She rolled her head to the side, resting it against the wall as she gave him a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry. That’s hard.”
He shrugged. It was in the past now.
“But you guys are close?”
“Yeah.” He grinned. “Even though they’re jackasses, my brothers are my best friends. And Jake’s not an ass anymore. He outgrew that as a teenager. He’s an old soul. Matt and Sean, though…they’re still young bucks.”
She laughed quietly. “Like Andrew and West.”
“Very much so.”
“And you’re the one they go to with everything.” She licked her lips, the pink tip drawing his attention to where he wanted his own mouth to be. “The phone calls.”
“The what?”
She grinned, and he pulled his eyes up to meet hers. “From your brothers. You’ve been gone a few days and at least two of them have called you.”
“Yeah.” He dropped his gaze back to her mouth. “I guess.”
She giggled and slid her leg against his body. “Distracted by something?”
“Maybe.”
— —
Liana licked her lips again. “Is this a good idea?”
She’d never get enough of looking at his face. The hard planes of his jaw, his cheekbones, his brow. The expressive little muscles that turned a smirk into a question, a stern frown into a private laugh. The light in his eyes and the softness of his lips.Obviously it’s a genius idea. Why question it?
Because he was a better man than she was used to. And before she got in too deep, she wanted to make sure they were on the same page.
“Depends what this is, maybe.” His hand settled on her calf. He squeezed gently. “I work for you.”
“You work for Hope.”
“That's a technicality.”
“But what would happen if I tried to fire you? Because I would. For another kiss…”
All she got in reply to that was a grin. Did he think she was kidding? She so wasn’t kidding.
So she moved closer to make her point.
“You don’t need to fire me.” Another squeeze on her leg, this time higher. Her knee was on top of his thigh now. If anyone came out of their bunks, this wouldn’t be able to be explained as anything other than an intimate moment.
They should shelve this conversation for another day. Another time.
Instead, she reached out and touched his chest. Against her fingertips, his heart thumped slow and steady, and her stomach did a delicious roll over.
“I’ve done the romantic fantasy thing. Left it in ashes and haven’t looked back,” she whispered. “I’m not going to try and complicate this, I mean. I’m not a delicate flower anymore.”
“Oh, I know. You’re tough as nails, Liana.”
She closed her eyes. Oh, she liked the way he said her name way too much.
His lips against hers were so light she almost thought for a second that she’d imagined it.
Her eyes flew open, and he was right there. She was just out of sight of Dwayne. He covered his lips with his index finger.
