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Just because there was someone out there who was apparently your ‘soulmate’ didn’t mean that you couldn’t fall in love and be happy with someone else. Lots of people settled down with someone whose name wasn’t tattooed on their wrist. That’s what Fallon had said to herself and to Culhane, multiple times.
She had tried to explain that love is love, and it was here and it was now and that a soulmate is a mere concept; a promise of something that might never even come true.
There were plenty of people who had waited their whole lives, rejected real chances of love just because they hadn’t met the person they’d apparently been destined to be with since birth. Those people, always, on their death bed insist that their biggest regret was not taking a chance on a love which wasn’t in ink on their skin.
She had said all of this to him in front of that courthouse, but apparently, it hadn’t been enough for Michael, he’d walked away from her anyway. He blamed it on everything else that was wrong with their relationship, but deep down, Fallon knew the truth. What was the point in fighting for a love that wasn’t even destined to be?
So now she was here, married to someone who was practically a stranger, whose name was also not on her wrist.
She wonders how the hell she had ended up in this situation.
Now more than ever she felt further away from any chance of happiness than she’d ever felt.
Although, she did have to admit one thing as she tilts her head to the side to catch a glimpse of her temporary husband… Something had been stirring in her gut, an amalgamation of feelings from admiration to appeal, even nervousness for this man. Ever since he looked straight into her eyes and exposed her; making it clear he could read her like an open book saying “I see you, Fallon Carrington,” a connection had begun to grow between them and her curious nature had to explore it further. That’s why she’d invited him here, even though he’s been acting peculiar all evening, starting with not even wanting to come to this La Perla event tonight.
She realises that now that she’s finally stopped chasing Michael, she’s beginning to see what’s been right in front of her these past few weeks; an incredibly handsome man, willing to go full crazy for her, who she has this insane chemistry with – and not to mention a great kisser.
He must have sensed her staring because he turns his head towards her and gives her this smile which she swears makes his eyes glisten, (it’s probably just the lights) which takes her breath away slightly, (is it hot in here?) and makes something flutter in her stomach (maybe she needs something to eat?).
There’s just something about him, he gives off this aura which sort of excites her and calms her all at the same time, and it’s almost addictive.
Suddenly her throat feels dry and she definitely needs another glass of champagne.
“You good?” He asks, his voice temptingly low.
“Yeah.” She breathes, keeping eye contact with him for a moment too long and it’s like, now that she is close enough and paying enough attention, his eyes become a window to his soul. It’s full of kindness and adoration, but there’s something else there- something a little darker, a little twisted and it’s a familiar feeling. It’s the one she gets whenever she’s under the scrutiny of her parents, it’s this crushing need to please them but always just falling short of gaining their approval. - A flash of a camera hitting her iris’ suddenly pulls her out of her trance, “Actually, I think I need a drink, excuse me.”
“Hey, no it’s fine. You’re enjoying the show, stay here, I’ll get you a drink.”
She can’t help but swoon slightly at his chivalrous nature as he stands to make his way towards the bar, but not before she reaches for his hand and squeezes it to say thank you. A delicious shiver travels down her spine the second their skin briefly touches. It feels like an electronic current passing through him into her and when he flashes her that smile again and disconnects their contact as he walks away, the palm of her hand is left with a burning sensation in his absence. It longs to feel him again.
She bites her lip as she looks over at it him ordering something at the bar, okay, how could he be cute, handsome, gentlemanly and hot all at the same time? She thinks about the fact that she’s seen what’s underneath that shirt – he’s at the envy of most men in this room. He is, without a doubt, a package deal.
When she feels the flush in her now burning cheeks it hits her hard that she hasn’t felt like this in – maybe, ever?
No man has ever managed to make her feel nervous like this before.
“So, is this like a date, then?” Sam asks as he leans into her space.
“Yeah, it’s a… ‘like a date’,” Fallon responds, struggling to hide the smile threatening to form on her face.
“Oooh. You’re smitten.” He teases, which causes her to snap back with a deadpan expression. “So, is he…?” Sam glances his eyes down at Fallon’s left wrist. He always did push boundaries; asking what name was on your wrist was as taboo as asking a woman her age.
Her heart instantly sinks.
“Sadly, no.” She responds, touching her gold bracelet on the point were below it, her skin is etched with the ink of her supposed soulmates name.
“Look,” Sam says, “It doesn’t even matter. Chemistry is chemistry. I say after this, you invite him to go someplace else, just the two of you.”
“You know what Sam?” She smirks at him, “I just might.”
She returns her attention back to the fashion show, attempting to appear casual when she sees Liam returning out of the corner of her eye.
