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Liam lifted his hand to the side of my face and stroked his knuckles down my cheek. “I can’t believe I’m standing here with you in my arms.”

I leaned into the tender touch. “I wish I didn’t have to leave.”

“You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear you say that.” His thumb drifted across my lower lip. “I love you, Layla.”

“I love you, too, Liam.”

He dipped his head down and touched his lips to mine, kissing me once more like it had been years instead of a few hours since he’d had the opportunity to kiss me like this. It made my knees weak.

When he pulled back, his voice was just a touch over a whisper. “I miss you already.”

“I feel the same.”

Liam reached around me and opened my door. Afterkissing me one more time, he said, “Drive safe, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I will. I can’t wait.”

With that, he closed my door. Then he opened it, bent down, and kissed me one last time. “Okay, now you can go.”

So, that’s what I did. But it was only so I could go home, fill my mom in on the day I’d had, and tell her about my plans for tomorrow.

Naturally, she was thrilled to hear things had gone well, and she called Carmen herself to ensure nothing would put a damper on the day I had planned with Liam.

By the time I crawled into bed, I was excited to replay my day with Liam and his family over and over in my head. And for the first time in years, I fell asleep with a smile on my face.

26

LIAM

“Where have you been?”

Four words I’d waited a long time to ask. Next to wanting to know why Layla left, this was the one of the questions that plagued my mind day in and day out for years. And today, I needed to get answers to some of the most pressing.

That’s why I’d decided to do this here. As promised, I’d picked Layla up from her mom’s place at noon, and I brought her out for lunch. Last night, when I struggled to fall asleep because I was so overwhelmed by the prospect of us having a second chance, I considered my options for how to spend the day with her. I’d considered doing something similar to what I’d done the day I learned why she left me by taking her to the park for lunch again, but I didn’t trust myself to stay focused long enough to get the answers I needed from her.

It had been difficult enough not to drag Layla out of my niece’s birthday party just to have my way with her.I’d gone eight years without access to her. Not her voice. Her touch. Her kiss. Her body.

Then we had that one night a month ago, and I got a taste of her. It wasn’t enough. It wasn’t even close to enough.

It was a tease. An appetizer. Only the beginning of a meal I wanted no less than three times a day, every day for the rest of my life.

I had no idea how I made it through Rosie’s party. I thought the last eight years without Layla were a struggle. That party was infinitely worse.

Because I had a spark of hope that maybe we’d be able to do this, maybe we’d get back all that we’d lost and then some.

For that very reason, no matter how badly I wanted to have Layla’s naked body pressed against mine again while I moved inside her and listened to those moans of hers, I didn’t want to risk winding up in a situation where I wouldn’t be able to have that all the time.

I refused to skip the steps that were necessary to make sure we were on the same page. I had to be sure that Layla was here to stay.

So, I decided it was best to be somewhere that I couldn’t get sidetracked by kissing her, which would lead to so many other things that would have nothing to do with asking the very important questions that I needed to get answers to.

“I presume you’re asking me about where I’ve been for the last eight years,” Layla replied.

I dipped my chin. “Yes.”

She hesitated before she revealed, “I’ve been living in New York City since the day after you proposed.”

Every muscle in my body tensed, because I was quickly putting two and two together, and I wasn’t getting four. “You were living in Manhattan?”