CRIMSON KISSES PART THREE 🤤
1037 Words
# **Crimson Kisses: Part Three**
### "The Morning's Weight" The golden morning light poured through Elena’s bedroom window, illuminating the tangled sheets and the warmth of Liam’s body beside her. He remained there. That should have been a victory.
But something about the way he lay on his back, staring at the ceiling with a quiet tension in his jaw, made Elena pause.
She turned on her side, tracing a gentle finger down his chest. “You look like a man who’s thinking too much.”
Liam exhaled sharply, as if caught in the act. He tilted his head toward her, a smirk tugging at his lips, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Is that so?”
The sheet fell down her shoulder as she propped herself up on her elbow. “You stayed, Liam.”
His gaze flickered to her bare skin, darkening for a moment before he looked away. “Yeah.”
Elena waited, but he didn’t say more.
A part of her wanted to push—to demand answers about why he had left before, why he had hesitated to stay, why his lips said one thing while his eyes said another.
But another part of her knew better.
She might lose him once more if she pressed too hard on Liam, a man who had built walls. So instead, she leaned over, pressing a kiss to his shoulder, then his collarbone, then lower, until his breath hitched and his fingers tangled in her hair.
And just like that, the tension melted into something else—something raw and hungry.
### **A Temporary Escape**
They spent the day wrapped in each other.
They didn’t talk about the past or the future. They didn’t ask questions that might shatter the delicate thing growing between them.
Instead, they got lost in whispered laughter and stolen kisses. Elena sat at the counter, stealing bites of Liam's breakfast and joking with him about how bad he was at making coffee while he cooked it, shirtless because he knew how much it would distract her. They walked through the city in the afternoon, fingers brushing, testing the boundaries of whatever this was. They ended up back at Le Rouge that evening, slipping into their usual rhythm—flirting, dancing, stealing kisses in the dark corners of the lounge.
It was perfect.
But perfect never lasted.
### **The Unraveling**
That night, Elena woke to the sound of Liam moving around the room.
Her heart clenched.
She didn’t have to ask. She knew.
He was leaving.
“Don’t.” Her voice was quiet, but it cut through the darkness like a knife.
Liam stilled. His back was to her, his broad shoulders tense. “Elena…”
She sat up, pulling the sheets around her. “You said you didn’t want to leave.”
He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I know.”
“Then stay.”
Silence.
She took a big inhale. “Why are you doing this?”
Liam turned then, his eyes shadowed. “Because I don’t know how to be what you need.”
Her heart cracked open.
“What I need?” In a voice barely above a whisper, she repeated. He sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing his hands together. “You deserve someone who isn’t… running from his own damn ghosts.”
Elena’s throat tightened. “Liam, I—”
He looked at her then, really looked at her, and the sorrow in his eyes made her chest ache.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he murmured.
Tears burned at the back of her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Instead, she lifted her chin. “Then don’t.”
Liam let out a breath that sounded dangerously close to a laugh. “If only it were that simple.”
She reached for him, fingers brushing over his. “It is. You’re making it complicated.”
He hesitated. His fingers curled around hers, holding on for a second too long.
However, then— He let go.
And just like that, he was gone.
### His absence from the scene The days stretched on, empty in a way she hadn’t expected.
She told herself she should have seen it coming. That men like Liam didn’t stay. That lips like his—ones that knew how to whisper promises but feared keeping them—were never meant to belong to just one person.
But it didn’t stop the ache.
She went back to Le Rouge, half-hoping to see him at the bar, smirking over a glass of bourbon like he hadn’t shattered her heart.
However, he was not present. Weeks passed. Then months.
She told herself she was fine.
And then, one night, as she was walking home in the rain, she saw him.
Standing outside her apartment.
Soaked.
Waiting.
Her heart slammed against her ribs.
She ought to be furious. She should have walked past him, let him drown in whatever storm had finally brought him back.
But she didn’t.
Instead, she stepped forward, stopping just inches away. “You left.”
Liam looked at her, his lips parting as if he wanted to say something, but no words came.
She exhaled sharply. “And now you’re back.”
He took a big inhale. “Yeah.”
Her heart pounded. “Why?”
Liam’s gaze dropped to her lips, his voice rough, raw.
“Because I don’t know how to stay, but I can’t stand being away from you either.”
Between them, the air cracked. Elena’s chest rose and fell, her anger warring with the undeniable pull of him.
She should have just left. She should have told him that she wasn’t a woman who waited.
But when Liam reached out, tracing his fingers over her lips—the same way he had that very first night—she was lost.
And when he kissed her, the rain washing over them, she knew.
This wasn’t over.
Not even close.
### **To Be Continued…**
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This part digs deeper into Liam’s struggles with commitment and Elena’s unwillingness to let him walk in and out of her life so easily. Let me know if you want more!
- Writer
