Page 5 of Rejected Heart (The Westwoods #5)

LAYLA

“I’m awful at this.”

I stared at the disaster in front of me and felt nothing but frustration, especially when my eyes slid to the side and took in Liam’s work of art.

He placed his hand on my back, gently rubbing, before he replied, “What? Are you kidding? I think it’s a masterpiece.”

Shooting him a look of disbelief, I said, “Then either you have very poor taste in what’s appealing, or you’re just trying to be nice.”

“I do not have poor taste. The fact I think you’re very appealing proves that.” He wagged his eyebrows at me.

I rolled my eyes. “You don’t have to say nice things so I don’t feel bad about myself. Trust me, I get that my pumpkin carving skills are lacking. I never said I was good with my hands.”

The corners of his mouth tipped up in a smile. “Lucky for you, I am. ”

A flush crept over my skin, and I looked down as I fought against a smile.

This was such a new experience for me, and Liam seemed to excel at what he was doing. Granted, even if I’d never really spoken to him until recently, it wasn’t like I didn’t know he was an extroverted guy. Liam was friendly with everyone, and I hadn’t ever heard anyone speak badly about him.

Despite not knowing how to handle how flirty he was with me, I still enjoyed that he was doing it. It made me feel good. And considering I was already on cloud nine when it came to him, that was saying something.

Just as he’d promised to do when we were at school, Liam had called me.

I hadn’t ever agreed to anything as fast as I had when he asked me if I wanted to go pumpkin picking with him.

I didn’t know what I expected, but I liked that he hadn’t decided on something like the movies.

I enjoyed being able to talk to him, and I thought a trip to the pumpkin patch would not only give us the opportunity to get to know one another, but also have some fun in the process.

We’d met each other here—Liam was already waiting for me when my mom dropped me off. I hadn’t given her much information about what I was doing, merely mentioning that I was meeting a friend from school for a few hours.

She trusted me not to do anything foolish, so she didn’t ask too many questions or think twice when agreeing to drop me off. More than anything, I think she was thrilled that I had made a friend and was doing something fun instead of sitting at home studying or helping her at work.

My mom had even handed me some money, which I knew she didn’t have to spare, to make sure I had a good time.

But the money she’d given me was unnecessary. Because despite my initial protest, Liam had been a true gentleman and purchased both his pumpkin and mine.

“Maybe, if you decide you want to hang out with me again, we can do something that might show off my talents.”

Liam sent a surprised expression my way. “And what would those talents be?”

“I’m really good at staying organized,” I told him. “I like to make lists and cross things off as I accomplish them. Typically, anything that requires planning, organization, and focus.”

He let out a little laugh and continued carving the face into his pumpkin. “I think I might need your help to figure out something that would fit that bill.”

“You can admit it. You’re realizing just how much of a nerd I am, and the chances of you wanting to hang out with me ever again are slim to none.”

Liam stopped carving as his eyes shot to mine. “I don’t understand why you think I wouldn’t want to hang out with you. You being smart and organized is not something that’ll make me decide you’re not fun to be around. I like you, Layla. Stop questioning that.”

I held his stare for several beats as my heart pounded. He hadn’t done anything to prove otherwise, but if this was some big joke, I was going to be devastated. Because I was really beginning to like the way he made me feel when he said things like that.

Dipping my chin slightly with understanding, I whispered, “Okay.”

He smiled at me, shifted his attention to my pumpkin, and asked, “What’s it going to take to get you to like your pumpkin as much as I do?”

I looked back at it again. It really was awful.

Then again, I could remember only ever doing this once before with my mom. We both decided we didn’t have the talent, so we never did it again. But we’d had fun, and that was something I never forgot.

I figured the same could apply here.

“Well, if you like it so much, maybe you want to keep it.”

“You don’t want it?”

I shrugged. “I think yours looks way better.”

Grinning, he slid his pumpkin toward me. “Then it’s yours.”

“Oh, I can’t take your pumpkin.”

“I insist. Plus, if you’re going to give me yours, it’s only fair.”

Warmth moved through me, even in the cool fall air. “Thanks for inviting me to do this today, Liam. I had a lot of fun with you.”

“Enough fun to want to hang out with me again sometime soon?”

Part of me didn’t want this to end as it was. I beamed at him. “Absolutely. ”

A satisfied smile washed over his expression. “Good. We should probably get this mess cleaned up so I can treat you to a caramel apple before your mom gets back here to pick you up.”

