank you for getting this for me, but I don"t want you to see."
He grinned impishly, looking boyish and young. "You"ve already filled it with pictures of me. I know it."
I growled and whipped the sketchbook from behind my back, smacking him in the head with it.
He busted out into laughter.
He raised his hands in surrender. "Fine, I won"t look."
I narrowed my eyes on him, not believing that for one second. I"d have to find a good hiding spot for it when I was gone.
Liam drew his knees up to his chest and draped his arms over his knees. Tilting his head toward me, his lips twisted into a half-smile. "Do I get another truth today?"
"You got two yesterday," I countered, still p.i.s.sed at my slip-up.
"So?" He raised a brow. "That was your accident, not mine."
"True," I sighed. "You go first then."
I didn"t feel as much pressure if Liam spoke first.
"You know that "meeting" I had the other day?"
"The one where you ditched your parent"s the whole day?"
"Yeah." He nodded with a laugh. "I really did have a meeting, but it was much later than when I left."
"That"s not your truth, is it?" I glared at him. "Because that"s pathetic, and you know it."
"No," he laughed outright, "my truth is what my meeting was for."
"Oh." I felt stupid for jumping down his throat.
He stared at me through his narrowed icy-blue eyes, and his lips twitched as he fought a smile. He couldn"t contain it, though, and it slowly spread. "I was with my manager, and I signed a contract."
"A contract?" I prompted.
"For my first clothing sponsorship. It"s a big deal, and I love the company and the guy running it, so I"m happy."
I stared at him in a little bit of awe. "I get the impression that"s not something you say often."
"What?" He looked confused.
"That you"re happy."
He nodded at my words. "I guess you"re right; I don"t say that often." He ran his fingers through his hair and set his face into hard lines. "Your turn."
I nibbled on my bottom lip, thinking about something I could give him that would be a truth but wasn"t too personal.
"I did ballet for five years when I was little. I liked it, but I didn"t love it." I shrugged, gliding my hand over the tops of the tall gra.s.ses.
"Hmm," he hummed, mulling that over. "A dancer?" He waggled his brows.
"Stop it," I laughed, swatting his arm.
I couldn"t believe how easily I was smiling and laughing around him. The last few weeks had been difficult and Liam had done nothing to make it any easier with his constant glares and harsh words. But he was trying, and it seemed like he was maybe even starting to like me, and if I admitted it to myself, I was beginning to like him too.
I closed my eyes with the thought.
Stop getting attached, Ari, I scolded myself.
Too late.
Clearing his throat, Liam said, "Please don"t say anything to my parents about the sponsorship. I haven"t told them or anyone else yet."
I stared at him in shock. "I"m the first person you told?" I couldn"t believe what he was saying.
He shrugged. "It"s not that big of a deal. Don"t make it into something it"s not." He stood up and dusted the sand from his swim shorts. "You should head inside. It"s getting dark."
He walked off, grabbed his board, and stalked toward the stairs leading to his house.
What the h.e.l.l?
So much for feeling like he was trying to be nicer. That other Liam still lurked under the surface, and something about my question had struck a nerve.
I shook my head, completely confused by him.
Liam Wade was certainly an enigma.
He was someone I should stay away from.
He was angry.
He was rude.
He could cut you down with words and a single glance.
But he was also sweet.
He cared.
He loved.
He had a heart that was far kinder than most people; that"s why he fought so hard to be an a.s.shole. It was to protect himself, because the heart is a fragile thing.
But he couldn"t protect his heart any better than I could stay away from him, because for me, Liam Wade was the first guy I"d had genuine feelings for, and I secretly craved the push and pull between us.
It reminded me that I was alive.
At least for the moment.
Liam.
I set my surfboard against the side of the house before taking a deep breath and stepping inside.
I sniffed the air, and my stomach rumbled.
Food.
I followed the scent to the dining room where I found my parents waiting at the table.
"Sit," my dad ordered, pointing to the empty chair beside him-he sat at the head of the table.
"Uh... Can I change first?" I pointed at my damp board shorts.
"Yes, but don"t dawdle," my mom said like I was five.
I"d avoided them as much as possible, and they weren"t letting that happen anymore.
"I never dawdle," I mumbled under my breath, turning sharply on my heel.
Ari was coming inside as I rounded the corner to head for the stairs, but I didn"t even acknowledge her presence.
I didn"t want to look at her.
Her words echoed through my skull. "I"m the first person you told?"
