Connor joined her with a quiet chuckle before shimmying up to capture her lips with his, burying his fingers deep in the hair at her temples. Breaking the kiss, he pulled away slightly and drew in another breath. “I should tell you something.”
She felt the hammer of his heart against her breasts, and the smile faded from her face. She gulped discreetly. “I’m listening.”
“I said I owed you an explanation,” he began.
“I know.”
“I’m going to tell you now.”
Liza raised her eyebrows with anticipation. “Okay. I’m all ears.”
He dropped his face onto her chest and heaved a sigh. He was clearly nervous as hell, and that made Liza nervous. But what on earth could possibly have been worse than everything they’d already been through with each other?
She combed his hair back, sweeping her palm to cup his cheek and lift his chin again. “Whatever it is, it can’t be nearly as bad as a lot of things I’ve heard before. Besides…” She tickled his ribs. “You’re naked, and I’m not the kind of girl who would throw a person out on their bare bottom.”
Connor gave a nervous laugh and then swallowed. “When I called you the last time…”
Her stomach soured at his blatant reference tothat awful moment. “Yeah?”
He swallowed again; his features pinched with trepidation. “I said I had cheated on you. I told you I was seeing someone else.”
Liza bristled and directed all her energy to blocking out everything that followed the phone call. “Yeah. I know.”
He pulled his lips between his teeth. “That wasn’t the truth.”
She furrowed her brow. “What do you mean?”
“I mean…” Connor exhaled loudly in what sounded like defeat. “There never was another person. There was never another girl. I never cheated on you.”
* * *
Connor wasn’tsure exactly what Liza’s reaction would be, but he had an idea it wasn’t going to be good. He wasn’t wrong, but he also didn’t anticipate this.
Liza was simply quiet. After her features had relaxed from confusion and concern into a neutral expression, she turned her head, bringing her hand to her lips, and her gaze darted from place to place around the room.
Her reaction would determine exactly how much more he would tell her, because if this lesser confession went poorly, there would be no point in the rest of it. Partially because he didn’t want to hurt her any more than he already did, and partially because, well…why torture himself like that, too?
“Liza,” he ventured.
Hand still on her mouth—she appeared to be chewing the inside of her top lip, which was a nervous habit of hers—she turned her gaze to him, reddened eye rims and glistening eyes on full display. “It doesn’t matter now, Connor.”
Yeah right.
“Your face is telling me otherwise.”
She closed her eyes and rubbed them with her fingertips, revealing them again a moment later looking a little less emotional. “It really doesn’t. All of that hurt enough at the time that nothing else will even come close. Not even the fact that you lied to get away from me.”
“I am really sorry I lied, but I did have really good—”
“Right, you haddamn good reasons. I didn’t miss that earlier.” Liza gave a small shrug and then settled deeper into the couch. “It doesn’t matter now.”
“Listen, Liza.” He pushed himself up to sit next to her, grabbing his jeans to cover himself as if she weren’t intimately acquainted with every last part of him. “Serious shit happened, and I—”
“I know things happened.” She reached for her dress, sat up, and held the thin cotton in front of her breasts. “You went through a hard time, and you didn’t want me with you to help you deal with it.” She stood, shaking out the dress and turning it right side out, before slipping it over her head. “Like I said, youthoughtyou loved me. When you got back to reality, you realized that wasn’t the case. When the rubber met the road and bad things happened, you didn’t want me to stand by your side and support you. You wanted me to go away. So, you made up a lie that would make me go away. That’s not love.” She sat on the arm of the couch. “But like I said, it doesn’t matter anymore.”
“That’s not accurate.” But communicatingwhyit wasn’t accurate now seemed like an impossible feat because she was a brick wall and, again, why torture himself?
Liza flipped her palms. “It’s accurate enough, isn’t it? Unless all of that isn’t true either?” She folded her hands in her lap. “Ophelia told me you went through something terrible. Yes? She told me you lost someone. Right? She said all of it happened right after you got out. Correct? Wasn’t that right around the same time you suddenly decided you were done with me? I don’t think I’m reaching to assume that it’s all related.”
