Chapter 1
SAbrINA
I stared at my reflection in the bathroom mirror, the newest Drifter song playing softly in the background.
It had been exactly seven hours since Abigail confronted me about my coffee date with Liam.
It had been exactly seven hours since I told her I was moving out.
And it had been exactly six and a half hours since Liam had met me in the lobby of Harmony Island Inn, where a very curious Shelby checked me into a room.
I could tell she had a lot of questions, and I didn’t doubt that she would call Abigail to get some answers. But I was grateful that she was professional and treated me like a guest and not her best friend’s older sister.
Of course, Liam insisted that I stay in the room right next to him.
I wanted to fight him on that, telling Shelby that it wasn’t necessary, but I didn’t.
I was tired and emotionally drained. Even more so now that I’d spent the entire night tossing and turning in my bed.
I was never going to forget the look of betrayal on Abigail’s face when I walked out of our apartment.
The last thing I wanted to do was to disappoint my sister.
But maybe that was my problem. The line between us as siblings had blurred, and suddenly, I’d found myself living my life for my sister.
It took months of therapy and acceptance for me to own my behavior over the last few years.
It was time Abigail started owning hers.
I sighed and flipped on the faucet. The cold water pricked my skin as I splashed it on my face, hoping it would take care of the bags that were becoming permanent fixtures under my eyes.
I inspected my skin as I patted it dry with the fluffy white hand towel.
That didn’t seem to work. I still looked like I’d been ridden hard and hung up to dry.
I shook my head as I tucked the towel back onto the antique brass holder affixed to the wall before I flipped off the bathroom light.
My appearance didn’t really matter. What mattered was the fact that I’d just blown up the only stable home Samuel and I had, and now I was in desperate need of a place to stay.
Liam promised me freedom, but I wasn’t sure what that meant exactly.
I’d been impulsive last night, but now, in the stark light of day, I was beginning to regret the choices I’d made.
Maybe I needed to apologize. Maybe I needed to tell Abigail that I’d made a mistake. She’d forgive me. She had to. It was in the unwritten sister oath.
I just wish my stomach didn’t ache when I thought about returning to that small, cramped apartment. It was a strange juxtaposition against how light I felt when I allowed myself to entertain thoughts of freedom. It beckoned me like a siren’s song.
Thankfully, Samuel wasn’t stressed like I was. He was passed out in the bassinet that Shelby had dropped off for me last night. Just looking at him helped ease the mounting stress that was building up inside of my body.
In the chaos that was my life, Samuel was the one constant I could cling to. When I was with him, I was at peace. I just wished, someday, he could confidently say the same about me.
Three soft knocks had me straightening and turning toward the door. I glanced over at the clock.
6:25 am
I frowned, wondering who that could be. From the little I knew of Liam, I doubted he was an early riser.
Maybe it was Shelby. Maybe she was coming to tell me what time breakfast was.
I stood and made my way to the door but paused to take stock of my reflection in the full-length mirror affixed to the wall next to the door.
I was wearing my baggiest t-shirt as a nightgown, but for Shelby, that didn’t matter.
When I got to the door, I peered through the peephole, just for good measure.
Dark curly hair greeted me.
I sighed. Not Shelby. Liam was standing in the hallway with his head dipped forward and his phone in his hand. My heart inexplicably took off running as I studied him.
That reaction had to be because of trauma.
When two people go through a life-changing event, that event had a way of bonding them together.
I was trauma-bonded to this man. That’s why I was reacting to Liam.
It wasn’t because I was attracted to him.
I was a baby duckling, and he was the first person I saw when I stepped into my new life.
I blinked as that analogy rooted itself fully into my mind. I was a baby duck?
Not wanting to stand there, staring through my peephole and thinking insane things, I decided to act. I unlocked the door and pulled it open in a swift movement that I hoped portrayed confidence. I was queen of faking it until I made it.
Liam’s gaze snapped up to meet mine. Instead of the confident, cocky expression that I’d grown accustomed to, there was something I’d never before seen lingering in his gaze.
Worry? Panic?
I wasn’t sure, but it caused my entire body to still. I drew my eyebrows together as I parted my lips to ask him what was wrong, but the look disappeared before I could say anything.
