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Her cheeks were pink and had slight spiky shadows from the bright, overhead lighting pouring down on her lashes. The sounds from Jake and Lena’s conversation, as well as the football game, rose and fell in the background. But all that Liam could currently comprehend was how strange it felt having Sadie Sullivan blush quietly on a couch next to him, smelling like cinnamon.
“I’m excited to try it,” he said finally, his voice catching slightly in his throat.
“Good,” she responded simply in a low voice. “I hope you like it.”
Her eyes shifted up then, catching and holding his gaze. There was something there … a challenge? Liam felt heat drift through his body, hardening him.
Reminders that he was her boss disintegrated. Memories of her from high school became shrouded by the mists of time. What did any of that matter anyway? Wasn’t this elemental, base feeling more important than anything else?
Liam was starting to think so.
“I think your cars are getting buried, guys,” Jake said, squinting and moving closer to the living room window as he attempted to peer into the darkness. “Especially yours, Sadie. You parked on the street, right?”
“Yeah,” Sadie answered, grimacing from where she sat next to Liam on the couch working on her dessert. “It’s gotten that bad?”
Liam had been distantly aware that the snow had continued to fall heavily while they all sat around the dining room table for dinner. But at the time, it had seemed like a far-off worry—he wasn’t in the mood to stress out about getting home.
After Annie had instructed them where to sit at the crowded table, she’d employed Ian to help her waltz out all the food. They’d spread the various dishes and platters all over the table and narrow sideboard while the rest of them hadoohed andaahed appropriately at the spread. It was traditional Thanksgiving fare—turkey, of course; mashed potatoes; sweet potatoes; stuffing; rolls; and a few vegetables to break up the slew of carbohydrates—and Liam had had no issue digging in.
Now it was later, though. The snow was still falling steadily against the dark, cloudy sky, and Liam felt a little more aware of the daunting amount of work needed to get his car out of the snow pile and drive home.
With the exception of Morgan, the entire group had settled down in the living room for dessert after dinner. Morgan had shuffled away from the dinner table, mumbling something about how she’d only wanted pie as she headed back upstairs.
Liam didn’t know what was going on with her. The couple times he’d met her in the past, she had been almost overly vivacious. This tired, run-down version of her was disconcerting, even for someone like him who didn’t know her very well.
When they’d all migrated to the living room, they all sat in the same spots as they had before dinner, with the exception of Ian and Annie, who sat on the large modern armchair. Annie was on Ian’s lap, still wearing her turkey apron. But now she also wore an exhausted expression as she lifted spoonfuls of trifle into her mouth at regular intervals.
Sitting next to Sadie on the couch again, it was easy for Liam to relax into a fantasy, hanging out with these other happy couples.What if I was here with my girlfriend? What if Sadie was my girlfriend?
It was a potent fantasy, and he couldn’t help but ease into it for a few minutes on and off throughout the evening. His consciousness continued breaking in, though, with its pesky reminders of the past and present.
First, you’re her boss, and second, in high school she just stood there and watched while Tyler….
Liam flinched at the thought of that jackass and his giant ham-like fists. If Liam had been disproportionately small as a teenager, Tyler had been inordinately huge.
If only his brain had ever caught up to his giant body, Liam thought,he probably wouldn’t have felt the need to compensate by beating on others. But he’d had a brain the size of a gerbil’s, and Liam had unfortunately felt the brunt of that frustration.
What had someone like Sadie seen inhim? Liam looked over at her sitting in the corner of the couch, her long legs crossed gracefully while she licked her dessert off a spoon in a way that made him feel hot … and annoyed … and amazed.
She obviously wasn’t still with Tyler. When Liam had first seen her walk into his office last summer, after he’d recovered from the sight of her, he’d then been flooded with the relief that her last name was still Sullivan and she didn’t have some ridiculous rock on her finger.
The relief had quickly been replaced by irritation, though. What did he care whether or not Sadie Sullivan had a ham-fisted husband and eleven ham-fisted babies? Hedidn’tcare, and he would show her how much he actually didn’t care.
The following four months had been a series of him attempting to ignore her and getting angry with her over every little thing she did that provoked him in any fashion.
But now, looking at her sitting next to him so comfortably, neatly licking whipped cream off her spoon, he realized how unfair that was of him. She didn’t remember him—and thatreallyannoyed him—but what did that matter when she could lick a spoon like that?
Now that he’d started staring at her like a mesmerized freak, he seemed unable to stop. Her eyes darted up swiftly, pausing as she noticed his heated expression. A rosy blush flooded her cheeks again as she shifted her gaze down to her plate nervously.
“I almost think you should leave your car there, Sadie,” Jake admitted, interrupting Liam’s heated thoughts. “I don’t think there’s any way to get it out.” He and Lena looked at each other nervously. Liam was sure they were thinking that since Morgan was staying at Annie and Ian’s, they should offer Liam and Sadie a place to stay.
“If I can get my car out, I can give you a ride home,” Liam offered quickly.
“Really? That would be great,” she said excitedly, her hand reaching out to grab his wrist, and all the heat and electricity flooding his body settled firmly in his groin. “I’d rather not impose on Annie and Ian … or Jake and Lena.” She said the words low so that only Liam could hear them, and it was almost as if they were in on a secret together. He could smell the spicy scent of the trifle on her breath, and heat infused his veins again.
“Sure,” he blurted out, jumping off the couch. “I’ll go check out my car and start digging it out.”
“I’ll come help you,” Jake said, walking away from the window. “I need some exercise after all that food.”