“Southside, right?” He asks, holding the drink out for her to take.
Her previous feeling of disdain over his name not being the one on her wrist is lost instantly and is replaced with that strange, but alluring energy he seems to exude.
“Oh, well remembered.” She replies, taking the drink into her hand as he retakes his seat next to her.
“Well, a husband should know what his wife drinks.”
She blushes slightly, “Well now you’re making me feel bad for not knowing your drink.”
He huffs out an adorable laugh, “Well, that can be easily remedied.”
“You’re right, it can. Later?” He raises an eyebrow in question, encouraging her to continue, “How about once the shows over, you and I get some dinner and I can learn more about you?”
A smile slowly spreads on his face, “That sounds perfect.”
“Great,” The smile on her face matches his own, “It’s a date.”
“It’s a date.” He repeats, effectively sealing the deal.
He’s looking her in the eyes again, using that mesmerising look, and she has to use restraint to look away before she gets lost in them. - It turns out to be pretty easy as a figure approaches them, his presence demanding.
“Fallon.” Her eyes flick up and she groans internally. Jeff. She keeps her composure, appearing nonchalant to the inebriated intruder. “You lied. You stole from me. That’s extortion.”
“I’m not buying this little rock bottom performance.” She responds, “My asking price stands, now scooch, you’re blocking my view.”
It’s only in her peripheral that she sees him sway closer, then Liam’s suddenly standing.
“Woah, easy.” He says to the Colby, using his arm to push him back.
Jeff counteracts him, mocks him, but Fallon isn’t necessarily listening to what’s being said because the whole time her heart feels like it’s in her throat as adrenaline floods her veins, causing her pulse to race. Although she appreciates the gesture, she realises that she’s scared, not for her, but for Liam and every fibre of her being is screaming at her to keep him safe.
“Okay, enough you two, Liam sit.” She knows it sounds demanding, especially when she tugs on his arm, practically pleading with him, but for some reason, she can’t stand the thought of him being hurt in front of her eyes.
Apparently, that only makes matter worse when more words are exchanged between the two of them and suddenly they’re squaring up to each other.
She can’t breathe. She can’t move. She can’t do anything but incessantly tap Sam on the leg, silently begging for him to help. She’s thankful when he stands too and is even more thankful when the alcohol in Jeff’s system rejects itself, breaking the chance of a fight.
When he falls to the ground, Fallon and Liam instinctively gravitate towards each other. She grabs the arm he puts out to protect her and stands by his side, glaring down at the Colby on the floor with pity.
Continuing with his slightly strange behaviour, Liam was in a rush to get out of the party after the incident. He tells her he’ll get the car brought round to the front whilst she says her goodbyes, and apologies, to Julia.
It leaves her feeling slightly bewildered as he walks away with haste and she actually feels the loss of his presence.
There’s no time for her to think any of it through in any detail, she convinces herself he’s probably just being impatient because he’s eager to get to the dinner they agreed to. That thought encourages her to get this apology over and done with as quickly as possible so that she can re-join him.
“Julia.” She says to the designer as she’s approaching her, “I’m so sorry I feel like I ruined the whole night.”
“Silver lining,” the brunette responded, “Someone caught the whole debacle on video and its already gone viral, La Perla is trending and everyone is going crazy over my clothes.”
Fallon smiles back as her way of response, the ‘debacle’ as Julia called it had almost given her a full-blown panic attack, so she was glad that it had resulted in something positive for someone.
“By the way,” Julia continues with a sly expression on her face, “Kudos on landing Jack, quite the catch.”
She furrows her brows in confusion, “I’m sorry, who?”
“Jack Lowden. Your husband.”
“Oh, no my husband is Liam Ridley.”
There’s a presence creeping up behind her who interrupts the conversation and she hates that she can already tell who it is by the smell of her perfume.
“Julia, could I have a word with my daughter alone please?”
Fallon turns to look at her Mom once Julia says her goodbyes and leaves, “What’s going on?” She demands.
Alexis takes a sharp breath, the one that Fallon recognises as her ‘I’m about to tell you something you won't like’ inhale, before saying, “It turns out that Julia knows Liam. Well, Jack Lowden. He’s a journalist, he profiled her company just last year for Vanity Fair.”
“So? Jack is probably Liam’s pen name.”
“I was hoping so too, but, I just got off the phone with my dear friend at Harper Collins, Jack Lowden, just received a seven-figure advance on a tell-all book about a wealthy, dysfunctional American family.”
She’d stopped the listening the second her Mom had insinuated that Liam’s actual name is Jack.
