After All This Time: Breaking Point Read online

  After All This Time

  Breaking Point

  Brittainy Brown

  BB Romance

  Contents

  After All This Time:

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  Book Description

  1. Breaking The Rule

  2. A Surprise Or A Mistake?

  3. When Doubts Set In

  4. Reading The Signs

  5. A Cookie Of Frustration

  6. With The Shrink

  7. Reaching Out

  8. Hot And Cold

  9. The Confrontation

  10. The Breakup

  11. Dealing With It

  12. A Moment To Reflect

  13. Setting The Rules

  14. A Friend To Have

  15. A Lesson For Liam

  16. Day 2-Nemesis

  17. To-Do List

  18. He Came Through

  19. The Message

  20. The Guilt And The Drama

  21. The Plan

  22. Double-Work For Daisy

  23. A Trip To Clarity

  24. Daisy Decides

  25. It Begins

  26. A Surprise For Emily

  27. The Resolution

  28. The Wish

  29. Truth Or Dare

  30. A Step Further

  31. A Bag Of Surprise

  32. Love Comes Around

  Thank you

  Intro to Book Two

  A Surprise For Emily

  Overdoing It

  Other Books by Author

  After All This Time:

  Breaking Point

  By

  Brittainy Brown

  Copyright @ 2018 Brittainy Brown

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  For permission requests, write to [email protected]

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  Book Description

  The world is great when love is perfect. . .

  Young and successful, Emily Larry and Liam Benjamin are having the time of their lives – finally. They plan to take their passion to paradise with a romantic beach vacation at the Outer Banks. So, when the usually-attentive Liam suddenly pulls back and doesn’t say why, Emily starts to wonder. Both Liam and Emily emerged from bad relationships, so she knows the signs all too well when something isn’t quite right.

  Liam Benjamin has a secret and he cannot share it. It’s killing him that the woman of his dreams is doubting him, but he just can’t bring himself to tell her what is going on. When she says she is going to walk away, he can’t blame her; she’s been betrayed before. He has to go after her and explain to her it’s not that.

  And he knows just where to find her.

  Emily takes their planned vacation alone after saying goodbye. Liam shows up too. After all, he paid for half. Can being in the same house force the two to finally admit they are in love and that they have the best thing going? Or has Liam tested the bounds of Emily’s trust to breaking point?

  Breaking The Rule

  The yellow rising sun filled the sky with a mighty power of red, spreading its endless rays of pink across the horizon.

  Liam had been waiting for her in his car but she wasn’t coming out.

  “Baby! It’s breakfast, not a party

  ! Will you hurry up!” He shouted, even though he knew she couldn’t hear him. The only way to hasten her was to keep honking the car’s horn.

  Emily chuckled as the horn blasted for the hundredth time that morning.

  “I’m coming!” She shouted at the top of her voice, as she quickly picked her bag and rushed out of the house.

  “Sorry baby! I didn’t mean to keep you waiting.” She said as she got into the car.

  Liam was quiet, he pretended to be angry, there was one thing she would always do which he wanted her to do.

  Emily laughed as he kept mute. “Are you angry babe?”

  He said nothing, so she had to lean closer to him. She kissed him on the cheek, then the neck and then finally settled for his earlobe, which she nibbled teasingly. She knew he could never keep up the act with what she’d just done.

  “You are so naughty, you know that?” He said with a chuckle, now pulling her closer to kiss her fully on the lips.

  “You’ll spoil my lipstick like that Liam!” She cried out, trying to pull away.

  “I know you have it in your bag.” He replied, as he bent to kiss her neck, inhaling her scent. “My God, you smell like chocolate. I feel like eating you right now.” He said, holding her close and planting several kisses on her face, before finally releasing her.

  Emily sat down comfortably, dipping a hand in her bag, and brought out a red lipstick which she began to apply generously to her lips while he started the car. Some minutes later, they were sitting outside their favorite restaurant, eating their breakfast.

  Coming to Lyn’s restaurant has always given Emily a beautiful feeling. It was, after all, the place she had run into Liam a few months back after they had lost contact for many years.

  They had been friends at Kingston’s college, but not only that; Liam had been her crush for many years and even though they were in a relationship now, she had never told him.

  She looked up slightly as his eyes were fixed on the newspaper in his lap. He was unaware of his audience… she smiled. Each time he wasn’t looking she would take time to study him, and each time she would pinch herself to be sure that she wasn’t dreaming. Liam had been the source of her happiness lately, with his perfect jawline, Roman nose and dirty blonde hair, and she still couldn’t believe they were officially a couple after being friends for more than five years. Everything was going perfectly between them. He had gotten his job back at a business firm while she just got promoted at her place of work – a media house. She had been craving the position of an editor for months and a few weeks after starting a relationship with Liam, everything just clicked. He was her good luck charm.

