All the Lies - Charlotte Byrd Page 0,51

actually find the real D. B. Carter, who turned out to be someone I had already met.

Liam promised that he was not the guy from the forum who pointed me in this direction, but how could he not be?

I get into my car and shut the door. I take a few deep breaths and look in the rearview mirror. He is standing on the porch but doesn't make a step to follow me.

I let out a sigh of relief.

I don't want him. He told me all about his writing and it felt like he was opening up to me, but in reality, he's as shut as a clam. He's unreachable and I don't need that in my life.

When I look back in the rearview mirror again, my body longs for him. It's a silly expression, one typical of books, and yet that's exactly how I feel.

Every part of me, down to the molecular and cellular level, craves him.

I shouldn’t compare, but kissing Liam was nothing like kissing Alex. With Alex, things were simple. I knew that he liked me. I knew where we stood. I liked that certainty.

In the end? In the end he broke my heart in a way that will probably take me months if not years to recover.

Is this what is really going on?

Do I just want Liam because I can't have Alex?

I inhale deeply and exhale slowly through the mouth. I feel the breath escape my lips and I run my tongue over my lower lip, pausing briefly over each indentation.

Out here under the bright desert sun where the humidity is below ten percent, my lips are chapped and dry.

I lick them again to give them some moisture and then wipe a rogue tear running down my cheek.

I press the start button on my car, but the engine doesn't start. I look at the screen thinking that I had left the key somewhere in his house, but the missing key notification doesn't pop up.

I feel around my purse and find it in there.

I press the pedal and the start button again. Again, nothing happens.

What the hell am I supposed to do now?

I try again and again, but still nothing happens. A sudden knock on the driver's window startles me and I jump.

It's Liam.

He moves slightly out of the way when I crack the door.

“My car won't start,” I say.

Even though it's spring and I can feel a breeze of cool air settling on the valley, the sun is still beating down hard on the earth. Without air conditioning, the inside of the car becomes unbearable.

I step out, leaning my body against the powder blue door.

“I'm sorry,” Liam says.

I ignore him and instead bury my head in my phone.

“I'm going to call AAA,” I explain.

He leans over and brushes his fingertips against mine. A shock of electricity runs up my arm. When I look up at him, he takes my hand in his and squeezes it tightly.

“I'm sorry,” he says with his eyes twinkling in the sunlight.

“It doesn't–”

He kisses me.

He takes a step forward and pushes my body against the car. When we collide with one another, the world falls apart and is put together again with all the pieces that make sense.

He runs his fingers slowly up the nape of my neck, reaching all the way up to my earlobes and then cradling my chin as if it were a saucer. His lips are firm and determined. At first, he was hesitant, but now he takes control.

I haven't seen this side of him before, but I like it.

I kiss him back, gently touching my tongue with his, but when he pulls away slightly and then kisses me again, his mouth gets feverish.

His hands move up and down my body from the small of my back all the way up my spine.

After a few moments, they move toward my waist and then he cups one of my breasts.

“You're so beautiful,” he says through his kisses.

Our bodies become heated, dirty, messy, and wonderful all at the same time.

When I toss my head back, he kisses down my neck to the top of my breasts. My breathing speeds up and my body starts to quiver.

I look up at the cloudless blue sky as he tugs at my jacket. The buttons seem to come out of the loops all on their own and he slides his hand under my loose-fitting blouse.

It's a peasant top that keeps my breasts slightly separated and away from him. I look down and he looks