Page 90 of Don't Date Your Nemesis

The bouquet sailed through the air and got stuck in the chandelier.

Uh oh.

Everyone groaned, but the women jumped, reaching up and trying to dislodge it in their high heels and scrappy dresses. I stayed on the side, watching the chaos with amusement.

Then strong arms wrapped around my waist.

I yelped as Liam lifted me effortlessly onto his shoulder, steadying me with one hand while I grabbed onto his head for balance.

“What are you doing?” I gasped, suddenly eight feet in the air.

He beamed up at me. “Helping you get the bouquet.”

Everyone around us was laughing, clapping, and cheering us on. I reached up, stretching, and my fingers closed around the ribbons. The bouquet came free, and I held it up triumphantly.

Liam lowered me down gently, and the moment my feet touched the ground, I kissed him sweetly on his lips.

I didn’t care that my dad might scold me later for showing affection and kissing Liam in front of our entire family.

I waved the bouquet around proudly, and the crowd erupted in applause.

My heart fluttered as I smiled up at him. His charming grin made my stomach flip. I genuinely loved him, and Liam James loved me back.

If someone had told me I’d be in love with the boy who had tormented me our entire childhood, I would have slapped them with a chappal.

But now it seemed like the most natural thing in the world.

Liam leaned down and whispered in my ear, “I can’t wait to get you alone.”

I gave him a look and said, “Behave.”

His smirk was all the answer I needed.

He was not going to behave.

28

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

LIAM

I was happy. The happiest I have ever felt in my life… besides that one time I won gold during the Olympics.

I felt as if I were floating.

The past few days had been a blur of laughter and love and Deepika.

I had whispered, ‘I love you,’ like a broken record, the words bleeding out of me with every thrust of my hips the entire time we had sex after returning from Napa Valley.

I’d rasped it against the sweat-damp curve of her neck, murmured it into the silk of her dark hair, and groaned it against her swollen lips while she gasped my name like a prayer.

I hadn’t stopped even after we’d gotten back to LA, to my place (our place now).

She had finally rolled her eyes, pinning me with those dark, dilated eyes, and told me to stop acting like a ‘clingy puppy dog’ who’d just discovered his first chew toy.

But in return, I had leaned over her, looked her dead in the eye, and let out a ridiculous bark.

Deepika laughed so hard she snorted and it made my heart do a backflip. I seized the opportunity to tackle her back onto the rumpled sheets, the mattress groaning under our weight. I spent the next five minutes ‘eating’ her by nipping at her ribs, growling against the soft swell of her stomach, and blowing raspberries against her skin until she was giggling so hard she couldn't breathe, her legs kicking weakly against mine.