Chapter 20 – Gabriella
The purr of an engine had me looking up from the pot. Steam billowed from the sink, but through the misty rush, I spotted a black Jaguar pulling through the front gate.
A shiver vibrated down my spine.
Excitement made my breath hitch.
Liam was home.
I quickly tossed a drop of olive oil in the pasta before taking it and the grilled chicken skillet to the dining room table. I was able to rush back for a second paper plate and plastic table setting before the garage door opened.
“Liam! Hi,” I breathed, skidding to a stop next to the island. I held up his plate in explanation. “I wasn’t expecting you home, or I’d have your spot set.”
He looked at me. Really looked. My heart thumped against my ribs. He was finally home, and that thought made me feel…funny.
But he didn’t have the same reaction. Fidgeting under his gaze, I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth and chewed, careful not to smile like a dopey teen.
Whatever he saw made him frown. “I’m not hungry.”
Those three little words hung in the air. I wasn’t prepared for how much they would hurt.
“Well, I didn’t have to cook for you,” I sniped and dropped the extra dishes on the island.
Turning on my heel, I marched back into the dining room.
I liked this space. The tiny lights from the chandelier flickered over the glossy wood table like a dark pool.
The walls were trimmed with the same deep shade of rusty brown.
There was green wallpaper from the ceiling down to where the trim created patterns on the wall to the floor.
It felt like something out of a great manor home.
Like dining in a castle of old. That was why I ate in here instead of the breakfast nook in the kitchen.
The door swayed open. The room seemed to shrink, the oxygen sucked out by the lights struggling to keep the darkness away.
Ignoring the beast’s glower, I began to scoop food on my plate.
Liam watched from his post at the swinging door. Those grey-blue eyes stared at me, searching for something.
“It smells good.”
I looked up. “It is.” And then, because I was a glutton for punishment, I added sharply, “Do you know the trouble I went to for this?”
I wished I could push rewind. Take back the words. But the hurt made me lash out.
Liam stepped forward. The door fell closed behind him, entombing me in the dining room with the Irish devil. “I didn’t ask you to.”
“Don’t worry. I never make the same mistake twice,” I huffed.
Tension crackled through the room.
“Why don’t you cry to someone else about it?”
The jab confused me. Who would I cry to? No one listened to me. I was in this alone.
“Fine, see if I steal, shop, or cook for you again,” I bit out, bitterness making me once more careless with my words.
Liam’s hand shot out and snatched the fork from my fingers. “Steal?”
Merda.
There was no taking the comment back. A damn shame too, since I’d laid the trap so nicely with the priest. No matter, I would find another juicy tidbit to drop and see if the Man of God told the mobster my confessed sins.
I tipped my head up. “We needed groceries. I acquired the money to buy them.”
The monster loomed over me. The temptation to pluck the mask off his face, to see the beast behind the plastic, was strong.
“When you need something, you ask me.” Liam’s words were a bite against my skin. A shiver raced down my spine. “I provide for you.”
Since I wasn’t going to show him how uncomfortable I was, I laughed roughly.
He didn’t take the mockery well. Those death-stained fingers cinched around my wrist.
“Am I that evil?” Liam snarled. “You won’t come to me for basics like food?”
“Honestly, the theft was easier.”
He released me as if I’d burnt him. “Jaysus, you’re…you’re something.”
Stabbing at the spaghetti and giving the strands a vicious twist, I shrugged. “What’s the point?”
“Come again?”
I glared at him, food suspended between us. When did he move so close? Don’t look at his mouth…don’t do it. “What’s the point of asking you for groceries, if you won’t eat the food I make us?”
His tongue darted out to wet his lips.
Warmth bloomed deep inside my body.
His voice dropped an octave. The sound was husky and rough against my ears. “I’m not around much.”
Right before I gave into the magnetic pull, Liam straightened, moving away.
“Don’t go to trouble on my account, cailín.” With that parting shot, he strode out of the dining room.
I grumbled, “Noted.”
It’d been an incredibly lonely day. Despite Tuesdays being my favorite, there was nothing else to fill the long hours after the walk.
If I was being honest, I’d hoped he would come home for dinner, just so that I didn’t have to eat alone.
After living with nine sisters, and working in a bustling restaurant, the quiet was maddening.