“Oh, that sounds wonderful. But you should let me treat, since you bought the pumpkins,” I reasoned.

He shook his head. “Not this time. I’ve been thinking about buying you a caramel apple since I woke up this morning.”

Why did I like hearing that he’d had me on his mind from the minute he opened his eyes?

“You sure do know how to make a girl feel special.”

Standing from the seat on the picnic bench, Liam looked down at me. “I’m trying.”

He was trying.

Liam wanted to make me feel special.

I was so giddy; it was a wonder I didn’t spring up from my seat just to jump for joy.

Instead, I bit the corner of my lip and focused my attention on the mess we had in front of us. Liam and I worked together to clean it up. Then he bought me the most delicious caramel apple with nuts I’d ever tasted.

TWO WEEKS LATER

I was busy studying for my upcoming math test when a knock came at my bedroom door. “Layla?”

“Yeah? Come in.”

My mom pushed open the door with the phone in her hand and said, “It’s for you.”

I was so engrossed in what I was doing, I hadn’t even heard it ring. “Oh. Thanks.”

With a bright smile on her face that said everything her voice didn’t, my mom walked over and handed me the phone.

Unlike a lot of the kids that I was in school with, I didn’t have a cell phone.

We couldn’t exactly afford it, but it wasn’t like it was necessary.

I was usually only ever home or at school, and since I wasn’t driving myself around, it wasn’t as though I needed one in case of an emergency like that.

“Take your time, but when you finish up, I want to talk to you.”

Before lifting the phone to my ear, I promised, “Okay. I’ll be down soon.”

After she walked out and closed the door behind her, I lifted the phone. “Hello?”

“Hey, Layla. It’s Liam.”

I had already assumed it was him, not only from the look my mom had been giving me, but also because Liam was the only person who ever called me, anyway. “Hi, Liam.”

“What are you doing?”

“I was studying. ”

“Oh, I didn’t mean to interrupt you. Do you have a test tomorrow?”

I was already beyond prepared for the test, but I insisted on doing a little refresher every night until test day. “No. It’s not until Thursday.”

“What subject?”

“Math.”

There was a moment of delay before he asked, “So, why are you studying so many days in advance? Are you having trouble with the material?”

My lips twitched. Wanting to tease him, I countered, “Why? If I was, would you offer to tutor me?”

“Math is the one subject that I actually enjoy and do well in with minimal effort, so yeah, if you needed me to, I would.”

I was tempted to tell him I needed help just so I could spend more time with him.

I hadn’t known what to expect with Liam after we’d gone pumpkin picking, but he’d proven that me being a bit of a nerd—something he refused to refer to me as—wasn’t going to dissuade him from talking to me or making the effort to spend time with me.

We hadn’t had another date, but whenever we had study hall together, Liam came and sat by me. And he’d called to talk to me a handful of times after school. This was the first he’d called this late.

“I appreciate the offer of help with my math, but I don’t struggle with it,” I finally shared. “I just like being prepared, so I started studying early. That’s all. I’m more than ready for the test. ”

“That’s good.”

“What’s going on with you? You don’t normally call this late.”

“Is it too late?”

I rolled onto my back in my bed and stared up at the ceiling. “No. No, that’s not what I meant. I was just saying, you usually call right after school, so this call was unexpected.”

“I was going to wait to ask you this in person tomorrow, but as soon as the idea popped into my head during dinner tonight, I couldn’t pick up the phone to call you fast enough.”

Confused, my brows knit together. “Ask me what?”

He let out an audible sigh, like he’d just inhaled deeply to prepare himself for whatever it was he needed to ask. “I know this is still a few weeks away, but I figure the earlier, the better. Plus, we were talking about it during dinner, which is why I thought about it.”

I didn’t bite my nails when I was feeling nervous or anxious, but if I was someone who did, this would have been one of those moments. “What is it?”

“Every year, my family hosts a Christmas party at Westwood’s.

It’s a corporate event, I guess, and it’s formal.

We have it in one of the ballrooms at The Westwood Hotel.

This year, it’s scheduled for the last Saturday before Christmas.

Anyway, if you don’t have any plans, I was wondering if you’d like to attend as my date. ”

My free hand flew to my mouth, which had fallen open in disbelief. I’d never been asked to even a school dance, and Liam had just invited me to his family’s corporate Christmas party.

I wanted to go.