That was last night. Today was a new day and Liam felt better equipped to deal with the woman, especially since she wouldn’t be drunk. She was too irresistible when she was drunk.
She was irresistible when she was sober, too.
Damn, he was in trouble.
But he’d deal with it. He’d have to. She was due to arrive at the Tavern with the others soon. He’d arrived earlier to help set up the surprise, and it had kept his mind off the woman. He was doing pretty good, enjoying a beer with Finn while Cammie put pretzels and peanuts on a table. But he knew the instant Stacy stepped into the room because all the hair on his body stood up.
He turned to see her walking toward Cammie, her body relaxed, gait graceful, eyes clear. Unlike his sister, who walked in behind her with Brett. Her body was stiff, and her expression was pinched like the skin was too tight on her face.
Poor kid.
“Hey, how come you look like you rolled out shower-fresh and I look like I was rolled under a bus?” his sister asked, and probably with a frown, but it was hard to tell because of her pinched expression.
Stacy smiled. “I don’t know. I’ve never been that drunk before so I’m as surprised as you by my body’s reaction—or non-reaction—to the day after.”
“I hate you,” Trisha grumbled but there was amusement in her half-closed eyes.
“Cammie, you’re a saint,” Brett said as they all approached. “It must’ve been like herding cats with these two yesterday.”
“Something like that, but they were so funny.” Cammie chuckled. “Thanks for such an entertaining afternoon, Trisha and Stacy. And thank you, Brett and Liam, for giving me a hand getting them settled.”
Stacy’s gaze shot to him. “Wait…you helped me into my cabin?”
Chapter Eleven
Liam nodded, aware that all eyes were on them.
“So, it wasn’t a dream?”
He shook his head, his lips twitching as realization colored her cheeks.
“And the sex part?”
Surprise sucker punched his gut and sent his heart careening to his knees. He shook his head. There hadn’t been any sex. He sure as hell would’ve remembered it.
“Ah…” She nodded. “So that was the dream.”
The others laughed and he found a grin, admittedly a little shocked that she was openly talking about it in front of others.
It was a big damn turn-on.
At least, that better be why his dick was twitching, otherwise the damn thing was having a seizure.
Whatever the reason, it wasn’t good. He shifted his stance to ease the strain and was grateful when Terry and Rose arrived, and the attention switched to them.
“I’m so excited,” Rose said, her face beaming. “Terry said something about a surprise.”
Finn smiled. “Yes, and now that you’re here, we can get started.”
Cammie nodded. “We wanted to do this before the band arrived to set up and doors open to the public.”
“Wait.” His sister frowned. “I thought Terry had a surprise for Rose.”
“Nope. It was a fib.” Cammie grinned and it widened when Finn slid his arm around her. “It’s actually us. We wanted to share this with you.”
Finn pulled a remote from his pocket and hit the button for the bar’s projector, and an image of an ultrasound appeared on the screen.
“Oh my God!” Rose shot to Cammie and pulled her in for a hug. Then Finn. Then Finn and Cammie.
Liam lost count of how many times the soon-to-be grandmother kissed them, and he felt himself smiling at the happy tears. All the women, he noted, had wet faces, and even Brett and Terry had to blink back a few as they took turns congratulating the future parents.
He’d given his earlier when he’d arrived to help and discovered the reason.
“When are you due?”
“The end of May.”
“Do you know what you’re having?”
“Yep.” Cammie grinned. “Since it was a miracle, given our injuries, that we could even conceive, and mine make this a high-risk pregnancy, I had to have a blood test to check on the baby, and one of the things the test could reveal is the gender.”
“You’re okay and the baby’s okay?” Rose asked.
“Yes. We’re both fine,” Cammie smiled, and she seemed to shine with that proverbial glow associated with pregnancy. “So, do you want to know what we’re having?”
She held up the remote Liam had rigged to a black cloth holding a bunch of balloons overhead, as well as an air cannon he’d attached to an adjacent beam.
