Page 28 of Rejected Heart (The Westwoods #5)

LAYLA

My heart was racing.

My belly trembling.

I hadn’t planned any of this, but I couldn’t say I didn’t like where things were headed. Or, I guess, where I presumed they were headed.

That kiss.

That first kiss in eight years had felt like a dream come true, even with the restraint we both showed. I might have given in to some instinctual need when I put my hands on his face and touched my lips to his, but I didn’t do all that I could have. Perhaps all that I should have.

And Liam? I could still feel the bite of his fingertips on my hips, like he was channeling every ounce of energy and desire there.

What would happen when we were alone?

Liam hadn’t said a word to me since he led me out of the bar. He remained quiet and determined as he strode toward the elevator with such purpose, leaving me scurrying to keep up. And he had refused to release my hand from the moment he grabbed hold of it.

My emotions were all over the place. Even if things felt like they were heading in a positive direction now, I couldn’t ignore all that had been said.

Liam had given me more proof than I could have ever wanted or needed to show me just how much damage I’d done, how truly devastating my rejection of his proposal had been.

Regardless of the hurt I’d clearly inflicted, it seemed Liam wasn’t holding any grudges. At least not for now. Based on the way he’d responded to me kissing him—it nearly killed me to hear him admit he couldn’t remember what it was like to kiss me—I had to believe good things were ahead.

It was mostly his silence that had me questioning if I was misreading the situation. The Liam I knew wasn’t this quiet. He certainly wasn’t ever as angry or emotional as I’d seen him, either. I couldn’t be sure what to expect.

At this point, I could only go along with whatever he had planned for the two of us. For now, that meant keeping quiet and allowing him to take the lead.

I assumed he had some master key for the hotel and was aware of a room that would be unoccupied. The elevator doors opened, and we stepped off. Still silent, Liam led me down the hall, stopped, and opened the door to one of the rooms.

Something was building inside me. Excitement and anticipation, perhaps? Lust and desire, maybe? Or was it hope? Hope that perhaps I hadn’t destroyed everything .

Whatever it was, I had assumed it was good. But after we stepped into the room, he closed and locked the door behind us before pinning his stare on me. And there was something in that look that had me wondering if I’d misread everything.

Perhaps it wasn’t hopefulness or longing that my body was reacting to at all.

Keeping my eyes on him, taking in his expression, it was fear and dread I was experiencing.

It wasn’t that I was worried about my physical safety, though.

No matter that I hadn’t seen or spoken to him in eight years, Liam would never lay a finger on me in anger. He could never be that man.

The fear came from something else. We’d gone from emotional and heartbroken to this. Were we setting ourselves up for something that might destroy us even worse, something we might not ever be able to come back from?

There was certainly intention behind these actions, and while it was easy to assume it could only ever be positive, there was no question that things had changed between us. This was almost too easy, too perfect.

“Are you still keen to help me remember?”

And there it was.

The way he spoke was so different than what I was accustomed to. It was a neon sign flashing a warning. This new side to him, something I was wholly responsible for creating, should have given me reason for pause, but the temptation to give in, to give him what he clearly wanted, was real.

“Liam, I think we?— ”

“It’s a simple question, Layla. Yes or no. Do you still crave me the way I do you?”

Did I ever.

“Of course, but?—”

“So, are you going to finish what you started downstairs?”

Liam had stepped close, leaving no more than a few measly inches separating our mouths and bodies. His stare was penetrating, and his scent was all around me.

Did I want to finish what I started downstairs?

I wanted to. I wanted him more than anything. And the proximity to him, mixed with the longing I’d felt for years, wasn’t leading me to wanting to decline.

But there was just one small part of me that wondered if it would be better for us to talk first. Maybe we needed to clear the air completely.

I’d tried that, though. I’d attempted to have a conversation with him in the bar, and Liam had shared so much that I wasn’t prepared to hear, things that made my heart shatter.

Plus, I’d just attempted to have a conversation before giving him an answer, and Liam had made it clear he wasn’t interested in talking about anything at the moment.

I couldn’t really blame him.

That kiss had turned my world upside down. If it made him feel even half as much as it did me, I could understand his mindset.

