He laughed; a beautiful smile stretched across his face as he pulled out his cellphone and called Jake to tell him I wasn’t feeling well and that he was taking me home. “Yeah, she’s fine. No she said she feels a little dizzy, that’s all. No, no, I got it. OK great. See ya,” he said into the phone, grinning and shooting me a wink. He slid his phone back in his pocket and grabbed my hand, pulling me from the classroom out to his car. “Jake’s going to get a lift to work. So, as long as I get you home by nine, he won’t even know we skipped,” he said happily.
I rolled my eyes at him. “Like Jake really believed that I was sick! He knows we’re skipping.” I shook my head, laughing. Jake wasn’t stupid, he just didn’t want to say anything.
“Well then, Angel, what shall we do?” Liam asked, pulling out of the parking lot quickly before anyone noticed us leaving.
I shrugged easily. “I don’t mind. Whatever you want.” As long as it involved spending more time with him, I would do anything.
He grinned. “Want me to take you skating again?” he offered.
“Sure, why not. I need to change first though; I’ll get frost bite on my butt otherwise.” I laughed as his eyes immediately shot down to my legs again. I text Kate to tell her I was skipping and asked her to collect any work that I missed.
When we pulled outside my house, Liam went to his house to get something he said he needed, and I ran in and slipped on some jeans. I ran a brush through my hair and added a quick sweep of mascara. As I left my room, I grabbed a sweater so I didn’t get cold.
I ran back to the car, excited for some alone time with him. He smiled as I climbed in. “Hey, brought you this,” he said, handing me one of his hoodies.
I frowned at it, knowing I had one of my own. Why would he bring me this? “Er…. thanks?”
“It’s for your peachy little ass. I told you I’d bring one so you didn’t get wet and cold like last time. Although, I have every confidence that you’ll be skating on your own by the end of the lesson,” he boasted, grinning.
“Well, I’m not sure I want to skate if you’re not touching me,” I purred suggestively.
He smiled. “Hmm, I never thought of that. Hopefully you won’t catch on too quickly then.” He waggled his eyebrows at me, making me laugh.
Skating was fun. He was right, I was a lot better this time. It was probably due to the fact that he was such a good teacher, and because we spent almost all day here last time. He was so much fun to be around. He skated backwards just like he did before, holding both my hands, making jokes, and chatting. I only fell a few times and each time he would break my fall or catch me and pull me up. I looked at him as we skated, he was smiling broadly and my heart skipped a beat. He was so handsome, kind and patient. I could feel myself falling for him. I knew it wouldn’t be long before I was head over heels for him.
“Hey, how about you show off a little? I love to watch you skate,” I suggested, gripping onto the side for dear life so he could let go of me.
He kissed me before skating off backwards, he turned sharply and skated forwards so fast that it actually scared me. My heart was hammering in my chest at the sight of it. If he fell while skating like that, he would be seriously hurt. The thought of him being hurt terrified me. He did a few laps, showing me his skills like jumping and skating on one foot. I’d always loved to watch him skate. It looked so beautiful and graceful, but I never really lusted after him for it, until now. He looked so sexy when he was skating, so powerful and masterful.
Liam wanted to play hockey professionally, he had already been scouted for a really good team but needed to be in college before they could sign him. He’d been offered a full athletic scholarship to a really great school in Boston, which would mean that he would have to move away when school finished in a few months. The time apart was going to kill me. I was going to have nightmares every night when he wasn’t there, not to mention the heartache I’d feel watching him leave. I hated the fact that he’d be so far away and that girls would be falling all over him. I sighed, refusing to think about it. I needed to trust him. And I did, I trusted him completely, I believed that he loved me and that he didn’t want to hurt me.
When he came back to me, he skidded to a stop, sending an ice spray off over the side. “Is that showing off enough for you?” he asked, wrapping his arms around my waist and kissing me tenderly.
“Oh yeah. My man can skate alright,” I confirmed, grinning at him.
“Mmm, say that again. I like that,” he growled, in a husky sexy voice that made my insides tremble.
I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck and pulled him in close. “My man can skate,” I purred seductively, looking into his eyes. I could feel the burning passion sizzling between us. He bent his knees so we were on the same level, held me tight and then stood back up, lifting me off my feet. He started to skate gently around the rink. I wrapped my legs around his waist while he skated around, occasionally doing small spins and changing to skate backwards. His eyes never left mine. It was the most erotic and sexy thing that had ever happened to me, and my whole body was yearning for him.
“I love you so much, Angel,” he whispered.