“Yes!” the crowd replied in unison.
Smiling, Cammie hit the button and a pop echoed through the room a millisecond before a ton of pink balloons fell toward them through a flurry of pink and white confetti.
“A girl!”
“Yay!”
“Woot!”
The cheers overlapped, then everyone moved in to congratulate the parents-to-be.
“Have you picked a name, yet?” Trisha asked.
Cammie gazed at Finn, the smile never leaving her face as they both nodded and turned to the crowd. “We’re going to name her after both grandmothers, so her name is Christina Rose.”
After more tears and cheers and hugs, Liam waited for everyone to settle with drinks and food that had somehow magically appeared before he grabbed the ladder he’d set in the corner and removed the air cannon from the beam.
It was either do it now before the crowd arrived or tomorrow, but tomorrow he had interior walls to build in one of the cabins to get ready for the electrician next week. After he finished and put everything away, Liam sat down with a plate of food at the table where the others were already eating.
“Man, Finn…” Brett shook his head, a lopsided smile on his lips. “I can’t believe I’m going to be an uncle.”
Finn’s chest appeared to puff out and Liam hid a grin. It was so great to see the guy being dealt some happy for a change.
“And I can’t believe I’m going to be a father.”
Cammie looped her arm around Finn and set her head on his shoulder. “You’ll be a great one.”
Liam agreed. Finn Brennan was a strong, just, fair-minded man with his moral compass pointed in the right direction.
“And we’re going to have a niece.” Trisha squeezed Brett’s arm.
“Yes.” Cammie chuckled. “Uncle Brett and Aunt Trisha are going to have a little niece.”
Stacy smiled. “Nieces are great. Wait until you do sleepovers.”
The warmth and adoration in her eyes sent Liam’s heart and mind to a place it had no business traveling.
“Oh my God, I can’t wait for those.” Uh oh, his sister’s eyes were alight with mischief.
He predicted an interesting future for this little girl.
Brett inhaled. “I pity the boys who want to date her.”
Liam smirked. “Not gonna happen.”
“Nope.” Finn shook his head. “Christina’s not allowed to get married until she’s thirty.”
“Even then, he’ll have to pass the shotgun test,” Terry said.
“Now don’t go giving him any ideas,” Rose said with a shake of her head.
“Too late,” Finn said.
They all laughed.
“You will do no such thing to my daughter’s dates,” Cammie said, brows raised. “Unless I give the go-ahead.”
Liam chuckled with the others, and for the next half hour, they ate, drank, and made merry, even as the crowd started trickling in.
His sister sighed. “I already feel sorry for my poor niece. I know what it was like growing up with three overprotective brothers.”
He frowned at her. “Was I that bad?”
Trisha’s gaze softened as she reached across the table to pat his arm. “No, not really. You were my knight in shining armor. My dragon slayer. I could go to you with any problem and you’d listen or solve it.”
“Aww…” Cammie smiled. “That’s sweet.”
Stacy w
as looking at him with a similar softness in her eyes and it made his chest ache.
She blinked then cleared her throat and smiled. This time, mischief twinkled in her eyes. “Sir Liam of Royal Pines.”
The guys laughed while the women nodded, all smiling.
“I like that.” Trisha grinned. “He definitely is a Sir Liam to me.”
Before he could reply, the band started to play.
“Time to dance.” Trisha pulled Stacy to her feet and glanced at Cammie.
Finn put his arm around his wife’s shoulders and shook his head. “Sorry. Doctor told her not to overexert herself so fast dancing is out.”
“Gotcha.” Trisha nodded before heading with a smiling Stacy to take the dance floor with some impressive moves.
Liam wasn’t sure why he was so surprised that Stacy could dance. He already knew she had incredible rhythm.
Heat funneled straight to his groin. Great. Another hard-on.
A few songs later, his blood pressure rose too, but it wasn’t her doing. No. It was due to the suave, grinning cowboy who moved in to dance with her and his sister.
