Chapter 9
CHAPTER 9
LIAM
B efore I tell you who won the arm wrestling contest, you need to understand something about Andie.
She cheats.
More specifically, she cheats at arm wrestling. Everyone knows the rules. And trust me, Andie knows the rules, too. She just chooses to ignore them. For her, arm wrestling is a full-body experience.
I’m pretty strong. I work out daily, and not to brag, but women seem to notice (and appreciate) my muscles. Even though Andie also works out regularly and is extremely strong, she cannot beat me in an arm wrestling match–even when she throws her entire body into the challenge.
Unless she makes me laugh.
And dang the woman, somehow she always manages to do just that. It’s embarrassing. Okay, if all I did was laugh it wouldn’t be embarrassing, but Andie knows how to make me giggle.
Yeah, I said it. Giggle.
There is no way in all of God’s green earth–or the universe for that matter–that giggling is manly. Andie somehow knows how to bring it out of me. Infuriating woman! And when I say giggling, I mean giggling like a girl. No offense to girls everywhere, but the last time Andie made me giggle was when we were hanging out with Nell and Larson, and when their laughter abated, Larson held out his hand and demanded I hand over my man card.
Tonight is no exception, so after embarrassing myself (again), I concede the loss. It looks like I’ll be the one to begin our conversation.
“Layton was only teasing you, to goad me. You know how he is. Just ignore him.”
Andie picks at her fingernail for a moment. “Do you think I shouldn’t have told Layton our relationship is fake?”
“Nah, I mean, it’s fine,” I answer. “But we can’t risk it getting back to my parents, so I’ll have to talk to Layton and make sure he doesn’t blow our cover.”
“Yeah, Probably a good idea.”
Liam nods.
“Liam?”
“Hmm?”
“I think we need some parameters for this whole fake relationship thing.”
“What kind of parameters?”
Andie’s shoulders lift in a tiny shrug. “Like how much physical contact we’re comfortable with,” she says with a grimace. “You know, so things don’t get murky or complicated.”
Yes, I do know. Yet for some reason, Andie’s words unsettle me. I know our kiss bothered her, I’m just not sure why. It bothered me, as well, but I doubt for the same reason. After all, she’s the one who referred to it as just a kiss . Like we kiss that way all the time. No big deal. But I’m not buying it. Something shifted between us–not some drastic change or anything, but a subtle one.
I read women pretty well, and really well when it comes to Andie. So I know she’s hiding something. It gripes me to no end that she won’t talk to me about it.
“Okay, but you’re going to need to be more specific. You and I have always been affectionate friends. Are you saying you’re not comfortable with that?”
“No,” she says, shaking her head.
“No, you’re not comfortable, or no, you're not not comfortable?”
She inhales deeply and releases her breath with a sigh. “Why are you making this so difficult?”
“Um, have you not met me?”
She pretends to give the question serious thought. “Fair point,” she finally says with a grin.
I shift in my seat so I’m facing her and she mirrors the action. “I have an idea. Do you trust me?”
Andie’s laugh bellows so loudly the people in the booth next to ours turn their heads in our direction. “No.”
I flash her a disgruntled look. “Yeah, you do.”
Rolling her eyes, she acquiesces. “Fine. I do trust you. Though it goes against my better judgment to do so.” The suspicious glint in her eyes makes me chuckle.
The thing is, Andie does trust me. She always has. That said, she also knows me well enough to trust that when I ask her if she trusts me, she should assume I have something up my sleeve.
“Let’s do a little experiment,” I say, tilting my head in a side nod.
“What kind of experiment?” She eyes me warily.
I give her my most dazzling smile. “Think of this as practice for next weekend’s event.”
Her eyes narrow, but she dips her chin in agreement. “Fine. You may proceed,” she says as she wiggles her fingers for me to begin .
I start by taking her hand in mind. “Are you comfortable with this?”
She looks confused. “Duh,” she says as if I’m an idiot. “Of course I am.”
“Okay, good. I’m just trying to establish a baseline. Stay with me.” I shift the position of our hands and slowly thread our fingers together. “What about this?”
She stares at our hands and swallows before answering, “Yeah, sure.”
“Good,” I nod in agreement, noting the subtle shift in her tone. “So far, we’re both on the same page. Nothing complicated or murky, right?”
