Liam took a corner to sharply and hissed as hot coffee spilled over the side of his hand. He'd gotten up early to arrange something, and on his way back to their motel, he'd decided to get some presents for them. Starbucks for Ayumi, and a bag full of street tacos for himself.

It was almost ten o'clock – late for Ms. Nakada to be sleeping in, but she'd been dead to the wold when he'd left half an hour before. They'd stayed up till dawn, just talking about life and family and grudges and mistakes. Just touching and kissing and playing and discovering things like if he pressed down on the back of her knee, she would explode into laughter.

Ayumi fuckin' Nakada. What the hell is going on?

She was so far from his type, it was almost like it was a joke. While Liam loved all women, in all shapes and sizes and colors, his preferences leaned towards long legs and slim, soft bodies. Wide smiles and bright eyes. High, perky breasts, and perfect asses.

Ayumi was not tall, she hovered somewhere around average height, was maybe even a little on the short side. She hadn't smiled once during the first month they'd known each other, it had taken forever to get her to crack. She'd also never once looked at him like he was sexual entity, or even like he was a man. More like he was just an object, blocking her view of his computer.

But for being short, she had amazing legs. Tone and shapely, leading up to the perfect ass. Not a perfect ass, THE perfect ass. She'd told him about how she followed a grueling, strict workout routine when she was at home, and he thanked the lord for the hundred squats she did every day. Her breasts were full and round, and looked amazing on her fit, petite frame. And when she finally did smile, when she really smiled, it was better than any beauty pageant mega-watt grin he'd ever seen in his life. It knocked him down, ran him over, and left him for dead. Combined with the way she looked at him now, it just killed him. She looked at him like she was excited to be with him. Like he made her happy. Like maybe, just maybe, he was good enough for her.

Or maybe, just maybe, she's falling for you.

He'd said it before about himself – Liam wasn't afraid to fall for somebody, and when he did, he tended to fall hard. What he was feeling for Ayumi, though, was something completely foreign to him. There wasn't the driving urge he'd felt with Katya, to win someone over. To prove something to himself and to everyone else around him.

With Ayumi, it was completely different. It was just the two of them, no one else mattered, and he didn't feel like he needed to prove anything. For the first time ever, he felt good about what he was doing, what they were doing. Like it was just enough to be together.

The feelings were subtle and quiet, yet they were raging inside of him. Demanding that he wake up and pay attention. This wasn't a game, not for either of them. He could not fuck this up. He got the feeling that if he did, then there wouldn't be any hope for him. That by some weird play by fate, he'd been meant to find Ayumi, and help her. She'd been meant to find him, and help him. They were complete opposites, and they were completely perfect for each other.

You have ten days to convince her that this is real. That she's not like anyone you've ever been with, and that you're not some dirty secret to be kept locked away. She needs to believe, to know, this is real.

All those thoughts were still pinging around Liam's head when he walked back into their motel room. He snorted out a laugh when he saw that she was still laying in the exact same position he'd left her in – hugging a pillow to her chest, one beautiful leg bent up and sticking out of the covers, showing smooth skin all the way up to her ass.

“ARE YOU ALWAYS THIS LAZY?”

His voice boomed so loudly across the room, she sat straight upright, letting out a small shriek. Her hair was a wild halo of blackness all around her head and she clawed at it, trying to get it out of her face.

“What are you doing!?” she hissed, finally able to see him. “I nearly had a heart attack!”

“I didn't know you were such a late sleeper,” he teased, walking across the room and setting his tacos on the night stand.

“I'm not,” she replied. “But somebody kept me up all night.”

“Yes, my stamina has drained the life of many an unprepared lover,” he sighed dramatically. She punched him in the arm when he sat down next to her.

“Unprepared?”

“For my amazing stamina and prowess. Here, I brought you the elixir of life,” he offered. She moaned when she saw the coffee cup and she quickly took it from him.

“Ooohhh, you treat me so well,” she said in a sexy, breathless voice before she took a sip.

“Damn right I do,” he chuckled, leaning forward and digging a taco out of his bag.

“Seriously? For breakfast?” she asked, scrunching up her nose as he shoved the whole thing in his mouth.

“Hey,” he mumbled around the steak and cilantro and onions. “It's noon in Mexico City, so this counts as lunch.”

“Excellent logic. Do you even bother chewing? You're going to choke on it,” she warned him as a second taco joined the first.

“Baby, I'm a professional at eating tacos. Don't worry about me.”

“How did I go from straightening out your books, to watching you stuff your face with food? I should do a spreadsheet calculating how many calories you intake a day. I could submit it to a scientific journal, I bet. How can you eat so much and not gain any weight?” she demanded. He shrugged and kept eating.

“Genetics,” he mumbled. “You know, I've done some accounting of my own recently, and I figure I'm at least twenty-five percent taco by now. If I don't keep eating them, that number could go down, and then my T-H balance is fucked.”

“You mean pH balance?”

“T-H – taco-to-human ratio.”

“I'm done talking to you for the day,” she grumbled, scooting away from his side and sipping at her coffee some more.