He quickly shoved his phone into his back pocket, and the sexy half smile he’d graced me with the first day he showed up at the library was back as he leaned forward, propping himself up with one arm on the doorframe next to me.
“Morning,” he said as he leaned closer to me and let his gaze travel down my body. “Did you sleep well?”
My body felt like it was on fire as his gaze lingered on my legs before he dragged his eyes up to the hem of my t-shirt, and then slowly up to my face.
“I slept fine,” I said and jutted out my chin. Suddenly, I became very aware that I was not wearing a bra, so my arms instantly flew up to my chest, where I crossed them, praying he hadn’t noticed.
He noticed. There was now a heat to his gaze as if he’d just realized how little material existed between him and me.
“Are those your pajamas?” he asked, his half smile deepening, revealing a dimple.
Out of instinct, I freed one arm so I could tug at the bottom of my t-shirt in a pathetic attempt to make it longer. “Maybe,” I said. “Why?”
Liam pushed off the doorframe as he held both his hands up in surrender. “Hey, I’m not complaining.” Then he winked at me. “I like it.”
I glared at him, hoping to mask the butterflies that had suddenly taken flight in my stomach. My glare did nothing to deter him, and he continued to grin back at me.
“What about little man? How did he sleep?” He broke our staring competition to glance behind me into the room.
Samuel. Right. My son. The son that Liam had no idea about until I’d walked through the front door of the inn last night with my arm hooked around the handle of Samuel’s car seat.
I’d waited for a flash of disappointment mixed with regret when he saw me, but that reaction never came.
Instead, he’d just reached out and offered to help me, but I’d quickly brushed him off.
Samuel and my bags were my responsibility. I was determined to prove to myself that I could do this single-mom thing on my own. If not, I feared that I would prove that I was the failure that Abigail thought I was.
As a way to protect Samuel—and myself—I took a step forward into the hall and pulled the door shut behind me.
Liam made no indication that he was going to put distance between us.
Instead, he just grinned down at me as I stood mere inches away.
It was in this moment that I realized just how good he smelled.
It had definitely been a long time since I’d been this close to a man.
Steeling my nerves, I glanced up and met Liam’s gaze head-on. “His name is Samuel, and he’s sleeping,” I said as I folded my arms across my chest again and narrowed my eyes.
Liam’s smile remained. “Good. I’m glad to hear it.”
I studied him, waiting for a flash of regret. Waiting for a hint of annoyance that he’d now hitched himself to a single mom with a son. But I waited in vain.
He just studied me, silence filling the air around us.
He looked completely at ease as he stood there.
Why was he so confident? I wanted to punch him in that moment.
I wasn’t normally a violent person, but there was something about Liam’s cocky personality that made me angry.
And maybe a little jealous? What I wouldn’t give to move through life with that much surety in who I was.
The sound of a phone vibrating cut through the silence, bringing me back to the present. I glanced down to his jeans, where he’d tucked his phone in earlier. I quirked an eyebrow as I brought my gaze back up to meet his.
“You going to get that?” I asked.
His smile wavered for just a moment before it returned to normal, and he shook his head. “Nope.”
I frowned. Strange, but maybe he was on the outs with someone. If Abigail tried to call me right now, I would probably ignore it as well.
Thinking of Abigail caused worry to once again rise up in my chest. I was determined to make whatever this was with Liam work. But it was hard to have confidence I was making the right choice when I didn’t even know what freedom with Liam entailed.
“So, what’s the plan?” I asked.
Liam met my gaze. “For what?”
Was he serious? I dropped my arms. “For this.” I waved between my chest and his. His eyebrows went up, and I could literally see the flirty words he was about to speak pass through his gaze, so I hurried to add, “For the freedom you talked about. What’s the plan?”
Liam took a few steps back until he was leaning on the wall behind him. He extended his legs out in front before he folded his arms across his chest. “I figured you could be my assistant,” he said matter-of-factly.
I blinked. Once. Twice. “Your assistant?” I repeated. What did he need an assistant for?
He nodded. “My life is…complicated. You seem well-versed in all things organizational.” He must have picked up on my skepticism because he hurried to add, “I mean, you work in a library.”