"Eva, I want to kiss you more than anything," Liam said flatly, catching a lock of her hair in his fingers before it could fall into her eyes, twisting it and pushing it back behind her ear. "That's what scares me."
He fumbled for the remote with his free hand, switching the TV to mute so he could focus on her. "There are things you should know about me," he said, low. I didn't tell you about... my issues, before, and I should have. I won't make that mistake again. Because...." he swallowed. He liked to think he wasn't afraid of anything, but stating his real feelings to someone he cared about was about as vulnerable as he could make himself. "I really like you. I think I haven't felt this way about someone since... since my first girlfriend, in high school. And I lost her because I... I couldn't control it and I hurt her. It was just luck I didn't kill her."
He looked away, not wanting to see her reaction to this. "I don't want to hurt you like that," he murmured, miserably. "Only when you're around, it's... better. I feel better. So asking you to stay seems really fucking selfish. And normally I probably would be selfish, because I've always looked out for myself before anyone else... fuck, I don't know. I just... I really... care about you." God it sounded convoluted and fake. Like he was reading badly from a script from some crappy chick flick. Why could he not say things the way he wanted when it really mattered? When it was just sex, he was smooth as ice. "I don't even know if you want... what we had before, or something more, or less... I just... I think you should know what you're getting into, because if you don't and you get hurt again..."