Starr Destined (Starr Series) (6 page)

“Something important?” he frowned.  I’d finally got his attention, as he stopped kissing my neck.  Part of me didn't want him to stop, but I needed to say what I had to say, before I lost my nerve.

“Yes.  You’ve told me how you feel, and so I think it only fair that I do the same,” I started to e
xplain.  “You totally took me by surprise when you told me that you… that you loved me, so I needed a while to gather my thoughts.”

“I see.  And now that you’ve had time to think, what’s the verdict?”  Liam's tone was deceivingly light, but I could tell he was nervous by the little frown creasing his forehead.  He ran his finger over my face and then traced the outline of my lips, while he waited for me to say more.  I took a deep breath.

“I haven’t dared let myself believe…  I never thought you'd say those words to me,” I whispered.  “But now that you have, well…  I guess I can finally allow myself to admit that…”

“Admit what, Sera?”  he prompted, as he seemed to be virtually holding his breath.

“That I’m crazy about you, Liam.  I love you too.  I love you so much, it sent me nuts when I thought you’d cheated on me.  That’s why I lost it in such a big way, because it hurt so badly.  It really scares me how much I love you,” I finally admitted.  Liam scooped me up in his arms and hugged me so tightly that I could hardly breathe.

“Thank God.  You have no idea how much I’ve wanted to hear you say those words, Sera.  I love you too, so much.  You are my whole world now.  You are the most important thing in my life,” he whispered emotionally, as he rested his forehead against mine.

“My world begins and ends with you, Liam.  I’ve fought against it, I’ve even tried to run from it, but I couldn’t escape the truth.” 

I ran my hand over his cheek. 

“I’m sorry I slapped your face so hard,” I whispered, as I kissed it better.

“I still don't get why, with that temper of yours, you didn’t come marching into my office this afte
rnoon and slap my face then, if you were so upset and angry with me?”  He kissed my fingers as they passed over his mouth.

“I didn't have any claim on you, did I?  It wasn’t as if we’d made any kind of commitment to each other.  And with your track record on that subject, can you really blame me for assuming that you were just following your usual pattern and moving on?”  I pointed out.

“So you want commitment from me?  Is that what all your insecurity and lack of confidence has been about?”

“I guess it’s been a whole raft of things.  You being older and more experienced than me, for a start.”

“Well, I can't change that, can I?  But I’m very happy to make a commitment to you.  That’s easily rectified.”

“You already have.  By telling me that you love me,” I smiled at him.

“No, I mean something more concrete.  In fact, I want us to make the biggest possible commitment,” he told me.

“Oh?  And what would that be?”  I asked, oblivious to where he was headed with this.

“Marry me, Seraphina.”  Liam took my hand, raised it to his mouth and kissed it.

“What?  Get married?  Don't be so ridiculous,” I scoffed, thinking he was joking.

“I’ve never been more serious.  I want us to get married.  I want to make that commitment to you, because I want the whole world to know that I love you.  I want you to be my wife, and I want to be your husband.” 

Liam stared at me, waiting for my response.

Bloody hell, he was actually proposing to me.  As in wanting to put a ring on my finger.

I was speechless for a minute, then my brain kicked back in.

“Liam, we’ve only known each other for a few weeks.  I’m way too young, I’ve barely finished uni, so I’m certainly not ready to get married and be someone’s wife.  You haven’t really thought this through - it’s just a knee jerk reaction to what happened today.  And to be honest, I'm not sure that I believe in the whole marriage thing anyway.”

Liam gave me a puzzled look.

“But I thought all women dreamed about getting married one day.”

“You mean the whole big diamond ring and white pouffy dress thing?”

Liam nodded, bemused.  The poor man obviously thought he was offering me every girl’s dream, only for me to shatter his illusions.

“Not me.  I’ve always thought it was a pretty pointless, vacuous exercise, and a total waste of time and money, when you consider that being married is still no guarantee that things are going to work out and everyone’s going to be faithful,” I stated firmly.

