I blink at Liam as he guzzles an organic juice. “Um, what? Wait, are you seriously offering to pay for the entire trip?”
“Yeah.” He doesn’t even blink as he puts the juice back in the fridge.
“You’re paying for everyone’s flights and for the resort?”
“Uh-huh.” He grabs an apple and takes a bite.
My jaw hits the floor. “Liam, that’s thousands of dollars.”
He shuts the refrigerator door and looks at me, his expression unbothered. “Yeah, I know.” His tone is so light and casual. It’s like he just offered to pay for pizza and not a luxury vacation for eight people.
I stand there and stare at him with my mouth open. I shake my head, “Liam, no way. It’s too much.”
He chuckles and sits back down. “It’s really not.” He takes another bite of apple and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. “The owner of the Wolves said we could use his plane to fly down to Mexico, so that’ll be free. His family will be on vacation there at the same time, but they’re coming back to Nashville a few days before we are and will need the plane for that, so we’ll have to fly commercial back home. But paying for that won’t be bad at all.”
I laugh out of sheer disbelief. “Wait, the owner of the team you play for is letting us use his private plane to fly to Mexico for your brother’s bachelor party?”
He flashes that ridiculously handsome lopsided smile. The one that used to annoy me. The one that I don’t mind so much now.
“Yeah. I hosted a youth hockey fundraiser this past winter and his grandkids attended it and had a great time. He’s letting me use his plane as a thank you for that.”
“Oh.” I didn’t know Liam hosted fundraisers for kids. That’s so sweet.
That fluttery feeling swoops through me again. I try to ignore it.
“Still, it’s too much for you to pay for everything.”
I tell him that I can at least pay for my stay at the resort, but he shakes his head, that infuriatingly sexy half-smile still on his face.
The urge to push back persists. My parents taught me from a young age to never expect anything, to always work for what you want. But that’s not entirely what this is about.
I think of my ex, how he always insisted that we split everything fifty-fifty, even though he earned more than double what I earn as a professor. I’m so used to paying for everything that I need and want, it feels weird to accept this gift from Liam.
“I can pay my own way, Liam.”
“I know you can. That’s not what this is about though.”
I start to insist again that I pay for my part of the trip, but he shakes his head and places his hand over mine.
“No way, Kendall. I’m paying.”
I still at the soft growl of his voice, how it borders on the edge of bossy.
That fluttery feeling bubbles up inside of me again. “Okay. Thank you.”
He nods and slides his hand off mine, then looks at something on his phone.
I spend the next few seconds trying not to think about how nice his hand felt on mine…and how I’d like to hear his soft, bossy growl again.
I pretend to look at something on his laptop screen. “Well, I guess the bachelor/bachelorette party is all taken care of.” I’m pleasantly surprised at how normal my voice sounds.
“That just leaves the rehearsal dinner,” I say.
“And the best man speech.” He clears his throat. “I was hoping you could help me with it.”
“Yeah, of course.”
I pull up a new Note from the app on my phone. “What are you thinking for the tone of the speech?”