A spark of hope ignited in her – but like she’d managed to do countless times before, and after disappointment after disappointment, she pushed the feeling to the side, deep down so that it was a tiny speck of a thing.
“Wait. You’re telling me that Jack isn’t a pen name? It’s his real name?”
Alexis nods.
Fallon’s heart skips a beat. The feeling of hope rushes back like an unforgiving tidal wave.
“Mom,” She looks at her expectantly, but when she doesn’t see any indication of understanding on her mother’s face she sighs, “Oh my god.” A slightly hysterical laugh escapes her because of course, she shouldn’t expect her Mom to remember such a vital detail about her only daughter. “You don’t even remember do you?”
“What are you talking about?”
She shakes her head in disbelief, “Of course you don’t.”
“Fallon, can we get back to the important point here, please? This book that he’s writing… He’s using you.”
Fallon’s head is swimming with so many emotions that it takes a second to process what her Mom had actually said about this book – that maybe Liam, Jack, whatever his name is, was actually using her. God, she hopes he isn’t.
“Well, it’s not exactly like he was taking notes this whole time. He was…”
“Enjoying himself?” Alexis replies, her tone taunting, “Falling in love?”
It hits her like a tonne of bricks.
Love.
Fallon has a strong suspicion that it’s something much stronger than that.
The looks, the stares, the touches, how they respond to each other - it all starts to make sense now.
She turns and stares at the doors behind her where she knows he’s waiting for her on the sidewalk. This overwhelming feeling of compulsion is luring her to him so that she can confront him. Before she even realises what she’s doing, she’s turned on her heels and is walking towards the doors.
In the distance, she hears her Mom call to her, asking where she’s going.
“I have to know.” She mutters under her breath.
The cold night air hits her instantly, sobering her mind. She was right, she knew he’d be waiting for her.
Seeing him there makes her heart ache – all she ever wanted was love, and it would be just her luck to have found it now, have a taste of what true love feels like, only to have it ripped away from her. All for some stupid book.
“Hey, good timing the cars just got here.”
“You lied to me.” The hurt is evident in her voice.
He looks back at her, his confusion clearly written on his face.
“Excuse me?”
“You lied to me. Your name is Jack Lowden, isn’t it?”
“I…” He doesn’t even need to continue, she can see it in his eyes that it’s the truth. He does anyway once he finds the right words, his voice almost pained when he says, “It was the name that I was born with, yes.”
She closes her eyes, unsure of what she should be feeling right now. Betrayed? Relieved? Euphoric? She supposes that it’s his next actions which might determine that.
Her eyes open again so that she can look directly into his to gauge his reaction.
“Let me see your wrist.”
His eyes widen instantly as he finally catches up to what Fallon suspects to be the case, “Oh my god, your wrist says Jack, doesn’t it? It never even occurred me…” He tapers off, she realises she can practically feel his energy buzzing from here.
Unfortunately, she doesn’t share in his excitement, her guard is still well and truly up until she can get to the bottom of this book ordeal.
So instead, Fallon remains still, the inside of her wrist glued to her side like she’s trying to protect it.
“Oh, Fallon,” He breathes out as he approaches her slowly, closing the short distance between them. Once he is close enough, he looks her in the eyes, and she can’t help but notice the sincerity in them – which makes this deceit hurt even more. He unclips the watch around his wrist and places it in his pocket so that he can reveal the skin underneath. “Look.”
Her heart pounds in her chest when she leans forward, a gasp escaping her lips when she sees that written in ink on his skin, clear as day, is the word ‘Fallon’.
It was what she had predicted– but to actually see it – was a whole other thing.
On instinct, her fingers go to trace across the name on his wrist. The pads of her fingers barely ghost over the skin, but that feeling of electricity bolts through her again the second she makes contact.
She knows by the way he shivers slightly that he felt it too.
“Can I see yours?” He asks, softly.
She almost concedes until the bitter feeling of his deceit clinging to her lungs begs to be felt.
There are questions which need answers to them yet.
Ignoring his request, she catches his gaze again before asking, “Why did you tell me your name is Liam?”
“Because it is. My full name Jack Liam Ridley Lowden, I changed it, legally, to just Liam Ridley to give me a clean slate, but professionally, everyone still knows me as Jack.”
“Why did you need a clean slate?” She asks, more forcefully than she planned.
“My family is a tremendous mess. I changed my name to get away from that.”
Granted – that was something she could sympathise with. However, that didn’t explain why he hadn’t bothered to tell her that the name on his wrist is her name.