“Ah, before you say that, maybe you should hear what else I have to tell you,” he warned her, rubbing a napkin between his hands.

“If it's about tacos, I'm not interested.”

“It's not. Well ... I mean, I guess we could involve tacos ...”

“Liam.”

“I did something this morning,” he said, then he burst out laughing at the horrified look on her face. “Jesus, have some faith in me!”

“I do – I have faith you're going to do something that will drive me insane,” she replied.

“Possibly. I planned our next stop. Originally, I was gonna go to Death Valley, meet some friends who live just outside of it. But now you're here, and now we're us, and I had an idea. It's kind of a surprise, I hope you like it,” he said. She still looked suspicious, but not quite as horrified.

“What is it?” she asked.

“We're going to Malibu,” he said, and her eyebrows shot up.

“We're going? You want to go to somewhere like Malibu?” she double-checked. He shrugged.

“I know you like Malibu,” he said, and was rewarded with a small smile and a faint blush. “Maybe we can compromise. We can go somewhere snooty and rich for you, but it's also beautiful and has amazing surfing. Oysters for dinner, then beers on the beach. Sound good?”

“It sounds ...” her voice trailed off and she just stared at him for a moment. He started to get nervous. Had he screwed up? Did she hate Malibu? Would she be embarrassed to be in rich society with a surf bum like him? But then her small smile turned into a big one and he knew things were good. “It sounds like the best time I've ever had.”

“You haven't done it yet, though,” he pointed out.

“I don't care. I already know it.”

He couldn't stand it. He leaned in and kissed her quickly.

“Good answer,” he sighed, then he kissed her again before he stood up. “So get ready. I already found us a place to stay, so we should head out.”

“I can't wait to see what kind of shitty motel you found in Malibu, of all places. Do they even have motels?” she chuckled, throwing back the sheets and sliding out of the bed.

“I don't know, I didn't book us into a motel.”

She'd been in the act of stretching, her back to him. She was wearing one of his t-shirts, which was huge on her, but while standing on her toes and stretching her arms above her head, the shirt had ridden up to reveal the bottom swell of her ass cheeks.

“Then where are we staying?” she asked. He couldn't talk until she'd dropped her arms and looked back at him.

“Uh, I ... yeah ... yeah, that's the surprise,” he finally got it out.

“Oh god. If we're staying in some sort of hippie surf shack on the beach, I'll go book myself a room at the Wiltshire,” she warned him.

“It's not a hippie surf shack, and I'll drive you to the Wiltshire if you don't like my place,” he assured her. “But I hope you do.”

“Hmmm. We'll see.”

While she took a shower, Liam packed up their stuff. Normally, he wasn't the type of man to dress a lady, he wasn't a dom like that, not at all. But as he struggled to shove her shoes and jewelry back into her suitcase, he noticed the other stuff she'd packed. The power suit she'd worn to the wine tasting. A couple other skirts, all of which went at least to her knees. Some jeans, some slacks. A lot of blouses and tank-tops. One lonely pair of shorts, and more tights than anyone should ever own. Black, Cuban-heeled, patterned, a kind for any occasion.

He didn't have a problem with hosiery or tights, even sometimes found them sexy as fuck. He did, however, have a problem with her insecurities. So he put a black pair back in the suitcase, as well as the sexy Cuban-heeled stockings, and the rest he took outside and tossed in a dumpster. Then he laid out the shorts, a tank top, a bra, and some flips. Nodding to himself, he closed up her luggage and took it out to the car, locking it safely in the trunk. When he got back into the room, Ayumi was out of her shower and standing at the foot of the bed, wrapped in a towel, her long hair soaking wet and dripping everywhere

“What is this?” she asked. “Where's my stuff?”

“I'm such a nice guy,” he said, walking behind her and wrapping his arms around her. “I packed it all up for you, neat as a button, and I put your bag in the trunk. Aren't I awesome?”

“No, you're weird. Did you sniff my underwear?”

“Not like a creepy amount, I promise.”

“Liam, I don't want to -”

He cupped his hand under her jaw and moved her head so she was facing him. Then he kissed her soundly and aggressively. He could feel her surprise as he forced his tongue into her mouth, then she moaned when he curled the tip between her front teeth and her lip.

“You're beautiful,” he whispered. “Stop being afraid of yourself.”

Then he let her go and walked out of the room without another word, shutting the door behind him.

*

AYUMI SAT NERVOUSLY in the front seat of the car, glancing around as they drove up a windy road.

Where the fuck are we going?

Liam had said Malibu, but roughly fifteen minutes before they hit the seaside town, he'd turned off and headed up into the hills. They were surrounded on all sides by state park, and when she turned to look out the car behind them, she couldn't see the ocean anymore.

Wasn't the whole point of going to Malibu so he could surf in the ocean, and she could hang out in the town?

“Oh no,” she breathed. “You're not taking me camping, are you?”

“Would it be horrible if I was?” he asked, looking over at her. A pair of Ray-Ban's were covering his eyes, so she couldn't really tell if he was joking or not.

