“That would be lovely,” Sophie said.
“Can I help?” Caroline’s eyes widened with excitement, and there was no way Tessa was going to burst her bubble twice in one night.
“Of course you can, sweetie.”
She ignored the subtle frown Liam now wore. He was up to something; she’d bet her chef’s knives on it. Though Tessa felt relieved for dodging this one bullet, there would be more.
Chapter Six
Liam
The night had been a sleepless one, knowing the woman he’d pined for all these years was staying in the room across the hall. After more than a decade of separation by thousands of miles, a mere hallway now stood between them. Liam tossed and turned, and couldn’t even blame the sun that never set for keeping him up.
Raven snuggled with him, sleep growling from time to time, and kicking at the invisible ground beneath her paws. He wished he could have joined her; drifted off for even an hour. But his alarm sounded too soon. Earlier that week, Liam promised to pick up a boat. Its motor wasn’t running quite right. If he didn’t get it this morning, he wasn’t sure when he could fit it in his schedule.
“Time to get up, girl.” He roused the dog from her slumber and led her outside through a back door. Unlike the dogs he grew up with, Raven didn’t run off or chase after rabbits without a leash. She stayed within ten yards of him at all times, always curious but never straying.
Liam thought he caught a hint of Ed’s brown hide in the trees, but the flash of it was gone too soon to be sure. “C’mon, Raven. My turn now.”
After a shower, he stroked his beard, deciding against a trim. He’d caught Tessa staring more than once yesterday. With the blush that crept up that soft neck of hers, Liam suspected she approved. If the beard helped convince her to give them the second chance they deserved, who was he to shave it?
He slipped on a long-sleeved button-up shirt he would no doubt shed mid-morning. The forecast was calling for a high of seventy-eight, but the morning still had its usual cool, crispness to it.
Tessa’s necklace spilled out of yesterday’s shirt pocket when he moved it from the floor to the bench at the foot of the bed.Almost forgot. He should give it to her this morning—any excuse to talk to her was one Liam wouldn’t mind taking—but it didn’t feel like the right time.
During the duskiest hours that sleep had eluded him, Liam found himself thinking about his future. He’d been itching to settle down for a while now. It wasn’t until Cadence Whitmore came to Sunset Ridge that he believed Tessa might come back, too. That event had sparked everything—the sale of his house, the start of construction on a lot his grandpa left him, even the Alaskan Woodsman competition where he won the plane they’d always talked about owning.
But if Tessa decided to leave to run some fancy five-star restaurant, Liam would have to accept that they weren’t meant to be.
“Better get to it, girl.” He held the door open for Raven.
He was about as far down the hall and away from the kitchen as a guest could get on the main floor. The clattering of dishes reached him as he locked up his room. If all that banging and clanging was any indication, someone was irritable this morning.Odd.
Cautiously, Liam took quiet steps toward the kitchen, Raven leisurely strolling by his side. Liam kept his boots on the runner rug so his steps wouldn’t echo off the hardwood floors and give away his presence. He wondered how anyone else slept through this racket. The entire place would be up before long.
“How did hedoit?” he heard Tessa mutter between closing drawers. “There are freaking cameraseverywhere.”
When Liam stopped in the doorway, Raven sat. Her tail wagged against the tile at the sight of her new friend. Liam was half surprised Tessa hadn’t broken into his room last night and stolen his dog.But right now, he was more intrigued by the things he heard her muttering and what they might mean.
He leaned against the door jamb, crossing his legs at the ankles, and waited until there was a break in the noise. “Good morning, sweetheart.”
Tessa looked up briefly from her frantic cupboard search. “Breakfast isn’t ready, so go on. Get.”
“I’m not here for that.”
She stopped her rummaging long enough to turn in Liam’s direction, hands planted on her hips. A dishtowel dangled from her fingers. In her faded T-shirt, dark hair pulled into a loose ponytail, and face devoid of most of her makeup, she looked simply breathtaking. He liked her so much better this way, not all made up for the camera.
“What do you want,Liam?” She snapped his name with extra emphasis.
“It’s not too late to take me up on my invitation.” From the look of the mess spread along the counter, there’d been a whole lot of scrounging for ingredients but no actual successcookinganything. “Moosecakes is still as good as you remember.” Liam didn’t really have time anymore to sit down and eat breakfast, but if he could change Tessa’s mind by doing so, he’d make time.
“If I want moose-shaped pancakes, I’ll make them myself. Fromscratch.”
Something had her extra irritated this morning, and he desperately wanted to know what. He’d bet his Super Cub that it had something to do with her mutterings.Is it about the show?But Tessa Whitmore was a complex woman. A lifetime wouldn’t be enough time to figure her out. Liam sure wanted to try, though.
“What are you smiling about?” she demanded.
“Not everyone is on that East Coast time zone, you know.”
