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And now I could.
Because it wasn’t an act. Maybe it never had been for me. And if I were going to believe what Liam said, it had never been fake for him either. The feeling sent a bolt of fear straight to my heart. I tightened my hold on his hand, and as if sensing my worries, Liam drew me closer. His mouth grazed my temple, and I stomped down on my unnecessary fears, letting Liam tuck me in close.
Thanks to Liam’s phone, we soon walked into the small grocery store. It was practically empty this evening, most people probably home enjoying family time before the work week.
“Do you come here often?” Liam purred, a wide smile on his face as he pushed the cart beside me.
I laughed. “Every once in a while.”
“How are avocados?” he asked, and I couldn’t decide if he was serious or not as he held the fruit out my direction.
“Edible,” I said, narrowing my eyes. I grabbed a bunch of bananas before steering us away from overpriced guacamole ingredients. “How often do you go to the grocery store?”
He was silent, just pushing the cart along like he hadn’t heard me. It gave me a moment to stare, a reason to not look away. He was in a plain white tee. The black jeans on his legs were low on his hips and looked worn. It helped keep my mind off how perfect he looked there, his hair mussed as if he’d been lounging around before he’d come to save me. My fingers twitched to restore order to those curls. I gripped the pasta in my hands a little tighter.
Liam shrugged, gaze bouncing to me. “Not much, honestly. Rose basically orders the same things over and over. They show up at home. If I want something else, I go out.”
“You don’t cook or anything like that?”
Liam prodded the cucumber I’d just dropped into the cart. “Nope.”
I clapped, rather loudly, drawing the eyes of the man stocking cat food in aisle four. Liam stared. “I finally found the one thing Liam Macklen isn’t good at.”
His lips curled, eyes looking skyward as he hurried to the end of the aisle where I grabbed us some chicken thighs and, farther around the corner to produce section, we picked out some broccoli.
“What are you making us anyway?”
“What? Worried I might poison you?”
His grin was wolfish. “I’m worth far more to you alive.”
“I’m sure you’ve said that a few times.”
Liam grunted in acknowledgement.
We wandered down the next few aisles in comfortable silence. Neither one adding any ingredients, but neither were we ready to move on. “You don’t have to be here, you know,” I said finally.
“I want to be. Really, Ashlyn, you are doing this to save my job and my future with the company. I can lend a hand when the craziness of my life impacts yours. Besides, isn’t that what a boyfriend would do?”
“Why didn’t you have a girlfriend?” I blurted out, sharper than I’d meant it.
He stared.
“Sorry, I’ve been dying to ask. It seems like you’ve spent the past five years being mounted by various club groupies and gold diggers.”
“Your point?”
“You’re good at this.” I feel the heat in my cheeks, “Whatever this is. I don’t understand why you didn’t find someone before me.”
Liam pushed the cart a bit farther, and I followed, trying to ignore how domestic this all felt. “I just don’t date. Not until now at least,” he said finally.
“You just take women to hotels, lose their numbers, and move along to the next one in line?”
The cart stopped with a slight squeak of its wheels. Gray eyes harder than diamonds glared into mine.
“What’s a bigger problem, Ashlyn? That I have done that or that I haven’t done that to you?”
“Excuse me?”
