He arched a brow. “How so?”
It was her turn to shrug.
“It’s hard to explain. I just feel like ever since we moved in together our relationship has been different. Not worse, just different.” He nodded like he understood. “I just feel less certain of things than I did a month ago if that even makes sense.”
“It does.” He looked at her. “You’ve had a lot on your plate. Lots of work, the new album, the apartment remodel . . .”
“Dating again,” she added. “That always complicates things.”
“You don’t have to date.”
“Really, you’re the one who’s been encouraging me.”
“Maybe I was wrong about that,” he conceded.
A smile lit her face. “Excuse me, did the great and powerful Liam Stone just say he was wrong about something? Did I hear that right?”
He returned her smile. “It doesn’t happen often, but yes. Did you just call me great and powerful?”
“Please, you know I see you that way.”
He puffed out his chest. He was back. They were back. “Just checking.”
“Well, I’m off to Nashville on Monday, so I’ll rethink the dating and a lot of other things while I’m there.”
“Anything I should be worried about?”
“Not really.”
She went upstairs and grabbed the phone to call Rachel. She needed a friend to talk to. Lucky for her, Rachel answered quickly and agreed to meet her for lunch before she went off to teach a class.
“What am I even doing with my life?” she asked an hour later as she stabbed at her Caesar salad.
“I know you’re an actress but no need for the dramatics. You’re in love with Mr. Temptation and you don’t want to be, but the heart wants what the heart wants.” Her friend was right, but she didn’t want to hear it.
Georgie pointed her fork at her friend. “You’re supposed to be on my side. You’re supposed to tell me I don’t need a man and I should be focusing on my career.”
“Oh, honey, I am on your side. I just happen to think in this particular case you can have it all. Look at you two. You’re already both conquering the universe, you’re living together, why can’t you let yourself love him?”
She sat back in her seat. “He doesn’t want a family, Rachel, and that’s a big thing for me to give up.”
“Are you certain? When did you two last discuss that?”
“If I know one thing about Liam Stone, it’s that he never changes his mind. Once he’s on a path, he doesn’t deviate.”
“Not even for you?’” Her voice was soft and gentle. “Maybe for you, Georgie.”
“On this, I think, not even for me.” Tears pricked her eyes, and she dabbed them with a napkin. It was true Liam would give her anything, do anything for her she was certain, anything but this. He’d made a decision years ago, and she respected his reasoning even if she didn’t agree.
Her friend squeezed her hand. “You’re absolutely certain?”
She nodded. “What am I going to do?”
They kept talking until Rachel had to leave, but neither of them had an answer by then. There wasn’t one. Georgie had to decide between Liam and a family, and either choice was going to break her heart.
CHAPTER 14
I t was Sunday night, and Georgie was packing for Nashville while fielding last-minute calls from the production company about the show. Liam had hoped they’d have a quiet night in together, but it was anything but that. Selfishly, he’d hoped she’d make him one last meal, but instead he dialed for a pizza and hoped he could get her to slow down long enough to sit and eat a slice or two. She was leaving for a few weeks, and everything between them was still up in the air.
Somehow his foolproof plan to move in with her and win her over had been anything but, and he was here feeling foolish. All his life when Liam had set his mind to something, he’d done it with a single-minded purpose and he’d succeeded. He’d graduated top of his class at high school, no mean feat with all he had going on at home. He’d put himself through college with scholarships and two part-time jobs. He’d taken internships at ad agencies, and he’d walked straight out of college into a great job. From there he’d risen up to be partner in his own successful agency. He’d kept his eyes on the prize and won it every time.
So why couldn’t he do that with Georgie? As he lifted down some plates from the cupboard, it occurred to him that in all those cases he wasn’t really risking anything. Every step he made forward got him further from his childhood and closer to his dreams. But with Georgie, in order to win her heart, he had to risk their friendship, and that was a huge gamble. He wasn’t a gambler and that was the problem.
He paid the pizza guy when he came and trotted up the stairs to Georgie’s room. He leaned on the door frame, watching her pack with one hand as she held the phone between her ear and her shoulder. Her long hair was loose around her shoulders, she was wearing denim shorts and a stripy T-shirt, and she looked exactly the way she had at sixteen. She was every one of his teenage fantasies brought to life. He hadn’t gotten the girl then, and it felt as if he wasn’t going to get her now either.
“Yes, Marnie, it’ll all be fine.”
She turned as if she knew she was being watched and gave him a small smile.
“Pizza?” he said as she continued to listen to the phone. She nodded and held her hand up to indicate five minutes.
He headed downstairs and pulled out a nice bottle of red wine and uncorked it. Then gathered the pizza, wine, and plates and headed for the roof. Stopping to tell her where they were eating as he went past. Tapioca decided to follow him and the sweet scent of pizza. The dog was going with Georgie to Nashville, which would make the place even lonelier. He laid out the table and turned on the strings of lights. They hadn’t spent nearly enough time up here together when he considered it. One more thing to regret.
She finally appeared, looking apologetic.
“Sorry, you’d think I was going to the moon.” She shook her head. “Seriously, do they think the internet hasn’t reached Nashville?”
