Chapter 8
Liam
“What is this?” Jordan says, staring at the Camaro backed into the parking stall.
We’re in the parking garage of our hotel and I’ve just clicked the unlock button on a premium convertible. I rented it for a pretty penny since it was last minute, but something tells me it’s going to be worth it.
“A car.”
Rolling her eyes, Jordan turns towards me, gesturing to the car. “Yes, I can see that, thank you. Why do you have the keys to it?”
“We’re going for a drive.” I grin at her, moving to the passenger side to open the door. “C’mon. We don’t have all day.”
It’s eight in the morning, but we’ve got to be back in time to shower and get ready for the festivities tonight.
Nate—and Jordan’s—parents, plus Savanna’s dad are all arriving today, and tonight we’re headed to some show with everyone.
I’m not really interested in going, but it’s part of the itinerary that the wedding party is following.
Personally, I’d rather be out at a club, having some drinks and crowd watching. Or at least that’s what I would have preferred before Jordan and I agreed to spend the week together.
Now I’d rather be fucking. Wasting a second doing anything else seems like an idiotic choice.
Yet here you are. Spending time taking her somewhere instead of keeping her in bed.
Ignoring my thoughts, I gesture towards her seat. “C’mon. I promise it will be worth your while.”
Her eyes narrow at me. “You think that, but it’s because you don’t value sleep. You kept me up more than half the night, pulled me out of bed and forced me to get ready, and now you want to go on some crazy excursion without telling me where we’re going?”
If she wants to play games, we can play games. Slamming the door shut, I stalk towards her, watching as her eyes get wide. It must be the look I’m giving her, mouth firmly set in a straight line, eyes narrowed in her direction, because she puts her hands up in surrender. It’s too late though.
“Liam!” she cries out, realizing a moment too late what my intentions are.
Bending at the waist, I grab her around the knees and hoist her into the air over my shoulder. “How many times do I have to tell you to stop being a brat?”
“Put me down!”
I do, but not until we’re at the passenger side, setting her on her feet beside the door. With a grin in her direction, I open the door again, trying to be a gentleman. “Get in the fucking car.”
“I could have walked, you know.”
Exhaling a breath, I refrain from smacking her ass as she gets in, closing the door once she’s seated. Moving around to the driver’s side, I slide into the seat and stick in an earbud, pulling the directions up on my phone so I can listen to them without her hearing.
Before we’re even out of the parking garage, she turns to look at me. “How’s Tosha?”
The name of my sweet pup on the lips of the brunette beside me brings a smile to my face. I rescued Tosha from ending up in a shelter after Luke saved her from choking on a soda bottle top. We’ve had a solid five months together, and while she’s been a pain in my ass, I’m smitten as fuck by her.
“Dad sent me an update this morning,” I tell her, pulling onto the street. “I guess she farted so loud last night, they both jumped up from the couch.”
Jordan laughs. It isn’t the first time she’s heard of Tosha’s gassy indiscretions. “She scared herself and your dad?”
“Yep,” I chuckle, shaking my head. “Normally her farts are silent but deadly. Wish I’d been there to witness it.”
“She’s good for you,” Jordan comments, patting my hand that’s resting on the shifter.
Warmth seeps through my chest, my smile broadening.
Tosha is good for me. Besides the time she stays with my dad when I’m on shift at the fire station, we spend almost every moment together.
Whether it’s training, walking, or just hanging out in my garage while I do my woodworking, she’s my constant companion.
She’s been there to see Nate and Savanna’s wedding present almost all the way through.
A brand new river table for their dining room.
Ten minutes later we hit the freeway, and between the open air, fast speed, and wind whipping through our hair, we don’t say much. The sun isn’t beating down and scorching us yet, but within a couple of hours I’m sure it will be. Right now the weather is perfect.
Every once in a while I glance out the corner of my eye and see Jordan taking everything in. Her dark hair is up in a ponytail and off her neck, something I wonder if she did on purpose. Either way, I appreciate the view my quick glimpses give me.
“Oh my god!” she exclaims in such dramatic fashion at the same time she grabs onto my upper arm and the car door that I nearly slam on the breaks. “Liam!”
“For fuck’s sake, woman! What the fuck?”
