Drive || Sophie & Liam
The step was cautious, maybe even a warning. He wasn’t going to back down, he wasn’t joking. This was Liam, even though he cracked jokes, she sometimes wondered if he had a humorous bone in his body or if he was just a cynical man forcing humor. He knew her, knew she wanted to bolt, that much was clear in his body language. It was a conscious effort not to back away from him, not because she was afraid…Or was she? She’d never been afraid of Liam, or really any man for that matter, not since she was a little girl. But Liam, yes, Liam frightened her in a whole new way. She’d been sweet on Colin since the moment she met him, infected by his laughter and optimism. That hadn’t been the case with Liam, and wasn’t that the way of things? You don’t always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need.
Strangely enough, she wanted and needed Liam.
"You make it sound good…" Sophie whispered, looking away from him. She felt defenseless, like she needed a gun, or her knuckles or a bat to keep Liam at arms length. But when had he ever been at arms length?
"Good things don’t happen to me, Liam. And you are- you are the best that has. But what if you change your mind? What if- What if you- you’re…What if you’re making a mistake? I tend to be that person for people. I don’t want to lose you.” She whispered towards the ground.
Liam could see Sophie's mind working over everything that he had been telling her from the expression on her face. He could see her still struggling with the uncomfortable situation that he had put her in. During the short tenure of his duty guarding her they had gone from being annoyed at the other's presence, to knowing this was a job, to worrying about the other's well-being, to legitimately caring for one another in a way a friend would, and now to where he stood. Their relationship had grown quickly, sure, but it had gone in an oddly normal cycle with a twist given the circumstances they were in.
"I understand what you are saying in that respect, I really do, but what you have to understand is that we can't live our lives in 'What if's' otherwise we will miss everything worth risking something for." He began. "I fear losing you too, that's why I've held this in for the time that I have, but I'm telling you that these feelings that I have for you aren't something that just appeared out of thin are the moment you walked through that door. Every single day my feelings for you grow just a little deeper, and I'm realizing that whether anything happens, or not, this is not something that will just end rapidly."
With a deep breath, and courage that he mustered from somewhere deep inside mixed with the unrelenting need to be near her, Liam closed the gap between them looping one arm around her, and the other hand tilted her chin up so she was forced to meet his eyes. His arm remained loose so as not to give her the impression that he was forcing her to be there. His eyes, however, took in all of the details of her face before he continued speaking.
"You are worth any risk. You were worth the various risks I've made on my life. You are worth this feeling that I'm having now, and you are worth everything that may happen in the future. Our lives are dangerous, and honestly who's to say that you couldn't lose me tomorrow just out there living our lives? There's no telling what will happen to us, but I want to be able to say that I gave you everything that I have, every effort... and if it doesn't work, I would understand that, but I truly think that you and I know that we have something that's deeper than that."
