THREE

LIAM

I can't believe she actually agreed to stay with me tonight. The party has finally quieted down and I'm in a bedroom with Lilah's head laying on my chest. She's fast asleep breathing steadily as I twirl a chunk of her curly brown locks around my finger. I can't sleep. I'm too excited. My mind keeps replaying every moment that happened between us tonight. Analyzing every single word, every look we shared, and praying that when she wakes up tomorrow she won't shut me out again. I can't blame her. I know that I'd deserve it if she did.

Last year when our band was signed everything happened so fast. Lilah and I had been hooking up pretty regularly for months, but we hadn't defined what we were doing and I didn't want to admit my feelings to myself, let alone to her. So when the time came for us to leave, I did just that. I left. I didn't bother to send her a text, I didn't stop at her house to say goodbye.

I wanted to, I just didn't know what to say. We hadn't labeled what we were and I was starting a new life with the guys. A life on the road with my band. By the time I realized just how much I really missed her, it was too late.  I'd already screwed up too much. Too much time had passed. She already hated me.

She nuzzles into me and I freeze, not wanting to chance waking her up. Her breathing slowly goes back to normal and I relax, wanting to savor every single minute that I have with her. I'm not sure how I made it this long without her. I have to figure out a plan to make her mine.  My phone buzzes with a text notification on the nightstand next to me. I carefully pick it up to see who it is.

TY: Hey man, where'd you go? Tess can't find Lilah.

ME: Upstairs. I think Lilah's sleeping it off somewhere.

TY: You think? Can you think harder? Tess is flipping out. She wants to check on her. Do you know what room she's in? Lilah had a lot to drink. Tess is about to start randomly opening doors.

ME: Tell Tess she's fine. She's with me, ok?

TY: I knew it. Just wanted to make you admit it. Can't miss an opportunity to bust your balls.

ME: ....

I gently stroke the bare skin showing on her back for what seems like hours. Outside the wind picks up and I can hear heavy rain drops pounding on the roof. Thunder crashes loudly and Lilah startles awake. I feel her body tense up as she's realizing that I'm here with her. Well, here's hoping she doesn't run away screaming. "It's just a storm, Dels. You can go back to sleep. It's like 6 AM."

She pushes herself up and looks me in the eyes. "Shit shit. Shit. This is not how tonight was supposed to go." She mumbles while holding her face in her hands. "Stupid alcohol. I'm never drinking again."

"Ouch, that's gotta be the first time a woman has ever said that after waking up to me." I try to joke around a little to lighten the mood. She groans, giving me a disgusted look. Maybe joking about sleeping with other girls wasn't the best idea. It sounded better in my head. I don't actually let any girls stay the night anyway, but I guess Dels wouldn't know that.  Her brow is furrowed and I can tell she's trying hard to figure out exactly what happened between us last night.  I decide to put her out of her misery.  "We didn't. If that's what you're worried about. I mean, you wanted to. You basically attacked me, but you were pretty wasted so I didn't think it was a good idea."

"Oh my God, I did what? And you, you turned me down?" She looks mortified. She pulls the sheets back to glance underneath. "For the love, why am I naked then Liam?" Her face is the color of a tomato. It's adorable.

Chuckling, I answer her, "Well, after we made out a bit, you said that you were hot. I tried to stop you, but you insisted that you sleep naked now and who am I to stop that?" I raise a brow and push a rogue lock behind her ear. She's even more beautiful than I remembered. "It's okay, Delilah Jane. I kept you from streaking naked down the beach. You should be thanking me actually. By the way, that new thing you do where you bite my bottom lip and suck on it. It drives me insane. Where'd you learn that? Nevermind. Don't tell me. It's better if I don't know." I don't want to think about her doing that with anyone else, that's for sure. She's mine.

She groans and wraps the sheets around her, posting up beside me while leaning against the headboard. "Wait. So, you're saying I wanted to go streaking and you declined? I'm shocked."

"Well, I've never been one to share. Can't have Jeremiah taking a peek at your goods, ya know? I convinced you to keep it in our room." She laughs leaning her head on my shoulder and it's music to my ears.

Lilah looks over at me and smiles. "Good thing you did. I can't imagine how mortified I'd be if videos of that showed up online tomorrow."

I chuckle and look into those gorgeous honey brown eyes of hers. "Your dad would have killed me. Do you want to get dressed and we can try to find something to eat? That hangover of yours must be rough. Maybe we can find some bacon and waffles? Or I could order us something. It's supposed to rain like this all day. We could eat in breakfast in bed and then maybe snuggle." It's crazy how easily we fall back into our friendship. It just feels right with her. I don't have to force anything.  She feels like home.

My phone dings a couple of times and I glance down to see who would be messaging me so early. It's our publicist. That's weird. Then several more messages come through from Ty and the boys. Lilah's phone starts ringing.  Something is wrong.

