AllFreeNovel
Share Us
We breezed through season one of Downton Abbey. I never expected Liam to get this into it, but he’s hooked. The second one episode ends, his hand is reaching for the Roku remote to start the next one.
“Man, I think Hunter would love this show,” he says after the first season ends. “He’s a total history nerd, though you’d never guess it if you didn’t know him.”
I laugh. “First you get all the guys on the team into reading dark romance, then you get them into a historical drama?”
“Hey, you’re just full of good recommendations,” he says. He bops me gently on the nose with the tip of his index finger. It’s a simple, silly touch, but it makes me feel so warm all over that I have to toss the blanket off my lap to keep from overheating.
In the time we’ve spent watching the show, the sun’s dipped below the horizon and the living room is dark except for the light emanating from the TV. A deep, orange glow from the nearby streetlight gleams from the kitchen window.
I stand up and stretch. As I bend my back and twist my shoulders, I feel and hear my stomach rumbling, and a pang of hunger hits me.
“Want to order something to eat?” I ask Liam.
“Hm,” Liam says, contemplating. “How about we go out to eat?”
At the same time, my core tenses in anxiety while my does a tiny leap towards my throat. “Like, together?”
“No. I’ll go eat at one place, you’ll go eat at another, and then we’ll meet back here.” He lets a beat of silence follow his deadpan statement before his face cracks into laughter. “Yeah, of course together.”
“Should we really … risk it?” I feel compelled to ask, even though the thought of going out to dinner with Liam after spending the day cuddling on my couch binge watching one of my favorite shows sounds like a slice of heaven.
“I don’t think we have anything to worry about. I mean, it’s no secret I’m still in Ridley because of my injury. And I know you from your work with the team. Would it really raise so many suspicions that, with all my friends and teammates traveling to Virginia, I had dinner with one of the few people attached to the team who’s still here?”
What he’s saying makes a lot of sense. “I guess you’re right,” I say, my anxiety subsiding while my excitement is cresting.
The light of the paused TV screen illuminates a devilish, cocky grin rising on Liam’s sculpted features. “You’ll just have to try really hard to keep your hands off me so no one suspects anything more of it.”
I roll my eyes. “Oh no, how ever will I make it?”
I joke, but we both know that, historically speaking, keeping our hands off each other isn’t exactly a given.
Liam stands up, his massive frame towering over me. My stomach does a flip as he takes a step forward, our torsos pressing together, igniting sparks in the air. “I just need one thing to tide myself over until we get back.”
His face dips down and he captures me in a kiss. His mouth slants against mine, and I grant his tongue access. His hand reaches for the nape of my neck to pull me in closer, tighter. I have to hook my arms around his trim waist as the combination of his taste and his scent make me lightheaded.
“Is that enough for now?” I ask with a giggle.
“It’s never enough with you.” The rough, intense growl of his answer, paired with the way his sharp green eyes are boring into me, sends a wave of electricity running over me. In a second, the intensity of his gaze softens. “But it’ll have to be for now. Let’s go, I’m hungry.”
He slings his arm over my shoulders and leads me out the door.
Once we exit my building and step into the bracing, cold air, we both stop in our tracks, breathing in a tiny gasp at the same time.
It’s started to snow. Most of the ground is pure, fluffy white, as big chunks of snow tumble softly and serenely from the sky, illuminated in the charming, warm orange of the streetlights.
It’s a sight so overwhelmingly beautiful and unexpected that my chest tightens, emotions welling inside me.
Liam pulls me even tighter next to him. The warmth of his body, a furnace thanks to his thick stack of muscles, feels so good against the chill of the air. The night is freezing but almost windless, the kind of pristine chill that’s perfect for a walk as long as you’re bundled up. I take a deep breath and let the crisp, cold air fill my lungs.
We start walking forward, and I savor the sound and feeling of the snow crunching rhythmically under my feet.
But then, a worrying pang of realization hits me like an arrow.
I look to Liam, and reluctantly say, “We probably shouldn’t, you know …” I tilt my head towards his arm wrapped around me.
His brow rises in recognition. “Oh, right.”
My heart sinks a little when he takes his arm away from my shoulders, and I’m deprived of some of his warmth and closeness.
