“I mean, temporarily,” he quickly corrected. “You know, if you were to pack a bag and stay for a few days…”
Disappointment shot through me, but I hid it with a smile. It’s not that I wanted to move in with him right now, but the idea of moving things forward after all these years was appealing.
Deep down, I knew it would be the wrong move.
“You just want sex, Liam. And I’m not going to sit around your house waiting for you to come home so you can have your way with me.”
“You could,” he grumbled.
“And I would be bored out of my mind the whole day.”
Pressing my lips to his, I pushed past the awkwardness of the situation and smiled at him. “I’ll call you later.”
But as I walked out to my car, I couldn’t help but feel that something had changed. I just couldn’t put my finger on it.
17
LIAM
“Did you find him?”
Jeff strode up to me with a massive grin on his face. “What do you think?”
Sinking back in the office chair, the tension running through my body eased just a little.
“Where is he?”
“He should be here by sundown.”
That was a load off my mind. If he agreed to this, that would solve at least one of my problems.
“Are you sure about this?”
“I can’t tie Bailey to my bed and make her stay there until I figure this out. She’d never go for it.”
“Well, you could do something even crazier than asking this guy to help. You know, maybe tell her what’s going on.”
But I couldn’t be sure Wyatt wasn’t involved, and until I was, Bailey had to think everything was perfectly normal.
“You know, you might be pushing her into another man’s arms.”
I’d thought of that, but Archer was a good guy. He’d never do that to me, even if he was a little rough around the edges.
“I’m well aware of what I’m doing.”
Jeff shook his head. “Just as long as you are.” Taking the seat opposite me, he jerked his head at the open books on the desk before kicking up his heels. “Monthly accounting?”
“Pop wants to meet.”
“Well, that’ll be a joy.”
“I need to convince him to add more houses.”
A snorted laugh left my brother. “Yeah, good luck convincing him to do that.”
“He’s gotta face the facts. This ranch is no longer what it used to be. We have to keep earning or we’ll have to sell the land.”
Groaning, he tossed his head back. “And I suppose you want me to be there when you talk to him.”
