Page 13

Chapter 13

Brodie

The good thing about having two brothers with boyfriends was that it took only a single afternoon to get all my stuff out of storage and piled into my new place. Archer and Clay, both artists, were impressed by the inside and I promised they could come back one night when I was settled in and watch the sunset.

I think Shane was preparing to let Archer redecorate the inside of his house, which was now their house. Liam had offered his help, but I’d declined. He’d made good on my instructions to text me and had sent me sporadic texts all day long. While I’d spent the morning grocery shopping and stocking my pantry, Liam had been exploring the area. He sent pictures of himself at Bennett’s asking if I’d eaten there before, as if I’d never heard of it. There had been mention of a breakfast date in our future.

My brothers gave me a look whenever my phone buzzed, but so far they’d kept their opinions to themselves. They were probably afraid that I’d pack up and move to Morocco and they’d never see me again. They weren’t far off the truth.

Shane and Archer had to take off because Archer had a tattoo appointment to keep and Shane liked to hang out at his bar whenever Archer was upstairs working. Kieran and Clay stuck around and helped me put my bedframe together.

“Are you sure you don’t want help with anything else?” Kieran asked, staring at my ocean of boxes.

“I’ve got it. I promise.” I had to stop myself from physically shoving Kieran out the door.

Clay, who had turned out to quickly become a friend to me in a genuine way, and not just an I’m dating your brother and need you to like me sort of way. Clay was funny and kind. He could also be reserved and he’d been open about the trouble he’d caused in his life. Not that I cared about that. If Kieran liked him, that was enough for me. He was a good judge of character.

“If you need anything,” Kieran said.

“He won’t.” Clay tugged Kieran toward the door. “He’ll be fine, Kieran. He was all over the world and came back in one piece. I think he can handle living by himself.”

“I like him,” I said to Kieran.

“You would,” Kieran replied, pretending to scowl at me as he wrapped an arm around Clay and tugged him close. He dropped a kiss on Clay’s cheek, then finally relented and stuffed his feet into his shoes. “We’ll get out of your hair. But don’t be a stranger.”

I walked them out and shut the door behind them. The silence descended on me like a favorite blanket and I exhaled hard and fast, relieved to finally be alone. Properly alone. No one lingering in a hallway outside my hotel room door. No staff milling about asking if I needed anything.

After a day of shuffling my items from one location to another and buying half the grocery store, exhaustion clung to my bones. I had no energy left to unpack or cook. Hell, I was going to be hard-pressed to make my bed to sleep in it tonight. I’d probably curl up on the mattress and fling a blanket over me and not move for twelve to fifteen hours.

Ordering dinner was something I could do. While I waited for my delivery, I had a quick shower. Months of travel meant that I always had a toiletry bag ready to go, but I had to admit that it was going to be a nice change to use a proper sized shampoo bottle. When I remembered to buy one. Making a mental note to put that on my online order, I scrubbed the day’s sweat from my skin before drying off and sliding into a pair of soft jersey knit bottoms and a shirt I was pretty sure wasn’t mine.

After towel drying my hair, I slipped out of the bathroom in time to hear the doorbell. The windows of my new house were plentiful, but the ones at the front had come with window coverings. There were none in the rest of the house to allow the light to saturate every surface.

I’d paid for my dinner online so I didn’t bother to grab my wallet off the counter. As the bell rang again, I pulled the door open and was met with a sunburst of flowers. Yellows and pinks. Reds. Oranges. Daisies instead of tulips.

Liam’s smiling face appeared from behind the enormous bouquet, vase included this time.

“I thought you were my dinner,” I said to him as I took the flowers and stepped aside, inviting him in.

“I wouldn’t mind that.” Liam’s eyes twinkled and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss his touch. Sometimes when I was alone, I imagined his hands on me. Gentle fingers drawing patterns on my back in the sunshine. Unforgiving hands on my hips as he slammed into me from behind. The taste of salt on his skin as he gagged me with his fingers to keep me quiet.

Jesus, I had to get a grip.

Honestly, I wouldn’t mind that either. But I wasn’t sure if I was ready to go from broken-hearted to jumping straight back into bed with him. Placing the flowers on the kitchen island I gave myself a second to take a breath and calm my raging libido.

“I miss you, Liam. Sometimes I can’t even breathe because your absence hurts so much.” I turned to face him, shocked that he hadn’t moved from where he stood. Didn’t he feel the cord between us? The thread that pulled us together tightened in my chest. I wanted to go to him, but I stopped myself.

His eyes held a look of devastation I’d only seen when I looked in the mirror. An ocean of grief and regret swam to the surface to greet me.

Liam exhaled and took a tentative step toward me. His hand fluttered, lifting as though he wanted to reach for me, but didn’t know if he dared.

