Chapter 39
LIAM
Bright and early on our first morning back in Miami, Jerry and I hit up the gym. We headed directly for the treadmills, ready to get in a good pump after we’d warmed up.
I stepped onto a treadmill facing the pool, breathing in the scent of chlorine and thinking about that night when I’d gone looking for London. Just as those images of her in the hot tub entered my mind, my friend shattered them.
On the treadmill beside mine, he’d already started walking and he grinned at me. “So, how did it really go in Orlando?”
“What do you mean, bro? We told you all about it when we got home last night.” I adjusted the settings and began moving with the belt underneath me, ignoring the way his eyebrows lifted and his eyes got wider as he waited for a real answer.
An answer I couldn’t really give, but I knew I had to try. “It was a blast, actually. We had a water park right in the hotel and it turns out that having an ice cream factory for a client is really tasty. Plus, the couple who owns the company loved our ideas, so that was awesome.”
He chuckled, head shaking as he sped up to a slow jog. “How about you and London? Anything new on that front? I can’t quite put my finger on it, but something definitely seems different with you two.”
Probably because there’s less sexual tension in our arguments now that we’re releasing that pressure valve every once in a while. “Nah, you’ve just never been around us so often for so long before.”
“True.” For a long moment, he was silent, the sounds of our feet pounding against the belts interspersed with weights clanging and water splashing every so often. “You know that we only ask because we care, right? If you ever want to talk about it…”
He let the offer hang mid-air, and when I didn’t take him up on it, he accepted that I wasn’t going to talk without pushing. Good man.
“Lorelei’s really excited that you guys ended up here the same as us,” he volunteered easily, speaking loud enough to be heard above the rhythmic sound of our footfalls.
“She’ll never admit it, but she was worried about coming all the way out here, living away from home for the first time without a support structure in our immediate vicinity. ”
I chuckled. “Honestly, I think London feels the same way. I know I do. How are the resorts coming along anyway? That’s what you’re here for, but you’ve hardly mentioned them.”
“That’s because there’s nothing much to talk about just yet. Everything is great on the work front. The rental is turning out to be a real pain, though.”
“Why is that? I thought they were almost done painting. It didn’t take that much longer than they originally estimated.”
“No, it didn’t, but they’ve found more issues that they need to fix before we can move in. When we rented the place, all it needed was a paint job. I’m starting to think we would’ve had better luck if we’d waited until we got here to find a house.”
“Nah, because then, you wouldn’t have rented the house across the street from us and you’re welcome to stay exactly where you are for as long as you need.”
“Yeah. What a coincidence, huh?” He laughed as he pushed a hand through his hair.
“Thanks, Liam. We really appreciate your patience with us, but we’re also itching to get settled.
How about you? We don’t even know how long you’re going to be in the house across the street.
Has there been any news about whether you’ll be staying in Miami once the new branch is fully functional? ”
“Nothing yet,” I said honestly, though I kind of liked the idea of living with London long-term a lot more now than I used to. “There’s been talk of traveling to open more branches, but I’m not sure what the plan is yet.”
“Would you want to do that?” He glanced at me, brow furrowed and dotted with sweat. “Moving so often is bound to become exhausting at some point.”
“Sure, but I’m down to travel. I’m also good with staying. We’ll just have to see how the chips fall.”
“Well, personally, I hope you stay. At least for a year or two. You were in Houston for that and you weren’t even the people opening the branch. That was just to act as backup to Olivia.”
“Houston is the biggest branch, though. I’m not saying it won’t take us that long to get everything set up and settled here, but it was important to Nate that the handover in Texas went well. Even more important that the Anderson account transition went smoothly.”
He laughed. “I’d say that went as smooth as anyone could’ve hoped for. Liv even married an Anderson. It doesn’t get much more settled than that.”
“You’re forgetting that she also had his baby,” I joked, but it was also true. “I love Charlie, though. I kind of miss having him around all the time.”
“He did sort of adopt you as another baby brother,” he said, and he wasn’t wrong.
I’d been an honorary Walker for a long time and Charlie had embraced me as if I really had been one of them.
As the oldest of five boys, the guy was so used to being a big brother that he’d simply extended his wing to fit me underneath it as well.
Makes it even more difficult to imagine not being part of their crew. A shudder slid down my spine at the thought of falling out with them. Being with London was the greatest risk to my status as surrogate son to Nathan and yet if it worked? Fuck, it would be so worth it.
“Yeah.” I left it at that, grabbing my towel as my treadmill automatically started slowing. “Should we hit the circuit yet? I’m as warm as I’m going to get.”
