Chapter 37
LIAM
Well into the early morning hours, I finally went after her. I’d been wanting to since she’d left our room, but I’d sensed that she needed some time alone, so I’d taken some for myself in turn.
The only thing I’d established was that I was significantly more fucked than I’d initially realized. Unable to sleep without knowing exactly where she was and that she was okay, I’d tossed and turned like a worried clinger, and eventually, I’d decided I was done with that shit.
The sharp scent of chlorine wafted through the air in the pool area, the echo of my footsteps audible even though I wasn’t marching or stomping. There was no one else in here and a slight mist hung above each pool.
“London?” I didn’t even need to raise my voice, but it still sounded like a bellow in the peaceful silence. “Are you here?”
“I’m in the hot tub in the corner,” she responded on a muted call. “Did you really miss me so much that you couldn’t stay away?”
Yeah, I think I did actually. “Nope. Just checking that you’re still alive. It’s almost two a.m. and we’ve got that breakfast with your dad at eight.”
“I know.” I heard a soft sigh, then turned the corner and the hot tub she was in came into view. Freestanding on the smooth, concrete floor, it had a few steps leading into it and faux greenery between it and the next.
London was lying with her head against the edge, the back of her hair soaked and her eyes closed. A smile spread on her lips as I came closer. “I wasn’t even sure I was going to get in once I got down here, but now that I have, I can’t convince myself to get out. The water feels amazing.”
I almost asked if I could join her, but instead, I simply cocked a hip against the side and stared at the serene happiness on her features. “It’s been a few hours. You good?”
“Oh, I’m fine. It just feels like I’m relaxing for the first time in weeks.” She still hadn’t opened her eyes, but there was a tightness in her voice. Somewhere in what she’d just said, there was a big, fat lie.
As she lay there, her chest was half out of the water, her skin glimmering and her bikini top not doing much to hide the fullness of her breasts. I ran my gaze across them, tracking back up the graceful, elongated curve of her neck.
My dick was suddenly very interested in turning this into a scene out of a porno, but I bit back on the surge of lust and came out of nowhere with the emotional stuff instead. “London?”
“Hmm-mm?”
“How are you feeling about this arrangement we’ve got going on?”
Her eyes flew open and she blinked a few times before her gaze landed on mine and she chuckled. “It’s been fun, Liam.”
“I feel a but coming on.” Trepidation snaked through me like a venomous poison infusing my veins. “What is it, London? What’s bothering you? If we’re going to keep doing this, we have to be honest with each other.”
She rolled her eyes up to the ceiling but then drew in a deep breath and came out with it in a rush. “What if we blur the lines too much?”
So she’s been feeling it too. Another hint. Still not actionable, but it’s something. I smirked and I tried to wipe it away, but shit. It really was nice to know that London Walker was actually feelings things about having sex with me.
“Yeah, that’s a risk for sure, but are you having some blurred lines right now?” If I didn’t actively make myself exhale, I would’ve held my breath while I waited for her answer.
In an uncharacteristically contemplative way, London paused before she responded. “No, of course not. I don’t think… I don’t know.” She let out a harsh exhale, her lips pushing into an adorable pout as her gaze moved back to her ceiling. “I don’t know, okay?”
Some of the relief and satisfaction I’d felt when I’d first realized she was actually feeling something about this melted away. She seemed genuinely confused right now—and not necessarily in a good way.
Frankly, I felt about the same. Nothing that was happening between us at the moment was as easy or comfortable as simply sleeping together.
“We’ve been friends for years and years,” I finally said, finding myself needing the reassurance just as much as it seemed she did. “Nothing is going to change that, okay?”
Something lurched in my chest when she didn’t reply immediately. Eyes intently studying the ceiling, she drew in a deep breath and a quiet minute or seven passed before she spoke again. “Yeah, no. You’re right. Of course. We’ll always be friends.”
I frowned, staring at her profile in the dim light and wondering if she’d taken what I’d just said as me friend-zoning her. That was the complete opposite of what I wanted, but it was pretty obvious she was in a vulnerable place tonight.
This wasn’t the time to lay it all out there for her, and besides, I’d still only gotten hints. To take the kind of risk I would be taking by proposing something more, I had to see some genuine interest from her.
Finally, her gaze slid back to mine and she shook her head. “Sorry. I haven’t really answered your question, but since we’re just friends, I think our arrangement is good to go.”
“Can’t stay away from me, huh?” I joked, needing to prove to her that things between us didn’t need to be weird or awkward even if our relationship was changing.
She scoffed through a smile. “Last I checked, it was you who came all the way down here to find me. I’m not the one who doesn’t seem to be able to stay away.”
“You’re not wrong.” It was the truth, but also about as much of it as she was going to get from me tonight.
“Okay, well, now that I know you’re alive and not floating in a puddle somewhere, I’m going to hit the sack.
We have another full day ahead of us and only a few hours left to recharge before it’ll be here. ”
“I should come with you,” she said.
I winked as I picked up her towel and held it out to her. “Always.”
Her eyes widened and she grabbed the towel from me, practically scurrying to get it around herself and then almost falling out of the tub in her haste to spin away from me. “Liam!”
“Don’t act all scandalized on me now, Walker. I know how much you love that.” I offered her my arm to help her out and she sighed, but took it, wrapping her warm, wet fingers around my elbow. She ascended the stairs out of the water.
An annoying voice at the back of my head told me it was time to take this thing to the next level. To tell her that I was confused too and that I thought we had the potential for so much more than what we had right now, but a few minutes ago, I wasn’t sure I’d ever see her naked again.
This was not the time and I knew it, so I let it go, pulling her into my arms when we climbed into bed and settling for the fact that she let me hold her as we fell asleep.
In the harsh light of morning at breakfast with her father, however, all that soft vulnerability was gone and she narrowed her eyes at me from across the table.
“Quit hogging him,” she said after Nathan and I had gotten done talking about the big golf game he had coming up. All her usual fire was back, and strangely, I was happy to see it there. “He’s here to see both of us, not just you.”
Nate chuckled and slung his arm around her shoulders, but he was still looking at me. “You’re sure you don’t want to join us? Gregory’s Logistics will eventually become a client of the Miami branch anyway. It might be good for you to meet him now.”
“I wish I could, but we’ve got to submit our plan for the ice cream factory this afternoon and we’re due back there to present it. I’ve also got emails streaming in from the office and the Carringtons have sent through some examples of brands they’d like us to draw inspiration from, so…”
Nate sighed but smiled, the lines at the corners of his eyes crinkling. “All of those are good things. Great things. I sure would’ve liked to have had you on the course with us, though.”
“Okay, Dad,” London interjected, smiling sweetly up at him. “Be careful now. We all know I’m your favorite.”
“Yep,” I said. “Right behind me.”
Nathan laughed. “You two are always going at it.”
He looked away, searching for our waiter across the terrace of the poolside cafe where we’d met him. I side-eyed London, her father’s last comment bouncing around in my mind.
She caught my gaze, scowling as she mouthed at me, Don’t you dare.
I shot her a grin, but I was being full of shit and I knew it. If we ever got to a point where we told him that there was something going on between us, I sure as hell wouldn’t be dropping it like a bombshell over breakfast.
Much less in response to a comment like that. If he knew all the ways we’d been going at it lately, chances were that he’d quickly stop looking at me like a son and start seeing me as just another shithead trying his luck with his youngest daughter.
I didn’t want that. At least not until I was ready to actually try my luck—and hopefully have it hold.