Chapter 10
Fast Dry Nail Polish
Glittering Snow
Heavy Bags
Boxing
Liam’s Eyes
Privacy
Ishould have just showered at Nora’s, but I was in worse physical shape than I had originally thought.
That workout had kicked my ass. Sweat dripped down my spine, coated my forehead, and made my neck slick.
I needed to rinse off before I did anything else, and since I had brought extra clothes, it didn’t seem like a big deal to check out the locker room.
The setup was interesting.
The women’s locker room was within view of the main gym just slightly, but there was a small wall you had to walk behind to get to it.
Since I hadn’t seen a single woman in the two times I had been here, I was fairly confident that I would have the room to myself.
Sure enough, the space was empty, the showers dry as if no one had been in.
I set my duffel down on the bench and stripped out of my shirt and leggings, pulling off my socks and replacing them with shower shoes.
I was bent over, digging out my small toiletries bag, when I felt two hands skim over the globes of my ass. Then the air whooshed out of me as I was pulled against a firm chest, and hot air hit my ear.
“I shouldn’t be in here.”
Liam.
Lifting my hand, I wrapped it around his neck so that I was flush against his chest. My eyes fluttered closed as his strong fingers moved over my stomach and down along my hips. He touched the strap along my hip until he dipped under, the pad of his finger rubbing the sensitive skin there.
“Fuck,” he whispered harshly against my throat as he spun me and pushed me up against the row of lockers.
Those silver eyes held something in them I had never seen before on another man—at least not on one that had ever looked at me.
There were unspoken words, confessions, and the hint of something dangerous.
Like he was ready to claim and own things he had no business considering. Like me, or my heart.
But he was holding back, and that was probably good because we weren’t thinking clearly. We were worked up. He’d already said he shouldn’t be here.
Caging me in, his hands moved to the row of lockers behind me.
Searching my features, he waited, his face impossibly close, until he lifted his right hand and cradled my jaw.
Indecision stalled his fingers on my jaw and had his eyes flitting over my face, so wary and unsure that I nearly pulled away.
But then his lips were on mine, soft and tentative, like he was giving me a chance to stop it.
I threaded my fingers through the hair at the base of his neck and tilted my head to the side to force our connection deeper.
I wanted more of him, and on the surface, I understood how stupid of an idea it was. Still, I craved him.
He let out a guttural sound that felt rough and tortured, which had him moving closer.
A rough palm landed on my ass, sliding over the cheek until he gripped the back of my thigh and lifted.
My other leg followed suit until I was completely wrapped around him.
Pulling me away from the lockers, he walked with me, marking my neck with open-mouthed kisses, his tongue working along my pulse at my throat and then he was going lower, kissing along my cleavage.
“Liam,” I breathed, needing more.
Needing a bigger piece of him to keep inside so no one would ever see.
Pulling back to see me, his chest heaved as he searched my face. His mouth parted, like he was about to say something, when there was a loud shout from the door of the locker room.
“Haley, you in here?”
My eyes went wide as I processed that my brother was calling for me.
Liam’s mirrored mine, but then his expression shuttered as he muttered a curse.
I wanted to tell him to keep me against him, to not let me go.
We could hide in here. No one would know.
I needed more of his kisses, his touch. I wanted to know what he was about to say.
But none of that was going to happen. His arms loosened around me, and I gently slid down his frame until my feet were back on the ground.
Suddenly cold, I crossed my arms and stepped back. Then, remembering Cole, I yelled back.
“Yeah, almost done!”
Liam ran a hand through his hair, skewing it as he paced the floor.
There was another echoing yell from the entrance. “No rush, but Jeffery Akers texted, asking if you were free this afternoon to help down at the Community Center. He said you weren’t answering your texts, and I guess he was worried. I remembered Liam saying you would be here…”
My face flushed.
Liam’s jaw clenched tight, and I wanted the floor to swallow me up.
“Can we talk about it when I get out?” I yelled back.
Colson replied with something vague and then it was quiet in the locker room again.
