Page 5

Chapter Five

I ’ d like to think of myself as a hopeless romantic—the kind who dreams of someone catching one glimpse of me, falling head over heels, and vowing to spend forever by my side.

Which, in retrospect, might explain why everyone who knows me always strongly advised against one-night stands. Apparently, they didn’t always come with that happily-ever-after guarantee I’d been chasing.

That was why, when I found myself trying to sneak out of a man’s apartment for the first time in my life, it came as no surprise that I was awful at it.

But, considering our less-than-stellar first meeting last night, I figured it would be for the best for Liam to see as little of me as possible.

Hence, the sneaking out before the sun had even risen, as if I were some sorority girl trying to make it back to her dorm. It wasn’t exactly the walk of shame you heard about in movies, but after the way I blubbered in front of a total stranger, there was definitely a heavy amount of mortification involved.

I’d set my alarm for the earliest hours of the morning, showered, and put the clothes Liam had given me back on to wear for my early morning trek across the city.

Despite his state-of-the-art flooring, the wooden panels still threatened to expose me with every tiptoed step I took. Even the door let out a groan as I pushed it open to make my escape.

“Please don’t wake up.” I winced, slinging my bag against my shoulder.

I didn’t know what Liam did for work or what time he had to be there, but I figured that no one would want to be woken up at five in the morning by their regrettable roommate creeping around their house. Especially when they were used to being alone.

Holding my breath, I continued my descent down the stairs, counting every step to the bottom until I finally reached the landing and threw my hands up in silent victory.

“Good morning,” Liam’s voice cut through the silence, and my head snapped toward it fast enough to hurt.

Perched in nearly the same spot I’d left him the night before, Liam leaned against the counter, sipping coffee with a neutral expression.

I might’ve wondered if he’d slept at all if not for the damp hair and fresh t-shirt that suggested he’d already been up for a while.

“No!” I groaned pathetically. “What are you doing up?”

He raised a brow. “Should I not be?”

“Well, I mean, no! It’s five thirty in the morning!” I said, dropping my bag to the floor. So much for tiptoeing around all morning.

“You say this as you’re standing here, clearly awake,” he retorted, staring me up and down. “Unless you have some sleepwalking issues I should know about?”

I most certainly did not.

“Did I wake you up?”

“No. Were you trying to?”

“No, I wasn’t!” I countered, slightly insulted.

“So, what’s the issue?” he asked, sipping from his coffee mug. Coffee that smelled miraculously enticing.

“The issue is.” I stared at the cup longingly. “I was supposed to be gone before you woke up! You know, like I was never here.”

“I didn’t ask you to do that. I told you, it’s fine.”

“I know, but—”

“You’re staying here, aren’t you? At least for a few weeks. So, stay. You don’t have to go sneaking around. Just do your thing. I’ll probably be gone a lot of the time, anyway.”

I crossed my arms over my chest, feeling skeptical about an offer that he had been forced into giving.

“I don’t know about a few weeks.” I thought about how absurdly long that would feel to both of us. “I think I’ll ask around today, see if there are any coworkers I can stay with. Hopefully, I can be out of here in the next day or two.”

“Whatever you want.” He shrugged. “Just know that you being here isn’t a huge deal. I can manage.”

But I can’t, I thought. I can’t stay here knowing the whole time that I’m imposing.

Instead, I nodded curtly, offering a smile of thanks because, at the end of it all, it really was kind of him to offer. Even if he didn’t mean it.

“Do you want coffee?” he asked. Then, at my bewildered expression, he added, “You’ve been eyeing mine since you got down here.”

Well, he was observant.

“Only if you have enough,” I said, finally inching closer.

He grabbed the coffee pot, pouring a fresh cup.

“So, where were you planning on going this early, anyway? I doubt they’re sending kindergartners in at this hour?”

I laughed out loud at that.

“I need to go home and grab some clothes. In case you didn’t notice, I can’t exactly wear this to school.” I gestured down to his oversized hoodie and sweatpants, clearly made for someone twice my size.

His face tightened as he gave me the once-over before pushing the mug of coffee across the counter toward me.

“Will he be there?” he asked in a clipped tone.

“Dave?” I asked, taking a sip of the black coffee, reveling in its bitterness. “Yeah, but he’ll still be asleep.”

“And you’re sure you want to go there?” he asked skeptically.

As a matter of fact, I wasn’t sure.

I absolutely didn’t want to go back to the home we’d shared, the same one I’d woken up in just the morning before, thinking it was just another ordinary day. Now, I had to feel like an intruder, going back to get my own belongings.

But Liam didn’t really want to hear any of that, so instead, I shrugged.

“It’ll be fine. I mean, I need to get my stuff, don’t I?”

“Do you want me to come with you?” He surprised me by offering. “We can bring some of it back here?”

