Chapter 3 #3
Sticking my head back into the sand again sounds amazing, but with my cheeks heating and my boss standing next to me, all I can do is apologize. Profusely. “I’m so sorry!”
He waves me off with a grin. “Don’t apologize again. Elaine said you’re just starting today, so we’ll cut you some slack.”
I open my mouth to thank them for being so understanding, but the bells above the door jingle and I whirl toward it with my heart in my throat, my back stiffening immediately.
Liam walks in carrying Gizmo, and my heart starts beating again—
At seeing Gizmo’s tiny little face.
Definitely not at seeing Liam’s…
The way butterflies taking flight in my stomach aren’t because of the grin that pulls at his lips as he approaches with my dog. It’s merely residual nerves from spending the day here, constantly looking over my shoulder.
I force myself to move away from the table, leaving Elaine to deal with the customers as I approach. “Hi.”
God, that sounded stupid.
Yet, even though I must look a complete mess, my hair falling from the messy bun I threw it into earlier, my clothes stained with the various items I’ve spilled all over myself, that grin of his widens. “Hi. I see you’re still working, so I’ll just hang out until you’re done.”
“Oh, are you sure?” I glance at the clock hanging above the window to the kitchen behind the counter. We’ll be closing in fifteen minutes, but Liam has already done enough. Making him sit and wait for me to finish doesn’t feel right. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?”
He shakes his head and wanders over to settle in the same booth he was in this morning. “One thing you’ll learn about McBride Mountain is no one’s ever in a rush to go anywhere.”
I can’t help the smile that tugs at my lips. “That sounds nice, actually.”
My entire life has been spent moving from one place to another, never staying anywhere long enough to form any real connections, rushing to find somewhere better, somewhere safer.
The ease with which Liam said those words proves he means them, and somehow, the thought of there being somewhere like McBride Mountain sounds like a fantasy. A wonderful one that can’t possibly be true.
Because there’s always a catch.
Liam sets Gizmo down next to him on the bench seat of the booth, and he curls up, pressing his back against the thigh of the man he met less than twenty-four hours ago but has somehow bonded with already.
Little traitor…
He’s never taken to anyone like this before, and certainly not to a man.
“Was he any trouble?”
Liam chuckles and rubs Giz’s back absently. “Not at all, though you were right about him not liking men.”
“Was I?”
Oh, God…
Liam just grins again, chuckling softly to himself. “He wasn’t too fond of my older brother.”
Acid crawls up my throat, and I choke it back along with the rising panic. “What did he do?”
If he bit someone, that is going to get local law enforcement involved…
My stomach churns violently, and I glance toward the front of the diner, watching the door before Liam’s chuckle draws my attention back to him.
“Don’t worry.” He waves me off dismissively. “Just a little growl of warning. Killian was smart enough to get his hand away before he bit.”
“I don’t know what it is.” I shake my head, watching how serenely he naps next to this stranger when he’s typically a snarling, growling little menace around almost men.
Though, he likely feeds off my energy, and he knows what I need from him when I need it.
“He’s just always kind of been my protector… ”
Liam’s gaze softens as it zeroes in on me, but something else lies in the evergreen depths. Something that looks an awful lot like resolve. “What do you need protecting from, Lucky?”
You.
I said too much.
And he sees too much.
This is why I shouldn’t have stayed. This is why Liam McBride and McBride Mountain are dangerous, maybe even more so than the reason I’m in this town in the first place.
I plaster on a smile I’ve perfected over the years—one that has convinced countless foster parents, social workers, police officers, and anyone else I needed it to that everything was fine. “Nothing. Everything’s great. Do you want anything while you wait?”
He eyes me speculatively, as if he can see through my fake response as easily as a fish moves through clear water. But he eventually shakes his head. “I’m good waiting. It’s almost closing time, anyway.”
The breath of relief I release at the end to his questioning rushes out of me before I can pull it back. “Yeah, okay.”
“Do you…have somewhere to stay tonight?”
He looks as uncomfortable asking the question as I am hearing it, and I shift on my feet, glancing around the diner at anything but him.
“Uh, yeah, actually.” I force myself to meet his gaze again. “Elaine says that she has an empty apartment above her garage.”
Liam’s eyebrows rise. “She’s going to let you stay there?”
I nod, chewing on my bottom lip, an old habit I haven’t been able to break no matter how hard I try. “Yeah, just until I move on. You know, it’s only a handful of blocks away so I can walk there and back.” I shrug. “It’s convenient, and she isn’t going to charge me.”
He glances down at Gizmo, continuing to smooth his hand over his short fur. “I’m glad you’re going to be staying long enough to need somewhere to stay.”
Warmth floods my chest with his words, and I have to clear my throat to remove the emotion suddenly lodged there.
But I can’t bring myself to respond, even when Liam finally looks up at me again and I see the heat in his gaze and how genuine his words were. Before I can say or do something stupid, like actually consider staying longer, the bells above the door ring, reminding me of my reality.
I spin toward it, and my breath catches at the familiar star on the uniform of the man who walks in, chatting with someone on his cell phone. He waves at Elaine behind the counter, his attention focused that direction rather than our corner of the diner.
Swallowing thickly, forcing myself to breathe, I casually make my way back to the kitchen, hoping he doesn’t get a good look at me.