He presses his lips together, closes his eyes and sighs. “I still can’t tell Sam . . . not yet. I think it would hurt her, and I’m scared she’d make me leave. Plus, I sort of did the test without her consent, and I’m worried she’d never let me see Dylan again. All that matters to me is that I make sure he has a male figure in his life who loves him, who wants to be there for him. It’s just something I need to do for me—and him.”
“So, were you yelling at your dad on the phone after you found out?”
“To his voicemail, yeah. It’s been years since we’ve spoken.”
Trying to ignore the gumminess in my throat, I look up at him through my lashes, wishing I could take some of his pain away, while at the same time knowing what it’s like to feel like someone doesn’t love you enough to make the right decision. “I guess we have something in common, huh?” I told him about my mom taking off on us, and that was the day he admitted to liking me a little more than he already had. I didn’t understand then what that had to do with anything, but now it makes sense.
Liam places his hand on my shoulder, and with more sincerity than I’ve seen from him, he says, “Yup. It sucks. No one deserves to go through that, and I know all about your mom now. Your dad likes to talk and—” I laugh because I can hear in my head how the conversation went between them.
“Thank you for inviting him out here.”
“Did he get his car fixed?”
“Yeah, he should be heading out here in the next couple of days, hopefully.”
“Good, I’m looking forward to meeting him.” I’m questioning my feelings, his feelings, and everything in between now, wondering how this will work. Are things just going to be amicable in the house, and we’ll live our lives knowing there are no hurt feelings, or what? “You are coming back to work after your week long vacation . . . you know, after working almost a full week, right?” His brow quirks to the right and the corner of his lip follows suit, which is adorable. No. Not adorable. Stop.
“Yes, if Sam and Daniel will have me back.”
Liam laughs and shifts his weight from one foot to the other. “It’s not Sam and Daniel you need to worry about. Dylan’s grudge is what should be concerning you.”
“I can only imagine.” I glance down between us, feeling a bit awkward now. I wrap the loose strands of my hair behind my ear and try to take a deep breath.
Liam’s finger slips under my chin, and he lifts my face up to look at his, which appears to be glowing as it covers my exact view of the sun. “You’re a spitfire, and I think it’s the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. I like you, Julia, and I don’t like a lot of people.”
“I guess I messed up then,” I tell him, looking over at the pretty woman trying not to look at us as she appears to be glancing out at the beach behind us. She’s with Cale, and Cleary, but not interacting with them. I didn’t realize they are friends. They’re all surfers, so I suppose it makes sense. “I don’t want to get in the middle of whatever you have going on—you know with—” I nod my head toward the woman.
“So, you’re not into threesomes?” My heart pretty much drops so heavily into the sand, it may have hit China. What’s with the threesomes today?
“You’re kidding me, right?” I clear my throat, sounding like a sick frog asking him. Clearly, he’s not kidding though, because he waves this super model-looking surfer chick over to us. “That was a no, like a definitive no. Like a not swaying from my answer in a million years kind of no.”
Liam just laughs at me as the girl steps into the shade we’ve created with our closeness. I take a step back, feeling like I might be stepping on this girl’s toes if she’s seeing Liam, or whatever the case is. It has only been a week since I last saw him, and I wonder what may have happened between the two of them in that period of time. I remember what happened between Liam and me in that amount of time, and it was also long enough to develop ridiculous feelings for him that I shouldn’t have. “Would you be up for a threesome, Mandy?” he asks her.
“Liam!” I snap, grunt, whatever it sounded like. “I said no.”
The woman reaches over and runs her fingers through the ends of my hair. “You sure are pretty,” she says, smiling oddly before she sighs. “I don’t know, Liam, baby, she’s not really my type.”
Liam places his arm around her shoulders, and I’m positive I’ve never been this uncomfortable in my entire life. “Well, um, it’s been super nice meeting you and chatting,” I trail off as I head up the path.
The entire way back to the house, I hear giggling and snickering, which pisses me off. She must not have known what Liam was doing to me just a week ago if she’s already calling him baby. What a pig. He’s telling me all about how Sterling is a player, and I find this. Unbelievable. No, it’s not unbelievable—he’s just too into himself. There, my book is officially plotted.
I speed up so I can get to the house first, ringing the doorbell and hoping Sam answers the door quickly. It’s Sunday, so she should be home since it’s the only day she doesn’t teach. Come on, come on. Open the door.
I hear her talking on the other side, and I start dancing around like I have to go to the bathroom, quickly adding my hand waving as I hear their voices trailing up the path. Come on, Sam.
She opens the door, her head tilted to the side with her phone pinched between her ear and shoulder. She holds up a finger and opens the screen door before I close us inside. Obviously, I turn the deadbolt to lock Liam out.
“Okay, sure thing,” she says with a smile you can hear. “I’ll talk to you later. Good luck. Bye now.” She pulls the phone away from her face and presses a button. “Jules!” She makes her way over to me and locks her arms around my neck. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
“So,” I huff, looking over my shoulder through the bay window, wondering if Liam has reached the door yet. He’s probably making out with that chick outside. “I don’t know if Liam wants me here, and I don’t want to make things awkward, you know?”