“Yes, it would,” she was honest. “I don't camp, Liam. Ever. I don't like it, never have, don't want to like it. Please don't make me camp.”

“Like I said, just trust me. I had to pull a lot of strings to make this happen at the last minute. I know I'm taking a chance, but I really think you'll like it.”

“I won't, I promise you. I don't camp.”

“Ayumi?”

“Yeah?”

“Shut up now.”

She glared out the windshield and tried to keep motion sickness at bay as the road got twisty. So she distracted herself by trying to dissect her feelings.

She'd never been good with her emotions. She pushed them down, way down inside her – it's how she'd been taught to deal with her feelings. That's why she'd lost her shit in Santa Barbara. She didn't know how to handle the way she was feeling about him, and she really didn't understand how jealous she'd become while watching him with those other women. Didn't know how to process any of it. Ayumi Nakada didn't need a man, so why was her heart suddenly set on Liam? Why that man? She didn't like it, not one little bit.

So she'd lashed out. Like a child. She was embarrassed at how she'd acted, and good god, the things she'd said to him. She'd been so awful. He'd been right, she'd said stuff just to hurt. Just to cut away at him, in hopes she could end it. End everything before any of it could hurt her. Ruin it before it could ruin her.

What kind of awful person did that? To someone who had only ever been kind to her. And even stranger, what kind of person tolerated abuse only to give kindness back? She could honestly say she'd never met a man like Liam before, ever in her life. Sure, he was a womanizer, like a lot of men. He was a manipulator, and a user, and quite possibly a sex addict. Qualities lots of men had, for sure.

But he was always taking care of everyone around him. Always trying to make all his friends feel as good as possible. Make them all into the best versions of themselves. Even to his own detriment. It was beautiful, really. Very heart warming.

In other ways, though, it was sad. Like he felt like he was obligated to be everyone's knight in shining armor. Like he needed to save everyone and be a universal babysitter of sorts.

One would never think it to look at him, but just maybe Liam needed someone in his life who would take care of him.

Do I want to be that person? Am I ready to be that person?

“Liam,” she cleared her throat before she spoke. “I think maybe we should ...”

Her voice disappeared as they went around a turn and she took in the breathtaking view. She even undid her seat belt and moved so she was kneeling on her seat, bracing her arm against the windshield before twisting to the side. They'd climbed up a bluff of sorts, it seemed. The state park fell away from them in gently sloping hills, and then stretching out to infinity was the Pacific Ocean.

“You like it?” Liam asked while she stared over his head.

“It's beautiful,” she gasped, pushing her sunglasses up onto her head.

“Well, I hope the view makes up for the accommodations. I should've guessed you don't like to camp,” he sighed, and she realized he was bringing the car to a stop.

“Probably,” she teased, slowly sitting back down. “But it's okay. It was a beautiful drive up, and it'll be a beautiful drive down.”

“I'm not making that trek again. You can take the car by yourself, practice your stick shift. Come wake me up tomorrow.”

Liam kept babbling on, but Ayumi stopped hearing him. She'd finally looked forward, out the windshield, and took in their “accommodations”.

It was an old fashioned Air Stream camper. Basically a shiny metal tube, twinkling in the bright California sunshine. It was near the edge of the bluff, with a large deck built onto the front of it. Down a trail behind the camper, there stood a large pine stall – an outdoor shower, made up of only three walls, with the open side facing the gorgeous view.

While Liam was still talking, Ayumi slowly got out of the car and walked towards the trailer. Once she got on the deck, she gasped again. Almost the entire front of the camper had been cut away and replaced with sliding glass doors. Nothing would be allowed to impede that amazing view, it seemed.

She tested one of the doors, and when it moved easily, she slid it all the way back, revealing envelope doors. They slid behind each other, so that once they were all open, it just looked like one single pane of glass.

Inside was just as stunning as the outside. A queen sized bed took up one entire end, sitting on a floating platform. Running along the solid wall was a small, yet very well designed kitchenette. Brushed steel appliances, butcher block counter tops. Her inner-realtor was going nuts, appraising it all.

“I take it you're surprised at how not hideous it is?”

She turned to find Liam standing behind her. He was standing on the deck, and she could see he was taller than the camper was, his eyes cut off from her view. She moved back outside and walked past him, going to the very edge of the deck.

“This is ...” she couldn't find the words as she took in the view. She turned in a slow circle, saw fancy metal torches at each corner of the deck. A fire pit had been built into one corner, and cushions had been laid out in a horseshoe shape.

“Awful? Amazing? Worst idea yet? Best?” he guessed. She shook her head and finally faced him.

“It's like you know me better than I know myself,” she said simply. “Like you know things about me I haven't even figured out yet.”

He cocked his head to the side, then moved up so he was standing directly in front of her.

“How do you mean?”

“I thought I would've hated something like this. If you had told me you rented a camper in the middle of a park in Malibu, I would've called you crazy. Yet you did it, and here we are, and I love it,” she explained. He finally smiled at her.

“You love it.”

“I really, really do. Thank you, Liam. Thank you for knowing me.”

“Knowing the real you, you mean.”

“Knowing all of me. Thank you for that.”