Chapter 22
Liam
It’s been two weeks since I asked Jordan to be my girlfriend. Fuck. Me. A girlfriend. Who would have thought it?
Absolutely no one. My plan in life was to die a bachelor, but everyone knows what happens to the best laid plans. They never work out the way you expect them to. My bachelor life was no exception, and I’m not sad about it.
I didn’t think things could get better after Vegas.
It wasn’t that I thought we’d peaked in Vegas, but I couldn’t fathom how things could get better than being able to spend all my time with her.
Turns out, missing her while she’s at work, or I’m on shift, has given me perspective on the saying “absence makes the heart grow fonder.” When she’s not by my side I can’t wait for the moment I see her again.
For the next kiss. For the next cuddle. The most fucked up part is I’d take all of that before I’d take the next orgasm I get because of her.
The fuck is happening to me?
Don’t get me wrong, I want all of those, and there have been plenty. But there’ve also been nights where we’ve just cuddled on the couch and then gone to bed.
That was a crazy moment for me. Jor had had a rough day at work.
It’s never easy to lose a patient, and it’s even harder when they’re young.
I hadn’t seen her in over thirty-six hours because I’d had a shift at the firehouse the day before, and she was on the day shift at the hospital.
I’d spent the last couple hours prepping a nice dinner for us and figured we’d eat, watch a movie, and then end up in bed together.
When she showed up at my door after work looking as haggard and rough as I’d ever seen her, I pulled her into my arms and didn’t let go for most of the night.
Between Tosha and me, we gave her all the cuddles she could handle.
Sex didn’t cross my mind—much. I’m only human, and she’s got some kind of magical fucking hold on my dick. But sex wasn’t at the forefront.
Until I woke up the next morning and it hit me that no hanky panky had occurred, not even sometime in the middle of the night.
It was the first time that had happened, and for a second, I panicked.
Discomfort rushed in, and immediately I felt the need to rip every piece of clothing off our bodies so I could course correct.
Then Jordan’s eyes fluttered, and she smiled at me before moving closer to snuggle back in.
It dissolved all the anxiety and I realized something important.
Being in a relationship, we didn’t have to fuck every single night.
We didn’t need to get off every single night.
It was strangely liberating. It took some pressure off I didn’t even realize I was carrying around.
I recognized it for what it was. Jordan was slowly taking down every defense I’d ever put up for myself.
A date was one thing, a girlfriend was another, but not to fuck around in any way with a woman while she was in my bed was next level for me.
It’s nearly time for another level. Nate and Savanna get in today from their two week honeymoon.
Jordan and I came up with a game plan the same day we got back from Vegas, despite the exhaustion we felt.
We wanted to be a united front, and we were on the same page when it came to talking to Nate.
Let him get home, settle in for the night, and then tomorrow, when he’d had a chance to catch his breath and grab his bearings, I’d ask him and Savanna to come over for brunch.
Jordan, naturally, would be present which would hopefully intrigue him enough to question what was going on. Then we’d slowly break him into the news that Vegas had set us on this path that showed us how much we both wanted to be together.
Or some shit like that. I don’t know. Preparing my best man speech felt a lot easier than preparing to tell my best friend that I’ve been fucking his sister for the last three weeks.
I’m just hoping he doesn’t kill me. I figure as long as Jordan and I both live through telling him, we’ll be able to sort through any negative emotions he may have.
Or maybe he’ll surprise both of us and say he knew the whole time.
Or that he’s thrilled. A “Welcome to the Family!” type of reaction wouldn’t be so bad—a little scary, but better than death.
Optimistic is how I’m choosing to go into this.
I have to be because I know the closer it gets the more anxious Jordan is becoming.
Every time it’s brought up, she’s full of sighs and lip bites, and can never meet my eyes until I tell her to.
That’s when I see the nervousness that she sucks at trying to hide.
I can usually pull her out of it, but it’s been harder today.
“Why do I need to cover my eyes?” she sighs, covering them with her hands like I asked her to.
We’ve been at my place long enough to let Tosha out, get her cooped up zoomies out of her system, and have snuggles in the grass. If it were up to me, I’d take her everywhere I go, but the restaurant I took Jordan to for dinner didn’t allow pets.