He laughed. “Maybe. You know how New Yorkers are. Here, you look like you could use this.”
She took the wine he offered gratefully. “Thanks. And thanks for dinner. I don’t know what happened, the day just completely got away from me. It’s so pretty up here.” She looked around the space as if committing it to memory.
“It happens. If you leave anything behind, I can always courier it down.” He flipped open the pizza box, and she dove on it.
“You got my favorite.” She beamed at him. Of course, he had. Ham and mushroom had been her choice as long as he could remember. “Thanks.”
“I’m going to miss you, Georgie. I’ve gotten used to seeing you every day again,” he said before taking a bite of his own pizza.
“Me too. It’s been fun.”
Been. Been sounded like past tense. “Well, you’ll be back in a few weeks.”
“Yeah, my place might be ready by then. When I went by yesterday, it was coming along nicely.”
He blinked at her, trying to get this straight. She was moving out? “You’re not coming back to live here?”
“I don’t know. I mean, if my place is fixed, I should probably go home.” She picked a piece of ham off her pizza.
Home. This here with her was as close to a home as he’d ever had, and it was slipping away. “Right. I guess I assumed you’d be staying here with me a while longer, at least.”
She looked down, avoiding his eyes. “I don’t know, we’ll see. It might be better . . .”
“Better, why?” What was going on here? “Is this because of Cara?”
She shook her head. “Let’s not do this now. Let’s enjoy our pizza. We can talk when I get back. When we have a better idea of what’s happening with my place.”
Something was up, something big, and he didn’t like it one bit.
“You know you can tell me anything, Georgie. Anything at all, ri
ght?”
“Sure. I know.”
She didn’t sound convincing. She was keeping something from him, and Liam had a feeling that the woman he loved was slipping from his reach and he had no idea in the world what to do about it, no idea at all.
LIAM’S POKER face was slipping. He’d always been a master at hiding emotions. Most people found him unreadable. Georgie had been better at reading him than most, but even she struggled. Not right now. Right now he looked like someone had kicked his puppy, or worse, like his best friend was abandoning him, and of course, he had every reason to feel that way. She was.
Georgie felt like a total heel, but she couldn’t keep torturing herself by living with Liam and not giving him her heart and she couldn’t picture a life like this forever, a big city life with no family in it. She loved her job, and she loved New York, but it was not her forever home, she knew that. She was a small-town girl who wanted a family.
“You sure you don’t want to leave Tapioca with me? I don’t mind taking care of her.” The dog was flat on her back, and Liam was using the toe of his shoe to scratch the dog’s belly.
“Well, I don’t think Tappy would object, but it’s a little too long for us to be apart.” And while she was talking about the dog, she meant apart from him too.
“Okay.” He didn’t look pleased, and she understood. He was going to be all alone in this big house. She wouldn’t like it if the situation were reversed. “You sure I can’t take you to the airport?”
“I have a car booked.” She nibbled her pizza, but her appetite was gone. She’d wanted to avoid this conversation because she was a coward. It was half the reason she’d kept herself so busy today. He didn’t have any understanding that she was in love with him but couldn’t have him. How could he? It wasn’t as if she’d told him. “You’re going to be so busy working to get B-Dog’s account. I bet you’ll hardly know I’m gone.”
He looked at her, a piercing gaze that told her everything he needed to say. That was nonsense. “I hope the album goes well. The lyrics for the new songs look amazing.”
“Thanks.” She took a sip of wine and leaned back in her seat. This was easy to talk about, and he was giving her an out. He wanted things to stay the same, she understood that, but she couldn’t continue to live in limbo and neither could he, whether he knew it or not. For now, however, she was happy to pretend because this might be the last time ever that she could. So, she talked about the album and the artists she was collaborating with, and he peppered her with questions that made him sound more like a record executive than an ad man because of course he’d been to many of her sessions. This was the first one ever she hadn’t invited him to. In the past she’d used it as an excuse to fly him in, and tonight she was using it to get away.
They finished their pizza, and he told her to go pack.
“You’ve got an early start, honey.”
“Thanks for dinner.” She pecked his cheek, letting the piney scent of him wash over her before turning to go. When she reached the doorway, she looked back and he was standing there, pizza box in hand, watching her go. He looked as sad as she’d ever seen him, and she knew in her heart that was her doing.
LIAM STOOD on the front steps of the brownstone holding Tapioca as the driver loaded Georgie’s cases into the trunk of the car. The little dog was nuzzling into his neck as if she knew they would soon be separated and needed the affection as much as Liam did. Georgie wore plain jeans and a white shirt with red cowboy boots, and her hair was held back by large sunglasses. She was beautiful and she was leaving and he didn’t deserve her because he hadn’t done a thing to stop her.
She turned back to him and plastered on a smile. It was her TV fake-it-until-you-make-it smile, and it didn’t quite reach her eyes.
“So, I’ll call you,” she said, her voice soft and uncertain.
“Of course. Day or night, Georgie.” He wanted to say every day and every night, but he didn’t.
