We were anything but a family.
The sound of the door opening startled me into dropping my phone into my lap. Liam slid onto his seat, and his bodyguard shut the door once Liam was situated. Liam’s expression was sour as he kept his attention forward. Something was wrong.
He must have seen the tabloids.
I couldn’t help but stare at Liam as panic set in. Was I supposed to do something about the articles? That seemed like a job for his assistant. Who could help me with this? Was there someone I needed to call?
Was I fired?
When Liam finally looked over at me, he frowned. “What? What’s wrong? What happened?” He sounded genuinely worried. Now I was confused. Had he not seen? I figured that was why he looked so upset. Maybe I’d been wrong. But what else could have him this bothered?
“You didn’t see?” I asked as I fiddled with the case of my phone.
“See what?” He glanced around outside and then brought his attention back to me.
I studied him for a moment before I slowly brought my phone up and turned it so he could see the screen. I watched as his eyes shifted from side to side. I held my breath, waiting for his reaction. I waited for disappointment to pass through his expression. I waited for his jaw to clench. I waited for him to curse and then glare at me for not having stopped this.
But none of that came.
He started laughing. His tense demeanor from before was gone as he sank back against the seat and his entire body relaxed.
Well, he wasn’t upset about the tabloids, that was for certain. I’d thought that being associated with me romantically would anger him. I had been wrong. So what had he been doing that had him all tense?
I wanted to ask, but I knew it wasn’t my place. After all, he’d purposefully left me in the car. If he wanted me to know, he would have taken me with him.
“Is this why you looked so worried when I got in?” Liam asked as he nodded toward my phone.
Not sure what to do, I turned my phone just so I could make sure that we were looking at the same thing and then dropped my phone back to my lap. “No,” I said automatically but then realized that it didn’t make sense. “I mean, yes.” I instantly regretted my words.
I closed my eyes for a second before I glanced back at him. “What?”
He was watching me with an amused expression. He looked so calm, especially with the entire world now thinking I was his baby momma and Samuel was his son.
“Is it such a bad thing that they think we’re together?”
I was taken aback by his words. The world thinking I was dating a rockstar was most certainly not a bad thing. I was a nobody from a small town in North Carolina. I didn’t matter. But for him? Being tied to a single mom with a baby was the opposite of the freewheeling life he’d curated.
“Doesn’t it ruin your vibe?”
He frowned as he glanced down at Samuel and then back up to me. “My vibe?”
“Your babies are chick-magnets vibe.” I winked at him in an effort to copy what he had done on the plane.
“Did you just…flirt with me?” His lips turned up into a playful smile.
I sputtered. “What? No.” I shook my head.
His smile deepened as he studied me. It was like he enjoyed watching me squirm.
The need to keep explaining took over, so I hurried to add, “I was mimicking what you did.”
“Mm-hmm,” he said, but his expression told me he did not believe me.
“It’s true.”
“Sure.”
I glared at him. It didn’t matter what I said. He wasn’t going to believe me. And if I kept speaking, I was only going to dig myself a deeper hole. So I just folded my arms and sat back.
