Takedown Teague (Caged #1)(63)

“Not up for debate,” I told her. I crossed my arms over my chest to show her I could be just as damn stubborn as she was. “I swear, I’ll be something that vaguely resembles a gentleman up until he starts acting like a douchebag.”

I hoped and prayed that he would act up because even the smallest excuse would allow me to beat the ever-loving shit out of him. That thought put a genuine smile on my face.

“I can already see you plotting inside that head of yours,” she told me. “Absolutely not.”

“Why not? Give me one decent reason that isn’t outweighed by the dozen I can come up with that will tell you not to go by yourself.”

“Liam!” Tria threw her hands up in the air and turned around to walk back into the living room. She stopped at the juncture between the two rooms and leaned against the wall there with her arms still crossed. “What am I supposed to say? My roommate followed me across the country to pay his respects to someone he never met?”

I hadn’t really considered what they might think of the whole thing because I didn’t give a flying f*ck. Tria, of course, was concerned. Her concern was going to be enough to convince her I shouldn’t go. If she wouldn’t let me go with her, and she ended up back there alone, I wouldn’t be able to get a hold of her. She might be brainwashed into staying with them, marrying Douchebag, and having his demon spawn.

Fuck no.

“So, tell them something else,” I heard myself say.

“Like what?” She snorted. “That you just stopped by to pick up some fresh lobster?”

While I was ignoring the obvious sarcasm, my mouth took off without consulting me first.

“Tell them I’m your boyfriend.”

Holy shit.

From top to bottom, my body stilled completely.

“Don’t be ri—”

I tilted my head to one side and glared at her, halting the rest of that hated phrase. Tria bit down on her lower lip like she was trying to hold in whatever she wanted to say next by sheer force of her teeth. When she did speak again, I could barely hear her.

“I can’t just…just…”

“Just what?” I asked. I managed to remember my feet were mobile, and I took a step toward her. As I moved forward, Tria took a step backward until she was pressed firmly against the wall.

“I can’t just lie to them!” She looked distressed at the very idea. “Besides being a shitty liar, I can’t act to save my life. I can’t pretend we’re in a relationship when we’re not!”

I moved forward again, and she tried to move back but had nowhere to go. Her heels were pressed against the baseboards, and her fingers touched the pale drywall behind her. In the back of my mind, I realized even when I made the suggestion that she wouldn’t be able to do it. I knew she couldn’t lie. You couldn’t live with someone for a month and not figure that out.

“So don’t lie.”

My skin tingled as if I were on the edge of a storm front. Hell, maybe I was. I could have been standing at the top of a fjord or the edge of the Grand Canyon. I could have been stepping from Apollo 11 onto the surface of the moon.

She didn’t move but stared at me with her eyes widening as I moved closer. Slowly, I placed my hands against the wall on either side of her head. My body angled over the top of hers, and I bent my elbows to bring myself closer to her face.

“What do you mean?” she asked in a choked whisper.

“Don’t lie,” I repeated.

I leaned in closer to her. My gaze drifted from her eyes to her mouth and then back again. I waited for her lips to part to tell me to stop, but all she did was moisten them quickly with her tongue. I brought my head close to hers—almost touching—and paused again. She lowered her eyes to my mouth, her lips parted slightly, and I could see her chest moving faster with her rapid breathing. I didn’t need any further prompting.

I pressed my lips to hers, and everything else in the world ceased to exist.

There was no kitchen or living room in a crappy little apartment on the shit side of town. There were no roommates for the sake of financial security or convenience. I wasn’t a fighter ignoring life around him, and she wasn’t a college student trying to make the world a better place. There was no sordid background, no f*cked up customs, no douchebag ex-boyfriends.

There was me, and there was her, and there was us.

Her mouth was warm, soft, and far more enticing than my fantasies had ever been. I felt her hand against my chest and feared she would push me away, but she didn’t. Her hand moved up slowly over the fabric of my T-shirt and rested against my shoulder as I tilted my head and kissed her again.

Gently.

Slowly.

Even with the unhurried pace, I broke away breathless with my head spinning. My eyes met hers, and I was sure she felt what I was feeling. Without any more pause, I brought our lips together again eagerly and opened my mouth to find her tongue with mine. I moved my hand from the wall to the side of her face, and I tilted her head to kiss her more deeply. She moaned into my mouth, and her taste was nothing short of divine. Finally I slowed, savoring the flavor of her mouth before stopping a moment. I didn’t open my eyes but leaned my body into her.

“Don’t lie,” I whispered against her lips.

“I won’t,” she responded, and her hand moved up higher to pull tightly against the back of my head as she brought us together again.