you hide it from me? The truth?”
“If the bond is closed, which either of us has the capability to do. But then you’d know without a doubt I was keeping something from you or lying to you. And then you’d kick my ass.”
Her lips quirked up as she tried to keep from smiling. “Damn straight.”
“I would expect nothing less. Of course if we fought, that would lead to make-up kissing and—”he waggled his eyebrows at her—“more.”
Gabby shook her head as a quiet laugh huffed out of her. “Always goes back to that.”
Liam shrugged. “I’m attracted to you, and I’m not ashamed of it. I will always make sure you know how sexy and beautiful you are.”
Words from her past jumped unbidden into her mind. Liam must have felt her pain because he shook his head.
“No,” he said firmly. “Those were lies. Whatever those jackasses said, they were lies.”
It would take a long time to reprogram her thinking. If ever. When someone tells you something often enough and long enough, you start to believe it.
“Gabby, I will remind you all the time that those were lies, and the truth is quite the opposite,” Liam promised.
Gabby wondered if she would ever be able to let go of the pain her parents had caused her. It seemed like they had ingrained it in her since she was young so her mind always went back to that way of thinking, no matter how many times she tried to convince herself that she wasn’t what they claimed.
Could Liam help her change her outlook?
“What’s going through that beautiful head of yours?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I don’t know if I can do this.”
“Do you want to?”
She wanted to yell, YES, absolutely. But she held back because she’d be revealing too much. It would show weakness to admit she wanted him.
“We’ve got to start somewhere, Gabby,” Liam said gently. “At some point, we have to trust one another.”
He was right. Nothing good came without some risk. She’d taken a risk when she’d come to Crimson Academy. She took the risk every day of being judged by her peers when she gave everything she had to be the best in her class. Risks were a part of life. Could a person really live without them?
She took a deep breath and then said something she had been so sure she’d never say to anyone. “I want this.” Those three words seemed to break through the dam she’d managed to build between her mind and emotions, and the words came flowing out as freely as her tears had moments before.
“I want it more than you could ever imagine,” Gabby admitted. “I’ve never been held, Liam.” His arms tightened around her as if letting her know he was never going to let her go. “I’ve never had a gentle touch. The closest thing has been a pat on the back from Professor Frost. There have never been kind words from someone I loved. There has never been anyone to lean on or seek comfort from.”
Liam’s face seemed to grow darker and darker the more she talked, but she knew he wasn’t angry at her.
“It shouldn’t have been like that. Your life shouldn’t have been so empty.”
He was right. Parents were supposed to love their kids. They were supposed to be proud of them and want the best for them. The older she grew—the more she saw other kids with their parents showing up at school functions to support them, hugging them before dropping them off in the morning—the more she knew her parents weren’t right. But she was powerless to change it.
“It wasn’t,” she agreed. “But it is what it is.”
“Not anymore,” he growled. “Never again.”
“You can’t fix me.”
“You don’t need to be fixed, my love. You need to be adored.”
Gabby’s eyes widened as she stared up at him. Even in his lap, she was still shorter than him. “I don’t understand that kind of emotion.”
“You will,” he said with a small smile. “One day, you will completely understand it.”
She hoped so.
“Say it,” Liam ordered.
Her brow rose. “Say what?”
“Your face is very expressive, babe. It’s quite obvious when you have a thought you don’t want to share with someone.”
“If you know I don’t want to share it, why are you trying to make me?”
“Because that’s how relationships work. Communication, Gabs. It’s important.”
“You’re a relationship expert now?” she asked with a smirk.
“Kind of,” he replied, as he brushed a piece of hair out of her face. “I wasn’t exaggerating when I