“I don’t often,” he said. “Only when I need to think.”
I nodded and looked out into the night sky, but I suddenly felt him pulling me against him.
“Aren’t you going to ask what I’m thinking about?” He smirked. “Surely you have questions.”
“I do, Liam.”
“We can talk about it.”
“Now?”
“If that’s what you want…” He put out his cigar and walked me over to a chair, pulling me into his lap. “How long have you known about that?”
“A couple weeks…”
“Hmmm.”
I shook my head. “Do Bach and Greenwood know who you really are?”
“They do.”
“So, why do you have to hide it from everyone else?”
“Esteemed lawyer or not, no one wants to take on someone who has a history in the papers…It makes a high profile firm look bad.” He kissed the back of my shoulder.
“What was Emma like?”
He sighed, looking at me. “She was perfect…”
I thought of a way to change the subject, but he continued talking.
“She hated when I went to work, and she would beg me to come sometimes, so I’d let her…” His voice was low. “And then I wouldn’t get any work done because the park was right across the street and she always wanted to play…Always.”
>“Hello, Aubrey.” He glared at me.
“Breaking and entering is a crime.” I crossed my arms. “Shouldn’t you know that?”
He said nothing, just continued glaring at me—looking me up and down.
“Don’t you have a flight to catch?” My voice cracked. “Shouldn’t you be spending your last hour in New York on the way to the airport?”
“I realized I still have something to say to you.”
“Do you have another fake name you want to tell me about? Another secret identity that you want to—”
“Stop.” He stepped closer and closer until I backed into a wall, and he looked directly into my eyes. “I need you to listen to me, Aubrey. Just f**king listen…”
I tried to move away from him, but he grabbed my hands and pinned them above my head. Then he used his hips to keep me still.
“You’re going to stand here and listen to me for the next five minutes whether you like it or not.” The words came out rushed, heated. “Since you suddenly care about knowing the truth, I’ll tell you the f**king truth…”
I tried to say something, but he leaned down and bit my lips. Hard.
“I liked you when you were Alyssa and I was Thoreau—when we spent nights talking about your ridiculous homework and my law firm… I even liked you after you f**king lied to me and I saw you at your interview—I liked you…” He tightened his grip around my wrists. “And even though I knew I shouldn’t have chased you down and showed up to your apartment that day, I did, and I f**ked you…After that, I really liked you.”
“Are you being serious right now?”
“Dead ass serious.” He glared at me and bit my lips again, silently commanding me to keep quiet. “I didn’t want to like you, Aubrey. I wasn’t supposed to, and I didn’t need to, but every day after that you were all I could think about. You and your smartass mouth, and how your lies maybe weren’t so bad after all.”