by Paris Hansen
No more Liam on the brain meant no more being distracted by the mere thought of him. She’d be able to sleep through the night without being bombarded by scorching hot dreams of him buried inside of her. She’d be able to look at a hot guy at the club and picture herself underneath him or on top of him, instead of picturing Liam in his place.
Finley knew that wasn’t what Liam had in mind for the weekend. He really thought there was a chance that they could be something more than just a one-night stand…or one-weekend stand as things now stood. More was not something she’d ever thought of and she couldn’t believe she was actually considering it now. Liam had obviously brainwashed her that night in L.A. That was the only explanation she could think of that made any sense to her. It couldn’t be because she was actually interested in being in a relationship with someone for the first time since high school.
Picking up her phone, she swiped her thumb across the screen, smiling when she realized that her text message to Liam was still up. He hadn’t texted her back or anything, but there was something about the easiness of being able to admit that she had been thinking about him too that made her giddy.
“Son of a bitch,” she muttered before opening up her call log.
Tapping on the green phone, she called the last person that’d called her. It was nearly ten in the morning, so she knew Savannah would be available as long as she wasn’t with Gabriel. Since they’d gotten engaged, Savannah had cut down on her hours running her cupcake empire so they could spend more time together.
“I didn’t expect you to be up so early today,” Savannah said in lieu of hello, which she had deemed a waste of time whenever Finley called her. She wanted to get straight to the good stuff.
“He didn’t come up last night.”
“Wait…what do you mean, he didn’t come up last night?”
“I mean, we practically had sex against the door outside, but then he backed off and left. Before all this happened though he did tell me he wasn’t coming up to my apartment and that he wanted to spend today with me, but what the fucking hell Savannah? I don’t understand.”
“Hold on. Let me go to the back and then you can tell me what happened from the minute I left you alone with him yesterday to when he left you last night.”
Finley waited for Savannah to give her the okay before she proceeded to give her the rundown of the day before. When her best friend started laughing, Finley found herself getting angry again.
“What the hell is so funny, Sav?”
“You are what is funny my friend. Liam likes you. Like really likes you, not just wants to get in your pants likes you. I know this is a new concept for you since you’ve never let someone get to know you enough to like you before now, but that’s what this is. He doesn’t want to just rush back into bed with you because he values you as a person. You’re not just a random piece of ass. It’s all quite romantic if you ask me.”
“Well no one asked you.”
“Uh, yeah you kinda did. But I get it. You don’t know how to deal with this kind of attention and it’s getting to you. How about you give in to it instead of fighting it? What is the worst that could happen?”
“He could cheat on me with a co-star? He could make me look like a fool to the entire world after I fall in love with him and give him a piece of me that I haven’t given to anyone else in my entire life.”
“Shit…okay, let’s take the fact that he’s an actor out of the equation,” Savannah suggested. “If he was just a normal guy that worked, let’s say construction, would you be fighting this as much?”
“I don’t know…maybe…yes…probably not. I mean, construction workers can wreck your heart just as easily as actors can, but the fact that Liam is an actor definitely plays a huge factor in my reaction right now. The shit I watched my mother go through…”
“But you are not your mom, Finley. You are stronger than she ever was and you don’t need a man in your life to make you happy like she did. But you need to realize that having a man in your life isn’t a detriment. Just because you love someone and depend on them doesn’t make you weak. It can be a beautiful, wonderful thing. Sure there’s a chance that you’ll regret it, but there’s an even bigger chance that you’ll regret not trying with Liam if you send him packing.”
“I don’t know…”
“I wasn’t sure either. Falling for someone, giving them a piece of you is scary as hell. But it’s time Fin. It is beyond time for you to put yourself out there; to finally let someone in. You are not your mother and her mistakes and lifestyle should not still hold sway over your life. Forget about Miranda Lane and concentrate on Finley Blake and what she wants for her future.”
“When did you get so smart?” Finley asked, hoping to lighten the mood a little. The last thing she’d expected to talk about when she called Savannah, was her mother. She never talked about Miranda or what Miranda did that screwed with her so much.
“Gabriel’s been really good for me.”
“Yeah he has…Sav, it’s not just what he can do to me that scares me. It’s what being with him will bring up. When the press figures out who I am. Hell even before that, the things they can say about me. What his fans will say about me. I don’t want to deal with all of that again.”
“I get it, but you aren’t a kid this time Finley. You don’t have to read any of it and you certainly don’t have to listen to any of it. Be you and fuck anyone who wants to say anything hurtful about you. The people that matter love you, the rest can go to hell.”
Finley laughed, “Alright potty mouth. Thanks for the chat. It’s been very eye opening, but more than that it’s been helpful.”
“Soooooo….what’s the verdict? And you’re welcome.”
“I guess you’ll just have to wait and see. Kiss your man for me and tell Brook I said hi,” Finley teased before hanging up the phone.
