“Yeah, I’ll text him to let him know when the funeral is.”
She glances at me, “Funerals.”
I nod, “Right.”
Six
LIAM
Two days later…
I stand in front of the burial plots with Elle on my right and Xander on my left. Both of our parents are now dead and buried. There will be no party to celebrate their lives. It goes against what they would have wanted—no celebration of life, only grief.
“Here come the I’m sorrys.” Elle says as people line up to see us.
Xander whispers, “Mercy is here.”
I glance at the line of people waiting to give their condolences, and sure enough, she’s among them, staring at me.
As usual, my chest pounds, and it’s hard to get a breath.Does she actually get more beautiful every time I see her or is it my imagination?
When she stands in front of me, I’m unsure how to react. She pulls me into an embrace and kisses my cheek, “I’m sorry, Liam.” She moves to Elle, and fuck, her scent lingers, threatening to break me in two. She returns to her seat, and I try to focus on the other people trying to talk to me but have trouble taking my eyes off her. After the last person expresses how sorry they are, I take a deep breath.
“Go talk to her,” Elle says.
“I’m not leaving you here. It’ll have to wait.”
“Damn it, Liam. She didn’t come here because she doesn’t love you. Go talk to her. Xander and Isabella can give Max and me a ride.”
After everyone clears out, I approach her and take a seat beside her.
“Thank you for coming, Mercy. You didn’t have to.”
She looks up into my eyes, and I quickly avert my gaze. I can’t look at her without talking myself into believing I see something that’s not there. I need to not get my hopes up. I need to chill the fuck out. My heart is racing uncontrollably.
“I know today isn’t the day, Liam, but when you’re up to it we need to talk.”
She turns to me and wraps her arms around my neck, pulling my chest to hers, “I miss you too, Liam,” she whispers in my ear.
I move my hand into her hair and bury my face in her neck, inhaling her addictive scent.
“I don’t want to push you, Mercy. I will never do anything you don’t want. But I would really like you to have dinner with me tonight.”
She pulls her head back and looks up into my eyes while she runs a finger down my chest, “I’ll have dinner with you, Liam.”
I pull back from her as much as I don’t want to.
“Come, I’ll walk you to your car.”
I take her hand, help her stand, and walk her to the parking lot. When we get to her car, she unlocks the door, turns to me, and…fuck me, she’s so beautiful. Her long wavy, dark hair hangs down to her ass. She stares at me with those hazel fuck-me eyes, her bottom lip between her teeth. I want nothing more than to push her against the car and wrap my hand around her throat while I kiss her. But I won’t. I will never make the first move. Instead, I stand staring at her pouty lips, as if I can somehow will them to mine.
I force my eyes to hers, away from her luscious lips, “Six o’clock work for you?”
She smiles softly, “Yes, where?”
“My house if that’s okay. Shit. We can go somewhere else.”
It just clicked in my brain that’s where she was kidnapped.