She looks me in the eyes, tears staining hers. “It doesn’t matter. It’s too late. I can’t change what already happened. He’s dead because of my choice.”
I wrap my arms around her and hug her tight.
“I wish Luca had never caught us up there in that tree house.”
My heart stops. “What?” I mutter.
“If I hadn’t kissed Liam, none of this would’ve happened.”
Kissed …
She kissed Liam?
My breath hitches in my throat.
“I miss him so much,” she says, and it stings. It stings so badly, but I keep it all cooped up inside like I always do. “Me too, sis. Me too.”
Present
* * *
His eyes widen and sharpen in an instant.
“I saved myself for you, did you know?” I blurt out.
It slips out just like that.
No taking it back now … because judging from the look on his face, he definitely heard.
“Yeah,” I jest. “Jasmine Baas, the virginal princess, saving her precious body for the only man who never even wanted her. What a joke.”
“Jas!” His yell makes me look up in surprise. “I didn’t want Jill. I never did. I wanted you.”
I feel like his words physically shook me to my core.
“You think what I feel for you is hate?” He curls his fingers underneath his wet shirt clinging to his body and pulls it over his head, chucking it away as if it’s a meaningless piece of fabric. Then he steps out of his shoes, kicking them aside.
What is he planning to do?
Every step he takes toward me makes it harder for me to look away from that gorgeous tattooed and muscled body of his. “No, Jas. What I feel for you is nothing short of pure fucking obsession.”
I gasp and shake my head. “But you kiss—”
He growls, “Because you asked me to give her a chance!”
I don’t feel grounded anymore.
My whole world feels like it’s caving in on me.
He steps even closer. Too close. “And if I knew how you felt about me … I would’ve said no to her and my parents in a heartbeat.”
But it’s my heartbeat that’s racing right now.
This can’t be real, right?
This Liam isn’t the old Liam, right?
This man only wants me for my body. He doesn’t want—