Juliette: I know.
Me: How are the plans for his party?
Juliette’s boyfriend, Dylan, was finally cleared to return to work after he’d been injured six months ago in a crazy fire rescue that almost tore them apart, and they were throwing a party to celebrate his recovery.
Juliette: There’s not much to do. Dylan chose the restaurant, and he and the guys invited their friends.
Nicky: I’ll take care of decorations! I found life-sized sexy fireman posters.
Juliette: LOL. No way!!
I laughed out loud for real, picturing Juliette’s horrified expression. Nicky had been trying to pull Juliette and me out ofour comfort zones with her crazy antics ever since we’d all met during our freshman year of college.
Nicky: You have your own sexy fireman. I need a fake one.
Me: You could have Ryan if you’d pull your head out of your butt. We all know you like each other.
Nicky: Oh yeah? What about you and Liam?
I tried to deflect right back to her.
Me: Not even trying to deny it? I’m not the one who said I want a firefighter.
Juliette: You don’t need to say it. We know it.
Me: It’s complicated
Juliette: He’s a good guy.
Me: I know.
Me: Send pics of your firefighter centerfolds.
That would distract them for a while. I didn’t want to talk about Liam. He worked with Dylan, and I’d known him—and liked him—for almost a year, ever since Juliette and Dylan started dating and we all started hanging out together.
The guy was a firefighter and an ex-soldier. He saw everything. There’s no way he hadn’t noticed I was interested in him. Not that I’d ever purposely made it obvious, but still, I knew he knew a lot about me. That I liked him. That I had more baggage than the San Antonio airport during peak hours. And that, because of said baggage, I was never going to be the one to initiate anything. With him knowing all that, you’d think that if he was interested in me, he’d have made some kind of move by now.
There were a few times I thought he might. Thought I saw the same thing I felt reflected in his eyes. But he never did.
I’d gone out with Juliette and the guys fairly often for a few months, usually to Nolan’s, a local bar, more than I ever would’ve if it weren’t for Liam. It had taken me forever to get comfortable with him, then just when we were starting to get close, Dylan got hurt and we’d all stopped hanging out. When I finally saw Liam again, so many emotions hit me at once, it was like we were back to square one. Maybe even a negative square, if there was such a thing.
I couldn’t really blame Liam. I hadn’t made it easy for him.
Or maybe he hadn’t made a move preciselybecausehe saw all that.
I left my phone on the couch, ignoring the ding of incoming texts, and went to grab a glass of water and a bag of pretzels. I ran back to the couch at the sound of my phone ringing. Which one was calling to try to get me on her side? I was obviously on Juliette’s side. I could just imagine the firefighters’ and cops’ reactions if they walked into the restaurant to find Nicky’s scantily clad firefighter posters in all their life-sized glory. They’d find it hysterical, but adding sexual innuendo to the already testosterone-overloaded room was a definite no from me.
I picked up the phone and my thumb froze over the screen.Liam?What the heck? He’d only called once, when Dylan was in the hospital and Juliette was missing. My stomach dropped, and I hurried to answer. If something happened to Dylan, would he call me to help break the news to Juliette?
“Liam? Is everything okay?”
“Hi, Jenna. Everything’s good. Sorry to worry you. I just wanted to ask you something.” His deep, smooth voice slid over me, washing away my initial nervousness and replacing it with an entirely different kind of nervousness.
“Oh. What’s up?”
“I was wondering if I could pick you up and drive you to Dylan’s party? We could go together.”
Oh God! Was he asking me out? Or was he just offering me a ride because he was a nice, thoughtful guy? I swallowed back my excitement and kept my voice neutral. “Yes, that would be great. Thank you.”