“I’m Maya.”
Liam didn’t respond.
“Maya Parker?”
He gave me a blank stare.
I was sure my face mirrored his earlier confusion.He didn’t know who I was?Then again, he hadn’t visited his own Nana in years, so could I really expect him to remember something she would have said during a phone conversation?
I supposed it was true what they said.The pretty ones were too full of themselves to pay attention to what was going on around them.
“Sorry, Pipsqueak.Your name doesn’t ring a bell.Do you work here?”
The nickname Pipsqueak reignited the raging furnace of anger in my belly, but Liam remained oblivious to my reaction.He glanced around the shop, his gaze stopping at the giant copper espresso machine that sat on the back counter.
“Let me guess.You’re the one who convinced my Nana to bringthatthing in?I can’t imagine she enjoys using it; she thinks the machines that use pods are too complicated.”
Frustrated, I threw my hands up.“Ofcourseshe doesn’t use it.I only finished refurbishing it six months ago.She’s barely looked at it, never mind used it.”
Liam stalked toward me, his steps confident, until he was close enough that I could smell his cologne.The scent of him, like the forest before a storm, threatened to overwhelm me.Focus, Maya.Neglectful, self-absorbed men can smell good too.It didn’t excuse the fact that he hadn’t been to visit his grandmother inyears.She might not have been mad at him, butIsure was.I knew all too well what it was like when family abandoned you, and I wasn’t about to let Liam do that to Nana without some repercussions.
“What do you mean she hasn’t looked at it?”His brows knitted together.“This is her store.And that thing is so shiny it’s practically glowing.There’s no way she wouldn’t see it.”
My brain screeched to a halt so fast I swore I heard squealing tires.
Didn’t he know she had retired?
“Okay, kids.I think that’s enough fun for now.”Greg stepped between us, his tone soft as he attempted to deescalate the situation.“How about we let Maya get back to work, and you can take me to meet Nana?”
Liam stepped closer again, his gaze locked on me while he spoke to Greg.“Yeah.Okay.Let’s go upstairs to visit Nana and leaveMaya”—he narrowed his eyes like he thought I’d been lying about my identity—“to get to work.I’m sure Nana doesn’t let her employees sit around doing nothing all day.”
I pressed my hand against his hard chest to push him away, but you’d think he was welded to the floor for how much I moved him.Not that it mattered.Since I’d left home, I’d learned how to deal with people who tried to intimidate me.
Crossing my arms, I fixed him with a steely glare.“That’s fine.Stand as close as you want.I will not be bullied by the likes of you.”
“Is that so, Pipsqueak?”His disturbingly blue eyes twinkled as he took a step back.“Those are some big words coming from such a tiny woman.”
“I’m five feet and one-quarter inch tall, you dickweasel.That’saverage.”I gritted my teeth.I’d been this height since I was twelve years old.I had never felt short, and this overgrown, blue-eyed bullshitter wasn’t about to make me start now.
Besides, I wasn’tthatshort.
“I believe the average height for women isfive foot three, which makes you”—he sucked air through his teeth while making a show of looking me up and down—“below average.”He grinned before adding in a whisper, “Pipsqueak.”
That does it.
“Call me Pipsqueak again and I will hunt you down and slit your throat while you sleep.”The death threat rolled off my tongue with surprising ease, but it felt right.“And before you go stomping upstairs to bother Nana, there’s something else you should know.”
two
first aid
Liam
“HowthehelldidI not know Nana retired?”My harsh whisper echoed down the hall outside Nana’s apartment.It had been a few years since I’d last come to visit.Had things truly changed so much?“I thought we were close, but how close could we be if she hadn’t thought to tell me something this serious?”
Despite how casually he leaned against the wall with Mr.Fluffy in his arms, Greg levelled me with a serious look.“Come on now.”
“We talk every we—” Greg’s cocked eyebrow stopped me short.