And really, if he wasn’t looking to hash more of this out, if I could avoid hearing more things that might break my heart, maybe I needed to take advantage of that.

So, I took half of a step forward, closing that remaining distance between us. Liam’s breath hitched as I pressed my body against his, but when I tipped my chin up and offered my mouth to him, Liam didn’t hold back.

He took it.

One of his hands drove into my hair as an arm wrapped around my waist. He captured my mouth with his, and the restraint he’d been showing as he sat on the barstool downstairs had flown out the window.

Liam was greedy.

He had an iron hold on me, like he was afraid I might vanish if he released me. And he didn’t kiss me lightly.

No.

No, Liam was a man starved. His tongue plundered my mouth, seeking and tasting like never before, like he had years and years of kissing to make up for.

But it wasn’t just the kissing.

Liam’s hold grew tighter, and when he lifted me up with ease, my legs immediately wrapped around his waist.

That was the point at which I was gone.

It was no longer about dissecting the recent interactions we’d had or taking steps to set things straight from years ago.

This was about reconnecting with the man who had stolen my heart years ago. It was about doing anything I could to show him just how much he’d meant to me, even if I’d led him to believe I hadn’t loved him enough to want him in my life forever.

Liam carried me through the room, but I wasn’t paying attention to where we were going or what was around us.

I trusted him. And I’d allow him to take me wherever he wanted.

My arms were over his shoulders, my hands in his hair, and when Liam lowered me to my back in the bed, I got something I thought I’d never forget.

But being beneath him, having his strong body over mine, I realized, like him, I hadn’t remembered what it was like, either.

And when he disconnected his mouth from mine and began kissing along my jaw and down the front of my throat, the feeling consumed me.

“Liam,” I moaned.

He nipped at my throat. “Missed you, Layla. God, I missed you.”

My heart squeezed. His breathing was labored, and I knew it had nothing to do with him having carried me through the suite. Liam was in agony. Not necessarily pain. But despair. Like a man who’d been lost for years, who was just now clawing his way out of some dark pit of hopelessness.

“Captain.” The word came out, and in some way, I guess it was all I could think of doing to help him. Call him by the name I’d given to him years ago, the name that seemed fitting for the guy who’d always led the way for me.

As much as I’d been hoping it would help him, I wasn’t sure it had worked like I hoped.

Because he froze. For several beats, he didn’t move. Then he pulled his head back and stared down at my face.

His eyes were wet, a look of yearning in his expression.

Liam’s hand had moved to the side of my face, and without taking his eyes off mine, his thumb stroked lightly along my cheek.

The touch was so sweet and tender, just like I’d always known him to be, and the gesture had sent warmth radiating through my body.

I took a chance and smiled at him. Liam’s features softened, and his body relaxed in a way that made it feel like he’d been waiting since I left to have me smile at him.

As though I hadn’t already taken enough shocks to the heart, it hit me just how badly I’d screwed up and how much I’d missed him.

“I never thought I’d hear you call me that again,” he croaked, his thumb drifting down toward my neck. He stroked it along the front of my throat. “That’s another thing I forgot. I forgot the way hearing you say that made me feel.”

There was nothing quite like feeling such regret.

If I could have gone back in time and changed things, I would have done it in a heartbeat.

Not only had I walked away from the best thing that had ever happened to me, but I’d taken everything Liam loved away from him.

Maybe that’s why I was still so terrified. Because I clearly didn’t deserve him.

But the warmth I felt in his gaze paired with the heat that was coursing through my body, and I was no longer concerned with what was honorable.

I wanted Liam.

He wanted me.

Gripping his hair a bit tighter, I suggested, “So, let’s take some time to remember, Liam.”

Without waiting for a response, I lifted my head and sought out his mouth. The moment my lips touched his, Liam took over.

And I had only a few seconds to relish it, in him and the weight of his body over mine, because before I knew it, things had turned frantic.

We were both tugging at one another. Through heavy breathing, our mouths were everywhere; we couldn’t get enough. His hands roamed over my skin, along my bare thigh and beneath the skirt of my dress, so he could grab my ass.

I closed my eyes, my head pressing back against the mattress as I rolled my hips against him.