My head is on a swivel, eyes moving from her, then back to the road repeatedly, trying to figure out what the hell her problem is. There’s nothing on the road. There’s nothing in the rearview mirror. There’s nothing. Except for the heart attack she damn near gave me.
Leaning forward, she’s staring at me, wide eyed, still clutching my bicep. “Are we going to the Grand Canyon?”
The tension starts to leave my body, and I relax back into my seat, though the glare I’m giving her doesn’t recede. “Anymore outbursts like that and we won’t be going anywhere except a fucking hospital.”
“Liam!” she cries out, drawing the last syllable out. It’s reminiscent of last night and makes my dick twitch. “Is that where we’re going? Are you taking me to the Grand Canyon?”
I can’t help but laugh. The twinkle in her eyes and the smile spreading across that beautiful face gives her such an excited, youthful innocence.
Pride fills my chest, causing me to sit up a little straighter.
I knew it wouldn’t take her long to figure it out, but I didn’t expect her to be this happy.
If she weren’t buckled into the car, and we weren’t flying at seventy miles an hour, I’m pretty sure she’d be launching herself at me.
Back when Savanna was planning the trip and coming up with things for us to do, Jordan had suggested a day tour to the Grand Canyon.
It was something that she talked about a lot, and I know she was disappointed when Savanna had concluded that it wouldn’t fit with the rest of the schedules and the amount of partying she knew we would do.
A few times over the course of the last couple of months, I wondered if we couldn’t just skip one of the pool days and head out there.
Sure, if we were on an actual tour we might not make it back in time for other things, but I was curious if we drove ourselves if we could make it work.
So I looked into it but never said a word, and never ended up committing to the idea.
Until yesterday. The idea had come up when I was planning the damage control issue, but after talking to Jordan, I knew we were okay.
More than okay, to be honest. She told me later that she’d never told anyone the story of what had happened that day with Nate and his so-called friend.
Not her friends back in high school—there was too much shame, she said—and not her friends of today.
It had never come up, so there was no reason to talk about it. I was the only one that knew.
It made me want to do something for her. We’d set our boundaries. We were going back to strictly being friends, with the agreement that our night together would stay there. But I still wanted to do something for her.
To show her what, I’m not sure. Maybe that I truly was okay with going back to where we were, prior to sleeping together.
Or maybe to show her that I was grateful she felt she could confide in me.
Or maybe just because I wanted her to feel fucking good.
To forget all the assholes that had waltzed into her life and made her feel less than.
Once I made the decision to do it, it was relatively easy.
The car company was located in the hotel, so I popped by the desk and inquired about a rental.
I was in luck. Since I only wanted it for the day, and it was prior to the weekend, they had a couple of options available.
Obviously I went with the convertible. If I couldn’t take her out on a motorbike, the next best thing was an open top.
“Liam!”
I blink a few times, realizing that I’ve still been going back and forth between her and the road. She’s waiting impatiently for me to answer, but I’m sitting here, grinning like a fucking idiot because her excitement has me feeling worthy of my last name.
“You have two options,” I tell her, focusing solely on the road. “It’s two hours to the west rim, or it’s four and a half to the south.”
“South!” she shouts, jumping in without letting me finish.
“Hold on there, Fireball,” I say laughing. I love her enthusiasm, but she needs to understand everything. “If we go to the west rim we’ll have the entire afternoon there. Hours upon hours.”
She’s shaking her head, obviously aware of the timing. “South!”
“We’ll only have an hour, maybe two if we’re lucky.”
“Drive fast.”
Turning herself in her seat, she reaches over and grabs my hand, pulling it towards her. For a second I think she’ll put it in her lap, but instead she clutches it to her chest. “I don’t care if we only have twenty minutes to see it. The south is where I want to go. Please Liam. Please?”
I had a feeling she would want to go to the south rim which is why I set my directions to take us there. Giving her hand a squeeze, I try to fight my smile. “Well, I suppose you were a good girl last night.”
Both her arms shoot straight up in the air, my hand dropping into her lap, and she lets out a scream of victory, her whole body dancing in the seat.
It might be the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen.
The satisfaction I feel is second to none.
Seeing Jordan as happy as she is right now, knowing that I put that smile on her face and that gleam in her eye?
Most incredible fucking feeling I’ve ever felt.