Page 64 of The Overtime Persuasive

“He is.”

I laugh as Liam’s hand settles briefly at my waist. It’s nothing anyone across the room could call inappropriate, but his touch is like an electric current. I feel it everywhere, all over my body, from head to toe.

What is he doing to me?

“Don’t leave without me,” he says.

“I wasn’t planning to.”

Lucy calls my name, motioning for me to come to her, and Liam immediately drops his hand from my waist and turns toward his sister.

“Whatever happens,” he says quietly, “remember that kissing me was your idea.”

Still smiling, I follow him toward Lucy. As far as my ideas go, kissing Liam isn’t even close to my worst. Especially when he glances back at me, his eyes dropping to my mouth as though he’s already wondering when he can do it next.

No, the kissing was an excellent idea.

The problem we have now is how badly I want more.

CHAPTER 15

LIAM

“Recovery day” is a generous term for the day after a game. There was still a morning check-in at the arena, an easy “recovery ride” on the bike, and light stretching. Not to mention enough time in the cold tub to reconsider every life choice that led me to professional hockey.

But there’s no practice today, and according to the schedule Eva emailed me a few days ago, I’m due at Side B this afternoon.

I told her she could count on me. So, aching leg and all, I’m here—just in time to watch her threaten a calculator.

“I’m warning you,” Eva mutters, pointing the calculator toward her open laptop. “If you give me one more answer that doesn’t match this spreadsheet, I will skip you across the street like a stone across a perfectly still lake.”

“If that item in your hand can't hear you, I assure you, the rest of us can.” The bell gives its usual strangled rattle as I close the front door behind me. Eva looks up.

The frustration on her face disappears the moment she sees me, melting into a smile. “Hey.”

It’s a greeting. That’s all. Yet, the warmth she adds behind it hits me squarely in the chest.

“Hey.” I lift a takeout bag in my hand. “My mother raised me to always bring gifts. Tonight, you get food.”

“You may enter,” she says, waving her hand in the air before returning to her laptop—but not before I catch the smile pulling at her mouth.

Mine answers without permission, and this scares me.

It’s not the kissing. No, that part does not scare me at all, although I’ve thought about kissing her in almost every waking moment since Friday night. I look around the store, feel the easy energy we have with one another, now layered with a different kind of pulsing between us. This is what is scary. Walking into her store and knowing she’ll smile when she sees me, and possibly having somewhere I want to be after practice. Becoming a part of her life in ways that have nothing to do with Lucy.

I carry dinner into the back and set it beside the row of half-assembled subscription boxes, then rejoin her at the front counter. “What are you working on?”

“Homework.” She sighs, sitting back and staring at the spreadsheets in front of her. “My new accountant—thank you—gave me homework.”

“That seems unfair. You pay them.” I really don’t want to laugh, but damn. She is cute.

“Thank you. That’s what I said.” She gestures toward the laptop, calculator, and several pages spread across the counter. “She wants me to go through my books, clean up a few things, and make sure all my numbers match before our next meeting.” Eva presses several buttons on the calculator. “The problem is, every time I correct one number, three more appear.”

“Like Gremlins?”

She shudders. “I hate that movie.”

“I remember. You stayed over one weekend, and I’m pretty sure I traumatized you and Lucy by making you watch it.”