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“Youforbidme?” Lilly asked.
Her voice was breathless. Her eyes were wide. Her chest was rising and falling in a rapid manner that made him very much aware of how much cleavage action she had going on. Which was a lot. That was a whole lot of creamy flesh pushed enticingly up and out of her dress.
None of which were helping him stay focused on the fact that he was not supposed to be attracted to her.
“I forbid you,” he repeated, his voice low. It sounded like a growl even to his own ears.
Her nostrils flared.
Sexual tension drew out between them like a taut string, humming.
Or maybe that was just him.
Maybe she didn’t feel a damn thing.
Or maybe he was scaring the shit out of her.
“What happens if I defy you?” she asked. “If I just go upstairs and hop in bed?”
Hop in bed. She was either completely oblivious or she was flirting with him.
A vision of a certain kind of punishment that involved the palm of his hand on her ass leapt into his head, but he shoved it resolutely aside.
Time to pull back. Hard.
“You caught me,” he said. “You said yourself I’m a good guy. I won’t actually stop you if you really, really, really want to just go upstairs and put on pajamas and watch TV like you’re at home in your apartment on a Tuesday. You know, as opposed to being in Minneapolis on a Friday.”
That made her laugh. “That’s very generous of you and completely manipulative.”
“You’re a dancer,” he pointed out. “You love to dance.”
“You’re right. I do.” She was smiling softly when she turned back to the clerk. “Where did you say that club is?”
Liam wondered if Lilly had any idea how beautiful she was or how easy she was to be around.
Or how much he was thinking this whole plan to fake date was a massive, enormous, stupid-as-hell mistake.
ChapterFive
Liam had been right. Dancing was something she loved and while she had resisted, the minute she hit the dance floor at the club, she was in her happy place. Liam was on the floor with her, but mostly watching her and acting as a protective barrier between her and the throngs of drunk club goers.
He looked like her bodyguard with his beard and tattoos and broad frame.
Some woman had already drunkenly asked her if she was famous. She was having such a good time she’d been tempted to say yes, that she was a pop star in Europe. But she had resisted the urge. She’d had two vodka sodas and was feeling the warmth of both the alcohol and the dancing.
Hell, maybe even the warmth of spending time with Liam.
She’d known him for twenty years but she’d never spent time alone with him. It was always at the bar or in a group setting, like a cookout or a family celebration.
He treated her differently than her guy friends did. He didn’t tease her endlessly or make stupid jokes.
It was just an easy, adult dynamic between them and she appreciated it.
She was enjoying herself.
Until they got back to the hotel room and there was only one bed.
That was more awkward than she had expected.