She rolls her eyes and bites back a smile, drawing my attention to that smart mouth of hers before forcing my gaze back to hers. “How about this?” Keeping my eyes locked on hers, I slide my thumb gently back and forth over her wrist, alternating with slow circles. I don’t miss the tiniest hitch in her breath, which pleases me more than it should. I also don’t miss the way her pulse quickens slightly–something else that pleases me more than it should.
Our gazes remain fixed, but Andie’s mouth presses into a smirk and she arches a brow. She’s challenging me. Definitely a good sign. It means we’re still within our comfort zone–or safe zone, as Grams put it.
I release Andie’s hand and rest my arm around her back, allowing my fingers to caress her shoulder and neck.
“Still okay, right? Nothing complicated or murky?”
“Still fine. I mean, you tend to do that all the time. I doubt you even realize you're doing it.”
Oh Darlin’, trust me. I’m aware.
Andie’s nodding her head like having my arm around her is no big deal, but there’s no hiding the goosebumps my touch is causing. Andie’s always been sensitive and ticklish, though, so I won’t read more into it than that. Yep. Completely ignoring any fleeting thoughts about how it feels to touch her like this and how satisfying it is that my touch can elicit an involuntary response from her. Totally not thinking about how her reaction makes me want to continue doing this, like forever.
“So, we’re good then, right?” She asks, dragging my muddled mind back to our little experiment.
“Not quite.” With my free hand, I cup the side of her face and slide my thumb across her cheek. “How about that?”
“Totally fine,” she whispers.
“Not murky?”
She shakes her head slowly from side to side.
I lean in and brush a kiss to her cheek. “And this?” I may linger a moment longer than necessary. “Still good?”
Her eyes drift closed and she nods. “Still good.”
“What if I–”
“No,” she cuts me off abruptly. “You’ve had your fun. It’s my turn now.”
My eyebrows shoot up and an impish grin spreads across my face. I know it’s an impish grin, because what else could it be? Layton taught me everything he knows, remember? “By all means, Darlin’, lead on,” I say as I waggle my eyebrows suggestively.
Andie shakes her head and tsks, the way I imagine she would with a troublesome toddler. Although, why I’m thinking about Andie with a toddler is beyond me. I try to shake the image from my mind as Andie slides over to sit sideways on my lap. She wraps a hand around my neck, presses her free hand to my heart, and settles her cheek against my shoulder. “Fake girlfriends can do this, right?”
I wrap my arms around her and tug her to me. “Heck, yeah. Fake girlfriends do this all the time. It’s neither murky nor complicated.”
“How many fake girlfriends have you had?” she asks, curiosity in her eyes .
“You’re my first, but my answer stands.”
She gives me a nod and then continues. “And if I press a kiss here,” she kisses my cheek, “it’s still fine, right?”
“Absolutely fine. Still well within fake girlfriend territory.” I rest my chin on the top of her head. “You know, I think this little experiment we’re doing is going well, don’t you? We’re obviously very comfortable being physical with each other.”
“Hmm,” she muses. She shifts again so she’s straddling my lap with her knees on either side of my thighs. “How ab–”
“Murky!” I snap, grabbing her hips and lifting her off me. “Definitely murky! Only real girlfriends should sit that way, not fake girlfriends. And never in public.”
“Okay, then. Glad we cleared that up. So,” she scoots back into the safe zone on my lap, “better?”
I give her an exaggerated nod. “Yes,” I say a little too emphatically. But the tiny voice in the back of my mind calls me out and taunts, Liar!
Andie starts to move off my lap, but I lock my arms around her. “Not just yet, smarty pants. There’s one more part of our physical fake relationship we need to clarify.” I can see in her eyes that she knows what I’m referring to. I feel it in the way she stiffens slightly. “Kissing.”
“Okay, but can we hurry and get it over with, so I can get back to work?”
“Ouch!” I frown. “That’s so not the reaction your fake boyfriend was hoping for.”
Andie rolls her eyes, but then she lifts her chin and presses a soft kiss to my mouth. “That’s fake girlfriend territory, right?”
“Right,” I answer, but I know I’m in deep trouble because the minute her lips left mine, I felt the absence. It frustrates the heck out of me that she seems so nonchalant about it.
Andie gives my chest a quick pat. “So, we’re done then?” She asks, her eyes a little wider than usual.
Aha! So not so unaffected after all, hmm?
“Almost. I need to make sure I know exactly where to draw the kissing boundary line.”
