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“It’s shipped here directly from Italy, costs about a grand.”
“WHAT?” I whisper-shouted in a concerned outrage. I was scraping to make ends meet, there was no way I could afford to pay for that. I shook my head continuously, “Liam… I huh–”
“Wipe that thought away. You are not even touching your wallet today. I invited you for lunch, it’s my treat.”
“I know you invited me, but I was thinking more along the lines of a food-truck lunch or hot dog stand. I… I can’t afford this.”
“Then just think it’s AD’s way of thanking us for nailing that meeting and sealing the deal.”
“They haven’t even decided yet.”
“Don’t worry, they’ll decide before our food is here and then we can toast to it. Even if they don’t, a celebration is still in order.”
“Celebration for what?” The waitress was back, showing Liam the bottle of wine and receiving a small nod in return. “Liam, please, can we just leave?”
Pop.
“Oh my God, did she just uncork it? She did, didn’t she?” I panicked, my head falling into my hands.
“Jamie, let’s get one thing straight. When you’re with me, you’re taken care of, do you understand? Food truck or a high dine, it doesn’t make a difference. Can I share this with you? Please?” Liam pried my hands from covering my eyes, making me meet his that pierced right through me, and I felt myself conceding before the words were even out of my mouth.
“Okay, fine. But can’t we order tap water instead?” Liam laughed uncontrollably and I was caught in a spell watching him, admiring how beautiful this man was and how deep in trouble I already was.
“No chance in hell, Baby.” It’s an expression, I knew that. He meant nothing by it, but I couldn’t help the tingles that soared through my skin as I heard him say it… Baby.
Kayla was suddenly back with the menu. I opened it but couldn’t find it in me to actually read it. Instead, I was stuck watching and listening to Liam’s exchange with the woman. She was overly friendly, a flirtatious tone in her voice matched by the twist of an ankle every time she spoke. Disguised touches to his arm, sometimes his shoulder, their words all muffling into Charlie Brown’s teacher’s voice as that irrational feeling seeped into me again. My stomach twisted into tight knots while my gut felt like a hole had taken over its space.
I’m jealous? Again?
Kayla bent down, whispering something in Liam’s ear, and that ethereal sound of his laughter filled the room once again. That sound that I had only heard in the privacy of his house and then again just a moment ago, and wished I could bottle up and keep it for myself alone. Hearing him laugh like that with another woman was the push over the edge I didn’t see coming.
“Now that the excessive flattery is over and unless you want to follow her out back and find a more intimate place where you can finish whatever just happened,” I snorted as soon as Kayla left, the words leaving my mouth without permission while Liam’s lips twisted into an amused smirk. “I’d like to talk about what I did this morning.”
“Well then, talk.” His face turned into an unreadable, blank expression, turning my previous assertiveness into uncertainty. I couldn’t read what was going through his mind, and that was enough to make me feel uneasy, so I just cut straight to the chase.
“I just wanted to say that it was a meaningless impulse. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize what I was doing, and I have no plausible explanation, either. But I’ll be sure to avoid this kind of behavior in the future.” I swallowed my pride and shame with a sip of the water the waitress had poured into my glass, glad that I had gotten it off my chest, but still expectant towards Liam’s reply that was taking a beat too long to come.
“I didn’t mention it because it didn’t mean anything. The only thing I have to say is that I made you a promise, and I’m the kind of man who sticks to those. I won’t kiss or touch you again. That’s what you’re worried about, right?” I didn't want to admit to that, but it was true, just not in the way he was implying it. “I don’t have any interest in repeating my own mistakes. It’s a sealed deal in my mind, Jamie. I will never do it again.” His tone had taken a turn to the dark side now, the emphasis on the word “never” hit me like a punch in the gut, making it clear that he had no interest in me, and whatever I read between what I thought were blurred lines was nothing but a mistake.
That was exactly what I wanted, but I couldn’t help the dejection that came with the rejection. Whatever fantasies I had about him were only exactly that. Fantasies. But the finality in his words slashed more than I’d expected.
I knew his type. Playboy vibes, with a different piece of ass on his arm every night for a non-negotiable one-night stand to scratch the itch and ease the edge. I couldn’t be that girl. I couldn’t not attach any strings to sex with Liam. He had kissed me once, and I was already feeling the tug on my heart. Liam didn’t own it by any means, but I couldn’t deny that something about him had caught me.
We would play, he would leave and I would bleed.
Just watching him study the menu was enough to have me all hot and bothered, dirty thoughts of him pushing me up against these blood-red walls and doing whatever he wanted to me flooding my brain without effort. We could put that thousand-dollar bottle of wine to a much better use. Glasses are so overrated. But I would want more, and he wouldn’t spare me a second thought.
“Besides,” Liam cut off my dangerous reverie, “I’m much more interested in talking about what you did last night than what you did this morning.”
“Last night? What do you mean?” I was confused.
“Kayla.” He called, leaving me hanging and agonizing over what he referred to. “Since Miss Harden hasn’t taken a glance at her menu, I’ll order for both of us. Ossobuco, please. And bring the wine.” He barked the order and Kayla quickly scrambled away without a word.
“I don’t understand what you mean. Nothing happened, right?”
“Wrong.” His gaze pierced right through me. He was back to the Liam I bumped into a week ago, all dark, sharp edges and cutting words. “So I hear you accepted a job at MG Enterprise.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement spit out with a venomous tone that chilled me to my core.
“How do you know about that?”