“And this?” She asks, pointing to the tattoo. “It’s been weeks, Liam, why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I wanted to be sure that you were the Fallon. Do you know how many I’ve met up with over the years trying to find the right one? Every single one was a complete waste of time, even the Fallon who lives in London who has Liam on her wrist. We tried to make it work but we never clicked like soulmates are supposed to so after that I just gave up. And then I met you, by complete accident and I didn’t want to go making assumptions.”
“Accident? Well, my Mom seems to think that our meeting wasn’t an accident at all. That you’re publishing a tell-all book about me? About my family?”
He sighs.
“The book.” He looks down at the ground and because she can’t see his expression, for a moment she feels her heart break in the belief that although she is 100% sure that this man is her soulmate, he’s about to tell her that he’s been using her this whole time.
His dishonesty cuts through her like a knife, and it hurts.
But then he brings his gaze back up to meet hers and she sees that same look of hurt in his eyes she recognised earlier in the night, “The book isn’t about you. Or, your family.” She sees the hesitation in his clenched jaw before he continues, “It’s about mine.”
She’s so close to believing him, but there’s still a niggling of doubt in her mind, her Mom’s previous words echoing in her mind, “I don’t know of any powerful and wealthy Lowden’s.”
“No,” He concedes, “but you do probably know of the Van Kirks.”
Her eyebrows raise in surprise, “The Van Kirks? Of New York?”
“That’s the one.” He says, his voice laced with disdain.
“On your Mom’s side, right?”
“Yeah.” He replies, almost in a whisper.
Fallon finally gives in to her instincts which are telling her to trust every word he’s saying. Letting go of the tension in her shoulders, she looks down at the ground, her arms crossed, unable to look him in the eyes.
“God, I feel like such as idiot for believing my Mom.”
“Hey, hey, hey, no.” He takes her left hand in his which forces her to look back up at him, “This was my fault, you were right; I did lie to you. I shouldn’t have done that, I’m sorry. I promise it won’t happen again.”
And that was all it took for her to know that she was head over heels in love him.
“Liam…”
He distracts her slightly by turning over the hand he’s holding in his palm and he touches the clasp on her gold bracelet. “May I?”
She nods first, finding herself unable to speak before letting out a breathy, “Yeah.”
Liam unclips the latch, taking the bracelet off carefully to reveal the skin underneath, and there it was, for all the world to see. The name she had spent hours of her life staring at, wondering who the hell this mystery Jack was and if he would ever make an appearance in her life.
Now he’s here. He’s been here for weeks whilst she was pining for another man.
She feels like an idiot.
Liam rubs his thumb over the spot and the sensation makes her lose her breath a little. It’s charged and calming, all at the same time.
Most importantly, it feels right.
Neither of them feels the need to say anything in this intimate moment; their emotions, actions and heated looks are doing all of the talking for them.
But eventually, Liam is the first to break the silence. “So, do you want to go get that dinner now?”
She breathes out a laugh, thankful for his humour lightening the heavy moment.
“Sure,” He flashes her that smile which she’s sure has broken a dozen girls’ heart’s and begins to step towards the car, clearly intent on opening the door for her, but she takes advantage of their still joined hands to pull him back, “But not before I do this.”
She crashes her lips onto his and kisses him desperately. Although it catches Liam slightly off guard at first, he makes up for his hesitation quickly, his lips moving against hers greedily. His strong arms sweep across her sides and his palms settle against the small of her back, pulling her gently so that she’s flush against his front as if he has to have her closer.
Her fingers thread through his hair as he deepens the kiss and this feeling of warmth floods over her, pushing away the darkness, eliminating her insecurities. The fire that had been simmering under her skin was doused instantly the second Liam’s lips touched hers like he was the ice that could quell her fiery temper. The perfect balance.
She feels like she’s floating, like the man in her arms is her lifeline and she clutches onto him with all of her might, afraid that all of this is just a dream, that she’ll wake up alone. But Liam feels real, smells real, sounds real as she gently drags her fingertips down his neck, pulling a quiet moan of appreciation from his throat.
Her lungs are burning, her head dizzy, and she breaks the kiss for a second to remind herself to breathe. She presses her brow to his forehead, they’re both breathless - breathing heavily in the small space between them.
“I’m so glad I found you.” He tells her, his voice full of warmth.
“I think I’m in love you, Liam.” She blurts out, the words erupting from deep within her usually well-guarded heart, surprising herself slightly with her candour.
“Fallon Carrington,” He says, pulling back slightly so that he can look her in the eyes, “I know, I’m in love with you.”
A smile forces itself onto her face at his admission, “Okay, good.” She responds before capturing her soulmates lips again.