hid in my place for a while.
Thinking.
Wondering what was next.
Fighting the urge to just show up at Emily’s apartment and have my way with her.
Me hiding was the best thing for everyone.
But I couldn’t hide forever.
I couldn’t ignore Emily forever.
At some point, I had to just follow my heart.
When Emily opened her apartment door, all I thought about was kissing her.
My hands sliding along her face, my lips closing in on hers. Gently kissing her… so fucking slow that chills would dance down her body to the tip of her toes. But then I’d kiss her in a different way, sending those same chills right to her-
“Hey,” she said.
I swallowed hard. “Hey.”
“Liam, come in,” she said.
I stepped into the apartment.
My heart danced like a kid in the rain. Telling me that I was single and what I wanted next was finally okay.
I wasn’t sure that was exactly the truth. The single part was. The other part…
“Do you want a drink?” Emily offered.
“Yeah. That would be great.”
“Soda? Water? Beer? Whiskey?”
“I’m not driving,” I said.
“You never drive,” Emily said.
“The beauty of the city.”
“So that means you want something good,” she said. “No problem.”
She walked to her kitchen and I looked right at the smoke alarm that had been going off the last time I was here. Her on that step ladder, waving a towel, trying to stop the thing from screaming.
Maybe that was the sign. The universe sounding the alarm that things were going to get crazy…
My eyes moved across the kitchen and I saw Emily at the counter, reaching up into a cabinet. Her shirt was pulled up, showing off her lower back. My fingertips ached to walk up to her and touch her. In my jeans, I felt something else happening. Like a giant beast stirring to life after the longest winter known to man, my dick slowly began to throb.
Another unpleasant reminder of just how unhappy I had been with that other person.
Emily got the whiskey bottle and reached for glasses.
“Skip the glasses, Em,” I said.
She spun around, whiskey bottle in hand.
In that moment, she was a dream come to life.
The face of an angel. Her hair slightly messy just because she didn’t really care. Which turned me on. Her t-shirt and jeans working simultaneously to announce all the curves she didn’t like but I already knew I loved.
I walked toward her, my heart no longer dancing but rather hitting like a sledgehammer to a wall.
I stopped with just inches between us and I looked down at her.
“I don’t know what to say right now, Liam,” she said in almost a whispering voice. “I’m so sorry.”
I nodded. “I hate to say this, Em, but it was a long time coming. I knew the writing was on the wall. I thought I could be the guy who could clean up that writing and salvage what was left. I thought I could keep some kind of image.”
“And what image is that?”
“I’m not even sure anymore,” I said. “That’s the problem. Sometimes I look out the office window and wonder what the fuck I’m doing. I got to spend time with you and next thing I knew…”
“You were trying to skateboard and sucked at it,” Emily said. “Have a drink, Liam.”
She put the whiskey bottle to my chest.
My hand quickly wrapped around her hand.
I held her and the whiskey bottle.
We stared at each other for a few seconds.
With my other hand I twisted off the cap to the bottle and lifted it to my mouth.
Her hand still on the bottle.
I had no idea what the fuck we were doing.
It was weird but… it was Emily.
Em. My Em.
The whiskey burned and I knew what tasted sweet to balance it out.
I lowered the whiskey bottle from my lips and lowered my lips down toward hers.
“I’ve been waiting so long for this, Em,” I whispered. “How to do this the right way. I’m not sure there’s a right way. I’ve sat home for days thinking about you.”
“What do you mean days?” Emily asked.
“I was hiding out a little, Em. Trying to sort my thoughts.”
Emily pushed at my chest and slipped away. “So when did this happen?”
I looked over my shoulder. “What?”
“I was texting you and you weren’t answering me,” she said. “Then you said you were busy with work. You weren’t at work?”
“No.”
“So you lied to me?”
“This is kind of a big deal right now, Em.”
“I didn’t say it wasn’t. You sat there alone dealing with this? What actually happened then?”
“What does it matter? I’m