I lift her chin with my fingers and force her gaze back to mine. I trail the back of my knuckles along her jaw and let my eyes linger on her mouth for a moment before returning my gaze to hers. Her pupils are dilated–something I wasn’t expecting to see–and it triggers an almost painful tingle in my chest. It’s more than a zing thing ; it’s a guttural need deep within me that I’m wholly unfamiliar with.
I press my lips to hers and heat instantly ignites in my belly, unlocking an unexpected, deep-seated need within me. Andie’s mouth moves in a sort of poetic harmony with mine, as if our lips were created for this very purpose, and for a delicious moment, we lose ourselves in the kiss.
This most certainly is not the way friends kiss. And it’s not the way people in a fake relationship kiss.
“Liam,” Andie whispers against my lips. And hearing my name from her lips is like adding lighter fluid to an open flame. My fingers tangle in her hair and I tilt her head so I can deepen the kiss. The moment our tongues meet, Andie pulls back, placing her hand on my chest.
“Complicated,” she whispers.
It takes a moment before her meaning reaches my addled brain. Resting my forehead against hers. “Complicated,” I whisper in agreement.
Andie rests her hand on the side of my face.
“When you kissed me like that at the benefit, I know you only meant it for Derek’s benefit, but…”
“But it made you uncomfortable,” I say, finishing her thought for her.
Her brows pull together. “Not me. You.”
“Me? You think it made me uncomfortable? ”
Averting her eyes, Andie says, “Liam, you literally jumped away from me like you’d just been stung by a swarm of angry wasps.”
She’s right about the jumping back part, but it had nothing to do with angry wasps or Derek or being uncomfortable. Praise the heavens and all the saints, those were the last things on my mind.
“So we probably shouldn’t…kiss…” Andie clears her throat. “like that again.”
“Why, because Derek will be there and you’re afraid it might upset him?” My words sound more defensive than I mean them.
“No,” Andie says with a shake of her head. “Because it would complicate things between us. Change what we have–what we are to each other. You know it’s true.”
“The thing is, Andie, if you were my real girlfriend, I wouldn’t hesitate to kiss you like that in public.”
“I know you wouldn’t, but this is fake, remember? I’m not your real girlfriend, so–”
I’m not sure why I keep forgetting Andie and I are in a “fake” relationship. Especially since she keeps reminding me.
“Do you want out?”
“What?” she asks, seeming surprised. “No. Do you? Want out?”
How do I tell her having her as my fake girlfriend is more fun than anything I’ve done in a long time? That having an excuse to hold her hand, throw my arm around her, kiss her cheek, tease her, has put a smile on my face that’s anything but fake. How do I tell her I want to kiss her like that again and again until she’s breathless and drunk on me.
No. I can’t tell her any of that or she might call the whole thing off right now. So, instead, I lean in and brush a kiss to her cheek and say with a teasing lilt, “Andie, darlin’, I love being your fake boyfriend. It gives me a chance to see how many ways I can make you blush.”
She responds by jabbing her elbow into my side, quite aggressively I might add. “Okay then, as your fake girlfriend, I’m glad we’ve established some clear boundaries.”
“Right,” I respond with mock seriousness. “So things don’t become complicated and murky.”
“Exactly.”
“So, to summarize,” I say, my mouth quirking at the corners, “no tongue, because it makes things complicated.”
“Right,” Andie says with an affirming nod. “And no straddling your lap because it makes things murky.”
“So murky–you have no idea! Or do you, you little minx?”
“Meh?” She shrugs her shoulders playfully. Then her face turns serious again. “Liam, I think I should be honest about the night of the benefit. About that ki–”
My phone pings, alerting me of an incoming text, but I ignore it. It’s imperative that Andie finish her sentence.
Her eyes dart to my phone. “Go ahead and respond, Liam. It’s fine.”
“First, finish what you were saying,” I urge, gesturing with my hand for her to continue.
Shaking her head, she waves me off and nods to my phone. “It’s fine, Liam. What I have to say can wait.”
Unlocking my screen, I see a text from Alex.
Alex: Nell’s in the hospital. Premature labor pains, Max thinks.
Worry immediately wipes away my ability to think rationally. I type a quick response and reach for my wallet to pay for our meal.
Me: Be right there.
Alex: No. Larson’s with her and told Max he’d keep us posted.
Me: We should be there to support Nell.
