Chapter 19
LIAM
“ Y ou know what I just realized?” I squinted at London and felt a deep furrow forming between my eyebrows. “You brought enough clothes to dress a small army for a year. How do you not have anything to wear to the gala?”
“Have you ever been to a night at sea thing?” she shot back at me, browsing through yet another rail in yet another boutique. Glancing up, she arched an eyebrow at me. “I haven’t. Not for a long time, at least. How was I supposed to pack something for the kind of event I’ve never really been to?”
“Well, it’s not like they’ve got sections in these stores that carry clothing specifically for galas on yachts. Surely, something in your spare bedroom should work. You literally have an entire extra bedroom for clothes. I’m sure you brought a dress.”
“Of course, I brought a dress. I have outfits for just about anything you can think of. Except for a charity gala on a yacht.” She flipped that golden hair over her shoulder, those expressive blue eyes filled with frustration.
“You’re supposed to be helping. Picking on me for wanting to shop does not amount to helping. ”
I chuckled, sliding my hands into my pockets as I looked around the store. “Every dress in here is either sparkly or really fancy. Can’t you just pick one?”
“Can’t I just…” She widened her eyes at me before she shook her head and let out a breathy sigh. “No. No, I absolutely cannot just pick one. It has to be the right one.”
“What does the right one look like?”
“I don’t know yet. I’ll know it when I see it, won’t I?”
“How the hell am I supposed to know?” As I looked around the store, my gaze landed on a black scrap of material masquerading as a dress. “What about that one?”
She followed my line of sight and then shot me a horrified look. “I’m not a hooker, Liam. If I wear that, the only clients I attract will be for services I’m not willing to provide.”
I groaned. “What’s wrong with it? It’s got sequins. That means it’s fancy. And women are always talking about little black dresses. That’s a dress, it’s black, and it’s pretty little.”
“It’s too little.” She turned back to the rail she’d been browsing and pulled out a champagne-colored glitter bomb. “This might work. What do you think?”
I think it’s short and tight, and that you’ll look hot as hell in it. “It’s okay, I guess. It’s as little as the black one, though.”
“No, it’s not.” She scoffed and spun the hanger around to show me the back. “Look at that. It’s not just a single strap. It’s got substance.”
My eyebrows rose, but I didn’t argue because I had no idea what she was talking about. After she bought the glitter bomb, I thought we were done, but we ended up staying at the mall for two more hours— so she could choose a few back-up options .
At least she bought dinner. Steaks, which made everything better. Plus, she was going to look tempting as fuck in that dress.
The next night, more grateful than I’d ever been for the fact that I was a man, I put on a suit, rubbed some gel into my hair, and was ready for the gala.
Pop music was blasting from London’s room and she’d been in there for hours, though I honestly didn’t know what she could possibly be doing that would take so long.
She looked damn gorgeous without any help. Doing her hair and makeup was like adding decorations to the Mona Lisa, in my opinion, but maybe I was biased.
Unlike her, I’d had time for a run after work, I’d replied to some emails from people who were interested in setting up meetings with us, and I’d spoken to the lawyer who was putting together our contracts for our new employees.
And I was still ready before her.
As I packed an overnight bag, I wondered where we would be sleeping.
The ultra luxe, embossed invitation we’d received had said we would be back at the marina tomorrow morning, but that meant we’d all be staying on the yacht.
Which was fine—except that I wasn’t sure the Carringtons knew London and I weren’t a couple.
We hadn’t necessarily clarified that and the Carringtons were obviously married. She’d had a ring the size of Mercury on her finger and he’d been wearing a wedding band too, so they might’ve just assumed.
The more I wondered about it though, the more I realized I would be good either way. If they thought we were a couple, we would be sleeping in the same bed and I wasn’t about to object to that. I was just excited for a cool night out on a yacht. If things turned hot after, all the better.
I zipped up my overnight bag after chucking in a box of condoms as an afterthought. Just in case. My phone beeped with a text and Jerry’s name was on my screen when I slid the device out of my pocket.
Jerry: Hey bro. We moved up our arrival. Y’all good if we stay with you this weekend? So excited to see you both.
Me: For sure, dude. Excited to have you. I’ll let London know.
Smiling, I grabbed my jacket, slid my bag over my shoulder, and headed out. London left her room just as I shut my door behind me. My eyeballs nearly fell out of my head when I saw her. She hadn’t gone with the champagne number in the end, opting for a floor-length, slate gray dress.
I hadn’t even seen her purchasing it, but she looked stunning and elegant.
