Escaping Reality

to
    ask for a refund after I pay it, you can donate the money to charity, but I
    won’t take it back. A gift is a gift and I expect nothing in return. Not even a
    promise of tomorrow.” He leans in and kisses me, and I mean to pull back
    but his tongue presses past my teeth for one irresistible, deep, silky caress,
    before he adds, “And tomorrow won’t be enough.”
    “Liam—”
    He gives me another quick kiss and I lose my thought. “Stop kissing
    me,” I reprimand, sounding completely unconvincing. “You’re trying to
    distract me.”
    “Is it working?”
    “Yes. That’s the problem.”
    “Then why would I stop?” he queries, looking exceedingly pleased
    with himself. He leans in for yet another kiss.
    I press my fingers to his lips. “No. Not again. I remember what I was
    saying. Please stop throwing money at me.”
    He covers my fingers with his hand. “I want to do this for you, Amy.”
    His voice softens, turning gravelly. “Please let me.”
    Please let him? My heart squeezes with the sincerity I sense in him
    and I reach up and stroke his cheek, then trace the line of his goatee. He is
    amazing and generous and so much more than I bargained for in every
    possible way. “You’re new territory to me, Liam. I have never met anyone
    like you. You’re overbearingly generous and overwhelmingly male, or
    maybe it’s the reverse. Sometimes I don’t know how to respond.”
    He pulls me down on the bed and under him. “I’d say I’d show you,
    but I think we better wait until later considering you blacked out on me a
    few minutes ago.”
    “I told you. I know what is wrong. It’s over. I’m fine. Show me.”
    “Your sure?”
    Finally, a question I can answer without hesitation. “Yes. Please.”
    Please take me away and block a piece of my past that is clawing its way
    through me.

    ***
    It’s nearly one in the afternoon, and Liam and I are walking through
    the hotel lobby, our fingers laced together. I am such a nervous wreck I do
    not even care that wearing the same dress as the night before screams
    “sleepover” to the hotel staff. I cannot walk away from memories that hold
    answers, but at the same time my mind rejects even thinking about what
    that means right now. Not when Liam and I are heading to my apartment
    so I can change clothes before we go to the cellular store and pick up my ID,
    which is just another chance for Liam to find out it’s a Colorado license.
    Before I deal with that potential bombshell, I have to explain why my things
    I left in New York City haven’t been delivered. I hate lying, but I hate the
    idea of Liam being put in danger far more. I just want it over with, but a
    voice in my head quickly whispers, Lies breed lies . But questions breed
    questions, and when I made the decision to stay with Liam, I made the
    decision, like it or not, to own being Amy Bensen with him.
    Liam and I step beyond the awning of the hotel exit and into the
    beaming sunlight. I cast his profile an inspection, and my breath hitches at
    how exquisitely male he is, his thick, dark hair a finger-combed sexy mess.
    He’s dressed in a snug black polo pullover, black jeans, and some kind of
    deck shoes. Half an hour ago, he was exquisite in nothing but droplets of
    water and the soap that I had the pleasure of lathering him with. I have
    never showered with a man. I have never felt like this about anyone. I don’t
    know what “this” is, except that it’s intense in all the right ways and I don’t
    want my past to destroy it before it ever takes form, as it has every other
    relationship I’ve had in my life.
    We pause at the curb to allow cars to pass before we cross the street
    to my apartment and I steal a glimpse of Liam to discover him doing the
    same to me. He smiles a devastatingly sexy smile at me, and pulls me under
    his arm, melding our hips together. My arm slides around his waist and he
    leans down and gives me a quick peck on the lips. A sweet, hot spot forms
    in my chest. It is this moment that speaks to me in a way all the hot sex
    we’ve had last night and this morning cannot. He doesn’t do relationships. I
    don’t do relationships, and yet that is exactly what it feels like we are doing.
    We cross the street without breaking apart, and I have this sense of
    being sheltered from the storm brewing all around me. At the apartment
    elevator, Liam doesn’t seem keen on letting me go, and we huddle in the
    car, still holding onto each other. I think of the