The word had been barely whispered, but Liam had always had good hearing and caught it as surely as if it had been shouted.
“It’s okay,” Liam told him, shrugging it off. “I’m used to people talking to me as if I’m something they just stepped in.”
The agent, Kit, flinched like Liam had slapped her and Hawk had the good grace to look embarrassed on her behalf.
“I’m going to bed,” Liam said. “My meds make me tired.”
He headed towards his bedroom, then paused and turned to look at Kit over his shoulder. “Don’t worry. It’s a myth that schizophrenia makes you dangerous. Most people who have it aren’t violent.”
He held her disbelieving gaze for another few beats then sighed and headed into his room. What he’d told her had only been partly true. Not everyone who had schizophrenia was violent, but that didn’t mean that Liam wasn’t dangerous. Why else would he have panicked when he couldn’t find his medication? There was a monster lurking inside of him and he couldn’t, under any circumstances, afford to let it get out.
Chapter Five
Eve
Eve scowled at the color of her toast and pressed the switch down again to let it cook for longer before returning to the eggs she had cooking in a pan. She gave them a stir just as footsteps sounded behind her, and the prickling across her shoulders told her that Liam had walked into the kitchen.
“Something smells good,” he commented.
Eve grunted in reply, hoping that would dissuade him from asking anything further, but she was sorely mistaken.
“Is there any coffee?”
She sighed. She honestly wanted to ignore him, but that would have been childish and unprofessional, so she pointed to the pot. “I just made some.”
“Great. I can’t function properly without my morning coffee.”
Liam crossed her line of sight, and her breath caught in her throat. He wore nothing but a pair of jeans and she turned to follow him with her eyes, watching the muscles in his back work as he poured himself a cup of the steaming black liquid.
She tore her eyes away, directing her scowl to the eggs. How was she supposed to get anything done if she couldn’t even breathe—let alone think straight—any time he walked into a room? What a ridiculous way to find a life partner. It was hardly conducive to a long and productive life if all she could think about was licking his damn abs.
No, cat, she chided her beast as it pricked its ears in response to that thought. But now the image of licking his abs was wedged in her mind, and despite everything she knew about him, it was almost impossible not to act out that little fantasy, to see what he felt like, what he tasted li—
Dammit! She rattled the eggs in the pan. How was it possible to be attracted to someone she found so morally reprehensible and abhorrent?
“You been up for long?” Liam asked, breaking through her thoughts.
She shrugged. “An hour.”
In truth, she hadn’t slept a wink all night. She and Hawk had agreed to take it in turns to sleep so that one of them was always awake to be able to protect Liam and listen for intruders. It had been Eve’s turn to sleep from midnight until seven, but she’d tossed and turned all night and finally gave up on trying a little after five, switching out with Hawk. She figured it would be better if at least one of them had a decent amount of sleep.
Liam scrunched up his nose. “Is something burning?”
Eve’s eyes widened. “Shit, the toast!”
She spun around to the toaster and pressed the button to pop up the bread and sure enough, the toast was burned to within an inch of its life.
“Dammit.”
She grabbed the toast and was about to throw it in the trash when Liam spoke.
“You’re gonna throw that out?”
“It’s burned,” she said, stating the obvious.
He shrugged. “I’ll eat it.”
She looked down at the blackened bread then up at him again and noticed a slight pink hue to his cheeks.