She picks her phone up and answers as I'm frantically scanning through my messages to figure out what's going on. "Hey Tess... Sorry about last night.... You're kidding.... No.... But how?  What? Where? Send it to me. I'm...uhh...upstairs. At your place. I'll be right down."  She ends the call and then looks at her screen in a panic. I can see the pictures she's looking at from here, but I already know what they are. She gets up frantically searching for her clothes and throwing them on quickly. I'm frozen trying to figure out how to salvage this mess. I can tell she's about to shut me out and run for the hills. She's already regretting letting me back in.

I can't let her run. Not when I just got her back, sort of. We haven't even really talked about anything that happened last night yet and I'm already panicked that I could lose her.

Damn paparazzi. How the hell did they get those pictures? I'm usually good at spotting those fuckers.  "Dels, wait. It'll be okay. I'll get our publicist on it okay? We can do damage control. They can't even see your face. They probably don't know who you are yet. I'll make it go away. I promise." I take her hand in mine. "Or I'll tell them that you're my girl. Whatever you want me to say. I'll do it."

She studies my face for a minute frustrated and sighs, shaking her head. "Let's just get breakfast and see how bad the damage is okay?" I plead.

"We decided to just be friends, remember?" She whispers. "Last night, I had a lot to drink, Liam. I wasn't thinking clearly and I'm sorry I blurred the line. It was a mistake."  She states bluntly. Her words piercing my heart like a sharp blade. A mistake, huh? Ouch. I steel my emotions, trying not to let her see just how much her words bothered me. She doesn't mean it, I hope. I can play the long game. I've waited over a year to see her again. I'm not giving up this easily.

"Of course. Friends." I try not to cringe at the word. I don't want to be her friend. "We should go. They are expecting us downstairs." She lets me lead her down the stairs where three pairs of eyes are waiting for us.  

Tessa quickly wraps Lilah in a hug whispering something in her ear. All I can make out is "couldn't last 6 hours. I told you.."  I focus on Tyler who has our publicist Kelly on facetime. Kelly starts talking as soon as she sees me. "I knew it had been too quiet on the paparazzi front. How do you want to spin this one Liam?" I watch Kelly study the girls behind me carefully. I run my hand through my messy hair and look at her.

"It's up to Delilah." Kelly looks confused as I smile at the leggy brunette I'm hoping to make mine. Wait, did I just say that? What is going on with me?

Delilah looks at Kelly, clearly overwhelmed. "Um."

Tessa quickly steps in for her best friend. "You're the expert Kelly. What do you recommend?"

Kelly smiles at me as if she knows something that I don't. "Well," she begins, "most of the pictures are pretty innocent. The ones on the beach you could easily dismiss as chatting with an old friend. However, a few are less tame. The image of you kissing while she's holding on like a spider monkey will not be as easy to explain away. We can go with the random hookup at a high school party speal and say that it was no big deal. But, something tells me that's not what this was, was it? If they spot you together again, which I'm guessing you will be, then they will put their own story out before we can. Either way, that pic is hot as hell and the bloggers are eating it up. They will be watching you closely to get more. It's only a matter of time before they figure out who Miss Delilah is and where she lives if they haven't already. I say we run with it. Tell them you're a happy couple, girls will be crying in their cheerios, but everyone loves a good romantic story. The headline doesn't get any better than "Liam Anderson Reunited with Hometown Sweetheart."

I look at Delilah cautiously. She appears to be seconds away from a meltdown. "Can't we just ignore it. Maybe it'll go away?" She suggests timidly. I can literally see the gears turning in Kelly's head as she's making the connections while she studies Delilah closely. "You look familiar Delilah. You wouldn't happen to be The Delilah Jones, would you? As in Andrew Jones's daughter, Quarterback for the Carolina Panthers?"

Lilah only nods while rolling her bottom lip into her mouth. I'm momentarily distracted as I think about how sweet those lips taste. 

Kelly's expression changes quickly, "I should get with your dad's team then. See how they want to handle this. I'm sure the press has figured it out by now. I've heard how sensitive your dad can be about his family being in the press."

My phone starts dinging and I glance at an alert of a new article on Celeb Scoop Weekly that I've been tagged in. The title reads "Is Rocks Newest Badboy Off The Market? How the QBs daughter seduced Liam Anderson." Is there really no other news today? I'm used to outrageous headlines about me. I've had my share of them for sure, especially after our first single went platinum last year.  However, Lilah's dad always worked hard to keep her out of the spotlight, especially after her mom got sick, which is why I'm not surprised when his publicist shows up to Tessa's house exactly three minutes later and quickly whisks Lilah away.

My phone dings again and I cringe looking at it. "Delilah Jones and Liam Anderson: Love or Lust?" There's a picture attached of me pushing her up against the wall, her legs wrapped around my waist while I kiss her. I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding and run my hand through my hair.  Fuck. Her dad's gonna kill me.