Re-twisting the pasta onto my fork, I ate. The warm food was ashen on my tongue. I nearly choked, too full of emotion to swallow properly.
I will not cry.
Liam wasn’t worth a tear. But maybe…maybe the tears were for me.
The far door, the one that led to the hall, banged open. Liam strode through, looking like a predator out on the hunt. I tensed as he marched straight for me.
“Here.” He slapped three thick stacks of bills on the table beside my plate. “Will that cover the groceries?”
The fork dropped from my fingers. It clattered on the table, pasta strands unraveling everywhere. I’d never seen so much money in my life.
With a growl, he disappeared into the kitchen.
The door swung back and forth, swooshing air in a whisper. “Money. Money. Money,” it seemed to urge.
I reached out, ran the tip of my finger over the first stack. They were all hundred-dollar bills. Even with buying regular food, not cheapening out to make the meals last, this could feed two people for years.
There was only one word fluttering in my mind: Escape. Escape. Escape.
The door crashed open again. This time, I jumped.
Liam didn’t look at me as he slammed his paper plate, fork, and tumbler of whiskey on the seat next to mine. Not at the head of the table. The seat right next to mine. On my right…so I stared in shock at this untarnished profile.
He ground his molars as he scooped out noodles, committing the sin of tossing the meat directly onto the spaghetti. It was supposed to be the second course, simple though it was. I bit my tongue to keep from smirking.
“What?” he snapped, snagging the booze.
“Nothing.” I gulped and turned to my food. “Nothing at all.”
We ate in complete silence.
It wasn’t a lonely sound. Oh, dio sopra no! Whatever energy crackled between us was near combusting. It was all that I could do to feed myself, the repetitive motion taking what little air was sent to my brain.
I mechanically twisted the last bit of pasta before reaching for the meat dish.
His hot blue gaze licked across my skin.
Sliding the side of my fork through the lemon-sauced chicken, I peeped at the figure on my right. He offered me the tumbler. The edge was wet where his mouth had marked it.
Setting down the fork, I took it. I didn’t drop his gaze as I twisted the cut glass to the side, putting my lips where his had been.
Liam swallowed hard.
A rich, oaky burn slid down my throat. It made my blood race.
Taking the glass back, the monster twisted it back to the same place, downing the whole glass. Then his tongue darted out to lick the last drop.
The place between my legs pulsed.
Liam took a second helping of food, mixing the protein with the carbs.
He shot me a glance, but I didn’t make a sound—even with the egregious sin.
Whatever this thing was, this thing where we didn’t speak but said a lot, it seemed to equally agitate him.
He couldn’t leave the table fast enough after shoveling the rest of the dinner down his throat.
I dropped my head into my hands, the inner goddess—and her million sensual ideas—screaming at me for missing the opportunity. But I wasn’t used to her preening demands. How was I supposed to close the distance? Offer myself to the monster? What if….
What if he refused?
I cleared the table, did the dishes, and tried to bank the smoldering fire that burned deep in my belly. It was no good. I knew what I wanted—who I wanted.
“I don’t know why,” I muttered. “He’s such a crab ass.”
Returning to the dining room with the wet dish rag, I stopped short.
The strange attraction to my husband fizzled out as I stared at the money.
That was my freedom. Right there. Staring back at me.
The bone-deep weariness created by the long hours of wondering if I would ever make enough money seemed to slough off.
Excitement began to beat in my chest.
I could run…just as soon as I figured out how to make it happen.
Scooping up the money, I took it to the kitchen and hid it in the back of the cabinet on the central island.
Unless someone was looking, they wouldn’t find it.
Tomorrow, I would fill this kitchen with proper items, including Tupperware, which was where I would better hide the cash.
If the kitchen was full, there was less chance someone would stumble upon the treasure.
Plus, if Liam saw the domestic side of me, he might be more likely to lower his guard.
Wishful thinking….
***
I ventured into the cozy living room a half hour later with a cup of tea and the newest thriller. The lamp behind the couch was already on, inviting me inside. But a small movement in the corner made me freeze. Liam snapped his head up, his computer sliding down his lap before he caught it.
“Sorry, I uh—” I gestured around. “I thought you would be in your office.”
Liam shook his head. “This chair is more comfortable.”