AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Ashlyn
When I’d shot Liam a text this morning asking if he wanted to drop by the office for a work session, I had expected him to be busy. But instead he’d cleared his schedule and offered to come to my place to work out final timelines for some press release.
And here he was, leaning against my cabinets looking like he just walked off the front page of a magazine. Or a movie poster.
Well shit. Now I was thinking about him again. Heat crept up my neck.
“What are you thinking?” His voice got even lower, grating across my body as I glanced back up, shame tainting my features. Had I been so obvious?
“What?” Playing stupid didn’t work. Instantly his lips curled in a smirk.
“For dinner. You’re mad at something, but I’m guessing it’s 90% hangry, 10% overall sexual frustration.”
I glared. But even it was halfhearted. The man had a point. And it was more than likely flip flopped, 90% sexual frustration, 10% hangry, but at least I could fix the hangry issue pretty easily.
“I’ll walk down to the takeout place if you’d like.” I grabbed my wallet, stretching.
“Who do you think I am? I’m not letting you walk down there all alone. I’ll have something sent up.” Liam plucked my wallet from my hands.
I rolled my eyes. “It’s not that far. It’s not like I live in some sketchy back alley.” My little place wasn’t the polished penthouse that he was living in, but he was making this into a far bigger thing than it had to be.
“I’ll go. It’ll give you some time to cool off.” Something about the smile he sent made me think he knew far more about my earlier thought pattern than I wanted him to. My hair-pin trigger blush had struck again. Liam slipped out, leaving me huffing in his absence.
I paced a moment. Feeling the cheap tan carpet under my toes and wishing I could come up with a quick witty response to his smooth ways. But nothing. I was just going to have to deal with the fact I had no idea how to handle Liam Macklen.
I checked my phone. I had roughly ten minutes until he was back. Cursing, I sprinted the short hallway to my room and quickly redid the messy pile of hair on top of my head. And then double-checked that I was wearing something other than my plain nude bra. Thank God… It was tan but lace edged and definitely gave me an added boost. I’d just barely swiped on some fresh tinted chapstick before I heard his footsteps stomp back through my front door.
Ducking back out, I couldn’t stop the giggle that bubbled out of me. Still dressed for the workday, he looked more than a little uncomfortable holding the three enormous takeout bags.
“Did you leave anything for the rest of the city?”
“I couldn’t decide,” Liam said, a nervous tremble in his voice as I approached. My heart twisted at the sweetness in the gesture and in his effort in pleasing me. Just another chip off Liam.
“You’re quite good at this domestic lifestyle thing. It’s almost like you were a bit tired of playing resident man-whore.” I took the bags from him, placing them on the table behind us.
“You wound me. I’m just a very good actor. You are supposed to be impressed.” He grinned, standing and pulling me with him. When my numb legs unfolded, he tugged me closer, letting our bodies gently bump together.
“Ah, yes, very impressed,” I said.
“Playboys will do many, many things.” His voice deepened. “They just don’t do it for free.” Incredibly my body hummed in response to that low, rumbling voice, my toes involuntarily raising me up another inch to press myself against him.
“What do I owe you?” I managed to choke out, all thoughts of press releases and appearances flying out the door as his hands pressed into my lower back.
He leaned in, his nose butting mine in a frighteningly casual caress. His mouth opened, hovering where mine hung open. My thighs shook, tingling and pulling as I pressed back against him.
“Takeout. Duh.” And he was gone, moving across the apartment with a jaunty step and a cocky grin. Reaching my cabinets, he immediately dove in, digging through drawers until he had procured us a full set of dishes and silverware.
He flashed me another one of those perfect smiles as he held out his finds.
“I’m eating your egg roll unless you get your ass over here,” he said with a jerk of his head.
I lurched forward. “You wouldn’t dare. They are my favorite.”
“I would absolutely dare. I walked to get them, hence they are half mine.”
Thirty minutes and probably some three thousand calories later, I lay on my couch, throwing the pillows to the floor to make room for Liam’s sprawled form at the other end. “I feel like we should get up. Move. Do something.”
