“Not any big ones. I couldn’t take that much time off work.”
Liam chuckled. “That’s probably why you still remember it fondly. I didn’t mind losing a game when I could try again the next time. When I got my team to the playoffs, everything changed. Suddenly if I screwed up once, none of my other wins counted anymore. It started to wear on me. I made some bad choices.”
“You guys won in the end, though. I remember how excited Lance was,” she said.
“Lance won. I didn’t. I got kicked off the team,” he added when she frowned in confusion. “I was drinking… a lot.”
A change came over her. “We were drinking the other day. I didn’t help you fall of the wagon, did I? You should have told me you were sober.”
He was already shaking his head. “I was able to stop drinking too much the minute I was off the team. I’ve never had the urge to overdo it again—until recently.” He couldn’t believe he was admitting this.
Tory’s eyes lit up in understanding, and she reached out to touch his arm. “Because of the certification process? One mistake, and you’ll lose years of hard work. I still don’t get why you would keep it a secret. Isn’t that all the more reason to get support from your family as you move forward?”
Liam watched her reach into the cart, pick up the twelve-pack he’d dropped into it moments before, march down the aisle and put it back. “What if they didn’t support me? What if they told me I’d fail?”
“Then they’re not worth your time.”
Liam’s mood had dipped after their conversation in the grocery store, but he seemed to cheer up on the drive to Hatten Pond. Though she was eager for deeper insight into what made Liam tick, Tory turned the conversation to lighter things. By the time they reached the campsite, they were smiling and joking again.
“I like this,” Liam said later that evening when they’d pitched a tent, gone for a swim, started a fire and eaten a picnic dinner. “Driving off with you. Camping with you. Being outside—under the stars. I could get used to it.”
“Don’t get too used to it,” Tory said sleepily. “Three years from now I’ll be back in Seattle, and it’ll be all gray skies, rain and concrete.”
It took a minute to realize Liam had gone quiet. Tory, who was resting on her back, her arms crossed under her head, turned to find him staring into the darkness.
“You’re going back to Seattle?” he asked finally.
“Of course. Can’t be a lawyer in Chance Creek.” He had to have realized that.
“I know a couple of lawyers in Chance Creek.”
“Exactly. Town this size needs exactly two lawyers, and they already exist. Besides, I plan to study business law. I want to work for an international company. That’s where the real action is.”
Liam made a noise she couldn’t decipher.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she demanded.
“That means you’re like my mom, aren’t you? Always need more. More excitement. More money.”
“I didn’t say anything about money—”
“Isn’t that what this is all about? I’ve been listening to you. You hated not belonging in Chance Creek when you were young. Didn’t like how people looked down on your family. You’ve got something to prove—you want to be a big shot. A rich big shot.”
Wide awake now, Tory sat up. Was he lashing out because he really thought she was that kind of person or because he was hurt she still meant to leave town? “I’m not trying to be a—”
“Then stay right here—with me. Damn it, Tory, I don’t want to lose you,” he said, confirming her suspicion. It didn’t excuse the way he’d talked to her, but when Liam sat up, too, leaned forward and kissed her, his touch electrified her, despite his words. Tory found herself clinging to him, off-balance in this awkward position. When he gently moved forward and bowled her over, tipping her back onto the dirt, she didn’t fight him, and when he lowered himself down on top of her, gathering her close beneath him and kissing her thoroughly, she wrapped her arms around him, wanting him to stay just like this.
Liam wanted her here. Didn’t want to listen to her talk about moving away. He must like her a lot.
She liked him, too.
She couldn’t say who moved first—whose fingers found the buttons of her blouse and undid them. Whose feet kicked off their boots. Soon she found herself tangled up with Liam, half-undressed, bra off, jeans down, fighting to get even closer.
“I want you,” Liam whispered against her flushed skin, and Tory’s pulse leaped.
“I want you, too.” She couldn’t lie about that. When he tugged her shirt up and over her head, she helped peel it off, and when his hands found her breasts, she sighed with relief.
She pulled his T-shirt up and out of the waistband of his jeans, and together they struggled until it was off. It was a matter of moments to shuck off their jeans, arrange their clothes beneath Tory and resume their kisses.
Every touch and caress teased the desire inside her until she was blazing with it. Tory hadn’t realized how much she’d been holding back. She craved Liam—and now he was close she couldn’t stop until she got everything.
“I want you in me,” she said.
Liam stilled. “You sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“Protection.”
“I’m good. Now, Liam.”
She opened to him. Wrapped her legs around his waist. Lifted her hips and nudged against him, far too hungry for him to pretend otherwise.
When Liam pushed inside her, slowly at first but then faster as the sensation overtook him, Tory let out a breath. God, this was what she’d been waiting for—what she’d known would happen between them since the first time they danced.
Joining with Liam was like coming home, and for a moment they stayed like that, together—
And then Liam stroked back out and in again.
Tory had never felt so good. It was as if every nerve in her body had multiplied. His touches
