“She smiled, and there it was again, that aching pressure in his chest. Love, or a heart attack. Kind of the same thing.”

“There was a little smile on his mouth—the mouth that had been kissing hers. Otherwise, he was incommunicado.“Liam?” she said again, more loudly this time.Nada. He was out cold. Down for the count.She straightened abruptly. Face was burning, joints buzzing with adrenaline, chest filled with helium.Liam Murphy had kissed her.And he’d fallen asleep in the middle of it. She didn’t know whether to burst into song or kick something.”

“Then she smiled, just a flash, and something moved in Liam’s chest. Something warm, and something he hadn’t felt in a long time.”

“The simmering lust, the raging interest exploded into love. Who wouldn’t fall in love with a man who took the time to feed a homeless kitty? She held that image against her heart like a secret jewel. Only she knew about it, she was sure. Those girls Liam might’ve slept with, girls who left their panties in his locker or wrote things about him on the bathroom walls…they didn’t know what Posey knew—Liam Declan Murphy was not just the hottest thing ever to grace Bellsford High…he was a softy, too.”

“Cordelia, " he said quietly, his smile fading. "I seem to be in love you.”

“Then he slid his hand into my hair and pulled me closer, and when he kissed me, my heart hurt from happiness, if such a thing was possible. “I missed you,” I whispered against his mouth.”

“The sun was so bright outside that for a moment, I couldn’t see. But then I could, and there he was, leaning against the red Mustang, hands in his pockets, looking at the ground. He looked up, saw me, froze for a second…and then his lightning smile flashed, and I realized I was smiling, too.”