“Him coming to your defense like that with Dad? Hell, him coming with you to the house at all? That’s notfriendlybehavior. Trust me, I would know.”
And she would. She and Ezra had tried the “just friends” thing…and it landed them engaged with a baby on the way.
But our situations couldn’t have been more different. Before I could open my mouth to protest, to say exactly that, Amara chimed in.
“You know that man has been half in love with you since he met you, right?”
“Please,” I said, rolling my eyes, though the shiver of a thrill raced down my spine. “How could you possibly know that? The man doesn’t speak.”
“He speaks to you,” Chloe said.
Yeah, I didn’t want to examine too closely why that was. I had given three years to a man—no,boy—who had done nothing but string me along and get my hopes up only to repeatedly dash them. I wasn’t about to make the same mistake again.
“We work together,” Amara reminded me in answer to my question. “And…I can just tell.”
Delia snorted. “One workplace romance under your belt and suddenly you’re an expert?”
“That’s a little pot-calling-the-kettle-black, don’t you think?” my second eldest sister countered.
As the two got swept up in an argument, I tuned them out, turning my attention inward.
Over the course of the last few months, Liam had been therefor me in ways I’d never seen him be for anyone else. And I had been watching. His presence in any room, in any space, was magnetic. He was so goddamn hard to look away from.
But maybe I hadn’t been looking close enough.
Maybe…Amara had a point.
Maybe…Liam really did feel something for me beyond some sort of white knight complex.
And maybe, just maybe…this road trip would be my chance to figure it out.
My house was morespotless than it had ever been, including the day I moved in.
Ella was coming over, and I refused to let her think I lived in squalor.
Truth be told, I was fairly organized—I had to be for my job. But there were always a few things I let get out of hand before I mustered the energy to tackle them, namely dishes and laundry.
I did my laundry weekly, but I typically lived out of my dryer, my clothes often finding themselves spilling out onto my laundry room floor. As for the dishes…some days I was motivated to load the dishwashers, and some weeks I wasn’t.
Now, my old log cabin on the fringes of Apple Blossom Bay was so clean you could eat off the floor.
And not a moment too soon, because tires crunched on the gravel just as I finished wiping down the counters in the kitchen, and a minute later, a light knock came at my door.
I took one last frantic scan around the living space, pleased tofind everything in order. Then I wiped my damp palms on the thighs of my jeans and opened the door for Ella.
Every time I saw her, she took my goddamn breath away.
No one had the right to be as stunning as she in simple black leggings and an oversized Chateau Delatou sweatshirt, the hood cut off and draping over her torso to expose a single shoulder and the florals tattooed there. She’d braided her hair back, though a few wispy purple bangs fell free, framing her green eyes, which sparkled in the low lights from behind me.
“Hi,” I said, stepping aside to admit her.
Not bothering with pleasantries, she simply walked past me, dropped her bag on the hardwood near my feet, and moved deeper into the space.
I did my best to stay still, to not word vomit all over the place, to not pick out tiny little details about my home and explain everything that was wrong with it.
I didn’t know why the fuck I was so nervous.
Actually, I did, and it had everything to do with the woman turning a slow circle in the center of my living room, her feet making softshushing sounds on the thick rug.
