Chapter 10
Sophie woke to warmth, the kind that settled deep in her bones, cocooning her in soft heat. It was nice. Too nice. Her mattress had never felt this solid, her pillow had never breathed.
Her eyes fluttered open, and the realization hit her.
Liam.
They were tangled together like a pair of kittens, limbs entwined, his arm heavy across her waist, her face pressed into his chest, and her leg was hooked over his hip.
She laughed and gasped at the same time.
Liam stirred, his grip instinctively tightening for a moment before he blinked blearily at her. Then his own sleepy chuckle rumbled. “Well, good morning to you, too.”
Sophie wriggled, attempting to extricate herself. “We’re a disaster.”
“Aye, but a very comfortable one.”
Very comfortable indeed. Sophie remembered always sleeping well sharing a bed with Liam but now, being a woman of forty-two, she appreciated a good night’s sleep more than ever before. She yawned wide and stretched her limbs. “I don’t remember the last time I slept so hard. You could have blown Joshua’s trumpet and I wouldn’t have heard a thing.”
Liam smiled and decided not to mention that one of her new traits was snoring. A small price to pay to have her beside him in his bed. “I haven’t slept that well in a long while. You’re welcome to sleep over any time you like, love.”
She groaned, and playfully shoved at his chest. “Move, you big oaf.”
“You move,” he replied on the back of a lazy yawn. “You’re the one who stole the middle of the bed.”
Her mouth fell open. “I did not!” She smacked his arm, which only made him laugh. Then he shifted onto his back taking her with him like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Neither of them made any more effort to untangle until Sophie’s stomach growled, loud and demanding.
Liam smirked. Her appetite hadn’t changed. Sophie had always woken up starving each morning. “How about I cook us some breakfast? Full Irish sound good?”
Sophie huffed, finally pushing herself up and untangling their limbs. The funny thing? She already missed being wrapped up in him.
Sophie shoved the feeling aside. She couldn’t think with Liam this close. This was something to sort through later—when she was alone, had time to think, and didn’t have a wall of warm muscle beneath her.
“That would be the best.” She hadn’t eaten a full Irish in ages and her mouth watered thinking about it. “But don’t read anything into last night, okay?”
Liam stretched lazily, then rolled out of bed with a smirk. She could have remained tangled with him and he wouldn’t have complained for a moment. “Oh, don’t you worry, love. I won’t read a thing into it. If anyone asks, I’ll just say that I finally got you to have a drink and dinner with me. Then you asked me to go to bed with you, where you stayed until breakfast the next morning.”
Well, when you put it that way…
She threw a pillow at him as he ducked out of the room, still laughing, while she groaned and dragged herself up to follow.
“Would you prefer coffee or tea?” he asked from the kitchen.
“Coffee,” she answered back as she stepped into the room. “What can I do to help?”
“That depends. Do you still think mushrooms are disgusting?”
“No, I don’t.” His memory went back a long way. Even she hardly remembered not liking mushrooms.
“Then you can slice the tomatoes and mushrooms.” He motioned to the other end of the counter where she would find them and handed her a knife and cutting board.
While they prepared breakfast, Sophie with her chopping and slicing, Liam with his frying, he said, “It doesn’t look so bad outside this morning. Would you like to go for a walk after breakfast? I have a great view.”
“That would be nice.” Sophie paused her slicing of a tomato and thought. “It just occurred to me that I haven’t taken even five minutes to enjoy the outdoors or any of the views. That’s something I always looked forward to every year, coming home to these mountains and lakes.”
“I bought this place for the view.”
Of course he did, Sophie mused.
“So, all you’ve been doing since arriving here is work?”
“Yeah,” she said, sounding pathetic. “Keefe wants to have the place running in time for spring, so—well you saw the place—we have our work cut out for us. We can’t leave everything to the contractors.” Sophie finished slicing the tomato and assessed the size of the mushrooms. And seeing as they were rather small, sliced them each in half. “You lending me your studio has been so nice. I can’t thank you enough. It will be good, having that out of the way.” Sophie’s phone rang from inside her purse, sitting on a stool at the far end of the counter. “Sounds like I’ve got service again. That’s a good sign.” She laid down the knife, then headed for her phone. She answered it, narrowly avoiding the call going to her voicemail.
Sophie’s alarmed tone of voice caught Liam’s attention. It was her aunt Nan calling from what he gathered.
“…I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Sophie hung up. “Darcie’s been rushed to the hospital. She was bleeding pretty badly and lost consciousness. Connor’s going to need all the support he can get. I’ll have to go. I’m sorry.”
Liam turned off the hob and put down his spatula. “Here, let me drive you.”
“No, it’s early. Eat your breakfast.” Sophie hustled to the dryer to grab the clothes Liam had washed the night before, threw them on, and was out the door in a flash. “I’ll call you!” she called back over her shoulder as she stepped outside the door into the cold winter air.