To Dance With Wolves ▪Liam Dunbar▪

| 20. Just for Tonight

"Well what calms you down? Green tea, good book, music?"

"Honestly?"

"Yeah."

"The sound of your voice."

I felt heat rise to my cheeks and I bit my lip, glad he couldn't see my face. My voice was slightly higher pitched than normal when I spoke, "Really?"

"Really."

I tried to keep my voice steady and at it's normal pitch. "Okay, so next time you get scared or nervous or you think you see those things, find me. Find my voice and I'll talk to you about anything."

He spoke softly and I could hear the fear in his voice when he finally responded, "What if it's the middle of the night or something?"

I pulled away from him so I could look him in the eyes. He needed to know I was serious. "I don't care when it is or where you are, if you have to call me or use your freaky super wolf hearing to find me, I'll be there. If you need me, I'm going to be there for you, you're not gonna go through this alone, Liam. I promise."

When Liam didn't respond, and I noticed his lip was trembling moments before tears started to drip onto his beautiful face. My eyes widened and for a horrible seconds I thought I had said something wrong, but he pulled me into a hug so tight I could barely breathe.

"I love you Emily."

My heart stopped beating and I stopped breathing. Time seemed to slow down. In the moments that seemed to last forever I thought about all the time I'd spent with him, and the way I felt when we were together. And I realized something, "I love you too, Liam."

"You're not just saying that to make me feel better?"

I smiled lightly, even though he couldn't see my face. "No, I mean it."

I was torn between wanting to keep Liam in my arms and wanting desperately to kiss him. While I was still weighing the pros and cons in my head, he made the decision for me. His arms left their place on my back so his hands could find their way to my cheeks. I was smiling before our lips even connected. Liam kissed me gently, and my heart fluttered more than usual. As my hands rested on his collarbone, I couldn't think of a single place I'd rather be.

Our moment was cut short when the room suddenly became pitch black. The television had been inactive for long enough that it shut off, plunging the room into darkness. I heard Liam swear under his breath, and when he got up to wake it back up, I got up too. Neither of us were happy about it, but the time for kissing had passed.

"Are you going to be okay now?" I asked once light hit my face again. "It's getting late and I should probably go-" I was cut off by the sound of Liam's voice breaking.

"Please don't leave me."

I blinked furiously to keep myself from tearing up, I couldn't stand knowing Liam was hurting. I wished I could take his pain away like he'd taken mine. But I did the best that I could. I reached out and held his hand in mine, squeezing it reassuringly.

"I wont."

He exhaled deeply and nodded, his stress and fear slowly dissipating.

"If I'm going to be staying here longer, I have to ask. Do you have any sweats or something I can borrow? I can only take so many hours of wearing these jeans."

"Yeah, do you want a shirt too?"

I hesitated, then an idea sparked in my mind. "If you have the one I lent you a few weeks ago, that would be great."

As he rummaged through his drawers, he asked a question I had been hoping to avoid. "It's your brother's right?"

"Yeah."