I stared at the floor, unsure how to move forward from the awkwardness of what had just happened. I wanted to go back in time, back to when I had Liam’s gunmetal eyes on mine. Back to when he touched me.
He wasn’t looking at me, but the muscle in his jaw hadn’t stopped jumping, whatever that meant. Without any words, the silence stretched and ate up all the space, scorching all the possibilities of what might have come out of this.
I didn’t want to wait anymore, so I moved. Walking past him, I grabbed my duffel and pulled out my clean clothes—a tank top and shorts. Right, this had been the gym bag that I used in California, where it was warm. It was going to suck walking to the car.
I pulled on the shorts, ignoring the tall giant at my back who was still smoldering, hands on his hips, chest moving up and down in silence. I stood there, watching out of the corner of my eye as he glanced over once, twice…a third time.
I had one foot up on the bench, about to tie my shoe, when he finally sat on the bench next to me and tugged my foot into his lap.
I lifted at the waist, watching as he took over tying my laces. His chin dipped to his chest as he gently held my ankle, then he set it down and reached for my other foot.
I was being stubborn.
If he wanted my foot then he could give me a few words. I waited; he didn’t move.
Finally, his head tipped back, his eyes landed on me, and my heart lurched.
“Give me your foot.”
For some stupid reason, my eyes nearly watered.
There was something in his gaze that I wanted to hold onto, but it was still so guarded that I knew I wouldn’t.
I needed something sure. I hated that I was wired this way.
I couldn’t do casual, not with the way our arrangement had been set up.
I hated that I wanted him, that my stupid heart had chosen him, of all people, to be obsessed with.
He was my estranged brother’s best friend, my trainer, my boss—in a strange way—and twelve years older than me. All the flags waving in my face were red, and yet, I couldn’t help but brush them aside for one more glance at his wide jaw and blazing silver eyes.
I knew deep down that this response was dangerous.
It was a silent scream, an echo in an empty room.
A yawning opening in my chest, a cavity created for this feeling that had begun to unfurl from the moment Liam touched me this afternoon.
Like smelling something sweet then finally tasting it on your tongue, and the realization that your senses hadn’t led you astray.
“What are we doing, Liam?”
His hand moved up, along the back of my thigh.
The light from the tall windows above the lockers shone in; the safety lights had turned off from lack of movement and he just sat there in front of me looking like the legend they spoke of, but my stupid heart reached with greedy hands and tugged the expression on his face in and decided it was mine now.
“We’re getting your shoe on and then we’re going to talk about you walking the girls home from the bus this afternoon. Then, we can talk about you sleeping in my bed tonight.”
The wings fluttering in my chest took a nosedive and swooped into my belly, they must have caught fire first because now it burned.
It hurt. I could feel that Liam regretted this.
I didn’t like being around people when my gut told me they didn’t want me.
Liam might sexually be attracted to me but he’d dropped me and walked away when Colson yelled and he only walked back once Jeffery was mentioned.
My gut wasn’t wrong when it came to people and Liam may want me in his bed but that didn’t mean he’d ever let me into his heart.
So, I lifted my other foot and watched in silence as Liam gently held my shoe, tying the laces nice and tight.
Once he was done, he set it down and looked up at me again.
I took the opportunity to step back and cross my arms over my chest. I had no idea why I was acting like this, except that this feeling in my gut wouldn’t go away.
He stood, and then his fingers were gently griping my chin, forcing my eyes on his.
“We’ll talk later?”
I nodded, and then he was gone, walking out of the locker room. I had no idea if Colson would see him or not, but my mind played back the way Liam looked like he was ready to spit fire when Jeffery’s name was mentioned.
I was young, but I was old enough to recognize jealousy when I saw it, and I wasn’t going to be playing any games where the guy I was developing feelings for seemed to respond to me only when another guy was in the picture.
I made a deal with Liam, and I had every intention of sticking to it, but I would do so with my heart intact.
To do that, I’d have to stop whatever this was and make sure it didn’t happen again.