Chapter Eight

 

 

The smell of coffee woke me. Dark roast, strong, and fragrant. I blinked awake and experienced the panic that I always felt when I slept at another person’s house.

Not a feeling I got often.

It took me a moment to remember that I hadn’t been kidnapped, that I was in fact there by choice.

I sat upright. One hand flew to the other side of the bed. It was empty.

My eyes narrowed.

How had I known?

The sound of a pan sizzling came from outside the room. Someone was cooking. It sounded like eggs.

I climbed out of bed. The sheets slipped off, reminding me that I was naked. Muscles that I didn’t use on a normal basis ached as I padded around the room, looking for my discarded clothes. I found my bikini, which was grossly damp. I was going to need more to cover me than that.

Glancing at the door, I wondered if Liam would mind if I wore one of his shirts instead.

Opening a dresser drawer, I tried not to feel like a creeper as I looked for a comfy t-shirt. I sifted through a few ties and boxers before I found a white cotton tee that I threw over my head.

In the kitchen, Liam was wearing boxers and nothing else. I stopped in the doorway to examine the tanned skin and muscular back that I hadn’t had a chance to look at in the dark last night.

He turned around and grinned at me.

“Nice shirt,” he said.

His eyes moved down the length of my legs. My nipples hardened. He didn’t miss it.

I tugged at the hem, which reached just below my ass. “What are you cooking?”

He blinked. “Have a seat and you’ll see soon enough.” His voice sounded hoarse. “You’re not allergic to anything, are you?”

I shook my head and sat at the barstool of his kitchen island, enjoying the view of a man cooking my breakfast. He seemed to know what he was doing as he moved about the kitchen.

Not that I knew much about the kitchen, only entering my own to get booze or because Tammy felt like baking.

“Did you sleep well?” he asked as he busied himself at the stove.

“When we weren’t busy, you mean?”

There was silence from him, but I imagined that he was grinning.

I pressed my lips together. “Yes, I slept well. Did you?”

He winked at me. “Only when we weren’t busy.”

He fixed me a cup of coffee when the machine finished brewing. I sipped it and closed my eyes as I enjoyed the smell and flavor of the dark roast.

When he set the plate of steaming omelet in front of me, I suddenly realized how hungry I was. Neither of us spoke for several minutes as we dug into our breakfast.

“You’re a great cook,” I said after I had gobbled down enough to make me full for the rest of the week. “Is this what you do for a living?”

He laughed. “Maybe one day. Well, kind of, I guess. I own a café, but my job is mostly business development. My partner takes care of the rest. Dealing with customers, making sure everything runs smoothly.”

“Which café?”

“It’s called the Library.”

My eyes widened. “Oh!”

“Heard of it?” He seemed pleasantly surprised.

“It’s one of my favorite places.” I leaned forward, resting my folded hands on the counter. “I go there to work on the weekends when I don’t feel like being in the office. It’s a great place.”

He seemed more pleased with my simple compliment than he’d been last night after we had sex. I wasn’t sure I liked the comparison.

“Thanks,” he said.

“Do you cook the food there?”

“Sometimes, when I’m not busy.”

I smiled. “That’s so great.”

There was a long moment of silence as we poked at the scraps on our plates. I wondered whether it would be rude for me to leave now. I’d done the mandatory breakfast the morning after. But it felt awkward to leave only to just walk across the hall to my place.

The plus side was that my walk of shame would be all of ten steps.

I wasn’t even sure what I wanted last night to be.

Was it a one-night stand?

Did it count as a one-night stand if there was every chance we would run into each other again?

“Do you want to talk about what happened?” Liam said eventually.

I chewed on the inside of my cheek. A part of me already knew where this was headed. I just wasn’t sure I was ready to hear it. “Sure. Might as well get it out of the way.”

He didn’t seem to know how to start either. We both looked around the apartment, at everything but each other.

“So,” he said.

I looked at him hopefully. But he didn’t say anything after that.

“I had a great time last night,” I offered.

“Yeah. Me too. You were...” His face heated, flushing red.

Remembering everything we had done, I felt my body growing warm. “Let’s not go there,” I said, laughing nervously.

He smiled back. “Okay. But where are we going, then?”

“I don’t know. Do you really want to be going anywhere?”

“Do you?”

I didn’t know how to respond. I didn’t know the answer to the question myself. On the one hand, the only reason I had been dating all this time was to find a relationship. Liam was cute. He was nice. He was definitely great in bed.

But he didn’t want me for a lasting relationship.

I could tell from the stiffness in his body, the way his eyes couldn’t stay with mine for very long. He looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here with me.

He was about to reject me again, I realized.

My heart clenched painfully at that. When was I going to learn? Being in a relationship with someone like Liam was just going to hurt me all over again. Maybe even leave me so broken I would never recover.

“No,” I said to his question. “I guess I don’t want it to go anywhere.”

I looked at him, but his expression didn’t change, didn’t reveal a thing.

“I mean,” he said quickly, “it would just be a mistake. We’re neighbors, we can’t be in a relationship. Things could get weird, you know? With us being right across the hall from each other.”

“Yeah, weird,” I agreed.

“Besides, I—” He cut himself off, as if he hadn’t thought out the rest of the statement and realized that he didn’t know what to say.

“You what?”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “I just got out of a relationship, you know. And I’m not sure I’m ready to commit to another one. It wouldn’t be fair to you.”

I looked up at him evenly. “I totally get that.”

Relief washed over him, making his shoulders drop and his face relax. “Really?”

I nodded. “Totally. There’s no need to explain. I understand completely.”

“Thank God.” He paused, looked at me. “Not that I wouldn’t have wanted a relationship with you,” he added quickly.

I shook my head. “Of course.”

“Under different circumstances...” He let his voice trail off.

“I totally get it,” I said again. I was starting to sound like a broken record. “I really do understand. It’s fine. We’re both adults here.”

He smiled. “Good. Thanks.”

“Yeah.” I chewed on my lower lip, eying the front door. “No problem.”

I couldn’t wait to make my escape before I humiliated myself further.