She smiled. "You look like a bazillion dollars, but you didn't even need my help."

"You helped. I feel less nervous now," I promised.

"Don't let him keep you out too late. I want to go to the beach in the morning."

"Deal!" I shouted as I ran down the stairs. "Don't wait up for me though!"

Emily and a few of the sophomore girls were sitting in the living room watching a movie. They paused it as they saw me running down.

"Where are you going?" Emily asked just as five pairs of eyes swooped toward me and 388/890

waited for an answer. I didn't want to lie to Emily, but I couldn't tell all of them the truth.

"Out with some high school friends that are in town. I'll be back in a bit," I answered without meeting Emily's eye.

The night air was cool, and I reveled in the crisp wind blowing strands of my long hair. It felt intoxicating, like even the weather knew how hard my heart was beating at the knowledge that I was about to be alone with Liam for the first time in five days. I spun around once to ensure that none of the girls were watching me from the windows.

When I didn’t see anyone, I picked up the pace and flew down the street before turning the corner.

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Liam’s black SUV came into sharp focus beneath a street lamp. His dark silhouette was barely visible inside.

In that moment, I felt truly criminal. I’d just lied to my friend, and now I was sneaking out late at night and checking behind me for witnesses.

I inhaled a shallow breath, pulled the door open, and hopped in quickly.

"This feels wrong. Should it feel wrong?"

I asked, tossing my jacket onto the ground and peering over at him.

"No, it's not wrong," he clarified simply in his controlled tone, but he could tell I wanted more. "It only feels wrong because we're having to sneak around. We aren't breaking any laws and it's not like we have spouses that we're lying to."

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"I'm lying to my friends, to my teammates," I brought up, wanting to push the subject. It felt good to have it out in the open. I wanted to know how he felt.

"I know. I am, too." Then he hesitated.

"But to be honest, I'm not lying to everyone.

Penn knows the truth. I mean it was pretty obvious when he saw you leaving my room at the party."

I’d already assumed Penn knew about us. He and Liam were close.

"Becca knows too obviously, but she can be trusted. She's my best friend on the team."

"What about Emily?" he asked.

I couldn't meet his eye. That was the one person I felt shitty about lying to. "No."

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He reached over to clasp my hand. "We can end this. If this is too much, we can end it."

There it was. The sentence I'd feared the entire week.

"Do you want to end it? I mean, it's not like there's even anything to end."

"No," he answered quickly. “I want to keep seeing you. I have to keep seeing you, but I don’t want you to feel like you don’t get a choice in all of this.”

I took a deep breath, inhaling his words and letting them wash out the last few days of doubt.

"You just like pretending to be a spy.

You like sneaking around and waiting on dark streets for me." I turned toward him and gave him a playful wink.

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"I'm not after you because it's a challenge, but I'd be lying if I said the sneaking around wasn't a little fun. That morning in my office will be burned in my memory as one of the hottest moments of my life."

I wanted to squeal at his confession, but instead I bit my lip and nodded to keep my excitement from brimming over.

“What do you want, Kinsley? Do you want to end this?” he asked.

What did I want?

“I want to have it all,” I answered vaguely, staring out through his passenger side window for a moment.

I broke up the silence that followed by changing the support to something lighter.

"Hey, I'm supposed to casually and not desperately bring up the Penn and Becca issue.

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Is he a player? Because seriously, there's no one cooler than Becca. She's funny and smart. And she's been a really good friend since I started the team."

Liam chuckled, "You have nothing to worry about. Penn's interested, but he's a re-served guy. He just got out of a serious relationship and I don't think he was expecting to meet someone like Becca so soon."

Ah, that explained a few things.

"Well, tell him to hurry up because Becca won't wait forever."

He smirked and leaned closer. "Are those her words or yours?"

"Mine. She'd kill me if she knew I was telling you all of this. I was supposed to be really subtle about it."

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Liam reached over and ran his hand behind the back of my neck. "I'll mention it to Penn and see what he thinks."

I nodded as his fingers started to dip beneath the hem of my dress and drag along the top of my spine.

"What about you, Kinsley?" he asked, tilting his head toward me a few inches. "Are you going to wait for me?"

He made himself seem vulnerable asking a question like that. It was so un-Liam like; he exuded confidence and control, even the way that he held my neck felt like a dominant touch. But, he was hanging on a ledge waiting for me to answer that question and I let myself relish the moment.

"Do you think you're worth waiting for?"

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What a loaded question. Liam and I were playing house. We were living in lala land where no one else existed but us.

"I think you're worth it, and that's all that matters. Hang in there with me through this craziness and then we'll be together openly. I promise."

I nodded. "Okay."

"Okay?" he asked, dipping his head toward me. His scent took over my senses. I leaned forward over the console and we met somewhere in the middle, pressing into each other until he finally looped his arms around my waist and dragged me on top of him.

"Is that your gear shift or are you just excited to see me?" It was a corny joke, but I couldn't resist.

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Liam squeezed his eyes shut and laughed despite the cheesiness factor. "I am definitely excited to see you. Especially in this dress," he answered as both of our gazes fell to his hands on my thighs. I was strad-dling his lap, my knee was jamming into his seatbelt buckle and my other leg was sandwiched between the door, but I couldn't feel the discomfort of the space when his hands were on my legs, slowly drifting upwards.

"It's like they didn't know people would be using the front seat for hardcore make out sessions. They could have at least added a little more leg room," I smiled.

The edge of Liam's mouth tilted up in a confident smirk. "Weird. When I was purchasing a car I didn't take into account the amount of make out space afforded by the 397/890

front seat. I should have asked the salesman to climb on my lap during the test drive."

He was being playful, yet the whole time his hands were moving seductively over my skin.

"I like your dress," he complimented as his hands drifted upward. A shiver ran through me and Liam noticed.

"I've had it forever. It's probably too short now, but oh well."

"I like the length," he noted as his fingers found the edge of my underwear. It felt strange to be having a conversation as my breathing quickened and Liam's eyes dilated and shifted toward a dark smoldering grey.

My cell phone rang from the passenger seat, but we both ignored it. He tilted his head toward me and gently skimmed his lips 398/890