Chapter 10
LONDON
T hree things had happened in the last three minutes that I couldn’t believe. One was that James had come to find me at the event. Two was that I’d kissed Liam freaking Jones in a moment of panic. Three was that I’d felt absolutely off-the-charts sparks during said kiss.
Like, chemistry in a class all of its own.
The kind that blew minds, melted panties, and gave way to borderline obsessions that demanded more .
It’d triggered an intense, instant attraction to my best friend and right-hand man that I couldn’t stand half the darn time, and I was reeling as I raced away from him.
After taking a few minutes to calm down, I finally ran my fingers through my hair, remembered that it was up, and then smoothed it again before my heartbeat began to slow. When it felt like my lungs had remembered how to expand and my brain had come back online, I made my way over to him.
“Thank you for playing my fake boyfriend,” I said, completely sincerely. “I’m sorry I sprung it on you like that. If there had been time for a heads-up, I would’ve given it to you, but it was a spur of the moment kind of thing. Still, I owe you.”
Liam stared into my eyes and let out a deep, rumbling chuckle. “It was my pleasure. Literally. Count me in anytime. I’m available for an encore performance later.”
I laughed, my heart pitter-pattering in my chest. “Don’t be a weirdo. It was a one-time thing.”
“Well, the offer stands.” His lips curved into a slow smirk, drawing my attention down to them in a way that had never happened before.
But now that I knew how they felt against mine, I was pretty sure I was going to have to work at not staring at them all the time. They’d been surprisingly soft, but still firm. Utterly tantalizing—especially since I’d felt the gentle scrape of his facial hair against my chin.
Then there had been his tongue. God, just the thought of it should’ve grossed me the hell out, but man, oh man. It had not been gross. Not even a little bit.
Instead, it had been sure and strong, giving just enough and definitely not too much.
It had been so good, I’d almost let myself imagine that talented tongue in other places.
All the other places. I’d had to squeeze my thighs together as soon as I’d let my mind take me to what it might feel like if he ever put said tongue in those places.
I had no doubt it would lead to mind-blowing things.
Liam sure as heck knew what he was doing when he kissed, and those lips were a reminder of that now. “London?”
His voice jerked me out of my thoughts and I blushed, yanking my gaze back up to his. “What? Oh, sure. Thanks, but I doubt we’ll need another show like that. It really was a one-time thing. My ex is unlikely to come looking for me again, so uh, thanks for the assist.”
Whirling around, I zeroed in on a group of young men who’d just entered our booth and I shot them a dazzling smile, clutching my clipboard with the application forms to my chest. “Good afternoon, gentlemen. I’m London Walker with Walker and Co.
We’re so happy to see you here today. Is there anything you’d like to know before you apply with us? ”
Surprise flickered across their faces at my assumption that they would be applying, but sure enough, before they left, they’d each filled out an application form.
All of our applicants would also be emailing complete resumes and all the rest, meaning that Liam and I were going to be absolutely swamped working our way through the mountains of people who wanted to work for us, but right now, I needed that to distract me.
At precisely seven p.m., an announcement was made prompting the last of the attendees to make their way to the nearest exit, and shortly after that, Liam and I were in his truck. So much more aware of him now than ever before, I didn’t look at him at all.
“Derrick texted the details of the beach party,” I said, strangely nervous. “We’re still going, right?”
“Depends.” I felt him shoot a glance my way before he backed out of our parking spot. “Do you want to?”
“Well, I’m not super interested in him, but I do want to start meeting people and I wouldn’t mind a night out. You?”
I caught his shrug from the corner of my eye. “Sure, I’ll go. It’s a beach party, which means lots of women in bikinis. I’m never going to say no to that.”
An irrational, red-hot flame of jealousy sparked to life deep inside me, but I smothered it immediately. Who needs that crap? Not me, that’s for sure.
“How long do you need to get ready?” he asked when we walked into our house. “I need to decompress for a few, but it’ll only take me a minute to change into shorts and flip-flops, so I’ll be ready whenever you are.”
“Give me an hour?” I still hadn’t looked directly at him, but I was dying to. When I risked a glance as we reached the staircase to our rooms, his eyes were already on mine and I was super surprised to see the intensity in them. “Yeah, an hour should be good. Is that okay with you?”
“It’s going to take you an hour to change into a swimsuit?” His eyebrows knitted together. His features seemed darker in the dimmed lights that came on as the sun set outside.
I tried not to notice how good he looked when he seemed dark and brooding—it didn’t even matter that it was only the light making him seem that way—and shrugged. “Sure. I also need to call Lorelei, Olivia, and my dad. Oh, and I want to grab a shower.”
Liam scoffed down laughter. “This is one of those moments when I thank the good lord for making me a man.”
He followed me up the stairs, disappearing into the master bedroom and shutting the door tight behind him.
For the first time since we’d moved in together, I kind of wished I was staying in there with him.
I was curious about what he was going to do to decompress and part of me wanted to compress a little more.
Okay, so I just want to kiss him again. Sue me. It was nice.
Sighing as I went into my own bedroom instead, I let my door swing shut too and I kicked off my heels, stripping on my way to the bathroom.
I needed to stop wanting Liam to barge in right now—I knew that—but in the back of my mind, I also knew that I would have done just about anything to have him join me in the shower tonight.
That insane spark he’d lit when he’d kissed me was still sizzling deep inside me, and I needed him to either make it flare again or extinguish it. But short of wiping my memory, I didn’t quite know how he’d be able to make it fizz out.
