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His mind filled with a recollection of whathe’dsuggested to her in her kitchen just a few short hours ago.
Liam took a step back her way, and Avril’s eyebrow raised from where she stood within the safety of the apartment a few steps back. He could no longer judge Tess’s opinion of the proceedings, but his worries continued harassing him mercilessly.
“Thank you very much for coming,” Anna said, voice stilted and uncertain.
You made the suggestion, so you’d better not leave her like that,his mind reminded him.
“I was really glad to come,” he said, smiling at her and opening his arms.
Anna’s anxiety slightly relaxed, then reignited with a different shade of red as she followed suit. Avril’s raised eyebrow found a kindred spirit in the maverick grin she lanced him with.
He and Anna shared what must have been the most awkward hug for either of them. Yet, they’d probably end up suffering two completely different fates because of it. Avril would tease and needle Anna about it all night, and Liam wouldn’t hear a ghost of a whisper about it from Tess. At least, that was how his paranoid thoughts had decided things would go.
Because of his perturbed thoughts, he completely missed out on the warmth and softness of Anna’s voluptuous body. He remembered nothing about their hug except the cold and the anxiety. Even if they were pretending to date each other, it was probably a miserable experience for them both.
Breaking apart, they both provided meek smiles for each other. Awkward didn’t begin to describe the entire affair.
“I hope we can have another game night like this one soon,” Anna said.
“Me too.”
“Yeah, but the jig is up, so we won’t let you have your way so easily next time!” Avril called out. “Tess, make him show you all his secrets before then. You live next to him, so you’re going to be our cheat monitor.”
A harsh gust of wind whipped at the three of them standing in the elements, slicing away whatever response his neighbor gave the scheming redhead. Snow plummeted around them, each new barrage seeming to arrive faster and heavier than its predecessor. If it kept up like the weather channels had all sworn it would, there’d be no going anywhere for at least a few days.
Escaping into their cars, which Anna had already gotten toasty and ready for travel in the frigid temperatures, he let Tess pull out first. Following in her wake, the two of them cautiously navigated their way away from Ashgrove Apartments.
Most of the city’s residents had wisely eschewed any travel due to the impending blizzard, and he and Tess found their careful journey home joined only infrequently by other drivers. The snowfall’s intensification remained steady, and their journey’s haste suffered because of it. By the time they reached their neighborhood, even with his wipers turned all the way up to max, he could barely see a few feet ahead of him.
The snow pounded on his car, and he needed the next ten minutes to travel barely more than a mile. He’d lost sight of Tess’s car, his headlights completely ineffective even with his brights turned on, and the last thing he wanted was to find it again because his car had thudded into it at one of the few stop signs between them and their homes. Moving at barely a crawl, brakes groaning miserably down the hill that led into his neighborhood, he squinted through the blizzard lambasting him for daring him to travel in it.
At the very least, the anxiety caused by the raging snowfall distracted him from the anxiety swirling within him because of what he’d said to Tess back at Anna’s. And his tires remained gripped to the pavement enough that he didn’t end up losing control of his vehicle. Which allowed him to get where he needed to get. He knew some people wouldn’t be so fortunate, and the idea of abandoning his car a few blocks away from his home and trying to hoof it on foot was a miserable one.
He made it into his driveway over an hour after he’d left Ashgrove. The first thing he did after shoving himself against the winds trying to keep his car door shut was hurry through the already ankle-high snow until he could see that Tess’s car had also made it back—and that she wasn’t stuck in it or anything. Beginning to sigh with relief, a vicious blast of wind yanked it right out of his lungs.
Right. Enough of this.
This time, Liam had to grab hold of his door handle with extra strength the second he opened it, as the blizzard’s winds nearly hurled it forward after he unlocked and twisted the handle. Yet, at last, with one more grunted effort, he was safe. The sting of heat meeting the cold stabbed his cheeks and ears, causing him to blanch, but at least he didn’t need to worry about experiencing it again for the rest of the night. Poor Santa on the roof wouldn’t be so lucky.
He left his shoes at the door, the snow on them already melting, and went in search of a raggedy towel to put under them and save his family’s hardwood floors. At the same time, he dug into his pockets, intending to deposit his keys, wallet, and phone onto the coffee table in front of his couch.
He froze in place upon realizing he could only do so with two of those things.
Where’s my phone?
He dug through every available pocket on him. He hadn’t dropped his coat off yet, so he sifted through those too. No phone. Had it fallen out of his pocket while he was driving home? The thought elicited a long groan, and he began trudging back toward his front door. The last thing he needed was a broken phone because he’d left it sitting in the freezing cold all night.
As he shoved his shoes back onto his feet, a knock, almost imperceptible because of the wind howling outside, perked his ears up. Still bent over while he tied his laces, his brow furrowed.
Had Tess come over?
He quickly stood and opened his door, anchoring himself behind it to keep it from swinging all the way open.
It was Anna.
Liam blinked owlishly, at first wondering if he was hallucinating. What was Annabelle Royce doing on his doorstep in the middle of a blizzard?
And then she showed him.
