Page 84 of Boss Abroad
Ha. If this is the last thing I see before I die, my neck kink is worse than I thought.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he growls. Oh, no. I’ve gone mad. My made up Liam is talking to me. I can’t resist the cliche urge and step on one of my toes until it hurts.
Yeah, I’m not seeing things. I’m just plain stupid. Good thing I’m sitting down, or I might have fallen like a ton of bricks.
“What are you even talking about? I’ve been trapped in this room for hours.” My words echo louder than intended, so does the clapping sound of my palms as they meet my hips as my arms flap beside me. “And what are you doing here?”
Liam glances at his watch and corrects me. “You’ve been here for less than fifteen minutes.” By the new placement of the eyebrows on his face, he finds my distorted time perception amusing.
The gorgeous bastard. Life would be so much easier if smugness didn’t look so good on him.
I stare at my useless phone before arguing. Feels impossible, but he’s right. Wait. How could he know that? I can feel my eyes trying to bulge out of their sockets as realization strikes me.
“You trapped me here?” I rise to my feet so fast, the chair flies away behind me. I make my way around the table to stand as tall as I can in front of him.
“Did you really think I’d let you go? Just like that?” Oh, finally a bad look on Liam. I like confidence. But this is condescending, and I fucking hate it. I hate so much, it borderline makes him unattractive.
How dare he? My nostrils flare as I try to inhale and convince myself there must be a better alternative to killing the man in front of me. I feel myself deflating as I try to reason with the most unreasonable person I’ve ever met. “Liam, it’s not up to you. I quit. I’m going back to the States. Please let me out of this room. Maybe I can still catch my flight.” I face him, not an ounce of doubt in my face or voice. “If not, I’ll board the next one. You can’t stop me from going.”
“I said no.” He pushes his body from the door and strides toward me with that dangerous lopsided smile of his, extinguishing the distance between us with two steps. I wasn’t thrilled about going home, but his manic behavior is definitely making things easier. I’ve clearly escaped a mad man.
I must be a bit mad myself, since I’m not running to the other side of the room.
“No, Liam. You said ‘go’. I heard it loud and clear.”
“Then let’s see how good of a listener you really are. What did I say yesterday?”
“No. You don’t get to play games now.” I push him and he doesn’t budge. “Let me go. Open that door.”
“April. I’m a powerful man. I managed to blacklist your name at immigration in a matter of minutes. But I don’t know if I can get away with spanking you on CCTV and get it erased before someone leaks it.”
Why did my breathing quicken at his words? Fuck, I need therapy. His eyes lower to my pink cheeks and his dirty half smile tells me I’ve been caught.
“Fine, I’ll remind you. I told you that I’ll grant you your wishes. If you want to go home, I won’t stop you.”
“Hummm…” I make a scene of opening my arms, palms facing outwards, showing him where we’re standing, in case he hasn't noticed. “That’s exactly what you’re doing.”
“No, Doc. I just had to slow you down a little.”
“What? Why? Please start making some sense.”
“So I could come with you. If you’ll have me.”
I step on my toe again. Harder. Yeap, still real. Closing my eyes, I list the symptoms of an aneurysm to myself. No, that’s not it either.
Liam’s fingers tip my chin up, his lips descending on mine before I can formulate another hypothesis or open my eyes to prepare for his onslaught.
“Will you let me?” he asks between invasive laps of his tongue. I don’t decide to kiss him back, but muscle memory makes my lips move without my consent. “Can I please come with you?”
He breaks the kiss, but not the distance. His eyes bore into mine, his hand threading through my hair, holding my head and stare.
His voice cracks, revealing more than his determination, but a bit of his despair, too.
“We can’t be over just yet, April. Tell me what you want. Anything you need. Ask me anything and it’s yours. But please, April.” His pause pierces my heart before his next words do. “Please don’t ask me to give you up. That might be the one thing I can’t give you.”
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
liam