Alex: Got that. But Larson says if we all show up, Nell will freak out.
Me: Is she okay?
Alex: Larson says she’s worried.
I’m in the middle of typing a response when a group thread opens.
Larson: Doctor gave Nell a drip to stop the contractions. I’ll update here when I know more.
Max: Thanks, man.
“What’s going on, Liam?” Andie puts her hand on my arm. “You okay?”
I shake my head. “It’s Nell. She’s in the hospital.”
Andie’s brows leap upward. “Why? What happened? Is it the babies? Is she okay?”
“I’m not sure. Premature labor according to Alex. They’ve got her on a drip to stop the contractions.”
“Nell must be beside herself,” Andie says on an exhale. “Is there anything we can do?”
I shake my head. “Larson started a group text to keep us updated.”
“You’re worried,” Andie’s fingers gently squeeze my arm.
“I am,” I nod. “She’s only 32 weeks along, and that’s way too early for her to have the babies.”
“I’ll order an Uber,” Andie says while she reaches for her phone. When I don’t respond, she looks up and gives me a reassuring smile. “It’s not uncommon for a woman carrying twins to deliver six to eight weeks early, Liam. They rarely go full-term, so try not to stress, okay? At least until we have more information.”
I nod, but worry nags at me. Nell has experienced enough loss in her life. She and the babies have to be okay. They have to be. I send a silent plea to the heavens asking for help on Nell's behalf and summoning Robert to be Nell’s guardian angel.
When I first met Nell, she was still mourning the loss of her first husband, Robert, who also happens to be Alex’s older brother. Because she was still grieving, she had zero interest in dating anybody. Including me. It didn’t stop me from flirting with her, though. And even though Max and Alex warned me to cool my jets, my over-the-top teasing eased away any lingering awkwardness after Nell rejected me. Eventually, our relationship evolved into the sweet friendship we share today.
“You really love her, don’t you,” Andie’s soft spoken words sound more like a statement than a question.
“Of course, I do.” I say.
“I’m not talking about the giant crush you had on her at one time.”
I chuckle at the memory. “That was years ago. Feels like another lifetime.”
“I’m glad your crush turned into a true friendship. For a while, back when I first found out Derek had cheated on me, I was so envious of your friendship with Nell. I didn’t want to like her, you know? But…”
“She’s impossible not to like, isn’t she?”
“She really is.” Andie grins. “Even though the jealousy ate me up on the inside sometimes. ”
“Really?”
“I know it sounds silly, but it felt like your friendship with Nell had replaced the one you had with me.”
I shake my head, suddenly recalling something Grams said to me. “You can’t be replaced, Andie. And if it makes you feel any better, you’re not alone with the jealousy thing. The five years you spent with dipwad nearly made me lose my mind.”
“Ahhhh, you say the sweetest things sometimes,” she teases.
“Laugh it up, Andie, but the struggle was real.” I give her a decidedly pointed look. “And as far as my friendship with Nell goes, you and I share something she and I do not.”
“What’s that?”
“More than fifteen years of history. And just look at us now!” I tease throwing my arms out to the side. “See how far we’ve come?”
Andie tosses her head back and laughs. “Let’s recap. What started as a crush grew into us becoming each other’s first love.” She pins her gaze on mine. “I was your first love, right?”
Laughing, I nod my head. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Okay, good. Because that’s an important detail in our history. Then we digressed and parted ways–took a detour and became friends with “sometimes” benefits. Lost touch with each other for a short time, and then fell back into an easy friendship.”
“And now,” I waggle my eyebrows at her, “we’re crushing a fake romance. It’s almost like we’ve come full circle.”
“Indeed.” Andie’s phone beeps and she nods to the parking lot. “Our Uber’s here.”
Fetching my wallet from the table, I add a couple $20 dollar bills to the one Layton left earlier, and follow Andie out the door.
“Where to?” I ask once we’re buckled in our seats.
“The hospital,” Andie says.
I shake my head. “Larson asked us to wait. ”
“I know,” Andie nods. “We’re not going to try and see Nell. We’re just going to hang out in the waiting room. Because my guess is, once Larson gives the all clear, you’ll wish you were already there.”
I’m not sure why, but suddenly, I’m gripping Andie’s face and pressing a kiss to her mouth. “Thank you,” I say against her lips, knowing I don’t have to explain myself further, because Andie gets me. She just gets me.
She always has.