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Another lip twitch.
Hey, if he had to act like a clown to get her to smile then he was here for that. All day long.
Whatever she needed, he’d provide.
Liam dropped his hand from her chin. Relief filled her face. Oh, dear. She was in for such a rude awakening if she thought he was giving up.
He placed his hands palm up on her lap. She stared down at them.
“We can wait all night. I’ve got nowhere else to be.”
“You don’t want him to be up all night, Lottie,” Nico told her. “He’s a bear if he hasn’t had enough sleep.”
She let out a small sigh, then to his surprise, she drew out her hands. The knuckles on her right hand were red and swollen, and one had a cut on it.
What the hell?
She placed her hands on Liam’s. He raised them up, staring at them, then her again.
“Who?”
Nico heard her suck in a breath, knew she was surprised by the question.
Liam leaned in. “Who?”
“N-no one.”
“You hit someone. Why? What did they do? Who was it? Tell me.” Liam shot out the questions like bullets from a semi-automatic. Hard. Relentless.
Her breathing grew rapid again.
Nico moved in closer. “You’re not in trouble. No one is going to harm you. Liam just wants to know so he can protect you. Who was it?”
“Nobody.”
“Don’t lie to us,” Liam warned in a dark voice. “Don’t you fucking dare.”
“Liam, shit.” He was going to completely terrify her.
“No,” Liam said to him. “No lies. That’s something we won’t have between us. Ever. She needs to know that.”
“Why?” she asked. Confused, she glanced between them both. “Why do you care if I hit someone? If they tried to hurt me? What is it to do with either of you?”
Nico shot Liam a look. Should they tell her that they wanted her?
“You just need to know that we’re not going to let anyone harm you.”
She shook her head. “This is . . . this doesn’t make any sense. I’m no one to you. Is this because I dated your brother? But I thought the two of you didn’t get along and that was . . . that was years ago. I haven’t spoken to him since.”
Good.
“It has nothing to do with that jerk,” Liam reassured her. “This is about you. Tell me.”
Her gaze dropped, shoulders slumping.
With what? Fear? No, that didn’t seem right.
Shame.
