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Isaac walked up then. “Yeah, he’s a real good party planner. Where’s the beer, Fraser?”
“The bar is over there,” he said, pointing toward the far end of the pool.
I waited until Isaac was out of ear shot, which for a shifter was pretty far, before turning back to Liam. “Why did you do this?”
He lifted his hand to brush the hair from my face. “A lot has happened recently. I wanted to do something special for you. And, because I know you don’t like too many people, this is the entire guest list.”
My stomach was in knots. No one other than Stella or Isaac had ever done anything with me in mind. He’d thought about me enough to know I’d hate it if there were a lot of people here. Even Stella skipped over that when she planned shit.
He pulled me closer to him and leaned in to press his lips against my ear. “I also know you’re freaking out right now because I made this grand gesture, and it’s too much for you. I won’t push you into anything you’re not ready for. We can take things as fast or as slow as you want. Or we can leave them the way they are. Though, I’d prefer not to argue with you. So, if being friends is all you want, I’m good with that.” He pulled back to give me a puppy dog look. “I’ll be disappointed but good with it.”
I was too overwhelmed to speak, so I nodded. Things were moving quickly with him and what really had me freaked out was how little it bothered me.
I felt someone watching me and turned to see Isaac. He stood on the other side of the yard with a beer bottle dangling from his fingers.
“Go talk to him,” Liam whispered. He placed his hand on my lower back and gave me a little push. “Enjoy yourself. It’s your birthday after all.”
Eyes on Isaac I made my way over to him. My worry over losing his friendship made everything seem to blur except him. Even the band seemed miles away. Neither of us said a word for what felt like forever. Then Stella laughed and broke the spell.
“You two together now?” His voice was low and his expression hard.
“Not exactly.”
“But you’re thinking about it.”
“Yes.”
He took a swig of his beer. “Want a drink? I need something stronger than this.”
“Isaac, can we put this aside for tonight? I just want to have a good time. Is that okay?”
He looked at me in silence for a long time until finally his expression relaxed, and he smiled. “Yeah, sure. I’m sorry, I just worry about you.” He leaned in to kiss me on the cheek. “Happy birthday, Em.”
“Thank you.” I wrapped my arms around him and breathed a sigh of relief when his came around me. “I’ll take that drink now.”
“Vodka rocks?”
“Yes, please,” I said.
As Isaac walked away, Stella ran over. “Is everything okay?”
“It is,” I said. “Thank you for all of this.”
“I had nothing to do with it. It was all Liam.” She looked over at him for a second. “I had planned a simple dinner at my house with just us three. Then he called me a few days ago asking if I’d mind if he did this.”
“He did?”
She nodded with the biggest, cheesiest smile on her lips.
I glanced over to the man in question. Definitely, an enigma. “Well, thanks for the dress at least. It’s beautiful. And look at you, you look lovely, Stell.”
“Me? Look at you! You could be a friggin’ lingerie model with those curves. I knew that dress would highlight them.”
“And my eye,” I said pointing to my brown one.
She blushed. “Yeah, well. Liam went to all this trouble. I thought it’d be a little nod to him.”
“Yeah, I’m sure that’s what you thought.” I laughed when she feigned innocence. “It’s okay. He’s kind of growing on me. Isaac isn’t too happy about it though.”