“Oh, hell no.” Brett shot to his feet and strode to Trisha, leaving his plate of food behind.
Liam considered doing that too but seeing as he was not engaged to Stacy or even dating her, he had no choice but to sit there while the grinning Casanova shook his junk at her.
“You gonna go do something about that, Sir Liam?” Finn asked. “I can hear your jaw cracking from here”
“Nope,” he said through clenched teeth.
But two minutes later, when the tempo slowed and the guy pulled Stacy into his arms, Liam was on his feet, his fists clenched, Finn’s laughter echoing in the distance, as he marched toward the dance floor.
Stacy might not be his woman, but he still loved her and wasn’t about to watch the yahoo touch her. He had no desire to name all the emotions churning in his gut, he just wanted to get Stacy out of there.
They stopped dancing when he reached them. Liam ignored the dark look on the guy’s face and concentrated on Stacy. Surprise and heat mixed when her gaze met his.
Good enough.
“We need to talk,” he muttered, grabbing her wrist.
“Hey.” Dance-anova frowned, moving to stand between them.
Stacy smiled at the guy. “It’s okay.”
The idiot still hadn’t moved, so Liam growled and glared at the cowboy, who took one look at his face and held up his hands.
“Calm down, man. I didn’t realize she was with you.”
Well, she was…at least, right now, because her fingers were entwined with his. He wasn’t sure how that happened, but he was okay with it and stopped only long enough to grab their coats, which they shrugged into as they entered the hall and crossed the lobby.
Once they were outside, she tugged free and turned to face him.
“Where are we going?” She smiled, and one thought flashed through his mind.
He was so screwed.
“The way you dragged me out of the Tavern seemed like you were in a big hurry. What’s up?” she asked, stepping closer. “Everything okay?”
Unable to keep his hands to himself, he grasped her hips to hold her to him. “We have unfinished business.”
Chapter Twelve
He waited for her to tear into him but instead she smiled.
“Okay. I know I shouldn’t be, but considering how we finish business, I’m up for this talk.” Her smile widened, this time with a wicked slant. “Lay it on me.”
Liam’s heart skipped a full beat as he released Stacy’s hips to grab her hand and lead her to his office trailer nearby. It was closer than their cabins and didn’t require getting in a damn vehicle.
Once inside the vacant structure, he shut and locked the door. Ambient light from a nearby streetlight emanated through the closed shades on his window, but he flicked on the overhead lights anyway. As much as he longed to get them both naked, they needed to talk first. He turned to face her, and his entire body grew hard. She let her coat slide off her body onto the floor before she jumped up onto his desk.
“This is nice. Much bigger in here than I thought,” she said, glancing around as if she hadn’t just laid herself out like a buffet for a starving man.
He moved to stand between her legs and set his hands on the desktop on each side of her hips. “Sorry about the stacks of paper.”
She smiled and wrapped her legs around him, locking her ankles at the small of his back. “First of all, there are hardly any stacks, my desk is much worse. It’s neat as a pin in here. Secondly…no, you’re not sorry. You don’t care what people think of you.”
True. He’d never given a rat’s ass what anyone thought of him.
Except her.
“Just one person,” he said, lifting a hand to caress her cheek with his finger.
The amusement left her gaze as she stared into his eyes. “You should be careful, Liam Jennings. Saying things like that might make me swoon.”
“Noted,” he said, placing his hand back on the desk. “Before we go any further, I want to make sure we’re on the same page.”
She set her hands on the desk behind her and leaned back. “If you’re talking about the page where we agree to take advantage of this chemistry during your stay in Colorado, then go back to life as normal when you’re gone? Then, yes.” She nodded. “We are on the same page. The short time limit should keep your karma parameter in check, too. And the bed part is great.”
“Are you sure, Stacy? Because I don’t want to hurt you again.”
She tapped his cheek. “You’re sweet. But, I’m sure.”
