“Ooh, the grand tour? How exciting!” I joked, once again trying to minimize the seriousness of everything that had happened. Liam seemed to force his smile, as though he wanted me to know he was at least trying to lighten up with me. Of course, being that he was the only one who truly understood what we were in the middle of, I supposed he had every reason to be struggling with letting go.
When we finished eating, he led me around the place, which wasn’t terribly big. On the second floor, there were a few bedrooms and a balcony that overlooked a wooded area and a pond that sparkled in the morning sunlight.
I stopped at the rail, Liam just behind me, and I could feel him against my back. My face filled with that familiar heat that seemed to always accompany his touch.
I wanted even more—wanted him to put his arms around me, or to accidentally brush his hand against me, or even to feel his face against my neck. However, he stayed where he was, and I could only take satisfaction in the fact that he didn’t pull away. That he let me have that much.
“Well, the view’s gorgeous.” I took note of how isolated we were, not another house in sight.
“Neighbors are a few miles either way, which gives us the solitude we need. It’s unlikely we’ll have to worry about whoever was coming after us back in Boystown. Not at the moment.”
The mention of Boystown took me out of the present situation, pulling my mind back to where it hadn’t been for too long. I turned to him. God, he was so close, it would have been effortless to lean forward and kiss him. “Speaking of which, I need to text Eric and Jesse and my mom at some point. They’ll worry.”
“I should have mentioned that. We’ll do that when I get back. I have a couple of gadgets for incidents like this that’ll keep anyone from being able to determine where the signal is coming from, and as I mentioned last night, I made sure your phone wasn’t bugged, but you won’t be able to use it. I have a trick phone a buddy made me, though. If we use it through the Wi-Fi, no one will be able to trace us.”
So many things he had to consider. It explained all his secrecy and paranoia, those things I always felt kept me at arm’s length.
“We’ll make sure everyone knows you’re safe, and then I’ll reach out to my guys. I should hear back from them soon enough, and we’ll take it from there. Sounds good?”
“I have a feeling how it sounds to me isn’t going to make much difference.”
Once again, he assessed my expression. He reached up and rested his fingertips and thumb against my face. “I promise I’ll make this right, Pretty Thing, and get you out of this.”
His touch was like fire, his stare full of determination.
I didn’t doubt he meant what he said, but I wondered how much time it would take and what exactly it would involve as far as me being tucked away in this hiding spot.