“And I thought I was meant to be the cynical one with commitment issues,” Liam commented wryly.

“Oh, come on.  Even you must have seen how some girls focus on spending a fortune on a big wedding with all the frills, only for it to all fall apart and end in divorce within the year.”

“I agree, some people get married for all the wrong reasons.  It wouldn’t be like that for us though, would it?  I would mean every word of our marriage vows, because I want you to know that I will always love you, that this is forever, and that I’ll still be there for you, even when we’re old and grey.”

“That’s a really lovely thing to say, Liam.”  I kissed his cheek.  “And it makes me love you even more, if that’s possible.  But I’m just not ready to get married.  This has all happened so fast, so why don't we slow things down a little, and just get used to being together first, hmm?”

He sighed loudly.

“I’m used to being decisive, going after what I want and getting it.  I don't usually do slow and wai
ting around.  But as long as you’re not turning me down flat, I suppose I can wait until you’re ready.  How long do you think you’ll need? A week?  A month?”

I burst out laughing.

“I have no idea, Liam.  To be honest, I’m not sure that I’ll ever be ready to get married, because I don't see the point of going through all that old fashioned palaver, just for a little piece of paper that doesn’t mean anything when it comes down to it.  I’m really not comfortable with the whole concept.”

“Well, I’ll just have to convince you, won’t I?  For now, I'm just really happy that we’re together, and that you’ve told me that you love me.  But I’m going to keep asking you to marry me until you say yes, Seraphina Jones.  And I’m warning you now that I'm very persistent, and that I always get what I want in the end,” he smirked, as he snaked his hand down between my legs.

“And I’m warning you, Liam Starr, don't think that you can steam-roller me into becoming your obedient little wife,” I smirked back, as I too snaked my hand southwards until I reached my goal, thinking that this battle of wills could prove to be quite interesting.

All I cared about right now was that I loved Liam, and he loved me, and nothing was going to come between us.

The fantastic relief
I felt as I walked out of my final exam was almost worth all the years of studying.  I was literally walking on air, and just at that moment I didn’t care what results I got.  All I cared about was that I was done. Finished.  No more stupid fucking exams for me.

Toby and I had plans to go out and get totally wasted to celebrate the end of our student days, but first I was having dinner with my brother, at his insistence.

“Does it have to be tonight?  Can't it wait a few days?”  I argued when he rang, suspecting that I was in for some kind of dull, boring lecture from him about my future plans.

“No, I need to speak to you as soon as possible.  We can have dinner early, and then you can head off for whatever mindless plans you and Toby have made,” he’d stated in a tone that brooked no argument. 

And, as usual, he held the winning hand.  He was funding my year out in Australia, and if I really upset him, there was always the unspoken threat of him withdrawing the funding.  So, ever the obedient little brother, I agreed to meet him.

At least it meant I'd get a proper meal out of it - Liam only ever ate at decent restaurants, and of course he always paid the bill.  And the club Toby had suggested didn't even open its doors until ten pm, so there was plenty of time for dinner first.  I just hoped I wasn’t going to have to endure one of Liam’s longer lectures.  But right now, nothing could spoil my good mood at the thought of no more studying.

Despite my best intentions, even though I knew it would piss Liam off and put him in a sour mood, I somehow ended up being late meeting him, probably because I’d found it hard to tear myself away from the new Xbox game I'd treated myself to, to celebrate the end of my exams.  We were meeting up at Hawksmoor
, which was a great restaurant near Liam’s offices in Bishopsgate.  We’d met there a few times before, so I knew the food would be good.

“Sorry, I couldn’t get parked,” I hurriedly made an excuse, as I joined him at the table where he was sat studying the menu, looking every inch the successful executive in his well cut bespoke suit, as he’d come straight from work.  It was early, and so the restaurant was pretty quiet.

