He took a deep breath. “Our lives are completely different, Lex.” He
raised his hand in a loose fist, running the backs of his fingers along my jaw. My breath caught in my
chest as his thumb stroked over my skin in slow, gentle circles. “So different.” He stared
into my eyes, and I leaned forward, mirroring his posture. I placed my hand on his jaw. His chin was
rough with stubble and tight with worry.
“Help me understand.” My voice was needy, begging, but
that’s only because I was desperate to figure him out, to unlock the secrets he kept close. I
wanted to know how he could be the sweet, patient boy who taught me to drive and then beat the
living hell out of his friend a few days later. It didn’t add up for
me.
He reached up to grab my fingers that were still touching his cheek, and he
adjusted them so that he was holding my hand. “I didn’t grow up the way you did. The
only thing I could ever depend on were my fists. That’s how I protect myself and those I care
about. Yeah, Adam’s my boy, but he crossed a line. Said something he shouldn’t. And in
my world, when that happens, you teach a lesson. That lesson usually means
blood.”
I cringed at his bluntness and then felt guilty about it. He’d said our lives
were different, but that didn’t mean mine was better than his. I had no right to look down at
him. Too many people already did that. In my world, there were lessons and punishments too. They
were more calculated and less physical, but they were no less vicious. Like Melissa’s threat to get
her father to have Liam fired from the country club. When I thought about it, I wasn’t sure which
lesson was more cruel—fists or social war.
“What did Adam do to make you so mad? Was it because you wanted to
hang out with me instead of going to the levees?” God, I hope not.
That’d be the overreaction of the century.
Liam shook his head and traced patterns on my jaw with his thumb.
“It’s not important, angel. Just know that when you’re with me, you’re
safe. No one hurts you. No one touches you.” He leaned forward, letting his lips hover next to
mine. “If anyone tries to hurt you, I’ll make them pay. I mean
it.”
A chill skittered down my spine. The passion in his words was so strong that the
air around us was charged with unspoken promises. Why would Liam feel such a fierce need to protect
me? It frightened me that I enjoyed it so much. I swallowed. “Why did you call me
angel?”
He tilted his chin up and pressed his lips to my forehead and then trailed kisses
down my face, stopping to press his mouth to the corner of mine. He leaned back to let his eyes scan the
length of me, head to toe, as he grinned. “It’s hard not to think of you as an angel when
you’re dressed all in white and looking so goddamn perfect. You’re so…
good.” He shook his head with a sad smile. “I have no right to want you as much as I
do.”
His eyes darted to my lips, and then his mouth was on mine again, stealing the
words I wanted to say—I’m not perfect… I’m not good… I want
you too. He sucked on my lower lip, pulling it into his mouth with such gentleness I thought I
might melt into a puddle on his floorboards. How could so much rage be wrapped up in this much
tenderness?
My hands snaked around the back of Liam’s neck, and I moved to bring his
mouth back to mine, grazing the tip of my tongue against his. I could faintly taste the smoke of his
cigarette, but I could also taste the sugar of the funnel cake we’d shared. He was a heady mix of
danger and sweetness that was so uniquely Liam it made me crave more. I slid my tongue against his
again, and Liam’s groan was the only warning I got before his mouth was devouring mine,
demanding kisses from me that I was only too happy to return.
“You even taste good,” Liam murmured against my lips before
dropping his face to the curve of my neck where he nibbled along my skin, leaving goose bumps in his
wake. “I want to taste every single inch of you. I think I’m
addicted.”
His lips pressed against my pulse point, and I was sure he could feel the frantic
beating of my heart. My entire body felt like it was vibrating for him. I couldn’t decide what I
wanted more—for him to keep whispering his precious thoughts against my neck, or for him to
go back to worshipping my lips.
As if he knew my inner turmoil, Liam trailed a slow pathway of kisses up my neck
toward my greedy mouth.
“You look like an angel,” he said, whispering a kiss under my ear. His
quiet words trickled down my neck in a delicious shiver. “You act like an angel, too good to be
true.” He left a kiss on the side of my jaw before turning my face to his, his lips hovering over
mine with so much heat I thought he might burn me when he finally kissed me. “You’re
my angel, Lex. And I think you just might save me.”
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