She shouldn"t have been. I should"ve told my parents. Or Ollie. Or one of the guys. Anyone else before I told her. But I"d wanted her to be the first person I shared my news with. I was growing too used to her presence, craving it, even. It was dangerous, really, the things I felt for her. I loved and hated that she made me feel again. But I had no room in my life for love, or romance, or anything of the sort. I"d had my heart crushed in the past-guys can have their hearts broken too, you know-and I had no desire to revisit that kind of scenario anytime soon.
I couldn"t trust someone like that again, only to have everything blow up in my face and go down in flames.
I shoved open the door to my room and changed quickly into a pair of sweatpants and an old ratty t-shirt with the Willow Creek logo on it. I figured if I was going to have to endure a lengthy conversation with my parents I might as well get comfortable.
The door burst open behind me as I tugged the shirt down over my stomach, and I popped my head up to see Ari standing in the doorway of my room, red-faced like she"d just run up the stairs.
"That"s it." She slammed her newly-acquired sketchbook down on the ground, and pencils went tumbling out of their package. I watched as one lone pencil rolled under my bed.
"What"s it?" I asked, trying to play dumb.
"You. I have had it with you."
I snorted, amused by her reaction.
"I have had it with your hot and cold att.i.tude," she continued on, striding up to me and standing so close to me that I had to rear my head back to actually see her. "You"re giving me whiplash, and I"m sick of it. I won"t sit back and take it anymore. I"m a human being, Liam. Treat me with some respect. I don"t think it"s a lot to ask for you to be nice to me." Her anger had waned, but it began to build rapidly again. Her eyes flared with heat, and I was surprised the surface of my skin hadn"t caught on fire.
"If you want to ignore me and never speak to me, that"s fine," she raised her hands, pursing her lips, "or if you want to actually talk to me and be nice, that"s cool too. But it can"t be both." She closed her eyes and inhaled a deep breath before speaking again in a calmer tone. "I"ve dealt with people like you before, the back and forth, and I got away so I"d never have to deal with it again. I"m not going to be here forever. Another month, and I"m gone, got it? So let"s just make this month bearable."
I stared at her, unable to look away.
I was completely fascinated by that girl.
At first glance, she appeared to be quiet and meek, but that was so far from the truth.
She had a fire in her.
My Tiger.
My perfect f.u.c.king match.
I shouldn"t have done it, but I lost all control over myself as I reached out and placed both hands on her cheeks. I pulled her to me and lowered my head down to her lips. After what happened the first time we kissed I shouldn"t have done it, but I had to. She gasped in surprise, and my mouth swallowed the sound.
It was wrong of me to take what wasn"t mine, but I was powerless when it came to Ari. My anger was the only weapon I had against her, and she was stripping it away from me bit by bit, because it was impossible to be mad at someone like her.
Stop fighting, Liam. Stop f.u.c.king fighting this.
Don"t listen. Remember what happened last time?
My heart was waging a very real war with my mind, and I was beginning to see that my heart was going to win the battle. The heart is always stronger than the mind, even if the mind is the wiser of the two.
She stretched up on her toes, her fingers fisting in the short hairs on the back of my neck. I growled in response, my hands falling to her waist. My fingertips pressed into her skin, and she arched up into me, pressing her b.r.e.a.s.t.s into my chest.
I backed her up until she was against the wall and lifted her legs, my hands settling on her bare thighs. Her skin was so smooth and warm.
"Liam," she panted against my mouth, and my name had never sounded better.
I nipped at her chin and kissed my way down her neck and back up, before capturing her plump, pink lips once more. Her hands fell to my chest, the palm of her right hand over my heart where it beat embarra.s.singly fast.
I"d loved once.
But I"d never felt so unwound before, so completely out of control like I was in a free fall.
My tongue tangled with hers, and I wanted nothing more than to lay her down on my bed, strip off our clothes, and f.u.c.k her until we both collapsed.
I wouldn"t do it, but d.a.m.n it I wanted to.
"I want to hate you," I murmured against her lips. "It would make things so much easier." I kissed her deeply again then, pressing my lips firmly to hers before breaking away and lowering her legs to the ground.
She stood there, stunned, with wide, blue eyes. She raised a shaky hand to her lips and looked at me like she was seeing me for the first time, as if she suddenly understood everything I hadn"t said.
Without a word, I left her standing in my room and went downstairs to join my parents.