“Let’s do it.” We both wiped our brows as we climbed off the treadmills and squirted water into our mouths.
Once we’d made our way to the circuit, he glanced at me, a light going on in his eyes. “Oh, I forgot to tell you. Lori and I were invited to a barbecue tonight. Do you and London want to join us? It might be nice to start making some friends around here.”
“I’m up for it. We can ask London if she’d like to come when we get home.”
I’d come this close to accepting on behalf of us both and I didn’t quite know how to feel about that. The old me would’ve gotten skittish about the possibility, but again, with the girl in question being London, the thought of it didn’t make me want to bolt.
Funny how that works.
He bounced a bit on the seat of the bench press and then lay back. I walked up behind him, ready to spot him if he needed me. His gaze met mine and he quirked an eyebrow. “You sure you don’t want to talk about it?”
“I’m all good, bro. Thanks.” If I needed to talk, I’d have done it. I trusted Jerry with my life. Even if he would’ve cautioned me extensively against doing exactly what I was doing with London, he also would’ve understood the draw.
Hell, he’d known that I felt that draw since the very first time I’d realized it myself. It wouldn’t have come as any sort of surprise to the guy, but the fact was that there wasn’t much to say. We were sleeping together, but for now, that was all it was.
Jerry didn’t need to know that she had been in my bed, and he sure as hell didn’t need the details.
So what was the point of saying anything?
I wasn’t about to gossip about her and we weren’t in a relationship or about to get into one.
Simply put, nothing had happened that he needed to know about or that I needed to have a conversation about.
He wrapped his fingers around the bar, blew out a breath, and lifted, groaning a little. He extended his arms before lowering the weight back down. I was ready to swoop in and save him if he needed me to, but thankfully, he held his own, doing as many lifts as he could before we swapped positions.
My muscles burned after a few minutes on the machine, and by the time the buzzer went off to signal our move to the next part of the circuit, sweat was rolling into my hair. I groaned as I sat up and grabbed my towel, wiping my neck and brow before I got up.
Jerry chuckled. “It’s nice to see you sweat for a change. Literally.”
“You’d have preferred if it was metaphorical, wouldn’t you?”
He shrugged, his lips pulled into a half-smile as he took a seat on the next machine. “I’ve been watching you sweat metaphorically for years. Every time you’re around London, actually. You should’ve seen your face when she came down those stairs before we went to the beach. Priceless.”
I huffed out a breath. “At least I didn’t look like a lovestruck goofball.”
“You think?” He arched his eyebrows at me and let out a burst of laughter under his breath. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that, bud.”
Head shaking, I decided to concentrate on making myself physically sweat some more instead of getting hung up on how bad I was at controlling my face when she was around. Yeah, I’m definitely going to have to work on that.
For the rest of our time at the gym, both Jerry and I got lost in our own thoughts, only talking every once in a while when we switched from one machine to the next. When we were done, we jogged home, huffing, puffing, and hot as hell by the time we got there.
The girls were finally up and eating breakfast when we burst into the kitchen. Lorelei smiled when we came in, but quickly stood to get Jerry a glass of water. He bent over, breathing hard with his hands on his knees just inside the kitchen door.
“You broke him,” she joked, shooting me a faux look of disapproval. “I’d like to marry him before you give him a heart attack, Liam.”
“I’m trying to prevent him from having a heart attack at all.” I pumped my eyebrows at her as she raced over to push the glass into his hand. “Where’s mine?”
“Get it yourself.” She smiled sweetly and went back to her breakfast.
Meanwhile, London sat at the counter, watching us with a piece of avocado toast in her hand. I looked at her as I crossed to get to the fridge. “Good morning, beautiful…” She started smiling, tucking her hair behind her ear before I added, “Creature. Good morning, beautiful creature.”
Her face fell. “That’s not as offensive as you think that is.”
I chuckled. “You ready for work yet?”
She frowned before she gestured at her washed out T-shirt and shorts ensemble. “Do I look ready for work yet?”
“Nope, but I’m grabbing a protein shake and then I’m going to take a shower. Better eat fast.” I winked and made my shake before heading to the stairs.
London sighed but took another bite of her toast. As I reached the landing, I bent over the railing to yell downstairs. “Car is leaving here in thirty minutes, Princess!”
“The car is leaving when I say it’s leaving!” she retorted loudly.
“Says the one who doesn’t have the keys,” I yelled as I strode across the hall to my bedroom. I could practically feel her eyes roll from all the way up here, but I laughed and shut my bedroom door behind me.
For now, it was time to put all things London out of my head and focus on the work that needed to get done.