Savannah had definitely given her a lot to think about. Finley was by far a lot stronger now in her thirties than she’d been in her teenage years or even her early twenties. She’d been so vulnerable back then and naïve for a really long time. All she wanted was a mother that loved her and for a while she believed Miranda when she said that the things she did were because she loved Finley. It took a while for Finley to realize that’s he was just a tool Miranda used to get what she wanted.
Finley also realized while talking to Savannah that she was no longer the hard ass that she had become in her late twenties. She’d let a few people in, Savannah and her sister Brooklyn being two of them. She’d even let in Savannah’s fiancé Gabriel once he proved he wasn’t an asshole. Her walls weren’t nearly as impenetrable as she’d thought they were and she was actually glad about that. It felt good to have people in her life that she cared about and who cared about her in return.
But could she let someone in as more than just a friend? Could she let herself fall in love with someone and give them that much power over her? She hadn’t given that kind of power over to anyone since she left Miranda Lane behind the day she turned 18. Her mother nearly broke her. Could she take that risk with someone else?
Throwing her phone onto her bed, she tried to shake off the heavy thoughts. It was too damn early to be worrying about what could happen or to be thinking about her mom. She hadn’t had a shower or coffee yet, two things that were necessary in order for her to face the day and the things that her conversation with Savannah stirred up.
Climbing out of bed, Finley undressed as she strode toward the bathroom. Throwing her tank top on a chair as she passed, she kicked her underwear in the vicinity of her hamper. Her bedroom usually had clothes strewn over most of the surfaces, most of them clean, but since she had expected Liam to come up the night before, she’d actually put things where they were supposed to go. But since he’d abandoned her, she didn’t feel the need to pick up after herself, at least not until she made it through her morning routine.
She started to turn on the water in the shower when she heard her phone ringing from the other
room. Assuming it was Savannah calling her back, she let it ring until she remembered that Liam said he would call her in the morning. Quickly, she ran back into her room, diving onto her bed so she could grab her phone before the call went to voicemail.
“Hello,” she said, nearly out of breath from her sprint across the room. Rolling onto her back, she tried to catch her breath.
“Did I interrupt something?” the voice that haunted her dreams asked. “If I did and you’d like to continue, by all means, go ahead.”
“Ha. Ha. I was just about to get into the shower,” she answered. “I’m out of breath because I had to run back into my room to answer the phone.”
“Wait. Are you naked right now?”
“Do you usually shower with your clothes on?”
Liam groaned. “You’re killing me.”
“Well you could easily put us both out of our misery if you came over and joined me,” Finley said with a laugh knowing full well he wouldn’t.
“You are a very bad girl Finley Blake,” Liam sighed. “I’m coming over, but not to join you. I want you to show me around Seattle. I’ll pick you up in a half hour…actually make that an hour. I’ve got to go take another cold shower.”
Finley laughed as they said their goodbyes. Her heart raced at the thought of spending the entire day with Liam. She’d never been so excited at the prospect of hanging out with a man doing such normal things. Hell, she’d never been that excited to hang out with a man doing naked things. Being with Liam in any capacity had already proven to be better than being with any of the other men in her past, which was a really sad thing to admit, but she couldn’t ignore the truth. She had to recognize that Liam was different. He made her feel different and that was a very big deal.
With a flounce in her step that she’d never had before, Finley made her way back into the bathroom to take her shower. At some point in the last two weeks, she’d turned into a woman who got giddy because of a man, a woman that nearly skipped into the bathroom so she could get ready to see him. What the in the world was happening to her? And why didn’t she want it to stop?
Liam
The weekend passed far too quickly for Liam. Two full days with Finley was not enough. He needed more time, but no amount of begging had gotten through to his agent. There was a meeting in L.A. early Monday morning that he could not miss. Liam was just glad that for the first time in years he wasn’t jumping from one movie right into another. He actually had a much-needed break before he started filming again. The plan had been to take some time away from everything, maybe take his sister and her family on a vacation somewhere, but now all he wanted to do was spend every minute he had with Finley.
It didn’t help that he had held strong to his no sex decree for the entire weekend. There had been intense make out sessions in his car, in her car, up against the wall in her office. But that was all he allowed. He didn’t step foot in her apartment the entire time he was in town and he never once invited her to his hotel room. Those were temptations he hadn’t needed when it was already hard enough to just say no.
Of course, Finley hadn’t helped the situation any. She was bound and determined to get him to give up his attempt at being valiant. She was a walking, talking temptation. Innuendos aplenty, coupled with slight brushes of her hand against his cock were almost enough to get him to break. Not to mention the looks she gave him or the way she licked her lips when she ogled his crotch. She’d even gone as far as to open her door completely naked when he’d come over to pick her up Saturday morning. A weaker man would have caved.
