Page 9 of Pressure Point

“Tired?”

“Yeah, I should probably get going,” she said. Her gaze flicked over to Dash, for probably the hundredth time that night. The movement was quick and subtle, but Liam had been watching her so closely it was impossible for him not to notice. His heart squeezed, hating knowing that she was into someone else, even though the two of them had spent most of the evening chatting. While he loved that she said yes to the movie marathon, he hated that it was just as his friend. He needed to find a way out of the friend zone.

“Should I call a Lyft?” he asked. He had no idea where she lived, but he was more than happy to share a car back to her place. Not that he had any grand hopes of being invited up, but he wanted to make sure she made it home safe.

“I don’t live that far from here actually—just a few blocks, so I can walk.”

“Not by yourself. Both my Mum and my Da would knock me into the middle of next week if I let you walk home alone late at night,” he told her. He could see the look on his mother’s face as clear as day and heard his father’s voice even clearer, reminding him to be a gentleman. “I’ll walk with you. That way I know you’re safe.”

After Avery nodded her way through another yawn, the two of them made their excuses and then weaved their way out of the bar. Even at the late hour, the restaurant portion of Bunz was still decently crowded. Once they were outside, the brisk spring air hit them, and Liam watched as Avery shivered. The coolness had actually felt good to him, but Avery’s thin frame probably made her a lot more sensitive to the change in temperature.

“Cold? I can call us a ride.”

“No, no. I’ll be fine after we’re moving for a bit. I’m from Wilmington, which is on the coast, so I’m a beach girl. Not to say we don’t get a winter, but we have more warm weather than we do cold.”

“Dundalk is more on the river than it is the actual coast,” he explained, as she led him in the direction of her apartment. “Our winters are cold, but our summers aren’t all that hot. At least not compared to what I think you’re used to here.”

“Oh, summers here will be interesting for you then! It can get quite warm.”

“I’m looking forward to it actually. Something very different than I’m used to. I’m the first member of my family to visit America. They make me report on the weather every week during our family calls.”

“Do they really?” she asked, giggling. The smile on her face was enough to light up all of Atlanta, and Liam was sure that it was something he was never going to be able to get enough of.

“They do. My mum insists on a family video call every Sunday. So after Mass, they call me and ask for a weather report, among other things.”

Avery pointed toward the right and then rounded the corner, heading up a side street.

“You said you came from a big family and that everyone was still back in Ireland, but I didn’t realize that it was all brothers!”

“Yup, there are five of us. Finnegan is the oldest, he’s thirty-one, Patrick is next at twenty-eight, I’m twenty-five, Connor is twenty-two, and Ronan will be nineteen in a couple of months.”

“Holy cow! You must miss them so much!”

Liam stumbled slightly, as a pang coursed through him. Did he miss his family? That was without question. There was also way too much emotion—both good and bad—mixed up with them right now. He loved them, all of them. But after everything that had happened in the last year, leaving and giving them all some room to breathe was more than necessary.

“They have their moments,” he said, not wanting to go down that road with her right now. “Is your family still back in your hometown?”

“My dad is. My mother passed while giving birth to me, so he raised me and my two older brothers by himself. Russ is still in Wilmington, but Gabe is up in New York. We have a family group text that we utilize maybe a little too often, and then we see each other at the holidays.”

“I muted my family chat on WhatsApp the second I got my American number,” he laughed.

“That was probably a good call,” she said, slowing down as they walked up a small hill. When they reached the top, she stopped, right outside a dingy, cream-colored building. “Well, this is me.”

“Oh,” he hesitated. He didn’t want this walk to be over. Even though they’d been chatting most of the night, it was really the first time he’d had her undivided attention, and he was enjoying it way too much. He wanted to know more about her. About her family, about how she knew she wanted to be a PT, anything she wanted to tell him. If it were up to him, he’d spend all night wandering the city streets listening to her talk. “Then I guess I shall see you tomorrow night then?”

“Yes! Text me your address. Also, what time?”

The urge to kiss her was so overwhelming that he had to make himself focus on answering the question. He wanted nothing more in this moment than to wrap his arm around her waist, pull her in to him, and show her everything he was feeling. She blinked rapidly, tilting her head to the side, waiting on his answer. Tomorrow, movie, time…

“Ummmmm, does six work? I’m a horrid cook, but we can grab takeaway or something?”

“I’d like that! Then I shall see you at six,” she said, turning to walk in her front door. She paused for a moment then turned back around. He flexed his hands to stop himself from letting his desire get the best of him. She was just so beautiful. “Text me when you get home so I can know you made it safe.”

“Of course,” he told her. She smiled and then disappeared into her building. He waited for a moment, making sure she was safe inside, then headed up the block toward his own place.

He took his time walking home, rerunning the evening through his mind. He could still feel a bit of the adrenaline rush from their win, but it was nothing compared to the feeling he had thinking about Avery and her smile. Everything about her was just so damn cute and lovable. Everything except that crush that she had on Dash. Part of him wondered if he should even bother. He’d been on the losing end before and could still feel that sting. But another part of him couldn’t help but wonder “what if this time was different?”

Locking his door behind him, he slipped out of his shoes and pulled out his phone to text Avery. He smiled thinking about how she cared enough to make sure he got home safe too. Just one more thing that made her special.