“I trust neither you nor Toby will be driving when you go out drinking later,” Liam frowned at me. 

For fuck’s sake, I’d only just arrived and he was already lecturing me.  The waiter brought us some olives and bread, which I immediately started on - I hadn’t got round to having any lunch,  because I’d got so engrossed in my new game when I’d got home after my exam.

“Of course not.  We’re not that stupid,” I rolled my eyes.  Liam felt very strongly about not drinking and driving.  He never drank if he was driving - ever - even though he enjoyed a decent wine.  I noticed he had a glass of water tonight, so that meant he was driving himself home.  I watched as he poured a glass of water for me too.  Great.  No beer or wine for me either then.

“I'm glad to hear it.  So, how did the final exam go?”  He passed me the menu to study.

“Okay, I think.  You can never be too sure, of course, but I'm pretty confident I did okay,” I smiled at him.  That much was true.  I'd never yet failed to pull it off when it came to exams, however late I left it to cram.  I didn't expect to get a first - you had to give up all hope of a normal social life to achieve that - but I thought I should get the respectable 2:1 that I was aiming for, and that my brother expected, no trouble.

“What about this girl that was hanging around and distracting you - Pippa, was it?”

“Poppy, you mean?  I ditched her.  She’s history.  Just like you said, I needed to be cruel to be kind.”

Poppy hadn't taken it well though.  I'd had to ignore countless texts and phone calls, as well as ge
tting Toby to tell her I was out when she called round.  But at least there was no danger of her crashing our plans for Australia.  Right now, I was enjoying not having any kind of female company demanding my attention, although if the opportunity for a quick fuck presented itself at the club later tonight, I'd certainly be up for it, but nothing more.  I was taking a leaf out of Liam's book from now on.  After all the problems with Sera, and then Poppy, all I wanted was some great uncomplicated sex.

“What are you going to have to eat?  I have somewhere to be after this, so I’m not having a starter, just a main, and I take it you want to get away sooner rather than later, as you also have plans.”  Liam was already signalling the waiter to come and take our order, even though I'd barely had a chance to glance at the menu.

“Oh, I’m not in that much of a hurry,” I muttered, wanting to enjoy the full three courses on offer, rather than rush through and waste this opportunity.

“Fine, you have whatever you want,” Liam sighed, as he looked at his watch.

So I ordered my smoked salmon starter and then the beef bavette, and thought I'd probably have the Eton mess for dessert.  Liam just ordered the Dover sole.

“What’s been going on with you then, bro?  How’s it hanging?”  I asked, once the waiter had left us alone.  I remembered my suspicions the last time I’d gone over to his place for Sunday lunch that Liam might be seeing someone - as in him having a girlfriend.

“Things are pretty good actually,” he smiled at me.  Smiled?  Liam? WTF?

“Oh?  In what way?”  I asked, very intrigued at this change in my brother’s usual mood.

“I've met someone, and I'm in a relationship with her.  A serious relationship,” he explained, as his smile grew wider.

“Wow.  A
serious
relationship, eh?  She must be quite some woman to have tamed you,” I grinned.  “So tell me all about her.  What’s she like?  I take it she’s your usual blonde type obviously, and…”

“No, actually, she’s not a blonde.  She’s not that type at all.  And … you know her, actually.”

“Wait a minute.  Is it that Kimberley I met at your place that time?  She seemed really nice, but she’s a blonde, so…”  I tried to work out who he meant, if he said I knew her.  I certainly remembered Kimberley - she had really great tits, although I suspected they were fake.

“Not Kimberley, no,” Liam said, and then paused as the waiter brought my first course and placed it in front of me.  He watched as I made a start on the smoked salmon.  I was starving, and it was mouth-wateringly good.

“Come on then.  Tell me who this mystery woman is.  Is it someone you’ve met at work?”  I asked, after a couple of mouthfuls.

“I suppose you could say we met through work.  The truth is, we met thanks to you, Jamie.”