“Uh, no. That’s okay.” I laughed nervously before quickly adding, “Thank you, though! It’s just that I should probably figure out what my plan is before I start moving any of my things out.”

“Okay, well.” He scratched the back of his head. “I don’t have a spare key or anything, but I can get one made today and leave it under the doormat for you.”

“Liam.” I groaned, dropping my face into my hands. “This is so weird. I can’t stay here. Last night was more than enough. I think it’s better if I just head out now and get out of your way.”

He shrugged. “If that’s what you want.”

“It is,” I said, only partly meaning it.

There was no way I’d find another place as nice as this. Heck, I might not even find another place, period. But I’d rather sleep in my car than feel like a burden to another guy. It was a shame, though, because that guest bed of his was the most comfortable night of sleep I’d ever had.

“Thank you for last night, by the way. And the coffee,” I said, timidly taking the first sip. “Oh, my God. This is amazing.”

“Oh, shit. Did you want milk or sugar or something to put in it?”

“No, no. I actually drink it like this,” I said honestly. “You can actually taste the coffee that way.”

His lips twitched with what might’ve been a smile.

“I agree. And to be honest, I would’ve judged you if you were the type of girl to pour sixteen packets of sugar into your cup first thing in the morning.”

“Well, don’t worry. I find other ways to get my sugar in throughout the day.”

“Oh, yeah?” he asked, the smirk finally breaking through despite what looked like a valiant effort on his part to fight it.

“Yeah. I do a heavy amount of baking, and that requires a lot of taste testing.”

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing you aren’t staying here then,” he said teasingly. “Because I’m a cookie fiend, and I can’t afford to rekindle that relationship right before the season starts.”

“What season?” I asked,

“Hockey season.” He laughed.

I nodded slowly, not really understanding this guy’s obsession with hockey. “Right. Hockey season. Need to be in tip-top shape to cheer your favorite players on?”

“Sort of.” His eyes sparked with amusement that I didn’t fully understand.

I downed the rest of the coffee while contemplating the bizarre fascination so much of the male population had with sports.

When I looked up, he was staring at me with an unreadable expression, as if he was confused by the mere presence of me.

“Yes?” I asked, unsettled by the directness of his gaze.

“Nothing,” He cleared his throat, looking away. “I was just wondering where you met my sister?”

“Oh!” I smiled brightly, fighting a laugh at the memory of my first encounter with Maggie. “It’s actually a funny story.”

“I’ll bet,” he said, leaning back slightly with a shrug. When I shot him a questioning glance, he met my eyes and added, “I know my sister. Most situations she finds herself in are, uh, interesting.”

“Well, your sister is an angel,” I gushed, “because she actually saved me.”

His eyes flared in amusement. “Well, you have to tell me now.”

“We were in college together,” I explained with a wave of my hand. “I’m sure you knew that. Right?”

He looked at me blankly, making me think Maggie hadn’t told him after all. It stung, realizing maybe I wasn’t as important to her as she was to me.

“Anyway,” I continued, jumping into it. “I was at some frat house party, which totally isn’t my scene, but I’d just gotten into a fight with Dave and didn’t want to spend the night crying in my dorm, so I went—” Liam frowned, and I started talking faster, not wanting him to get bored by my long-winded tale.

Dave had always told me that I made my stories unlistenable with my rambling, and if my boyfriend thought that, I couldn’t imagine a stranger having an easier time with it.

“So, anyway, I was there. It was loud. The music was awful. I hated the smell of weed. I mean, I don’t even drink, so like, what was I doing there?” I laughed lightly, remembering how out of place I felt.

He stared, listening intently. It unnerved me to have his undivided attention. I wasn’t used to someone paying such close attention to my words.

I cleared my throat, continuing, “So, I was about to leave when some guy grabbed my wrist, trying to strike up a conversation with me. But, honestly? He was gross. His breath stunk of tequila, and he was really touchy. Every time I tried to walk away, he’d pull me back to the corner he had me in.” I shuddered at the memory.

Liam’s eyes narrowed on me, his hand tightening around his coffee mug. “And no one noticed?”

“No, they did.” I laughed dryly. “But that’s the thing about parties, I realized. Everyone tends to mind their own business about situations like that.”

Liam’s frown deepened.

“Everyone except your sister, that is,” I told him, biting back a smile. “She shoved her way right between us, staring up at this big guy who towered over both of us, and she told him off.”

Liam’s posture relaxed slightly, his grip on the coffee mug loosening. “Oh yeah?”

“Uh-huh.” I nodded. “She was all, ‘Get your hands off of her. Can’t you see when a girl isn’t interested?’ And then, when the guy tried to brush her off, she really let him have it. Started flipping out on him in Russian.”

