I hummed as shivers peppered my skin. “We’re never going to get out of here if you keep doing that.”
My towel was torn from my body for the second time in less than an hour, once again, leaving me completely naked. Strong, calloused hands roamed over my skin, making it impossible to think of anything other than taking him to my bed.
But at the last minute, he stepped back, his eyes scorching over my skin as he shook his head. “Fuck, we need to leave.”
He snatched the towel from the floor and tossed it at me, smacking me in the face as he turned to rummage through my closet.
“What are you doing?”
“Packing your bags.”
“Bags? As in more than one?”
“That would be the meaning,” he said as he grabbed two duffels from the top of the closet. “Get dressed.”
“Um…I’m still stuck on the fact that you want me to pack more than one bag. I hardly need that much clothing for one night.”
“Who said anything about one night?” he asked, pulling out several tops and tossing them in the first bag.
“Who said anything aboutmorethan one night?”
“Me.” This time, he stopped and pinned me with a sobering glare. “Were you going to tell me about Austin?”
My hackles instantly rose at the mention of the younger Callahan brother who had cornered me earlier.
“Who told you?”
“You know how this town is. The question is, why didn’t you call me the moment it happened?”
I felt like I was on some kind of whirlwind rollercoaster ride. Notthat I minded being on it with him, but this relationship had just gone from zero to sixty in five seconds flat.
“Why would I call you?”
Liam strode over to me, his hand snaking around my waist as he pulled me into him. “Because I can’t protect you if I don’t know what’s going on. I shouldn’t have to hear it from my old man after someone in town tells him.”
Backing away, I tucked the towel around me once again. “Let’s get something straight right now. I have never and will never need a man to protect me. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself, thank you very much.”
“Is that why it took Wyatt intervening to get him to back off?” Liam snapped.
I couldn’t believe this. The man sure had a way of screwing up what was shaping up to be a really great night. “So, you talked to Wyatt as well.”
“Bailey—”
“No,” I snapped, my anger hanging on by a thread. “I understand that you’re upset, but it really was nothing. Yes, he cornered me, but I was never in danger. Calling you would have accomplished nothing.”
“I still deserved to know,” he bit out.
“Why? So you could storm into the shop and threaten my boss? Or maybe you’d run off to find Austin and kick the crap out of him? What good would that do?”
“What good did it do to not say anything?” he argued.
“Well, it’s certainly not helping anything right now! And let me tell you something, if you think that you can basically dance around us for ten years and then suddenly storm into my life and take over, you’ve got another thing coming, buddy!”
“I am not your buddy,” he growled, moving in for the kill. “I am your man?—”
“As of two seconds ago.”
“And I will protect you in any way I can.”
