Chapter Four

Tasha

I sigh, rubbing my temples in frustration. It’s been a few days since my encounter with Jeremy at the club, and if I thought going out that night would help my writer’s block, I was sorely mistaken. If anything, it has only gotten worse. At least before, I was writing something. It may have been crap, but at least I was writing. But since that night, all I can think about are those damn green eyes. They hold so many questions, intentions, and mysteries. All I want to know is what’s behind them. Jesus! I sound like a sap. That’s not my usual MO. Most of the time, I’m actually repelled by men I don’t know that well. That’s so not the case with this man. 

I’m also feeling anxious about my lunch date with Coral and Stacey this afternoon. Stacey got in last night, but she’s staying in the hotel where her conference is being held. She, Coral, and I are having lunch today here at the house. To say I’m nervous would be an understatement. I feel the urge to cook, which usually happens whenever I’m nervous. Since it’s extremely early, I figure I’ll prepare breakfast before everyone at the main house wakes up. A few minutes later, I use my key to enter the dark kitchen of the main house, turning on lights as I move toward the refrigerator. I’m in the mood to make a big meal, so I begin pulling out eggs and flour to prepare blueberry waffles. They are Laura’s favorite.

“Another big breakfast today, huh?”

“Shit!” I’m startled, turning to Liam. I had been so enthralled in meal prepping, I hadn’t heard him enter the kitchen behind me.

“Sorry.” He chuckles. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

I toss him a half smile. “Don’t be sorry. I probably shouldn’t be wandering around someone else’s house without being cognizant of my surroundings.”

At that Liam frowns. “This is your home too. You should know that by now.”

I nod. “I know. I just meant that my home is the guest house and this…” I say waving around, gesturing to the main house. “This is where you, Coral, and Laura live,” I explain, avoiding eye contact because his eyes look so much like Jeremy’s.

“You know this is your home. Every part of this property,” he says reassuringly, pulling out a stool from the counter and sitting.

“Thank you,” I say before moving to the sink to wash my hands to begin cooking. “Is Coral still asleep?” I ask, looking over my shoulder.

Liam gives me a warm smile, nodding. “Mmmhum… She rarely wakes before seven these days, which is late for her.” He laughs.

“Don’t I know it? She used to call me at five in the morning, sounding like she’d been up for hours already.” I got many 5am calls from my sister when she was out trying to save the world.

“Yeah, Laura usually crawls in the bed with us sometime around five, and they end up sleeping in for a few hours.” He smiles reverently while looking down at his phone. His background photo displays one of those occasions of Laura and Coral sleeping in bed.

“I always knew you two would end up together. Even when you…uh…left,” I say hesitantly, knowing that Liam’s decision to leave Coral years ago wasn’t one he’d made of his own free will.

He looks up at me. “I always knew too since we were eighteen years old.”

“That long?” I question.

He nods. “Yup. I was young, but from the moment she first told me to get lost, I knew she was the one for me.”

We both laugh at that recollection. Coral and Liam have given me their versions of how they first met during their first semester in college.

“So what about you?” he asks after we both sober.

I raise my eyebrows, surprised. “Me?”

“No, the other you in the room.” 

I roll my eyes. Smartass.

It’s funny the somewhat brother-sister relationship Liam and I have formed over the years. I haven’t told Coral this, but even when they weren’t speaking all those years, he still kept in touch with me every now and again. He’d check in on me to make sure I was okay when Coral was out of the country. It was then that I realized how much he loved my sister.

“I don’t know.” I shrug. “I’m just trying to finish the fourth installment of Danica’s series.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about.” He stares at me, giving me a serious expression.

His eyes remind me so much of Jeremy’s that I have to look away. I turn toward the counter and pull out a mixing bowl to make the batter for the blueberry waffles.

I can still feel Liam’s eyes on me, so I turn back to him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lie.

“Oh really?”

He eyes me and I roll my eyes again.

“Fine. I’m nervous as hell about meeting Stacey and…”I want to screw the hell out of your gorgeous cousin and that terrifies me. I decide to leave that last part out.

“Telling her you’re her sister?”

“That and her finding out the rest.” I avoid looking at him, busying myself with the food on the stove. “I know Coral says she won’t judge me, but still, telling someone about my past…” I stop, shaking my head.

“We all have a past,” Liam clarifies.

“Yeah, but not everyone’s past is as fucked up as mine.”

“You mean that everyone isn’t a survivor like you.” He pats my shoulder, comfortingly.

My eyes water as I turn to see his genuine expression.

“I know someone else with a past who I know wouldn’t be intimidated by what you’ve been through.”

I give him a perplexed look. “Who?”

“Jeremy,” he states.

My eyes widen. Have I been that damn obvious in my attraction to him? Did Jeremy tell him about the other night?

“No, he hasn’t told me anything about you two. But… Well, I have eyes. He’s good people. And I’m not just saying that because he’s my family and best friend.”

“I don’t know for sure what or if there’s anything going on between Jeremy and me,” I admit.

Liam nods as he grabs an apple from the fruit bowl on the counter. “Don’t rush it. He’s not going anywhere. Trust me on that.” He tosses me a knowing smirk before exiting the kitchen to head down the hall.

I’m left standing there, wondering what he’d meant. Is Jeremy really attracted to me? I’d begun to convince myself that he had only invited me to dinner out of pity. I guess I would find out in a few days.