“Awkward, as in, locking me out of the house I live in?” Liam walks in through the kitchen. Come on. Give me a freaking break. I swear, I can’t win.
“The door is unlocked,” Sam says, walking over to the door and checking it out. “Oh weird, the deadbolt is turned. It wasn’t a second ago.” She looks at me questioningly.
“I’m sorry. I just wanted to talk to you in private.”
“You didn’t have to lock Liam out,” she laughs.
“It’s not just Liam,” I explain.
Sam turns around, finding Mandy in the opening between the kitchen and the living room. “Oh, Mandy, come here, I want you to meet someone.”
Mandy, with a devilish grin on her perfect lips, prances over to Sam. “We’ve already met,” Mandy says, looking me up and down as if she were some kind of sexual deviant.
“Do we look alike or what?” Sam asks, elbowing Mandy in the arm.
They both have different hair colors, different facial features, and Mandy is at least three inches taller, so, I kind of don’t think so. “Uh—”
“We’re sisters. Would you believe that?”
I can’t help closing my eyes, slowly realizing how much messier this situation is becoming. “You two don’t look that much alike, so I am pretty shocked.” I sound confused, slow, weird, and annoyed, and she’s just trying to introduce me to her sister who wants to have sex with me
“Where’s Jared?” Sam asks her.
Jared. Jared, Jared? “He still hasn’t come downstairs yet? He never came to the beach.”
What? “Not that I’ve seen,” Sam says.
Liam is in his own world right now, looking through his phone for something, and it’s pissing me off even more, seeing as I’m sitting here dumbfounded and more bewildered than I think I’ve ever been. “Jared, get your ass downstairs!” Mandy yells.
I hear something drop upstairs, followed by footsteps. Jared descends the staircase, and it’s Jared, Jared. “Hey stranger,” he says to me. “How’s it going?”
“Good,” I say with just my breath. I’m not sure where my voice is right now, but it’s probably somewhere with my pulse, which can’t be found either.
“Is Jared your brother?” I ask Sam, looking back and forth between everyone in this room.
Sam laughs. “In-law, yeah . . . lucky me, right?” She rolls her eyes.
“Whoa, easy, I made the bed this morning. You can’t be mad at me for that. Plus, that’s Liam’s job anyway,” Jared says.
“I’m confused . . .” Someone, please explain to me what the hell everyone is talking about. My focus is directed at Liam, who’s grinning while still looking at his stupid phone.
“Well,” Sam says, looking at me strangely like I shouldn’t be so confused, “Mandy is my sister and Jared is her husband.” Oh my God, Mandy and Liam are having an affair?
Mandy places her head down on Liam’s shoulder. “Hey babe?” she asks. What the hell? I honestly can’t imagine what my face looks like right now because I can’t believe what I’m watching. This is more than I can comprehend and handle for the moment.
“Yeah, babe?” Liam responds.
Sam’s looking at Liam and Mandy, rolling her eyes.
“Can I stop calling you ‘babe’ now? Because it’s gross,” Mandy says. She shivers like she just touched a spider.
“I guess,” Liam says, avoiding my glare.
“What the hell are you two doing?” Jared asks Liam and Mandy.
“Pissing Julia off,” Liam says, casually.
Sam groans and grabs Jared and Mandy by the hands and drags them into the kitchen and out the back slider, leaving Liam and me alone in the house. “You’re an asshole,” I tell him.
“At your service,” he says, waving a hand down from his forehead as he bows.
“And a manservant,” I add in, just to piss him off.
“Coming from Mary Poppins, who falls in love with a chimney sweeper, I’ll take that as a step up.”
“No one is falling in love here,” I tell him, probably lying to myself, but I’m going to try very hard not to.
Liam walks across the room, dropping his phone down onto the coffee table, and loops his arms around my back, pressing his forehead down into mine. “Don’t be so sure about that. I can make you fall in love with me if I want to.” His words should not make me quiver, but I have definitely found my pulse . . . it’s everywhere now, and my heart is hammering.
“That’s kind of arrogant, don’t you think?”
“First comes sex, then comes love, then the boyfriend/girlfriend shit, and who knows what else?”
“Very poetic, but I think you’re confused,” I tell him.
“I think I’m smart,” he rebuts.
“So, you think you’re going to make me fall in love with you by having sex with me?” Just trying to clarify what he’s trying to say.
“There’s more between sex and love,” he whispers through a low rasp.
“Like what?” I ask, nervously—breathlessly.
He slowly leans in, sliding his nose against the side of mine as he exhales a small cool breath over my lips. He pauses, making me wish I were an inch taller again so I could close the space between us. “I want to be with you. I want to know you. I want all of you,” he whispers into my mouth before pressing his lips into mine. He squeezes his arms around me as one hand slides up the back of my head. The kiss is passionate, soft, rough, aggressive, and beautiful. His tongue touches mine, teasing me with his breath and soft moans tickle my teeth. His hands hold me so tightly, there isn’t a question in my mind about how much he likes me. Without hesitance or concern for my heart, I lock my arms around his neck and run my fingers through his hair, relishing the softness of the saltwater texture.
