“Last night. You went home with your date, didn’t you?”
“Liam…”
“Ah, ah.” His arm was in perfect position to cling her close to him. The only reason he didn’t kiss her was because the answersto his questions were more important. “This isn’t about me and what I like. I’m asking to get to knowyou.”
“What does that… I mean…” She was gorgeous when she was coy. “Yes. I went home with him.”
“I thought as much. I know your dirtiest fantasy, love.”
“You – you do?”
How wasn’t it so obvious to her? “I get off on sharing, and you get off on being a slut, huh?”
Her whole face dropped. “Rude,” she whispered.
“I’m…”
Her knuckles nearly stabbed him in the chest as they whacked against his turtleneck. “You’re not supposed tosayit so blatantly, Liam. You’re supposed to dance around it!”
“Fucking hell, let’s go.” This time, he was the one attempting to scoot out of the booth as quickly as possible. “We’ve got really important things to do.”
She was right behind him. “Like figure out just how hot this makes us?”
Liam hunted down their server to pay the tab. The iron was hot. It was time to strike!
Chapter 9
Eden
“Nowthat’sa view.” She didn’t mean to sound so spoiled when she declared that upon sight of the river beyond Liam’s window. “How did you score a place like this? I’d think the wait list was a mile long.”
He poured them an alcohol-free nightcap in his kitchen – just one cup of hot herbal tea for them to share. It was Liam’s insistence, and he started the kettle the moment they walked through the door.I’m not saying no to hot tea.It was too late for coffee, and she wasn’t about to drink more alcohol. Eden requested all of her wits about her as she enjoyed the evening.
“Believe it or not, I know the owner of the building.” Liam put the kettle back on its plate and stirred a little sugar into the cup. “I made him a lot of money a few years ago. He owed me a top spot on the waitlist. Specifically for this unit.” He came up behind her, the steaming cup of tea in his grip as he wrapped hisother arm around her. “I go crazy for the way the sun rises right over that patch of trees over there.”
Eden clung to his arm as she followed his pointer finger. Granted, it was much too dark to see the trees on the other shore, but she could easily imagine how the sun’s rays spread across the tree tops when it rose.
“How could you have known about the view before you asked for this place?” she asked.
“Because I was one of the first to tour the whole building. At the time, I was living in LA with no plans to move, but I remembered thinking I wantedthisplace if I ever came back.”
“Is that where you’re from? Or are you from here?”
Eden accepted the mug of tea on their way back to the kitchen, where she hopped up on the island counter and sipped the herbal concoction while her date leaned on his elbows next to her. “I’m from a lot of places,” he confessed. “Born in Kentucky, though. Spent my first few years there.”
“Kentucky?” That was one of the last places Eden expected. “You’re kidding.” He didn’t have an accent!
“Fort Campbell, born and bred, baby.”
It took her a moment to put those two things together. “Oh. Military parents.”
“Just my dad. And as is the nature of these things, we moved around a lot. Texas, North Carolina, California, Hawaii… if that state had a base, I probably lived in it. We moved nine times between kindergarten and high school. Never got to live abroad, though. My dad was mostly domestic support.”
“Wow. So, you’re not really from anywhere?”
“The best times were in Texas and California. I graduated from high school in North Carolina. Literally moved there my senior year. Barely knew anyone I walked with.”
“That must’ve been tough.”