I snicker as I take her elbows and lead her into my detached garage. Not that I use it as a garage for vehicles. No, my garage is my workshop. Almost all my woodworking happens within these four walls.
“I told you; I have a surprise.”
Jordan hasn’t spent a lot of time out here.
Maybe a time or two when I’ve hosted a barbeque at my place, but even in those cases it’s always been reserved for working, or when the guys come over to hang out and we’re doing something that requires tools.
My workshop is my sanctuary. I find peace in working with my hands, building something from the ground up, and I generally don’t share that with others.
“Couldn’t I just close my eyes?”
The whine in her voice has my smirk growing, but I quickly school my features, stopping just inside the door with her. “If you’re not careful I’m going to fuck that attitude right out of you.”
Her index finger moves away from the rest of her fingers, and I can see a sliver of blue peering out from behind her hand. “Is that a promise?”
“Don’t tempt me, Fireball.”
“Me? Never.” Her tongue peeks out from between her lips, running across them while she giggles. “Naughty I am not.”
“Then close that damn eye,” I demand but it’s hard to do it in any kind of serious form.
When she does as she’s told with a wicked little smile, I guide her over to the dining table that I’ve been working on diligently.
It’s Nate and Savanna’s wedding gift, and the biggest woodworking piece I’ve ever done.
It’s taken me weeks to get it where I wanted it, and to say I’m proud would be the understatement of the century.
On the pride scale, this thing ranks just under Jordan and Tosha.
Positioning Jordan in a spot right in the middle of it, I step to her side and turn to look at it for a moment to ensure everything is how I left it. When I’m satisfied, I bring my gaze to her face so I can get the full effect of her reaction. “Okay. Open.”
Her hands drop and she blinks a few times to adjust to the lighting in the garage. Then her eyes fall to the table in front of us, and she gasps audibly as she takes a small step back, her jaw slackening.
I give her a minute to take it in, enjoying the different emotions that float through her expressions. Surprise, disbelief, wonder, back to disbelief.
“Liam… you… I… how… this was… did you… you made this?” she stutters along, trying to find words to convey all the thoughts running through her mind.
Placing my hands on my hips, I glance down to it and give a nod. “Yep.”
Jordan moves from her spot, going around to one side of the table before she goes around to face me from the other side of it. Taking every angle in.
“Can I…?” The question hangs in the air while she moves her hand to hover over it.
“It ain’t gonna bite, if that’s what you’re asking,” I chuckle.
I step forward and smooth a hand over the surface of it to show her that it’s okay to be touched.
It’s understandable that she would ask. The table is something of a work of art, if I do say so myself.
Two pieces of live edge wood on either side with blue and white epoxy through the middle that I’ve designed to look like the ocean.
It symbolizes the two places Nate and Savanna spend the most time together, outside of work and home.
The mountains with all the vast trees and forest, and the beach with the ocean surf.
Jordan’s hand glides over the wood and then moves over the middle of the table.
I can see the way her eyes flicker and dart around that she’s trying to take in all the details that have gone into the table all at once, but it’s too much.
From one end to the other, it’s all been handcrafted.
I’ve sat here for hours looking at it, and I continue to see new details that I hadn’t seen before as the epoxy dried and settled.
“Liam, it’s gorgeous. I don’t know what else to call it. It’s… I can’t believe you’re gifting this to them. It must have cost a fortune to make,” Jordan says, finally finding words to go with her astonishment.
I chuckle, rubbing my jaw with my hand. “It wasn’t bad. The guy at the lumber yard knows me. He gave me a good deal on the wood. And the epoxy isn’t bad. Really, it’s the time and effort that goes into it.”
Her eyes rise to meet mine, and the smile that she gives me sets my heart to racing.
It touches her eyes in a way I’ve only seen twice.
Once on the dance floor the night of Nate and Savanna’s wedding, and later in her hotel room that same night.
It’s a look that makes me want to wrap her in my arms and never let her go but also makes me want to run out of my skin to hightail it as far away as possible. It both excites and scares me.