Page 21 of Rejected Heart (The Westwoods #5)

The silence stretched between us, Liam’s eyes roaming over my face frantically. His chest was rising and falling with labored breaths despite the lack of physical movement. Was his heart pounding as hard as mine?

“With everything being the way it was between us, I thought I had made it clear how I felt about you.” His voice had dropped a couple of octaves. “But I got it all wrong. You never believed it. You never believed in the love I felt for you.”

“Liam, I’m so?—”

“Don’t, Layla. Don’t keep apologizing to me. If anything, I’m the one who should be sorry. I’m sorry I never took notice of your unhappiness. And I’m sorry that I thought you loved me at least as much as I loved you. ”

That parting shot went straight through my heart like a physical blow, forcing me to stumble back as my hand flew to my chest.

I hadn’t recovered from it fast enough, because the next thing I knew, Liam had turned and walked to the exit.

When he strode out the front door, all I could bring myself to do was allow the tears to fall.

LIAM

It had been hours, and I still hadn’t calmed down.

Hours since I’d seen her.

Hours since I’d been the one to walk away.

And it was like I was still standing there with her, feeling every emotion under the sun instead of having put in a full day at work.

I thought that coming back to Westwood’s and working would help.

As the man responsible for the maintenance and operations at the amusement park, I had plenty to keep me busy. Especially this week.

It was the first week of July, and between summer vacations and the upcoming Fourth of July holiday, there was enough work that I could easily put in twelve or fifteen-hour shifts.

Usually, I didn’t need to do that, because I had a team of guys that worked in the amusement park with me. They were all highly skilled and capable of handling the necessary tasks, which meant, barring any major issues, I could generally put in a normal workday.

But today, I needed the distraction.

I needed something to do with my hands, or I’d go stir-crazy.

So, I worked.

I worked and worked, moving from one task to another and sending members of my team to wherever they were needed.

My hope was that I would have calmed down by now, but I wasn’t even remotely close to feeling any sense of peace.

As I made my way back to the hotel—I’d been staying in one of the suites ever since things ended with Layla—my interaction with her hit me full force again.

Everything from the nerves I’d felt when I approached the store to the sense of relief and longing that moved through me when I first laid my eyes on her.

I didn’t know why I’d gone there in the first place. It was such a bad idea.

But once Jules had shared the news with me that Layla was here in Landing again, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I needed to see her.

Unfortunately, I hadn’t considered what to say or how things should go down between us. I simply responded to that pull I felt to seek her out.

And now I couldn’t stop thinking about how awful it had been. There was a part of me that might have been hoping there would have been some kind of closure, but that was nowhere to be found.

When all I could feel was the overwhelming sense of longing for her and I had no clue what was going through her mind, it frustrated me.

In a way, I guess I was grateful for that. The anger and bitterness were better than begging and pleading.

I’d walked through the front entrance of the hotel and made a beeline for the elevator. Minutes later, I walked into my suite and went through the motions—get undressed, get showered, order some room service.

Once I was standing under the spray of the shower, feeling the warm water run over my body, my thoughts drifted to Layla again.

God, she was still just as beautiful as I remembered.

Layla still had that waterfall of rich, dark chocolate brown hair, and it looked shinier, softer, and thicker than it had years ago.

It might not have been any different, other than being slightly longer now.

It could have simply been all the time I had spent away from her that was messing with my mind.

I wanted nothing more than to run my fingers through those gorgeous locks, doing it while staring into those amber eyes that held me captive on more than one occasion.

People often talked about the Westwood family and our signature blue eyes, but there was nothing more beautiful than that deep golden hue of Layla’s.

Her mouth was just as inviting, her lips as perfect as ever.

And her body was still petite and feminine.

No matter how much I hated it, she could bring me to my knees.

Just when I thought I’d figured out how to live my life without her in it, just when I’d made peace with the idea of living a solitary life, she was back. All the work I’d done had been flushed down the drain.

Was this ever going to get better?

Would I always feel this way?

I was frustrated with myself for still being so worked up about our interaction today, but the reality was that I shouldn’t have expected anything less.

It had been eight years, and this woman still had a hold on my heart.

It was no wonder I couldn’t think straight mere hours after seeing her again.