“No, not because you fucked her. Truthfully, she’s got talent,” I offer. “Her ego is gonna explode, though. She’s not right for Fireball. Not long-term. I think she knows it.”
Liam exhales, then rakes a hand through his hair. “Yeah. Don’t I fuckin’ know.”
“She’s not the type to bow out gracefully.”
“No,” he says bitterly. “Take it from me. She’s not.”
We lie there for a beat, the weight of their sexual history flickering between us.
“So I’m not purely a hot fuck with a color-coded spreadsheet?” I try to shift the mood back to where we were a few minutes ago.
He squeezes my ass. “Nope.”
“High praise.”
He groans and flops back into the pillow. “Fuck off. You know I love it.”
Oh, I know it. I can feel it in the way he touches me, the way he lets me see under all the bravado. I’ve been around musical egos before. Entire rosters full of them. But Liam?
He’s different.
I want to stay long enough to see where it goes
“You’re stayin’ tonight, yeah?” he asks, as if it’s still a question.
“I practically live here now, don’t I?” Most of my stuff has migrated into Liam’s bedroom. “We can walk to class tomorrow.”
He laughs. “Yeah, but you’ve got the Dublin guilt. Thought maybe you’d slink back to your place to pray or whatever.”
“I’m not prayin’ for forgiveness, love.”
His smile falters.
Silence thickens between us, not uncomfortable, but charged.
“I haven’t told them I’m movin’ in,” I admit.
He doesn’t pretend not to know who I mean. “Your parents.”
“They’re payin’ for my flat near campus. Think I’ve been focusin’ on school and workin’ in the lab. It’d be impossibleto tell them I’m shackin’ up with the bloke I’m shaggin’ every night,” I say to the air above me.
I call things as they are, so I do.
His hand stills on my chest. “You think they’d care more about us or the degree?”
“Us, probably. I’m hopin’ as long as I do somethin’ with a suit and a salary I’ll be able to come clean about you.”
Liam tilts his head. “Tell me more about the work you did at the…”
“Booking agency,” I finish. “Started when I was sixteen. Niamh’s da ran the place. He gave me a foot in.”
His gaze sharpens. “Niamh…your ex.”
“Aye.” I nod. “We were together five years..”
“She’s the one you cheated on?”
“Aye.” I shift uncomfortably. “I told her the truth before I left. She broke it off. Didn’t like the idea of me cheating with a guy, which I regret to this day. Both of our families’ hopes of marriage were dashed.”
