Elena didn't move. Her hand hung at her side, resting on the doorframe. The steam had died down, and the only noise was the quiet breathing of the twins at the table. Before she could think better of it or turn away, the washroom door flung open.
Liam stepped out into the hallway, a towel loosely draped around his shoulders. His hair was dark and damp, falling forward to hang in his eyes. In his hand was a crumpled up shirt, forgotten as he blinked at the sight of her in his room. For a long moment, time stopped. His dark eyes, wide with shock, fell on her and the air between them crackled with silence.
"Elena." He said, low and rougher than she'd ever heard him. He still sounded like he was in the shower, like he was still in the heat and the steam and the water.
Elena's fingers twitched at her sides. She raised one hand in a small, hopeless gesture as if that might explain her standing there, a black dress gathering around her knees, in the middle of his room waiting, as if she were a burglar. Her voice faltered when she opened her mouth. "I...your grandmother wanted me to call you for dinner. I knocked, but you didn't answer."
Liam didn't answer right away. His eyes were unreadable, dark as if they were hiding something. A single drop of water slid slowly down the column of his neck, and vanished below the waistline of his jeans. Elena's throat tightened. The air was hotter than it should have been, thick and close, and she couldn't remember how to breathe properly.
Finally, he spoke. His voice was even, but dangerous. "You shouldn't be in here."
"I know." She whispered, and she did know. She'd meant to turn around, to quietly shut the door before he even saw her. But her feet had not moved fast enough. And now she was stuck, unable to move away, toward the hall.
They did not move. The silence between them hung for a moment, taut and fragile, but full of something she could not name. His eyes met hers and did not let go. She could see the thin scar near the corner of his lip, the dark shadows under his lashes, the sharp rise and fall of his chest as if he had not yet calmed down from the heat of the shower.
Then he moved. He took two long steps that closed the distance between them, and Elena's back bumped against the edge of his desk. Her heart beat fast as he stopped so close she could feel the heat of his skin, the faint scent of soap clinging to his body.
"Why do you always follow me around to places you're not meant to be?" His voice was low, and almost accusing. But not unkind.
Her lips parted and the words tumbled out before she could stop them. "Maybe... because I don't want to be anywhere else."
Something flickered in his eyes then. Something wild and dark, as if the wall he had spent so long building had finally cracked. His chest heaved and before she could take back her words, before she could even think to take a step back, he leaned forward.
The kiss took her by surprise. It was sudden and desperate, and his lips crashed into hers with a heat and a hunger that left her breathless. It was not a practiced move, not something he had planned or thought of before that second. It was as if all the emotions he had so carefully guarded over the years had suddenly come boiling to the surface in one wild uncontrolled moment. Her breath hitched, her knees threatened to give out, and she clutched at the edge of the towel he had left draped over his shoulders.
She could have pushed him away. She knew she should have, but instead, she leaned forward, her body responding before her mind could catch up to her actions. The heat of him wrapped around her like a flame and the taste of him was more vivid and more real than she had ever imagined, and the sheer force of his need knocked her head dizzy. It was clumsy and unpracticed, but alive. Raw. For this reason alone, it felt so, so real.
"Liam! Dinner's ready!"
One of the twins yelled from the other side of the door. Their voice was bright and cheerful.
The moment was broken. Liam pulled back with a muttered curse under his breath, his face hardening. He turned quickly on his heels, pulling the shirt over his head in rough, quick movements as if it might hide what he had just done.
Elena remained still where she was, her lips tingling, her breath unsteady. Her heart beat so fast, she was sure it would crack her chest open.
"Don't say anything," Liam said eventually, his voice low, almost violent, as he pushed past her and out the door.
Her hand went up, as if to hold him, but the words that slipped past her lips were softer than she intended them to be. "Do you regret it?"
He paused at the door. His hand was on the knob, but he did not turn to face her. He did not even look in her direction. "I don't have time to regret things." He said. His voice was quiet, strained.
Then he opened the door and left for the hallway.
Elena remained in the room for a moment, trying to control her breathing.Her whole body felt different. As if that one small kiss had altered something inside of her. She pressed her fingers to her lips, half afraid and half unwilling to let the memory go.
When she finally collected herself and returned to the dining room, the heat of the kitchen was nearly too much for her. The twins were already seated, already whispering to each other and giggling between mouthfuls of bread. The cracked bowl of soup still sat in the center of the table, and the steam curled lazily upwards as though nothing had just happened.But to Elena, everything had.
She slid into her seat in silence. Liam was already there, sitting stiffly with a guarded expression on his face as he served a piece of fish onto one of the twins' plates. He did not look at her, but she could feel his presence there pressing at her from across the table.
The grandmother ladled more soup into the bowls, her eyes dark with mirth as they lingered a moment too long on Elena's flushed face. "Elena, are you staying the night?" she asked, her tone teasing.
Elena almost dropped her spoon into the broth. "I—no—I should go home," she said. Her voice was higher than usual.
She did not have time to trip over more excuses before Liam interrupted. "No. I'll send her home." His voice was quick, almost too firm, and he still would not look at her.
The twins sniggered, their heads leaning together as they whispered something. Whatever they were saying, it made them giggle until their grandmother swatted them lightly with her spoon.
Elena tried to concentrate on the food in front of her, but every movement reminded her of the room she had just left. Every touch of Liam's hand as he passed a dish across the table sent sparks through her. Every glance she thought she caught from the corner of her eye drew her back to that silent room, to that split second when they had kissed and her heart had nearly stopped.
The soup was warm and the bread was soft, and the laughter around the table was happy. But Elena could not get the sense that something fragile had shifted between her and Liam. It hung between them, unspoken, fragile but impossible to ignore. And though they continued eating, the sound of clattering spoons and the giggles of young children, her mind wandered back to that dark little room, to the heat of a kiss she would never forget.