Chapter 13 Sabrina #2
Liam’s expression stilled as he studied me. Like he was waiting for me to retract my statement. But I didn’t. I just held his gaze. I needed him to know that I believed him. That his ex may feel that way, but I didn’t.
We didn’t speak about it again. Instead, we both focused on finishing our lunch. While the waiter was running Liam’s card to cover the bill, I stood up from the table to help Liam with Samuel. Liam shook his head before I was even near him.
“I’ve got him,” Liam said as he held Samuel up so he wouldn’t be jostled as Liam pushed his seat away from the table.
I lifted and lowered my hands a few times, but then I just let them fall to my sides in surrender. It was no use fighting Liam about this anymore. He wanted to hold Samuel, so he was going to hold Samuel. I would do well to just let it happen.
The only item Liam allowed me to carry after his card and the receipt were dropped off was the diaper bag. Liam kept Samuel tucked in tight to his body with one hand while he carried the car seat with the other.
Stares and whispers followed us, and cameras were out as we walked through the entrance of the restaurant to the street and then out to the black SUV parked along the sidewalk.
One of the bodyguards who had opened the door when we first got to the hotel was waiting outside and pulled open the door as we approached.
Liam waited for me to climb in before he handed me Samuel’s car seat, which I buckled in.
Then he handed me Samuel. We were ready to go, but a few fans got Liam’s attention enough that he smiled and walked over to them.
He signed some autographs and took a few photos before he said goodbye and climbed into the car.
We rode in silence with Samuel between us. He’d woken up during the transition, but the hum of the car and the movement lulled him back to sleep. I relaxed with my right arm resting on Samuel’s car seat and my body tilted so I could watch the buildings go by outside the window.
It was nice, sitting here with a sleeping Samuel. I didn’t feel like Liam and I had to talk to each other. We could just be in each other’s presence, together.
When the car slowed and pulled up to a large skyscraper, I furrowed my brow and looked over at Liam. This wasn’t our hotel. Liam didn’t look at me as he unbuckled his seatbelt.
“Hang out here. I’ll be back,” he said as one of the bodyguards pulled open his door.
I watched as he walked across the sidewalk and disappeared behind the large tinted front doors. I glanced around, trying to see what the name was on the building, but from where we were parked, I couldn’t see anything.
Confused and a little hurt that he didn’t ask me—his assistant—to go with him, I leaned against the seat, tipped my head back, and closed my eyes.
I scolded myself.
Liam had every right to go somewhere without me.
After all, he’d lived his life and run his business for years before he even met me.
It was silly to think that he would involve me in every aspect of his business.
I needed to be thankful for the opportunities he was giving me instead of focusing on the things he didn't share with me.
Needing a distraction, I searched around in the diaper bag for my phone. As soon as I found it, I pulled it out and started scrolling through social media. I needed to focus on someone else's drama for a change. Two seconds into scrolling, I suddenly regretted my choice.
There was nothing more surreal than opening social media and seeing your face plastered all over it with captions that read, Liam Carmichael’s New Baby Momma?
I blinked once. Twice. Three times. All in the hope that I was not actually seeing this.
But no matter how many times I looked away, the same picture greeted me. It was of me and Liam and Samuel at the restaurant. Liam was grinning at me while he held a smiling Samuel. And I?
Well, I was smiling too. It was the first picture I'd ever seen of the three of us, and it caused an ache to grow in my chest. We looked like a family. We looked like we belonged together. To everyone looking in, it did look like I was Liam Carmichael’s new baby momma.
But I knew the truth. And Liam knew the truth.
We were anything but a family.
The sound of the door opening startled me into dropping my phone into my lap. Liam slid onto his seat, and his bodyguard shut the door once Liam was situated. Liam’s expression was sour as he kept his attention forward. Something was wrong.
He must have seen the tabloids.
I couldn’t help but stare at Liam as panic set in. Was I supposed to do something about the articles? That seemed like a job for his assistant. Who could help me with this? Was there someone I needed to call?
Was I fired?
When Liam finally looked over at me, he frowned. “What? What’s wrong? What happened?” He sounded genuinely worried. Now I was confused. Had he not seen? I figured that was why he looked so upset. Maybe I’d been wrong. But what else could have him this bothered?
“You didn’t see?” I asked as I fiddled with the case of my phone.
“See what?” He glanced around outside and then brought his attention back to me.
I studied him for a moment before I slowly brought my phone up and turned it so he could see the screen.
I watched as his eyes shifted from side to side.
I held my breath, waiting for his reaction.
I waited for disappointment to pass through his expression.
I waited for his jaw to clench. I waited for him to curse and then glare at me for not having stopped this.
But none of that came.
He started laughing. His tense demeanor from before was gone as he sank back against the seat and his entire body relaxed.
Well, he wasn’t upset about the tabloids, that was for certain. I’d thought that being associated with me romantically would anger him. I had been wrong. So what had he been doing that had him all tense?
I wanted to ask, but I knew it wasn’t my place. After all, he’d purposefully left me in the car. If he wanted me to know, he would have taken me with him.
“Is this why you looked so worried when I got in?” Liam asked as he nodded toward my phone.
Not sure what to do, I turned my phone just so I could make sure that we were looking at the same thing and then dropped my phone back to my lap. “No,” I said automatically but then realized that it didn’t make sense. “I mean, yes.” I instantly regretted my words.
I closed my eyes for a second before I glanced back at him. “What?”
He was watching me with an amused expression. He looked so calm, especially with the entire world now thinking I was his baby momma and Samuel was his son.
“Is it such a bad thing that they think we’re together?”
I was taken aback by his words. The world thinking I was dating a rockstar was most certainly not a bad thing. I was a nobody from a small town in North Carolina. I didn’t matter. But for him? Being tied to a single mom with a baby was the opposite of the freewheeling life he’d curated.
“Doesn’t it ruin your vibe?”
He frowned as he glanced down at Samuel and then back up to me. “My vibe?”
“Your babies are chick-magnets vibe.” I winked at him in an effort to copy what he had done on the plane.
“Did you just…flirt with me?” His lips turned up into a playful smile.
I sputtered. “What? No.” I shook my head.
His smile deepened as he studied me. It was like he enjoyed watching me squirm.
The need to keep explaining took over, so I hurried to add, “I was mimicking what you did.”
“Mm-hmm,” he said, but his expression told me he did not believe me.
“It’s true.”
“Sure.”
I glared at him. It didn’t matter what I said. He wasn’t going to believe me. And if I kept speaking, I was only going to dig myself a deeper hole. So I just folded my arms and sat back.
“Okay, okay,” he said, holding up his hands.
“I believe you.” He continued to smile at me before his expression slowly relaxed.
His gaze dropped to his lap before he glanced back up.
The look in his eyes took my breath away as he softly whispered, “I guess other women just don’t interest me anymore. ”
He held my gaze as his words settled around me. The entire world faded away, and all that existed was Liam and me. My heart pounded in my chest, and I wanted to believe that what he was saying was true. That he wasn’t just flirting with me.
That he really cared for me.
I really needed it to be true, because I couldn’t deny it anymore.
I liked him, too.