  Liam caught her looking at him and he smiled, reaching across to hold her hand so their hands were both joined on the table as he stroked the back of her palm with his thumb.

  “I caught you looking at me….” He started. “Care to tell me what’s on your mind, or were you just trying to undress me with your eyes?”

  Emily blushed, leaning forward to rest her body against the table carefully.

  “Well, I’m still finding it difficult to believe that we’re a couple.” She replied.

  He smiled, now holding her hand to his lips.

  “So am I.” He replied, before kissing the back of her hand. “Seriously, I don’t know why you agreed to go out with me that day. I mean, I was really lucky to have come back here and met you while you were single. What happened to the eyes of the bachelors around this place? Were they blind all this while?”

  Emily laughed. “Maybe they were just letting me be so that you could have me when you came around.”

  “Well, if that is the case, then I am so lucky to have you, dearest.” He said, bringing her hand to his lips and kissed it tenderly.

  “I’m also surprised that all those beautiful ladies that used to fall over themselves at Kingston way back when, finally decided to let you be. I mean, who would have thought that you wouldn’t end up marrying Keis
ha. You remember her right?”

  Liam smiled. He remembered the girl in their class then who had been obviously obsessed with him. Everyone had thought she was sick or had mental issues, it turned out that she was just crazily in love with the school football team’s captain.

  “I am so glad you’re finally mine, Liam,” Emily replied almost in a whisper, but loud enough for him to hear despite the noise around.

  Liam sighed, now placing both their hands on the table. He loved it each time she said that. He was incredibly proud of her and he knew he was definitely lucky to have someone like her. After his last heartbreak, he didn’t think he could have this kind of feeling for anyone again. Now they were both looking at each other without saying a word, yet they kept smiling. Unable to keep still he leaned forward to kiss her, he knew he shouldn’t do it, especially since she wasn’t the type who loved a public display of affection but he couldn’t stop himself, she was looking so beautiful and he just had to.

  While their lips touched again for what was probably the hundredth time since they met that morning, Emily was assured that each kiss would be like the first time. Even though she never liked public affection, with him, it was irresistible.

  Every time their lips touched like this, for Liam, all the worries of the day would evaporate into the thin air like a cold shower onto a hot car. His usual way of rushing to the next thing was suspended as he always wished for the kiss to continue. He was clearly drunk on her love as his only desire all the time was to touch her and move his hands over her layers of voluminous brown hair…

  “Ewww, you two should get a room!” One of the passers-by shouted at them and Emily was the first to break away as she chuckled, using her thumb to wipe away the lipstick that was now on his lips. He had expected that but he was quite surprised she actually waited that long before breaking away.

  “You are getting used to this babe, I love that.” He said, now tending to his coffee which was now getting cold.

  “Do I have a choice?” She teased. It wasn’t her fault she didn’t like kissing publicly, in fact, it used to be one of her favorite things but ever since Charles… she stopped as she realized she was about to start thinking about Charles again, she had to let him go, she was happy and in love, she wasn’t going to let that idiot mess it up for her again.

  “Do you remember the first time we met here?” She asked Liam.

  “Definitely. You acted as if you didn’t know who I was.” Liam replied.

  “No, I was just trying not to bring any attention to myself,” Emily replied, now regretting having come up with that question. There were lots of things she didn’t want to bring up with him.

  “You looked like you had just been bitten by the rain.” Liam continued, laughing.

  Emily sighed as she tried not to think of that day. It was one of the moments when she was battling with so many things emotionally and Liam had been her knight in a shining armor like people would always say.

  “So, do we have any other plans for today?” She asked, desperate to change the topic. “Liam?” She asked, calling his name, but he clearly wasn’t paying attention to her anymore. He seemed to be looking at something. The mug on the table was blocking her from seeing what it was, so she reached across to push it aside and her face fell as she realized he had broken their ‘no-phone’ code. The muscles in his face tightened as he got engrossed in whatever he was reading.

  Emily leaned back and was quiet. He had broken their one code. The only reason why they usually come here apart from being the place they had reconnected was for each to be able to give their undivided attention to the other and not be distracted by the outside world. They had both read the dangers phones can bring to a relationship, especially when there are no rules attached, thus they had maintained that code for the four months of their relationship. Seeing him break it now was creating some unwanted feelings in her, but the only thing she could do was to be quiet and see what his reaction would be.