“And you can call me . . .” Her voice trailed off as she reached her hands out to take the dog from him. Instead, he stepped forward and engulfed her in a hug, the dog pressed between them.
“I’m going to miss you. Living with you, it’s been . . .” He was struggling to find the words. “You know, I’ve loved it.”
“Me too.” Her breath was warm against his neck. “It’s just a few weeks, and then I’ll be back in New York.”
She didn’t say back home. She didn’t say she’d come back here to him. “I know. You go make an amazing album that will blow the critics out of the water, yet again.”
“Okay. I’ll do my best. No pressure.” She tilted her head up and gave him a watery smile. He dropped a kiss on her forehead and released her before he said or did something he couldn’t take back.
“That’s my girl.” And then she turned and climbed into the car, the driver shutting the door on her and Tapioca, and he stood there like the fool that he was watching the road long after her car had turned the corner and whisked her away from him.
Mal showed up an hour later to run with him.
“You don’t run,” Liam said when he met his friend at the door in the shiniest new jogging gear he’d ever seen.
“I know, but you do and I knew you’d be sad.” Mal gave a shrug as if this was normal behavior for them. “You’re new to town, your girl just left, I’m all you’ve got, man.”
“That’s very . . . I don’t know, touching.” It was. And also kind of depressing.
“Yeah, don’t get too used to it. I’m not going to actually take up jogging even if I do rock this suit. I need you and your A-game in the office so we can win this account. I thought this might help.”
Liam felt a smile tug at the corner of his mouth. “That’s more like the Mal I know. Come on, let’s go run for five miles.”
The look of horror on his friend’s face had already made his day better. It wasn’t going to be great, but it was looking better than a few minutes ago.
“Sure, and while we’re at it, let’s come up with a plan so brilliant you’ll get the girl back.”
Wouldn’t that be nice?
IT HAD BEEN a long week in Nashville. The album and recording were coming along well, but Georgie herself wasn’t doing so great. She’d had a million calls about the production business, and she was stretched too thin. She knew it and finally understood what Liam had been saying to her. She couldn’t do it all. She also realized that as much as she loved the show, being here singing was her true passion. She understood now that’s what he’d been trying to tell her back in New York. That and the way her peers had treated her both at the cocktail party and here in Nashville highlighted his point even further. She didn’t have anything to prove, she’d already proved it.
She wasn’t a product of a television show, she was a singer with real talent, and the industry and her fans respected her for that, and nobody but her seemed to care where she’d gotten her start.
She felt heartsick about the way she’d left things with Liam and that was definitely not lifting her mood. They’d spoken a couple of times, but it had been a little strained. She’d tried to tell herself it was because she was tired, but she knew that wasn’t entirely it. She needed to have a proper talk with him about their relationship, but she couldn’t do that from here and not until she had some clarity about what she wanted.
A phone call with her mother on Friday night didn’t help any. Georgie was in an empty office at the studio, perched on the end of a tatty leather sofa that was older than she was, waiting for them to be ready for her again in the studio. A small band of bluegrass musicians was setting up for her next song. A talk with Connie usually made her feel better about her life and gave her clarity but not this time. The conversation started out just fine until it wound around to Liam as she knew it would.
“I spoke with Liam earlier. I was already worried about his mother, and now I’m concerned about him too.”
“Why him?” she asked, not sure she wanted to hear the answer.
“He sounded flat, especially when I mentioned you. Did you two leave things on bad terms?”
She bit her lip. “Not really, I just said I might be moving back to the condo when I got home.”
She heard her mother groan. “Seriously?”
“Yes, it’s nearly done, and I just feel . . .”
Her mother cut her off. “Georgie, a word to the wise, that man can’t wait around for you forever.”
“He’s hardly been waiting around. He had a girlfriend until very recently,” she corrected her mother who didn’t seem to agree.
“Georgie, that man has just been waiting for you to come to your senses and marking time while he did so. He’s been in love with you forever, and you’re too blind to see that or maybe you just choose not to. I’m not sure which is worse.”
“I don’t think so.” She didn’t remind her mother he’d been the one who’d pushed her toward Hollywood and out of his life to begin with. “But even if that’s true, we want different things.”
“What is it that you want that Liam can’t give you? You already have just about everything in the world, girl.” It wasn’t anything material of course.
“He doesn’t want a family, Mama.” Her voice was soft and sad. Her mother knew how much Georgie longed for a family of her own. As an only child, her dream had been to create a big crazy family of her own.
“What would make you think that, honey?” Her mother seemed surprised to hear this. Her mother and Liam were so close she assumed they would have discussed this.
“He told me so.”
She didn’t need to see her mother to know the woman was shaking her head down. “When? Back when he was young and angry? Back when he felt powerless about his own childhood?”
“Well, yes . . .”
“And you don’t think he might have had a change of heart at some point in the last few years? You don’t think that’s even possible?” Her mother’s voice was rising now. “Georgie, I’ve never met a man who longed for a family more than that one. Yes, the idea of it scares him, and who can blame him for that, but he craves that sense of belonging that only a family can give him.”
No Time for Temptation (The No Brides Club Book 4) Page 13