Relief rippled through him, removing the last of his restraint. “Thank God.”
Unable to hold back, Liam used one hand to sweep things off his desk onto the floor, while the other cupped Stacy’s fine ass to drag her closer and anchor her to him.
His actions ripped a sound from deep in her throat. One that held several excited and thrilled tones. Her obvious enjoyment of his Neanderthal move did something to him. He’d never lost control with anyone but her. The woman was special. Dangerous? Yeah, he knew it was, but it was also a gift.
Liam could be himself with Stacy. Whether he was in a bad mood or a good one, ticked off, amped up, it never mattered.
He didn’t have to keep his cool for her. Ever.
She was the only one besides Trident who really knew him and accepted him anyway.
And damn…if that wasn’t a huge turn-on.
When he leaned in, she fisted his shirt and drew him close, meeting his kiss head on, taking and giving with equal fervor. He’d wanted to do this all damn night and if they hadn’t needed air, he wouldn’t have released her addictive lips.
“It’s crazy, you know?” She laughed between breaths.
He smiled. “What is?” he asked, captivated by her, all of her.
A wry smile tugged her lips as she lifted a shoulder. “I was determined to fight this, but it felt like I was fighting my nature.”
He nodded. “I know exactly what you mean. And I realized it was a lost cause.”
Her lips twitched. “Definitely. I even came up with a mantra to stay away and repeated it every day. But it didn’t work.”
“Oh? Care to share?”
“No. It doesn’t matter,” she said, running a hand up his chest. “Because I’m not staying away now.”
True.
He grinned. “Well, I’ve got one for you.”
Amusement entered her eyes. “Yeah, I bet you do.”
“Repeat after me.” He held back a grin. “Liam will make me screa-um.”
She snorted and slapped his chest. “You’re bad.”
“True, but you like me when I’m bad.” He leaned in to nip at her ear and whisper, “And mark my words, Stacy. I will make you scream my name.”
He heard the breath stutter in her chest.
“Prove it,” she dared.
Heat rushed through his veins.
“Challenge accepted,” he said against her neck, slipping a hand beneath her sweater, and the warm, silky skin he encountered increased his need to strip her naked.
But not here.
Scooping her off the desk, he turned to the couch against the far wall.
“What are you doing?” she asked, clutching at him. “I thought we were going to christen your desk.”
He grunted as heat shot through his groin, “Maybe next time. Right now, I want to be horizontal with you and I’m not sure the desk would hold up.”
“Oh…okay.” She snickered. “For a second there, I thought maybe you had a thing for couches.”
He chuckled. “I have a thing for you.”
She grinned and a wicked gleam entered her dark eyes as she reached down to stroke his erection through his cargos. “Yes, you do, and I’d very much like my thing now, please.”
He choked out a laugh and borrowed her phrasing from their last encounter. “Patience, grasshopper.”
Stacy’s laughter turned into a gasp as he dropped her onto the couch. Before she could complain, he bent down to lick the sensitive spot behind her ear, and she let out a shuddery moan. Holding back a grin, Liam reached for her sweater and pulled it over her head to reveal her luscious curves spilling out of the hunter green lace of her bra.
“Gorgeous.”
A few seconds later, after she removed her shoes and jeans, he discovered a pair of matching green lacy panties. His mouth watered at the sight of her.
“Hurry,” she whispered, her voice a soft plea as she reached up for him.
He was lowering himself over her when the cell phone in his back pocket started to vibrate. Damn. Liam dropped his forehead to her gorgeous breasts and muttered a curse.
“It could be important,” she said, her hands stilling in his hair.
True. But it couldn’t be that important since it’d been a text and not a call.
“It can wait.”
He couldn’t.
They couldn’t.
With his mind made up, Liam reached beneath Stacy and unhooked her bra, and when he straightened and pulled it off her, he felt his heart quicken at the sight of the soft, gorgeous woman sprawled beneath him. “Whatever it is can wait a few minutes.”
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