Chapter 16 Zipper Efficacy
zipper efficacy
Lorien
He winks.
I review the list only to realize the only thing he added that wasn’t rule-related was the one about sex. Does he mean with him?
My face flames red, and mortification claws up my gut. The man is always playing Chess, and I’m over here losing at Checkers.
I lift my gaze, my mouth dropping in indignation… Anything to not feel the humiliation of being busted when he freaking winks. Again.
Grrrr.
“We said no growling, didn’t we?” His voice is chipper and annoying. “Wow. A broken rule already.”
“There are no consequences set forth. This is a mulliford.” I lift my chin.
“Mulligan. And it’s offendee’s choice. I break your rule, you set the penalty. Since you broke mine, I need to think of what I want as payback.”
“This sucks.” I stare at him, willing him to break under my ire.
“It was your idea.” His stare down is much more effective.
“So?”
He out-and-out laughs at me.
Not with me. At. Me.
I growl again before throwing my hand over my face and walking away.
“That’s two more,” he yells as the drill whirls again.
I can’t go anywhere or do anything now. Walking away gets me who knows what? But staying guarantees I’ll screw up.
The growling thing was for him. How does he not get that? It wasn’t for me. I don’t growl. Gritting my teeth and making a noise isn’t anything like the feral noise he makes.
Offendee’s choice? Is offendee even a word? What will he choose? He won’t make me cook and clean, will he? Or wash and polish his car? Does he ever drive that thing?
He must. There’s no way he rides his motorcycle in the snow and ice.
Ooh, that gives me a great idea. When he breaks my rules, I’ll have him take my Accord.
It was a sensible choice when I graduated high school, and my dad was generous in giving it to me.
St. Louis winters weren’t too different from those in Peoria, overcast and gloomy.
The dreary gray was enough to make me want a tropical vacation, but ice was infrequent and there were alternatives to getting to school if I had to.
Who’s a badass, now, Liam Murphy? I can and will get more creative as time rolls on.
When I’ve hidden as long as I can, I return to find my front door closed and latched, with a new deadbolt and a new something else up top. My back door is ajar but has a hole I can see straight through where the lock used to be.
Did that man leave me here with the door wide open and my home this easy to break into? Not cool. I’m on my way to give him what-for when I see movement near my garage. The man in question examines the door from my outbuilding and frowns.
“What’s wrong?”
His head pops up before he stalks my way, getting into my space. “Ready for your punishment?”
What in the peanut butter balls is he talking about?
“No?”
“Are you asking me or telling me?”
“Telling?”
His chest brushes mine as he leans down, blocking the sunlight that streams around him. “Put on shoes. We need to run an errand.”
I shrug and head for my bedroom for shoes and to brush my hair. If this is what I get for breaking three—but really, only two count—rules, I can handle this. Bounding back to the kitchen, I grab my purse, but my keys are nowhere to be seen.
He locks my back door handle and the newly installed whatever that is on the top of the door and leads me to the front door. He opens it, allowing me to go first, and pulls the door behind me, pressing a button on the new deadbolt that whirls as it locks in place.
We finally make it to his garage where he jumps in the big black box of a vehicle, and we set off after he presses buttons on his phone.
“Where are we going?”
“Home Depot.”
“Oh. That’s… not what I expected.” I drop my sunglasses on my face. “As far as punishments for rule breaking, this is milder than I expected from you. I’ve been scheming what I’ll do when you break mine.”
“Ah, I see. Let’s hear it. What do you have in store for me?”
I shake my head. “Nope. I’m leaving that surprise for when it happens. I can’t wait.” My voice is too excited.
“Because you want me to insult you or overstep the boundaries you set?” He turns onto C470 heading north.
“Of course not. But you’re very growly and you tend to just stop conversations without stopping them, you know? They just”—I use my fingers to weave an odd shape—“dissolve into nothing. Like smoke.”
“And that irks you so bad you needed a rule about it?” His head tilts, and he speaks to the windshield.
“Well, yeah. Also, I didn’t know I was only going to get three. I may not have used that one if I’d known the rules upfront.”
“The rules about the rules. How meta.”
“You’re very chatty today.” I search through my purse for my phone, just realizing I must’ve left it at home. Oh well. If something happens, we have his. When did I become a we?
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Why Home Depot?”
“The door to your garage needs repair and a new lock. And we need keys.”
“Oh. It’s a weird punishment, you know.”
“Who said it was your punishment?”
My mouth opens and my eyes bulge. “Wait. It’s not?”
He grins. The eye with the piercing through his brow crinkles at the corner. Who is this man? The one who said “She likes Madonna” to a stranger mere days ago has winked at me at least twice today, and he’s being playful. No. Just no.
I can deal with a surly, ornery Liam Murphy.
But a playful one? I have no shield against that.
I wasn’t lying when I said he was the full package.
If he flirts with me, I’ll fall. I’ll fall fatally and be crushed under the weight of my own broken heart when he reminds me that I’m not his type, that he doesn’t want that kind of thing, at least with me, when he leaves because he no longer needs this little arrangement.
Liam
Somewhere before we exited the highway on Quincy, Lorien curls in on herself.
I don’t know if she even knows she did it, but her shoulders slumped, she hollowed out her chest, and she curled toward the window. Slight movements compounding into something unmistakable.
I saw the same in my sister, more so in the last two years than the rest of her life combined, as things were too big, too scary, too unmanageable surrounding her. Cian and I would see it when no one else was around… her closing in on herself.
Self-protection.
Fuck.
“Where’d you go?”
“What?” Her voice is false cheer and fake, fake, fake. “I’m right here. I must’ve zoned out.”
I throw the car in park and turn to her. “New rule. No lying.”
Her shoulders roll back. “You can’t just add new rules. And I’m not lying.”
“I just did, and that’s another lie.”
“Then I get to add a rule too.” She juts her chin forward.
“Sure. What is it?”
“I don’t know yet. I reserve the right to add it later, though.” She reaches for her door handle, but I reach across her to keep it closed. No small feat in a vehicle of this size.
Her eyes go wide.
“Only if you tell me the truth now.” My face is dangerously close, and no shit, Lorien drops her eyes to my mouth and licks her full, pouty lips.
Fuck me. I close my eyes, will the blood to divert from my swelling dick, and pull back into my seat, yanking open my car door. “Let’s go, little liar. We need keys.”
I stroll inside, making sure she’s out of the path of the parking lot traffic, and head for the door hardware as she makes a right at ceiling fans and overhead lighting.
Space is good. Space is fucking great, actually.
Today has been too much. From the breakfast that never was through now, I’ve spent all day with a woman who is my exact opposite, and who, much to my surprise, I’ve enjoyed my time with. Mostly.
Convenient on the marriage front.
Terrible for my self-control.
Come to think of it, I’ve never needed self-control. It seems I actually need it in spades.
I grab what I need from hardware, stopping when a brainwave hits me to place a quick order on , before making my way past nuts and bolts to find the woman who tests my patience and the effectiveness of my zipper.
A thought occurs to me, one beyond zipper efficacy, and I shake my head, even to myself.
I’m going to catch hell for what I’m about to do.