Liam met my gaze. “For what?”
Was he serious? I dropped my arms. “For this.” I waved between my chest and his. His eyebrows went up, and I could literally see the flirty words he was about to speak pass through his gaze, so I hurried to add, “For the freedom you talked about. What’s the plan?”
Liam took a few steps back until he was leaning on the wall behind him. He extended his legs out in front before he folded his arms across his chest. “I figured you could be my assistant,” he said matter-of-factly.
I blinked. Once. Twice. “Your assistant?” I repeated. What did he need an assistant for?
He nodded. “My life is…complicated. You seem well-versed in all things organizational.” He must have picked up on my skepticism because he hurried to add, “I mean, you work in a library.”
I’d made a mistake. A huge, colossal mistake. Regret rose up in my chest. I needed something to do with all the electric energy now coursing through my veins, so I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose as I tried to sort through my thoughts.
“You want…” I started, but the words just drifted off. It was like I was physically incapable of saying them out loud. “You want me to be…” I tried again.
“My assistant,” Liam finished for me.
I opened my eyes and slowly brought my hand away from my face. I stared at him with the hope that, in a few seconds, his cocky smile would return and he would declare that this was all a big joke. But that never came. Instead, he just studied me with a genuine expression.
“And I got this job offer because…I work in a library?”
He shrugged. “Hey, I’m a simple guy. Plus, I’m good at spotting talent. And you have talent.” The last sentence he said with a deep announcer voice punctuated by a flourish of his hands.
I sighed. Did I really have room to be picky? I’d blown up my life in Harmony. The last thing I wanted to do was admit that Abigail was right and go back to our apartment. I just wished I’d asked for details before I’d closed my eyes and jumped.
“Okay,” I said slowly. “So what do you need an assistant to help you with?”
Liam studied me for a moment like my question had taken him aback. I raised my eyebrows expectantly in an effort to persuade him to speak. I really hoped he wasn’t a tax lawyer or CPA. I feared my short time working for the library wasn’t going to help with how boring I found those fields to be.
“You really don’t know?” Liam asked, his smile appearing more amused than anything.
“Know what?”
Liam paused, like he was waiting from me to declare that I was joking, before he scoffed and shifted his weight off the wall so he was now standing upright. “Wow. Never in my life...”
“Should I know?” I hurried to ask. If this was part of the job interview, I was off to a horrible start.
He shook his head. “No, you shouldn’t.” He scrubbed his face with his hand before running his fingers through his hair.
I was now thoroughly confused. “So…” I raised my eyebrows and leaned my head forward in an invitation for him to continue.
“I’m in a band.”
That was not even in the ballpark of what I thought he was going to say. “A band?”
He nodded as he shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans.
“Like, you practice in your mom’s garage kind of band, or a band band?” I hurried to add, “With concerts and record deals?”
Liam chuckled before he drew his eyebrows together. “You really don’t know who I am?”
My cheeks heated. I wanted to say, yes, of course I knew who he was. That I’d been lying before. But what if he broke out into one of his songs and expected me to sing along with him? I would never live that down.
So I settled on a slight shake of my head.
“Does Fading Atlas ring a bell?” He started to hum what I could only assume was one of his songs.
I listened, racking my brain for any sign of recognition, but nothing came. When I glanced up at him, I didn’t need to say anything. He seemed to have picked up on my confusion from my expression alone.
“Eh, that’s okay.” He waved his hand at me. “You’ll be fine. Listen to a few of our albums and you’ll be set.”