I smiled. My insides were bubbling with happiness and passion. He was driving me crazy; I wanted him and needed him. As I looked into his beautiful blue eyes, I could see all of his love for me shining through and it made my heart beat way too fast. Suddenly, it hit me like a truck, I loved him too. Maybe I’d always loved him, I wasn’t sure. He had kind of crept behind my defences and wormed his way into my heart, but I had always refused to look at him that way. He made me feel safe, wanted, needed and special; I didn’t ever want to let him go. I loved him like crazy, more than anything, he was the one thing I needed out of life.
I opened my mouth to tell him I loved him too, but he spoke first cutting me off. “Let’s go for dinner,” he suggested, skating off the ice rink and sitting me down on the bench. He got down on his knees and took my skates off for me. I just watched him as he did it, unable to keep the smile off of my face. Was this boy really mine? How did I get so lucky?
After we got our shoes back on, we drove to a little Italian restaurant that he said made the second best lasagne in the world. “Second best?” I asked, laughing.
“Yeah. Your lasagne kicks ass,” he stated, holding my hand tightly as we followed the waiter to the table.
“You do know that you’ve got me now, you can stop with the compliments,” I teased, laughing. He grinned and shook his head, rolling his eyes like I was being stupid.
The food was good and the restaurant was really cute, it had candles on each table and was really quite romantic, he was so much fun to be around there wasn’t one awkward silence. I couldn’t help but wonder how I didn’t know anything about him before we got together. I guess it was because the only personality he ever showed me was the as**ole side, which actually, didn’t seem to be a part of his character at all.
“Liam, can I ask you something?” I asked, too curious not to ask.
“Sure. Whatever you want.” He shrugged, taking a mouthful of his drink, watching me curiously.
“Why were you always such a jerk to me? If you’ve liked me all this time, why were you always pushing me over when we were kids and being such an ass to me? You do know that I used to hate you, right?” I asked, raising my eyebrows, looking at him apologetically.
He laughed. “You know, there’s a thin line between love and hate. Maybe you loved me and didn’t realise,” he suggested, grinning. I smiled because that was exactly what I was thinking earlier.
“No, Liam. You were a complete ass to me. But most of it was an act, right? So why did you do it?” I asked, needing the answer, it was killing me because I just didn’t understand.
“Jake.” He shrugged.
“Jake? I don’t get it.” I gave him my best ‘what the hell’ face.
He smiled sadly. “Jake really didn’t want me near you. He beat the crap out of me a couple of times when we were kids for it. He’s really protective of you. It was just easier to keep myself away from you if you didn’t actually want to be with me. I thought that if I made you want to stay away from me, then I wouldn’t have to try as hard,” he said, frowning.
Wait, he pretended to be an as**ole so I wouldn’t want to be with him because of Jake? Damn that boy!
“All those years, Liam, it just seems like a waste.” I sighed and shook my head; if he’d have told me then maybe we could have been together for longer. “You know, I always thought you had a split personality,” I told him, laughing.
He laughed too. “You did? Why?”
“Well, I always thought of you as daytime Liam, who was an asshole, jerk and a man-whore, flirt. Then there was night-time Liam, who was adorable and sweet and caring. I’ve always liked night-time Liam,” I said honestly.
He smiled happily. “Well, the night was when I would stop trying to push you away. I decided that since Jake didn’t know about it, that I could be myself and enjoy my time with you. Just so you know though, both of my personalities have loved you forever,” he said, shrugging and grinning at me.
Aww, he’s so freaking sweet! I reached out and held his hand tightly. “I wish you’d told me sooner, I really did hate you at times,” I admitted sheepishly, making him laugh.
“Yeah? Like the time I cut your stuffed bear’s head off and threw him in the trash?” he asked, laughing. I gasped at the memory of it, I’d forgotten about that! Jake had got my bear out of the trash and put him back on my bed for me and fixed his head.
“Yeah, you jerk!” I scolded, fighting a smile.
“You know I never really did that, right? I pretended to cut his head off and I hid it up my sweater and put him back on your bed a couple of hours later,” he said, still chuckling.
“No way! Jake told me he got him back for me!” I laughed.
He shook his head. “No. That was one of the times he kicked my ass. He caught me sneaking into your room that day. I’d told him I was going to the bathroom,” he said, laughing and shaking his head.
“I can’t believe my brother kicked your ass. That’s just too funny.”
“I’m just glad he didn’t kill me for dating you. I can hold my own in a fight, but Jake’s a damn psycho when it comes to you.” Liam frowned, shaking his head slightly, a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.
“Yeah, well, you better make sure you don’t hurt me then, huh?” I teased.
He nodded. “I would never hurt you, ever.” He squeezed my hand gently, looking right into my eyes, his whole demeanor showing me the truth of his words.