Chapter 29
LIAM
“ N ope, he’s one hundred percent available. We’re just friends.” London smiled at the waitress like she was about to win the lottery.
Meanwhile, I felt a tightness in my chest that was so uncomfortable that it was borderline painful, but I knew how to play my part and I did it well. Glancing up at the waitress, I looked at her—really looked at her—for the first time.
Objectively, she was gorgeous. Going out with her would be far from a punishment, but I really had to work hard to make myself actually say the words. “Yes, I’m available. Totally available. We can meet tonight after you get off work, pretty lady. What time does your shift end?”
“Ten.” Her huge, chocolate-brown eyes lingered on mine for a moment and it didn’t escape my notice that a month ago, I would have been all over this girl. Now, however, as pretty as she was, I already knew it wasn’t going to go anywhere. “I’m Mindy, by the way.”
“Mindy. What a beautiful name. I’m Liam.” I shook her hand and held it for a beat longer than necessary. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“The pleasure is all mine.” A slow grin curved her lips, but after looking at me for another beat, she let go of my hand, took Jerry’s order for a beer too, and then left us to it, but shot me another flirty smile over her shoulder.
Jerry shook his head at me. “Dude, will you ever grow up?”
“Probably not.” I shrugged, finally turning back to him only once she had completely disappeared from view.
I was selling this hard, but the truth was that the tightness in my chest was still there.
London telling that girl that we weren’t together and making it so crystal clear that I was available had caused something deep inside me to sour.
I knew that we were still just friends and that we were only messing around, but shit.
For the first time ever, I was feeling a little frustrated with her for making it so clear that there was nothing between us.
Besides, we hadn’t specifically spoken about this yet, but while we were both benefiting from our friendship, I hadn’t planned on being with anyone else.
Since she was so cavalier about it though, I decided to let it go and see what happened with Mindy. If London wanted me to go out on dates, that was fine. I already knew she wouldn’t like it if I should find a lady I actually liked.
I glanced at her, wondering if she felt as little about this as she had appeared to, but she was speaking to Lorelei, chuckling at something she’d said and sipping on my sangria.
Her own glass was already empty, but that was the only sign I could see that she was more stressed than she was letting on.
On the other hand, she’d gotten a touch pink today.
Maybe the sun had just made her really thirsty.
When Mindy came back to drop off our beers, I smiled at her, deciding that I was going to give this a real chance. I wouldn’t waste her time by actually taking her out after her shift unless I started feeling like we might have fun together.
“I’m new in town,” I said, making a point of looking out at the city below before I turned my gaze back to her. “Would you mind if I picked your brain about things to do around here?”
She giggled, but it wasn’t one of those put-on, annoying sounds. It was pretty cute, actually. “This happens to be your lucky day, Liam. When I’m not working here, I’m a local guide. What would you like to know?”
“Everything.” I wasn’t even kidding. I loved the adventure of moving someplace new, but London and I hadn’t gotten around to exploring nearly as much as I would have liked. “Give me a crash course. If there’s anything worth doing, I want to know about it.”
During the rest of dinner, she and I exchanged random fun facts about ourselves and our home cities, and when she wasn’t with us, I had some fun gauging London’s reactions to our interactions.
I could tell it was bothering her that Mindy and I were really hitting it off, and it was kind of nice to see her squirm for once when she’d had me wrapped around her finger for years.
“Don’t worry, Walker. Once I get the inside scoop, I’ll share it with you,” I assured her when Mindy walked away again. “I’ll tell you about all the decent places, but you’ll have to stop being mean to get the name of the best.”
I pumped my eyebrows at her and she pursed her lips, exhaling heavily through her nostrils. Surprisingly, she didn’t issue a witty or a stinging comeback. She simply shrugged and turned back to Lori. “Okay, Liam. Whatever floats your boat. Have fun later.”
“We should head home and have a movie night,” Lorelei suggested, but not before sending me a puzzled, disapproving frown. “What do you guys think?”
The frown vanished when she glanced at Jerry and he nodded, smiling as he slid an arm around her shoulders. “I think that’s exactly what we need.”
“Well, those of us who are adults and are not trying to be the reincarnation of Casanova.” London shot me a sickly sweet smile so poisonous, I almost had the heart attack she was trying to give me.
Sighing, I kept my comments and questions to myself, just finished off the last of my pizza and headed home. I needed to change my shirt before coming back to pick Mindy up. Spritzing on some cologne too, just for good measure, I was ready for a night out. Whether I wanted it or not.
After ruffling my hair, I skipped downstairs to find London making a cup of tea in her robe. Even with her pink cheeks, zero makeup, and those golden locks thrown into a messy ponytail on top of her head, she was still gorgeous.
Her piercing blues flicked up to mine when I walked in. “Are you still here? I thought you were already gone.”
“Nope, I had to freshen up. What do you take me for, an asshole? But jeez, grandma, you’re already sleepy?”
She turned on her bleh face. “Enjoy your big date, you chump.”
“If you hadn’t made it so clear that we’re not together, I wouldn’t even be going out with this chick.
” I kept my voice down but glanced over my shoulder at the stairs just in case.
There was no sign of Lori or Jerry yet, though.
They were probably still changing into their PJs.
“This is on you, Walker. So suck it up.”
“We aren’t together.” She looked right into my eyes, her expression completely serious. “We won’t ever be together, so it’s probably good you’re going out with her.”
She picked up her tea to head out to the living room, and as she walked by me, I blew out a heavy breath. “Yeah, I guess so.”
Talk about a reality check. Wow. She really can be ice cold.
London didn’t respond, disappearing without having to get the final word, which was rare for her. I tried to shake it off as I stalked out of the kitchen and drove back to the restaurant to pick Mindy up, but I found myself thinking about London the whole night anyway.
Mindy was great. Really chatty, and bubbly, and the happiest person ever, but no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t get a spark to light inside me. This thing with London was supposed to have been a no strings attached kind of deal, but I knew I had my strings firmly attached.
As much as I’d tried to deny it, I’d walked into it with strings knotted all through my soul.
“Would you like to come and have a nightcap at my house?” Mindy asked after I’d paid the check at the bar she’d suggested. “I have some fun liqueurs we could try to turn into cocktails with soda.”
I chuckled. “That sounds simultaneously disgusting and awesome. I would love to, but I’m not feeling too well. I think I got a bit too much sun today. I feel like a total tourist.”
I felt like such a dick when genuine sympathy softened her features. “Yeah, I know how that feels. We’ll take a raincheck. Just drink plenty of water tonight and try to get a bit more sleep than usual. You might also want to moisturize really well and you’ll be right as rain tomorrow.”
“Thanks for the advice.” I drove her home, honestly shocked that I’d turned her down. I never did that, but when I got home and saw London’s door shut across the hall from mine, I knew exactly why I’d done it.
Unable to resist, I went over and quietly knocked. “Walker? Are you still awake in there?”
“Go away, loser. I can smell your slut from here.”
“Fine, get your beauty sleep. You need it.” I laughed as I headed to my own door, but I heard her chuckling softly and it did things to me it shouldn’t have.
As I shut my door behind me and got ready for bed instead of mixing random cocktails with a really pretty, really fun girl, I knew I was in trouble.
These strings I’d walked into the arrangement with needed to snipped and soon.
I hadn’t been able to bring myself to cut them tonight, and frankly, I didn’t think I’d be able to do it tomorrow either.