Hell, Liam nearly did; with all that delectable skin on display, those perky tits with their pierced nipples just begging to be sucked. Even thinking about it now, as they ate the late lunch they’d had delivered, he wanted to lay her down and eat her instead. He wanted to trace every line of ink with his tongue, and then one by one suck each of her piercings into his mouth, including the one between her legs.
“I wish you didn’t have to go,” she said between bites of pizza.
“I know. Me too. Next time I’ll plan this better.”
“Who says there’s going to be a next time?” Finley teased.
“Oh, there will be a next time. There’s no way around it. I’ll be back and next time, I won’t have such a desperate need to prove something to you. By then you’ll already know that what I’m telling you is true. By then you’ll have given in and then I can to.”
“Wait…are you telling me that if I had told you what you wanted to hear on Thursday night we could have spent the entire weekend naked in my bed?”
“You would have had to have meant it and I know on Thursday that wasn’t the case. You were scared shitless then. If you said it to me now, I’d be more inclined to believe you, but unfortunately we don’t have time to do anything about it.”
“I can’t believe you came here for the weekend and are leaving without sex. That seems almost inhumane. I mean it really can’t be healthy.”
Setting his pizza down, Liam’s eyes met hers. She was smiling at him, her own piece of pizza forgotten on her plate. He could tell she was trying to goad him into doing something that he didn’t have time for. He was not going to let their first weekend together end in a quickie. Not after holding out all weekend.
“You can mock me all you want Finley, but we both know that it means something to you that I didn’t come here for a prolonged booty call.”
Her eyes left his, her head ducking down so he couldn’t read her face. He knew he was right. He’d heard her mention as much to her friend Savannah when they had dinner with her and her fiancé the night before. He hadn’t meant to overhear the conversation, but he couldn’t help it. And once he had, he wouldn’t apologize for having what he deemed as insider information. It was too early in their unstable relationship for her to open up to him and admit things like that. Hell, she wouldn’t even admit that what they were starting was a relationship. That was just one more thing he would have to change her mind about because in his mind they were most certainly heading in that direction.
“So when do you think you’ll be able to come back?”
Pulling out his phone, he watched as Finley composed herself. It didn’t take much for her to shake off moments like the one she just had. She didn’t want him to see that he was right, that he was starting to mean as much to her as she meant to him. They barely knew each other and it was a lot to ask for her to completely let him in. He pulled up the calendar app on his phone, taking a look at what his agent had him scheduled for.
“I’ve got a meeting tomorrow and then another one on Thursday, but after that I’ve got a clear schedule until the end of the month. Of course, I’ll need to check with my agent and make sure he hasn’t added anything to the calendar, but I could possibly be back here by Friday.”
“Wow that’s faster than I thought? Are you sure you’d want to come back so quickly?”
Liam could hear the hesitancy in Finley’s voice. Whether she didn’t want to see him so soon or she was worried he wouldn’t want to see her so quickly after he left, he wasn’t sure. He really hoped it was the latter though so he could reassure her that all he wanted to do was come back and see her. If he could get out of going back to L.A. for a few days, he would in a heartbeat.
The last thing he wanted to do was leave her. He’d made some progress in the short time he’d been in town and he didn’t want that progress to be wiped away as soon as he left, which he had a feeling might happen. Finley was squirrely and it had taken him nearly the entire weekend to really be sure she was as into seeing where things could go as he was. He feared though, the minute that he was out of sight, she’d talk herself out of it and he’d have to start all over.
“I can’t wait to get back to you. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t be leaving at all. I don’t want to give you a chance to change your mind.”
Finley smiled. “Shut up, I won’t change my mind.”
“We both know as soon as I’m gone, something in
your head is going to start talking you out of this,” Liam said as he set his phone down on the table. “You can try, but we both know we have to explore this. You can try to fight it, but I’ll be back on Friday and we’re going to give this a shot no matter what you’ve got going on in your head.”
Finley
Finley didn’t want to admit it, but she’d been in a funk since Liam left. She missed him, which seemed ridiculous. How could she miss someone she barely knew? How could she possibly want to spend every minute of every day with him? How could one person make her question everything she thought she knew, everything she thought she wanted?
Liam had walked into that hotel garden and had not only stolen her secret hideaway, but he’d taken something else from her, something that she’d held on to for far too long. Something she was finally realizing she was more than willing to get rid of. She thought she wanted to be alone that day at the wedding. She thought she wanted to spend her life alone, using warm bodies to take care of her physical needs. Until Liam, she didn’t realize how wrong she’d been.
While she wasn’t really into romance or hearts and flowers, Finley realized she was into the possibility of a relationship. She watched Savannah and Gabriel, she watched Amy and Elijah and realized that deep down that was what she wanted. But there was no way she would have figured that out without Liam and that scared the hell out of her. He’d come to Seattle to prove there was more between them than just sex. He had no idea the hurdles he had to jump over to accomplish his goal, but he didn’t seem to mind the challenge she’d presented to him.