Nonverbal - Aria Grace Page 0,11

kept me guessing.

Without acknowledging the suggestion either way, Liam stood up from the table and went to the front door. I barely had time to wipe my greasy fingers and chase after him before he was at the end of the driveway.

“Liam, hold up.” I jogged up to him and fell into step at his side. “Do you want a sweater? It might get cool.”

I usually ran warm so I welcomed the cool breeze but I wasn’t sure Liam would feel the same way. When he turned to me, I thought he was going to do a 180 and head back inside for a hoodie. But he surprised the shit out of me when he reached for my hand and interlocked our fingers.

I’d seen him hold his mom’s and dad’s hands a few times over the past few weeks, but rarely and usually they initiated it when they were trying to get him to follow them somewhere. But for him to reach for my hand left me speechless. I didn’t want to put too much meaning into the gesture. There probably wasn’t any meaning at all. It was just a way for us to walk together as we circled the block.

But when he leaned against my side and briefly rested his head on my shoulder, I knew he was purposely reaching out to me in an affectionate way.

Whether it was meant to be romantic wasn’t clear, at first. But then his thumb circled the inside of my wrist and I knew what he was doing. That wasn’t something a kid would do to a parent or a sibling. It was the intimate way lovers touched and my cock immediately responded, springing to life and filling with blood.

Liam was actively flirting with me. I just didn’t know what to do about it.

Nine

I’d been trying to ignore the growing physical tension between Liam and me, but it wasn’t easy. I didn’t want to admit it was affecting how we interacted with each other, but it was. How could it not? After our walk when he held my hand for the first time, Liam went straight to his swing and started flying on that thing as if he were trying to reach the stars.

I was worried he’d get hurt, but I didn’t dare interrupt him. He was in the zone, pumping and grunting and pushing his body to new heights, both physically and metaphorically, as I sat on the grass below him, just waiting for him to work through whatever was bothering him.

But I had a suspicion I knew what that was.

Tension and frustration and confusion were also at war within me. I wanted something I couldn’t have, but at least I understood the reasons. I was aware of all the issues surrounding my situation. If Liam didn’t fully understand what he wanted or what his body needed, that had to be scary and even more frustrating than I could imagine.

When he finally relaxed his taut body and let his legs hang in the air, his momentum naturally waned. I stood up and watched as he slowed to a stop. His gaze was locked with mine, even as he stood up in front of the swing and just waited.

One glance down the front of his body proved my suspicions were right. A big wet spot covered the left side of his crotch and the outline of his engorged cock was still visible. Liam’s face was red from the exertion and his glassy eyes seemed desperate for me.

Without worrying about the optics of it, I held open my arms and walked to him as he fell against my chest. “It’s okay, Liam,” I whispered into his ear. “I feel it too. You don’t have to be scared.” I kissed the side of his head, pressing my lips against his heated skin and inhaling the sweet scent of his shampoo and sweat. “We’ll figure this out together. Okay, bud?”

His shoulders relaxed in my arms and he wrapped his around my back, clinging to me like a life preserver. He didn’t have one when he was just a boy, drowning in that lake. But I would be that for him now. Whatever he needed, I would be that for him.

The need for touch and affection wasn’t something that came from a person’s head. It came from a deep physiological need within each of us. And if Liam’s body needed comfort in ways he couldn’t verbalize, I would be there to help him discover those methods.

No matter