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“I’ll talk to Parker. Go.”
“Yes, Sir.”
They stepped back into the lounge area of the fifth floor. Utah picked up her laptop, then pressed the call button for the elevator. He waited until she stepped inside the car, telling her, “Drive safely, little bee,” as the doors closed.
Hopefully, Parker wouldn’t be too pissed that his computer problem would have to wait until tomorrow, or at least later tonight.
“Knock knock,” he said as he stood in the doorway of his friend’s office.
Parker looked up from his desk, took his reading glasses off, and smiled.
“Why am I not surprised to see you?”
Liam walked in and closed the door behind him.
“I have no idea what you mean.”
That made the man laugh out loud. “Bullshit. I knew when Utah told me she’d be up shortly, that you wouldn’t be far behind. I guess you beat her here.”
“Yeah, about that…” Liam sat down in one of the wingback chairs in the office’s sitting area, and Parker came around his desk to take the other one. “Can your computer problem wait? Or can someone else help you? I sent Utah home for the day.”
That caused Parker’s eyebrows to shoot up. “Oh? Is she ill?”
“Something like that.”
His friend leaned back and crossed his ankle over his knee. “Start talking.”
Chapter Forty-Three
Utah
As she drove home, her whole body thrummed with relief mixed with excitement and a touch of embarrassment.
Liam’s question about how could she think he was with another woman was valid. He was having lunch with a staff member, in the hospital cafeteria. That probably happened a lot, given his job title.
Why had she felt so jealous and insecure?
Because I love him.
The realization made her grip the steering wheel tighter, and she started arguing with herself.
I can’t love him. I barely know him!
But even as she thought that, she knew it was a lie. She did know him. She might not know what his favorite color was or what his college major was—although she’d bet it was business-related, she knew him. How he was a big softie for Phoebe and how he was kind to the people who worked for him. How he’d saved her ass from jail with a sweetheart of a deal. And how he made her feel beautiful and safe to submit to him. She knew in her heart he’d never hurt her, and she was ashamed of herself for how she’d reacted today.
That’s why she’d suggested he spank her.
Why had she immediately thought the worst about him?
Utah called her best friend and posed that same question to her.
Amy didn’t hesitate when she replied, “Because you feel vulnerable, and you hate being vulnerable.”
“You’re not wrong.”
“Of course I’m not. It’s okay to be vulnerable sometimes. Liam is nothing like Eric. And frankly, you’re not a naïve teenage girl anymore. I think you know in your heart who Liam is and that you can trust him, but you’re testing him, because you’re scared. Scared this could be the real deal.”
Again, her friend was probably not wrong. Still, she countered with, “It can’t be the real deal. He doesn’t want kids.”