  She thought of reaching out to snatch the phone from him and keep it in her bag but she kicked against the idea as she noticed the expression on his face.

  For a while he didn’t say anything, she noticed his face changed and quietly, he put the phone back into his pocket and the signalled to the waitress who was holding a jug of hot coffee while attending to other customers.

  “Please, I’ll need another cup of coffee.”

  The waitress nodded with a smile and poured more coffee for him.

  “What about you ma’am?” The lady asked Emily, who shook her head.

  Emily watched as he lifted the coffee to his lips. The man she had fallen in love with, would always wait for his coffee to get cooler before sipping it, and seeing him raise the coffee to his lips made her realize something was actually wrong. Without hesitating, she gulped down her remaining coffee.

  “Sorry, I think I will need another.” She called out to the waitress.

  A Surprise Or A Mistake?

  For a while, neither of them spoke and it was killing her inside. She needed Liam to at least say something, even if he wasn’t going to apologize for breaking their code.

  He didn’t look like he was going to do that so she decided to test him to find out if everything was actually fine. She placed her hand on the table so that it was just a few inches away from Liam’s, she knew him for one thing, if her hand was close to his, he would always cover it with his or even take it to his lips to kiss it playfully and unconsciously, it was one thing she was certain of. She had tried this many times, anytime something was off between them, and it had always worked.

  She placed her hand on the table for a while, her heart beating faster as she hoped he would do what he had always done… finally, Liam leaned back, taking his hands off the table. She shut her eyes in disappointment, she was correct, something wasn’t right. “What is it, Liam?”

  He looked at her, surprised.

  “What is it babe?”

  “Is everything okay?” She asked.

  “Sure babe, everything is fine, why would you think it wasn’t?” He asked, giving her a half smile. She remembered that half smile. Two months ago, he had lost his previous job. He hadn’t told her about that when she asked if he was okay, he had said the same thing “Sure babe, everything is fine, why would you think that.” Followed by that half smile and the next day, he had told her the truth.

  Emily sighed, she hated it when he acted like this but hopefully he would tell her later.

  * * *

  Liam was disturbed and he was trying his best to hide it. He knew he shouldn’t have broken the code but he hadn’t even planned on breaking any code. He had just wanted to check the time when he got a Facebook notification. Someone shared a picture of Kate in her wedding gown and beside her was her husband. She got married today. He knew it shouldn’t have affected him but it did. All of a sudden his palms got sweaty and he was finding it difficult to sit still.

  Kate was his Ex, and he was having the time of his life with Emily, why was he trying to mess it up for no reason?

  Actually, he wasn’t trying to mess anything up. This was a woman who had left him at the altar. That cold-blooded human being who has also blocked him on Facebook without any good reason!

  “Baby, are you sure you’re okay?” Emily asked him for the third time, and he did what he knew how to do best. He flashed her a smile and nodded.

  He wasn’t going to let this affect his relationship. Kate was his past, Emily his present and possibly his future. She was everything he had always wanted, everything Kate couldn’t be and every day of his life, he was happy to have someone like her. So what was wrong with him? Why was he feeling so nervous about his ex getting married when he clearly had no feelings for?

  “Get it together Liam! Get it together!” A voice in his head said. He knew that not getting it together right now would mean Emily getting suspicious and he wasn’t ready to spoil things between them.

  * * *

  The day dragged slowly,
the two were no longer conversing as they had been earlier. Emily felt bad as she had no idea if she had said something or he had found out something about her and wasn’t saying anything. She felt like asking him again but she had learned one thing in her past relationship, and that was to never push a man or nag, she wasn’t ready to start feeling guilty for something she didn’t do. She thought of making him realize he had broken their code, but she fought against that too. The more she tried to raise a conversation, the more she felt like he was trying to put an end to it with his one-word replies.

  “The morning is really beautiful isn’t it?”

  “Yea.” He replied absentmindedly.

  “Would you like to order for some food?”

  “No.”

  “Are you not hungry?”

  “No.”

  At last, she gave up.

  She wasn’t going to let this ruin her day, she was quite sure that once they left the cafe they would be going back to her place and probably after some passionate love making, he would eventually ‘spill the beans.’ At this thought, she felt a bit better and she began to count down the time to 11:00 which still seemed like thirty minutes away. “Babe, I’m sorry, I’ll have to catch up with you later,” Liam said, standing up and donning his jacket which had been hanging against his chair.