An absolute knockout. Her hair was styled into a sleek, sophisticated updo, those golden locks twisted into a full bun.
Long, glitzy earrings hung from her lobes, matching the overall, luxurious vibe of her this evening.
As classy as she looked, my mind went directly into the gutter.
How fast could I rip that dress off with my teeth?
Without even trying to stop myself, I ran my gaze all over her in that form-fitting dress, and London being London, she did a cheeky twirl to show me the open back and the high slit up the side.
“Dang, girl. I’m glad we went shopping.”
She chuckled. Her lips were painted a deep, velvety red that made them seem so soft and inviting. “Don’t even.”
“No, for real, though.” I smirked at her and reached for her overnight bag, very deliberately moving my eyes away from her mouth. “You look good, Walker. It turns out you clean up nice.”
“As if you didn’t know that.” She gave an exasperated roll of her eyes but handed over her bag. “Let’s go. We don’t want to be late. I’m not being raced to the yacht in some rowboat at night while I’m wearing this.”
“I’m certainly not manning the oars,” I teased, putting my jacket on. I took one bag in each hand and inclined my chin for her to precede me to the stairs. “Oh, Jerry and Lori have moved up their dates. They’re going to be here this weekend. I just found out.”
“Then you need to get cleaning, mister.” She lifted the dress before sweeping down the staircase as gracefully as a real freaking princess, though I didn’t call her that again. I saved that one for special occasions. “Your crusty socks have the whole house smelling like toes.”
I laughed. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. If you wouldn’t use every closet in the house, I’d actually have a spot for my dirty laundry. So you pick them up.”
“Never.” Glancing over her shoulder, she peered up at me through long, made-up lashes, the blue of her eyes precisely the same as the ocean outside at this time of the afternoon. “You have a ridiculously nice closet in your bedroom. It’s not my fault you don’t use it. You pick them up.”
I chuckled. “We’ll clean, but I doubt they’ll even notice. It sounds like they’re just excited to get here.” I paused. “Maybe we can get Jerry to clean up once he gets here.”
“You’re impossible.” She shrugged. “In all seriousness, I’m looking forward to seeing them.
I know it’s only for a few months while all our own plans are still up in the air, but it’s going to be awesome to have them close by.
I’ll have to move my clothes out of the other bedroom, though.
Luckily, I know there’s lots of space in your closet, since your stuff is all over the house. ”
“I’ll gather up all my dirty laundry. Then throw it on your bed. How’s that?” I laughed, following her down the stairs and marveling again at the house we were sharing.
“I will burn all of it.”
With the sun dipping low outside, the entire first floor glowed with the soft light of sunset.
The air itself seemed to shimmer as London swept through it.
She left a cloud of that expensive, spicy perfume in her wake and I breathed it in, my body immediately reacting to the scent now that I’d had it on my body and in my sheets.
Hot and bothered, I groaned and tightened my grip on our bags. If we did end up sleeping next to each other tonight, I was going to have a hard time keeping my hands to myself.
Moving my thoughts back to the weekend ahead and having our friends staying with us, I followed her across the foyer and wished they were here already. It sure would’ve made things easier if I’d had them around to break the tension tonight.
“We should plan a crazy night out for when they get here,” I said. “Show them what Miami is all about.”
Those blue eyes snagged on mine as I waited for her to open the front door. “Do we even fully know what Miami is all about yet?”
“Exactly,” I said. “All the more reason to do it. We just need to figure out exactly what that means. Show ourselves what Miami is all about at the same time. It’ll be fun, don’t you think?”
She finally swung open the door and motioned me through it first, since I was lugging the bags and she’d lock up.
Somehow, I knew that was what we were doing.
There were some things she and I didn’t even need to talk about and others we could just never seem to get on the same page about. Like proper laundry placement.
“Yeah, I think it will be fun,” she said. “Thanks for carrying the bags, by the way. I wasn’t sure where we’d be sleeping or what to pack, so I might’ve gone overboard.”
I lifted the bulging duffel in my hand and gave it a pointed look. “You think? You never go overboard with clothes and packing.”
She laughed. “Get your butt to the truck, dingus. I’m being serious about that rowboat. If we miss the literal boat, you’d better find another way to get me to that fancy party. I’m not wasting a dress like this sitting around at home.”
The dress wouldn’t go to waste at home either if I had anything to say about it, but we’d agreed nothing would happen again, and as much as she looked good enough to eat, London Walker wasn’t on the menu tonight. Not for me anyway.
Now I just have to figure out why that’s suddenly bugging me so much.