Stepping into the shower cubicle, I turned on the faucet and bit my teeth when frigid water smacked into me like tiny ice picks. I took it though, not turning the heat on until every ounce of desire coursing through me had been doused.
After washing off the day, I wrapped a towel around myself and left the bathroom, deciding to Facetime with Lorelei after texting both Dad and Liv. I’d planned on calling to update them on our progress after day one of the convention, but my mind just was not there enough for that.
My best friend’s face appeared on my screen only seconds later, a semi-concerned smile spreading across her lips as she peered at me. “Are you naked right now?”
“I’m wearing a towel,” I shot back, laughing as I gave her a quick view of the closet I was standing in front of. “I need to pick a bikini and a cover-up while we’re talking. Liam and I were invited to a beach party tonight, but I wanted to call before we head out.”
“A beach party? That sounds amazing. I can’t freaking wait until we’re there to join you. Just hand me the biggest margarita they can legally sell me and a straw.”
“Only a few more days, right? Your plans for moving day haven’t changed?”
Her face lit up like a light bulb. “We’re on track to be out there early next week. I’m so excited that I haven’t even really been sleeping. What’s it like living there? Are you super tanned now?”
“No, I haven’t had time to tan. But, yeah, it’s been great so far.”
She made a face at me. “Great? Really? Is that the best you can do?”
I groaned, deciding on a new, sparkly, cherry red bikini with ripped denim shorts for the party.
“I’m going to put you on the bed for a second while I change, but yeah.
That is the best I can do. Great. Amazing.
Awesome. Choose whichever adjective you prefer, and it’s that. This place lives up to the hype.”
She chuckled. “Well, that sounds a bit better.”
I set the phone down on the mattress while I changed, but I kept talking.
“We finally finished the offices last night and the first day of the job fair was amazing. Because we’ve had so much to do, we haven’t really had time to explore or discover much of the city itself, but honestly?
It’s beautiful, the ocean is everywhere I look, and it seems very calm and casual. ”
“Finally,” she said, sounding exasperated. “Some actual information, and don’t worry. We’ll be there soon enough, and hopefully, by the time we arrive, you’ll have made your first few hires and the hectic rush will be behind you. We’ll explore and discover together.”
Once I was dressed again, I picked up my phone and inhaled a deep breath. “Okay, so I have to tell you something really weird and you can’t judge me for it.”
She arched a steep eyebrow at me. “How weird are we talking?”
“Pretty weird.” I covered my face with my hands after I sat down at my dressing table and balanced my phone against the mirror. “James was at the convention today.”
Lorelei practically growled. “Of course. The guy keeps showing up like a bad rash. But please tell me you ran into him by mistake. You didn’t plan on seeing him, did you?”
“Nope. I didn’t even remember he was going to be there until I saw him, but then he rocked up at our booth, trying to act all friendly and sweet talk me into bed.”
“Some people have no class,” she said. “I hope you told him to take a long walk off a short pier.”
“Kind of,” I said.
“What do you mean, kind of?”
“I mean, I panicked and told him Liam was my boyfriend, and then I kissed Liam. Or he kind of kissed me. I don’t even know anymore.”
Her mouth dropped wide open before she gave me a huge smile. “I knew there was something between you two!”
“Nope. No, absolutely not. There can never be anything between us. Ever.” I shot the phone a serious look, seeing but choosing to ignore the mischievous twinkle in her eyes. “He and I will never happen.”
“So why bring it up at all?” she asked calmly. “You freaked out because of an unexpected ex appearing in the wild. People have done crazier things than kiss a friend to get out of that situation, so what are you not telling me?”
I closed my eyes and cringed my way through my admission. “It was the best kiss I’ve ever had. Hands down.”
She squealed before waiting patiently for me to look at her again.
When I did, I could see her trying to keep her cool, but she seemed unreasonably excited about this.
“It could’ve been because of a build-up of secret emotions.
You never know what he’s been feeling or for how long, but you guys have had insane chemistry since I’ve known you. ”
“We can never be together,” I repeated not so patiently. “He’s not my type and it could ruin our entire working relationship.”
“He’s totally your type and you know it.” She gave me a pointed look. “Every time you have half a sip of wine too much, you go on and on about it.”
“He’s not completely my type.”
“Close enough.” As I started doing my makeup, she sighed. “Let’s pretend I buy into this theory that you can never be together. Why exactly do you believe that?”
“We want different things out of life,” I said. “For starters.”
“Like, the big things?”
“The biggest things.” I emphasized the word as a reminder to myself as well. “Trust me, it’s for sure no. Long term, we would not only not work out, but we’d make each other really unhappy too. That kiss was crazy hot but it doesn’t change the facts.”
“Okay, but it doesn’t have to be anything serious. The big things only matter once they start mattering. Until then, it could be fun. Just fun.”
I paused for a beat. “I suppose, but what happens if it starts out as fun and becomes serious? Neither of us will be happy to compromise on what we want out of life just to appease the other. We’re both too stubborn for that. It’s all too complicated.”
“Sure, but it doesn’t become serious overnight, Walker.” She widened her eyes at me and laughed. “Go kiss him again. Kiss him as much as you want and as often as you want, and when it stops being fun, just don’t kiss him again. How is that for simplifying things?”
It sounded so easy and logical when she put it like that, but I wondered if it could be true. Liam wanted marriage and kids. A home. A family. Stockings at Christmas and costumes at Halloween. The whole nine yards.
I wasn’t the girl who could give him that, but maybe I could be the girl who kept him busy until he found her. It sure couldn’t hurt to just think about it—even if I seriously doubted he’d even want to kiss me again.