Liam raised his eyebrows in genuine shock. “Maggie speaks Russian?”

“Not really!” I burst out laughing, “She was taking some beginner class, so she was spewing out a bunch of random phrases. Like, ‘Hello, goodbye, nice to meet you.’ But the point was, he didn’t speak Russian, so she looked terrifying, staring him down, yelling in another language. He took off, and I didn’t see him again for the rest of the night.”

Liam snorted. “So she just scared him off with some introductory Russian phrases? Sounds like my sister.”

His face was softer than it had been the night before, and I could tell some part of that invisible wall had come down an inch or two.

“Yup.” I wiped the tears away from my eyes, “And when I asked her what she said to him, we both laughed until we nearly peed our pants. Said she didn’t know any threats yet, so she had to wing it and hope for the best. We were inseparable after that for the rest of college.”

“I’m glad she was there for you,” Liam said, surprising me with this different version of him from the one I’d met the night before.

“Yeah.” I nodded, strangely forlorn. “And ever since then, she’s been helping me out whenever she can. I’ve never met anyone like her.”

I looked down at my fingers tracing circles around the coffee mug, needing something to focus on besides her brother and his attentive gaze.

“You’re lucky to have her for a sister,” I admitted, feeling too exposed to meet his eyes. “I wish she was mine.”

My heart ached at the familiar sting of missing something I’d never had. As an only child, with one dead parent and the other one hardly present, being lonely was something I’d grown hauntingly used to. At one point, I thought that maybe Dave’s family would take me in and treat me like one of their own, but when that didn’t happen, I realized that family was something I’d have to live without.

Until I had my own. That hope was one I clung to, maybe a little too tightly—dreams of a life and family I could finally call mine. But now, it seemed just as far away as everything else I wanted.

I looked up to find Liam still staring.

“I am lucky.” He nodded, his eyes a bit distant, as if he were in the process of realizing something. “And for what it’s worth, I think you mean a lot to her, too. I mean, I can’t imagine her sending any other friend to live with me unless she considered them family.”

I felt warmth bloom across my chest as I smiled up at him. “Yeah? For real?”

He laughed at my expression. “Yeah. For real.”

I forced myself to look away when I realized I’d been staring into his eyes too long. Here I was, telling the guy about how great his sister was, and meanwhile, I was basically swooning over her brother. Pretty sure Maggie wouldn’t love that.

My eyes drifted to the clock above his stove, and I jumped. “Oh my God, I’ve got to get going before Dave wakes up!” I picked my bag up off the floor and darted toward the door. “Thanks for the coffee!”

“Wait, ,” Liam said, his arm extending out to stop me in my tracks.

“Are you sure you want to go there? I can give you money to buy new clothes for the day.” His face contorted awkwardly. “Then, you can go get your stuff when you know he won’t be home?”

My face flamed crimson, knowing the absolute last thing in the world I’d ever do was take a handout from this man.

“Oh my gosh, no ,” I said quickly. “I mean, thank you. So much. That’s really nice. But I’ll be fine.”

“,” he said firmly, disapproval evident in his voice.

He looked down at me with those sea-glass eyes, and despite the tone, I couldn’t help but think it was kind of sweet that he cared, even a little. It said a lot about how much he loved his sister and that he’d even extend a little of that protectiveness to me.

“You’ve done plenty.” I smiled up at him, noticing just how much taller than me he really was. “And I’ll pay you for letting me stay in your guest room last night. Is it okay if I send it when I get paid on Friday?”

I’d always been proud of myself for paying my own way. In our whole relationship, I never let Dave pay for a thing for me. I liked being independent and hated the idea of anyone begrudgingly feeling responsible for me, monetarily or otherwise.

Liam, however, did not find it amusing. His face contorted in confusion. “What?” He scoffed, slightly irritated. “You’re not paying me for sleeping in a room.”

“Plus the coffee and the eggs,” I added, mentally calculating how much I owed him.

“Are you kidding?” His brows shot up. “That’s insane.”

“I’m serious.” I looked up at him with determination. “I know you didn’t want me here, and the last thing I want is for you to think I’m taking advantage of you.”

“You don’t owe me anything.” He shook his head.

“Whatever you say.” I smiled innocently, knowing I wouldn’t feel settled until I’d made it up to him. “I’ve got to run,” I said, edging closer to the door. Liam stayed in place, watching me go. “Thanks again for everything. It was really nice meeting you!”

He looked like he was about to say something, but I took off before giving him the chance. In the safety of the hallway, I heaved a sigh of relief, feeling unnerved by how easy it had been to talk to him. How kind he’d been despite everything.

It was strange, the feeling in my chest—like I’d left something behind that wasn’t mine to take. I didn’t want to hear him say goodbye.

And I didn’t want to think about why.