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The silence between us hums with everything we’re not saying. Everything he doesn’t remember.

He focuses on the road, jaw tight, hands gripping the wheel. His scent—clean, woodsy—fills the car and hijacks every rational thought I try to string together.

It’s the same scent that was all over my skin that night. The same hands that are now innocently driving us to work.

“You always drive this uptight?” I ask.

His jaw ticks. “Nope.”

The air between us is thick with secrets only I know.

My memory’s flooded with everything my body won’t forget—what it’s like to be beneath him. His mouth dragging over my skin, between my thighs, making me beg until my voice broke.

And now I’m sitting in his car, accepting flowers, pretending this is just a gig. Like I didn’t let him own me in every way a man can.

Pretending this is just a PR stunt. An illusion.

My thighs clench. My breath hitches, because I’m lying.

To him. To myself. To my goddamn reflection.

And the worst part?

He doesn’t even know who I am.

What the hell is wrong with me?

He pulls into the team’s private lot, parks, but doesn’t get out. I unbuckle my seatbelt. His hand catches mine.

Warm.

Solid.

Our eyes lock, and for a second I think he might remember. Might recognize something.

“I’ll see you inside,” he says, voice brushing over my skin.

Liam leans in, lifts my hand to his mouth, and kisses the back of it. His lips warm. Slow. The same mouth that tasted every inch of me.

I yank my hand back and step out, needing air like I’ve just surfaced from underwater. But before I can close the door—

His phone buzzes. He glances at it. Freezes.

I see his entire body go stiff. His mouth tightens. His thumb hovers over the screen, jaw locked. He shoves the phone into his pocket without a word. But I can feel the shift. Like pressure in the air before a storm.

“Everything okay?”

He looks at me. Nods once. “Perfect.”

A lie. But I let it go.

I turn and walk toward the doors, heat crawling up my neck.

And I can feel him watching.

Watching like he knows something.

Like someone just lit a fuse.