He pulls away, leaving me without a single breath. “Lots of that is between sex and love.”
“I can live with an idea like that,” I tell him.
He smiles, and it’s genuine, not an ounce of cockiness he typically wears as if it were as permanent as the freckles on his face. He has a striking smile, and it melts me every damn time.
“One thing, though,” I add.
“I’m not agreeing to anything,” he says with soft laughter as he sweeps my hair off my cheek.
“No more pranks,” I state.
“That’s a deal breaker for me,” he says, sighing.
Dammit. I think for a minute and glance back up at him. “Fine, you’re on. Watch your back, manservant.
FOUR WEEKS LATER
There is peace at Sam and Daniel’s house now that Liam and I aren’t fighting our sexual desires off. Giving into them is far easier.
Dad finally arrived a few weeks ago, and he’s been living in Sam and Daniel’s guest house, which has been great. He has a place to stay while he figures out his next move, and I get to see him. He’s lessened the hovering and asking a million questions about my relationship with Liam— well, at least it’s down to about a half dozen times a day now.
As ironic as it is, with my bedroom window overlooking the guest house, I’ve done my best to ignore his light illuminating the back yard at midnight every night, as well as the giggling noises from a woman I have yet to meet. Or maybe it’s women. Whatever the case may be, he’s perfectly content here with so many new options. He even has a million-dollar smile to greet everyone with in the mornings. I’ve wanted to ask him to stop smiling because I know what the smile is about, but my smile probably looks the same—the Viagra commercial is the only way to describe it. Okay, ewww.
“Just stand up, I’m telling you. You’ll be fine,” Liam shouts. Talk about learning to walk before you crawl. I can swim now . . . like a four-year-old child splashing around in a pee pool, and yet, here I am lying on a bright orange surfboard, ready to wipe out.
I press my hands into the sides of the board and hop up like he’s shown me a hundred times in the past couple of weeks. The wind is pressing against me, but the waves are carrying me seamlessly across the water. With unsteady arms and wobbly knees, I get my balance, which takes more strength than I ever imagined, then stand in position and ride the small wave until I’m knocked off.
The following wave sweeps over me, dragging me from my board, but Liam’s arm is around me before I lose a second of breath. “That was fucking awesome, Jules. I wasn’t even up that long my first time riding.”
I feel breathless as I press the wet hair out of my face. “Really? I mean, it felt amazing. I loved it until I fell off,” I say, smiling and laughing.
“You may just be a natural,” he says, kissing me firmly as another wave crushes us together.
“We had a deal, girlchacho . . . brochacho. You both promised me no guppy mating while I’m here.”
Liam throws a splash in Sterling’s direction and turns back to me, stealing another kiss. “Want to go at it again?”
“Yeah, let’s try it in the backdoor this time,” I tell him, keeping a straight face.
Liam closes his eyes and squeezes his hand around his temples. “You’re not ready for that yet,” he says.
“You’d be surprised,” I’d tell him. I’d be surprised too. What the hell am I talking about, surfing or taking it up the butt?
“So maybe we could take a little break from surfing so I can explain to you how to master the backdoor on dry land first?” Liam mutters into my ear.
Uhh. “Something about the dry land part sounds a little painful.”
Liam swings me over his back and pushes through the water, out onto the beach. “We’ll catch ya later,” Liam shouts to Sterling, Jared, Cale, and Cleary.
We’re running through the sand, and I’m bouncing around Liam’s back. “You are insane,” I laugh.
We quickly make it back to the house where it’s empty for the time being. Sam and Daniel took Dylan down to the Fourth of July parade and some other festivities downtown for the morning, so we have the house to ourselves, and the day off.
I kind of figured Liam would have put me down about five minutes ago, but h
e’s hiking up the staircase without breaking a sweat. “Do I not walk fast enough for you?” I ask him, dipping my face over his shoulder.
“Nope, you’re not fast enough for me.” He closes us into my bedroom and tosses me down on the bed, tearing his wetsuit off and giving me a show I’d like to have burned into my mind forever.
He drops down onto the bed and pulls at the zipper of my new wetsuit, quickly peeling it off completely.
His lips are working over my neck while his hands feel around, taking inventory of every other sensitive part of my body.
“I got you something,” he murmurs against my ear.
“Oh really?” I don’t know what to expect from Liam. Every day seems to bring something unexpected with him.
He rolls over me and reaches under the bed, retrieving a small rectangular box, and it scares the shit out of me. This is not Liam-like.
He hands me the box, and with a little hesitance, I take it. “What is this?”
“Just open it,” he says sweetly.
“Today isn’t supposed to be about me,” I tell him. “You’re not getting cold feet are you?”
“I’ve never had warm feet about this, Jules. You’re the one who has been pressuring me to do it.” He has the same look on his face that he gets every time I bring up the small fact of him not coming clean to Sam yet. She deserves to know what Liam found out. She deserves to know that Dylan has a brother.
“She needs to know,” I tell him again.
“I know, but first open your gift.”
“Just promise me you’re sticking to the plan today first.”
“If you use this gift, I promise.” Use. I think that eliminates the thought of him doing something completely insane, hopefully.
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