“No, no. Trust me, I understand. Sometimes, we have things we need to keep in confidence. Lord knows your father’s got his own secrets, and I’ve got mine.”
His expression shifted, as though he was reflecting on his own sadness and pain.
There, before me, this impressive man who seemed like a tower of strength. In him, I saw weakness and vulnerability, and in a strange way I felt as though I was peering into his very soul.
But I was only permitted a glance before he hid it all so well from me once again, gazing at me as though I’d seen more than I should have.
That was the moment I knew Liam McKinney had me hooked, because whether he liked it or not, I was intrigued…fascinated.
As I looked into his eyes now, all these months later, all I could think was,Tell me those secrets, Liam. I want you to share it all with me.
To distract myself, I began talking him through my new project. “I was looking up some do-it-yourself stuff. Pinteresty-as-hell type shit, you know? And so I went a little crazy at Michaels. I got these letters we can use. I don’t exactly have the best handwriting, so I figured I needed to steer clear of that.”
Liam looked up and over at Sam and Kelly’s table. “You guys got a marker over there?”
“Hell yeah.” Kelly grabbed it and threw it our way, Liam seizing it in his grasp effortlessly.
“I got the letters,” Liam said.
“You have good handwriting?”
“Consider calligraphy one of my many talents.”
“Curious to learn about all these talents,” I teased.
He beamed. “Here. Hand me the guestbook, and let me know what you had in mind.” I handed him the blank book I’d found at Michaels and showed him some versions I’d found on Pinterest that I’d stored in an album. He went to work on the text while I continued sifting through pics to find ones suitable for the occasion.
While he created the main title page, I asked, “How are things wrapping up at work?” I was trying, but surely failing, at acting nonchalant.
“Very well. In a few weeks I’ll be officially retired.”
“That’s wonderful news! Congratulations.”
“Thanks. It’s been a long time coming.”
“A long time coming sounds like the best kind of coming,” I quipped, and he laughed.
“Ooh, I’ve only seen you for five seconds, and you’re ready to play with fire?”
I inspected Sam and Kelly, ensuring they were too distracted to hear our playful conversation.
“I think it’s just a lot of smoke at the moment, but I’ll be curious to see what happens when I get closer to the flame.”
“Now why would you want to go and do that?”
“I’ve been told I have a thing for trouble.”
His gaze met mine again. I winked, and he snickered, shaking his head.
“I’ll be good now,” I said, not wanting to annoy him with my interest.
“I prefer it when you’re not being good, Pretty Thing.”
My face flushed with heat, and my breath caught. There was something so erotic in the way he said it, the cadence of his voice, how smooth it sounded as it hit my ears just right. And there was confirmation in his eyes as we looked at each other, that despite the fact that I hadn’t heard from him between PV and Eric and Jesse’s wedding, his interest hadn’t waned any more than my own.
We continued working on the guestbook while Sam and Kelly headed out to grab some things from the car to finish up their project.
“What about this?” Liam flashed the page he’d created with one of the quotes I’d pulled for the project, now written in beautiful, bold letters.