“I miss you too. And I know I don’t deserve a second chance, but I want one. I know I messed up. What we had deserved more honesty than I gave you. You deserved better, and I want to be better. I was stupid. I have no excuse for what I did. I’ll be sorry for the rest of my life for the pain I caused you.”

He took another step toward me—our connection demanded it. The thread, like a rubber band, stretched to its limit, now retracting. I was powerless under its pull. And with no more than a foot of space between us, I had to ask myself if this was what I wanted.

Did I truly want to forgive Liam? Could I live without him if I didn’t?

“Brodie,” Liam breathed my name with such tender affection it made my knees weak. His hands, previously uncertain but suddenly sure, reached for me. His palm was warm and soft against my cheek and he pulled me close to him, his other hand on my hip as if to steady me.

I looked up at him, that little bit of height he had on me making me feel suddenly small and fragile. I wanted him to shield me, but he was the reason I trembled.

He said my name again and then he was kissing me. His lips, pillowy soft on mine, seeking entry. Hesitant, as though I’d refuse him. Hopeful that I wouldn’t. He held me as if I were necessary, and something about that embrace healed some of the broken pieces inside me. My lips parted for him, and only then did I stop trembling. The storm in me quieted with the flick of his tongue on the seam of my lips. I parted for him, welcoming him as my arms rose and I wrapped them around his shoulders, his neck. Drawing him into me, I came to life again in his arms.

My fingers tangled in his hair. I whimpered into his mouth. My body had gone from zero to six hundred on the horny scale, but my dick was going to be disappointed. We weren’t going to have any fun with Liam, not tonight.

That didn’t stop us from kissing like it was our last. Liam’s hand sank into my hair. He cradled the back of my head and slid his other arm around my waist, dragging me closer as he deepened the kiss.

Liam tasted like peppermint with a hint of coffee underneath. The combination was sweet and a little bitter. Perfect, like the way I fit against him. It had always been easy for me to get lost in Liam, in his kisses and in his arms. I swear we lost entire days of our lives just kissing.

After we met abroad, there had been no separating us. I followed him on the next leg of his journey, both tired of the place I’d been and unwilling to say goodbye to him so soon. He changed his bookings and we shared a room. Meals. Music. Night swims in the ocean and sometimes the hotel pools. Magic surrounded us.

A glimmer of it flickered in me and I found myself smiling against Liam’s mouth.

“Hi,” I said, breathless and a little lightheaded.

“Hi,” Liam repeated back to me. I’d always loved looking him in the eyes. They were a dark shade of blue, the kind that looked like an endless hole in a tropical ocean. The kind of blue that went for miles down deep, leagues under the surface. The kind that held worlds inside them.

Another kiss ghosted against my lips, but Liam made no move to deepen it. We were both affected by it. I could feel his rigid cock pressed against me, matching mine. A large part of me wanted to beg him to lay me down on the floor and fuck me through it. To christen every room in my tiny house and make it all smell like us.

The more sensible part of me knew we’d done plenty of that already. What we hadn’t done was live in the real world together. We’d met in a bubble and while it was wonderful while it lasted, it had been agony when that bubble burst.

My doorbell rang again and Liam looked at me with a furrowed brow. “Expecting someone?”

“Just my dinner.” I untangled myself from him and pulled my shirt down over my crotch to hide the bulge in my pants. I opened the door and thanked the driver for my delivery. I’d tipped well on the app so I didn’t feel bad that I didn’t have any cash on me.

I carried my dinner inside and set it on the island next to the sunset bouquet Liam brought. I traced my fingers over the petals of a pink daisy. The bloom heads were huge, easily the size of my palm.

“The florist must love you by now. These are beautiful.” I turned to him. “But you don’t need to shower me with gifts to make an excuse to come see me.”

“Then how about I shower you with gifts because you deserve them? Because they make you smile, and I like making you smile.”

Heat crept up my cheeks. Why? I had no idea. Sometimes I couldn’t help the giddy schoolkid-with-a-crush feeling that swelled up in me.

“I should go.” Liam pulled his keys from his pocket. “I don’t want to wait to see you again. Can I take you to breakfast in the morning?”

No one had ever taken me on a breakfast date before. Not on purpose. I’d been to breakfast with men I’d spent the night with, but that wasn’t the same as sleeping apart and someone deciding that they couldn’t wait a full twenty-four hours before they saw you again.

“I’d like that.”

Liam gave me a soft, satisfied smile. He stepped into my space again, this time catching me under the chin with a couple fingers and tilting my head up so it was the perfect kissing angle.

The kiss was soft and quick, far too quick for my body’s liking. It screamed at me to go to him when he stepped away.

“I’ll see you in the morning.” Liam turned away, taking my breath with him when he walked to the door. He turned at the last minute and shot me a smile. “And, Brodie, you can keep the shirt.”

My hand went to my chest and I rubbed the space over my heart.

Liam winked at me and then he was gone, leaving me alone in my kitchen wearing a shirt I hadn’t remembered stealing.