We stand there with our arms around one another, and I put my head on his chest. His strong heart pounds against my cheek as he goes quiet, thoughtful. He finally breaks the quiet of the night.
“Harper.”
“Yeah?” I lift my head, meeting his eyes.
His throat works as he swallows. “I wouldn’t abandon you if you were pregnant,” he says so quietly I have to strain to hear.
“I know, Liam. But I think we’re okay.”
“I…we…yeah, okay,” he says and I have the feeling there is more he wants to say. That’s when another thought hits, and my stomach sours.
“You know I would never get pregnant on purpose, right? Like to trap you or something. I know things like that can happen to professional hockey players, and well, to lots of guys.”
He gives a fast shake of his head. “I trust you, Harper.” He blows out a breath. “I don’t really trust too many people,” he says. I go quiet and wait for him to continue. “I guess you know what happened, right?”
I run my finger over his jaw. “If you’re talking about the video, I didn’t see it. I didn’t want to see it.”
“I appreciate that.” He races his big hands up and down my arms, creating heat.
I snuggle in tighter, put my arms around his wide back. “Why did she do it, anyway?”
“She wanted more. I didn’t. I guess it was a combination of revenge and money.” He snorts, a sound of disgust in his throat. “She got paid big bucks from Dirt. I didn’t even know she was recording us.”
“You didn’t?”
“Hell no. Sex is private to me.”
“It is to me too, and what she did was disgusting.” A noise sounds in the bushes, and we both turn. “What was that?”
“I don’t know, probably an animal. Let’s go inside, you’re starting to shiver.”
We climb from the pool, and head inside. After we dry off, we both tug on a pair of his sweats and I put on my pajama T-shirt, while he grabs a clean shirt from his dresser. Ten minutes later, with a bowl full of popcorn, we sit on his sofa and I turn on a chick flick. He groans, but there’s a small smile on his face.
I throw a piece of popcorn at him. “Oh, come on. You can stop pretending you don’t like it.”
He laughs and pulls me to him. “I admit to nothing.”
“Did your sisters make you watch?”
He arches his brow. “Are you trying to make me cash in my man card?” I laugh at that and snuggle in closer. He goes quiet for a very long time, and I stare at the TV, but I’m so lost in Liam, his warm scent, and his mere presence overwhelming me, that it’s hard to concentrate on anything. “Harper?”
“Yeah.”
“I like sleeping with you.”
I angle my head to see him and he has a strange almost tortured look on his face. “I like sleeping with you too.”
He scrubs his face, the way he always does when he’s thinking. I smile at that, realizing I know a lot about him and what makes him tick. “What I’m trying to say is…well, you said you haven’t been with anyone in a long time. I’m glad you broke that dry-spell, or whatever you want to call it, with me.”
“You’re glad I chose you as my big daddy?” I tease.
He smiles. “Something like that.”
“What can I say, Liam. You’re a big fat snack. No girl can resist that.”
This time he laughs out loud. “I’ve been called many things, but a big fat snack was never one of them.”
I grin up at him, loving how easy he is to be with, how different he is with me behind closed doors. My phone pings from the other room, and I sit up. “I should grab that.”
“Sure,” he says, his brows pulling together. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, it might have something to do with work,” I fib. But I can’t tell him what I’ve been up to. It’s a surprise. I hurry to the kitchen, and check my messages, and almost do a fist pump when I see that I can get next weekend’s shift covered. I really need the money, but I want to do something special for Liam and if it means working longer and harder after he leaves so I can finally start my own business, so be it. I send back a thank you to Becca, who agreed to cover for me, and I walk back into the room to find Liam leaning watching me.
“All good?” he asks.
I shrug it off. “Yeah, it was just a work thing.” I plop down next to him and snuggle in. He throws his arm around me.
“If you start your own business, you probably won’t have to take late calls.”
I laugh at that. “Are you kidding me? I’ll be working twenty-four seven when I start my own business.”
“Tell me what you want.” He lightly touches my hair, curls a strand around his finger. “What do you envision this business of yours to be like?”
“I want a pet store, and I…well, it’s silly now.”
“What’s silly now?”
I look at him, and see the genuine curiosity in his eyes. “When I was little, I always wanted to be a vet, but then Gavin… and don’t get me wrong, I don’t regret Gavin. He’s the best thing that has ever happened to me. But I guess life happened, circumstances changed, and that dream is a thing of the past.”
“No way, Harper.” The conviction in his voice catches me off guard. “You can still make that happen.”
I shrug. “Maybe someday I’ll be a vet, with my
