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His brow twitched. “Why would I make fun of you for enjoying riding the Tube?”

She shrugged. “Because I’m so uncultured to have never ridden anything like it before.”

His eyes searched hers for a moment, narrowing slightly before he looked away. “I don’t think you’re uncultured. If anything, it makes me like you more.”

Claire stiffened, a warmth blossoming from her heart like a crocus breaking through the cold, winter snow. He…liked her?

No. No, he probably meant that he just liked her as a person, nothing more.

Shaking her head at her nonsense, Claire trained her gaze on the darkness rushing by the window. She needed to be careful. Liam’s smooth voice seemed to always put her in a silly trance, making her think things she would never normally consider.

“Mind the gap between the train and the platform,” the male voice spoke overhead as the train slowed to a stop.

A few more passengers filtered in, taking the open seats down the row from them before the doors closed.

“So are you enjoying your time in England so far?” Liam asked as the train whooshed ahead.

“Oh, absolutely. My parents always told me how amazing it was here, so it’s nice to see it for myself finally.”

“Your parents have been before, then?”

Dang it. She hadn’t meant to bring them up.

Gluing on the typical smile she always wore when speaking of her mom and dad, Claire nodded. “Yeah, they used to travel everywhere on business, but England was always one of their favorites.”

“Wise people, your parents,” Liam joked.

Claire smiled, though frustration snapped in her chest like flames popping in a fireplace. She shouldn’t have made them sound so good to him. But then, wasn’t that what she wanted, to hide how life really was growing up with absentee parents? Anyway, that was a long time ago, and since then, she’d grown into a well-adjusted adult, despite it all.

Or so she liked to think.

“What do they do for work?” Liam asked next, leaning forward to remove his coat.

She leaned farther away from him, though her eyes locked onto his shoulders that worked beneath the thin fabric of his button-up shirt.

“Um,” she said, her mind growing fuzzy as his cologne clouded around in delicious wafts from heaven. Was she floating to the top of the train, or was his scent just that intoxicating?

Liam leaned back in his chair, resting his coat against his legs and brushing hers in the process.

Her breathing stinted. What had he asked? Right, her parents. That would bring her back down to earth. “They started up their own data analysis company after I was born, traveling all over the world to do consultant work for other businesses. They retired a few years ago, though.”

“Which is why they’re on a cruise.”

“Yep. They really like going during Christmas. That’s where they’ve spent the last three Christmases, actually.”

Liam glanced at her. “They’ve spent their Christmases on cruises?”

Freaking—There was another stupid slip. She shrugged flippantly. “Yeah, well, I don’t really like cruises all that much. I went with them last year and was sick the entire time even with meds, so I didn’t really want to go again.”

“The next station is Shepherd’s Bush Market.”

The train slowed, and Claire crossed her legs away from Liam, leaning against the side of the chair to avoid pressing into him.

“Did your parents know you were sick?” Liam asked.

“Oh, yeah,” she said with a little laugh. “I could barely leave my bed.”

“So did you choose to come to England after they had already decided to go on the cruise?”