Page 22 of The Arrangement (Executive Suite Secrets #3)

ROME ASHbrIDGE

Fresh air!

Oh, thank God.

The performance was amazing, and Liam was a great companion the entire time. It was nice to have all my friends there to enjoy Simon’s official debut with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

But after sitting so close and so still for that length of time—not to mention that my hand had somehow ended up on Liam’s knee—I needed some fucking space. It was as if I couldn’t breathe. My tie was too tight around my neck, trying to choke me. Ants were crawling up my skin, and I needed to move.

After saying good-bye to the rest of the group following the performance and shooting Simon a congratulatory text, Liam and I slipped outside to take a little walk.

Directly across from Music Hall, Washington Park started with a large green space, which they used for summer outdoor concerts.

Beyond that, there was a splash park for the kids, a dog park for the furry family members, and a gazebo.

“Did you enjoy the performance?” I inquired after we walked a bit, though not quite in the direction of the car. The air was still comfortable, and I wasn’t ready to be enclosed in a small space with Liam until I worked out the last of these weird jitters.

“I did!” Liam’s voice jumped, and I couldn’t tell if he was simply excited or if I’d surprised him with my question. “Your friend Simon was amazing. When you talk to him next, could you tell him I thought he did a spectacular job, and I’m very glad he’s with the Cincinnati Symphony?”

“I will. I will.” With my hands shoved into my pockets, we wove our way through the silent water park. “Do you mind if we walk for a while? It’s nice out.”

“No, that’s fine.”

My head popped up. “We’re in OTR. Would you rather grab a drink? There are a lot of great places up the block.” I was already turning my body in that direction as I spoke.

“Nah. I’m good. That was a lot of people, and I’m enjoying the quiet. This park is nice.”

I grunted in agreement and resumed my aimless walk.

“Those people. Your friends I met tonight. You went to college with all of them?”

Chuckling, I shook my head. “Not all of them. Pierce, Sebastian, and Declan were all friends from college.”

“Plus, Simon’s brother, right?”

“ Mn . I met Pierce and Sawyer, Simon’s brother, first. We hung out for a while.

Pierce, Sawyer, and I had a bunch of those freshman intro classes together.

Sebastian and Declan, we met later that first year.

Those two actually knew each other from high school.

Sebastian has always looked out for Declan because the guy is so damn quiet.

” A sigh escaped me. Now Declan had Parker to do that for him.

Something I’d experienced firsthand. Those two were ridiculously protective of each other.

It was as though they took turns going into Mama Bear mode.

Liam turned toward the gazebo as if he wanted a closer look at the old structure. “But how did you all end up here?”

“Oh, that’s all Sebastian’s fault. His family is from this area, and he took over his father’s business. He always knew he’d have to live here. And because Declan does whatever Sebastian does, he decided to be the CFO for Sebastian.”

“Sebastian…Courtland…shit! Do you mean he’s the head of Courtland Enterprises? I’ve heard of that. They’re a big company here.”

“Yep. After undergraduate college, Pierce had to finish law school, but he knew he didn’t want to work in his dad’s firm.

I…” I drifted off and threw up my hands.

“Well, I didn’t much care what I did at the time.

Sebastian convinced us to move here so we could all still hang out and be stupid together.

Not that it took all that much convincing. ”

Liam leaned his hip on the black metal railing that connected the white columns supporting the roof of the gazebo. “What about Sawyer? Didn’t he want to move here too?”

I didn’t know why, but that question felt like a physical punch to the gut. Why hadn’t I expected that? He didn’t know about Sawyer.

“Sawyer died before the start of our senior year in college.”

Liam straightened from the railing, one of his hands flying up to his mouth as his eyes widened. “Oh, shit! Man…I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay. You didn’t know. And it was a long time ago.

” I quickly did the math in my head and flinched.

About twelve years. How could it feel longer than that?

“It was an accident. His parents had his huge cabin up in the woods on a lake. We went up the last week ahead of the beginning of classes. Just swimming, fishing, boating, and goofing off one last time. All my friends were planning to head off to graduate school. One afternoon, we were going swimming. There was this spot where we dove off into the water. Over the years, we’d probably dove off that spot a thousand times.

” I tried to swallow against the sudden tightness in my throat.

“Sawyer jumped, but he must not have dove into the regular spot. He hit his head. Coroner…” I stopped to clear my throat. “Coroner said he died instantly.”

“Fuck. Rome.” Liam moved closer and put his hand on my shoulder, squeezing lightly. “I’m sorry. Really.”

I forced a weak smile on my lips. “Thanks. I’m kind of glad Simon wasn’t there at the time. Sawyer’s parents and little brother had planned to head up to the cabin the next day for one big family cookout. Simon idolized his brother. It would have crushed him if he’d been there…”

“I’m sure he was crushed, regardless.”

Sucking in a deep, cleansing breath, I held it for a count of five and pushed it out, trying to release all these heavy feelings.

“Yeah. Because we were close with Sawyer, we all decided to look out for Simon as he grew up. Be there if he needed someone. Sebastian, Declan, Pierce, and I flew to Massachusetts to be there for Simon’s high school graduation.

I also wouldn’t be surprised if Sebastian had a hand in convincing Simon to accept the offer from the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. ”

“So, Sebastian is the meddler out of all of you.”

A loud bark of laughter escaped, and the last of the tension rolled out of my frame. I leaned on the railing facing Liam, while he rested his back on a column. “Total fucking meddler. He’s the reason Kaylan and Arden are dating.”

“Yeah, he mentioned something about that.”

“Well, I mean, I’m sure they’re dating because they love each other.

I’d forgotten earlier that Sebastian got Kaylan set up on a blind date using this app.

They’ve been together since Valentine’s Day.

Sebastian wants to start a betting pool for when they’ll get engaged, but Byron keeps shutting him down. ”

“Didn’t your friends say something about Byron being his assistant?”

“Yes, Byron was Sebastian’s assistant for three years before Sebastian finally conned Byron into dating.

They’ve been together for like four or five months; I don’t know,” I said with an absent wave of my hand.

With an evil grin, I leaned closer to Liam and dropped my voice.

“I do know that Sebastian is a little pissy that Declan got engaged first. He’s fucking chomping at the bit to propose to Byron, but he doesn’t want to do it too close to Declan’s proposal and look like a copycat. ”

Liam seemed to hold in a laugh, but it escaped him as a snort, which only made me laugh harder.

“You’re shitting me.”

I bit my lower lip and shook my head. “Nope. Declan and Parker had a sort of friends-with-benefits thing going for more than a year. Just sex. But things got serious when Parker suddenly became a single dad and homeless. Declan took him in and fell hopelessly for Parker and his baby girl. They’ve been dating-dating for a couple of months. ”

Liam jerked back, knocking his shoulders on the column. His face shifted into a scowl. “Suddenly became a single dad? How? Was he cheating on his wife with Declan?”

“What?” I squawked. “No! Parker’s gay. Always has been.”

“How does a gay man suddenly become a single dad? It’s a reproduction question. Men don’t.”

My eyes widened as my brain caught up to the critical pieces of the story Liam was missing.

“Oh. No, Parker had this good female friend who wanted a kid but didn’t want to do the marriage thing.

She asked Parker to donate his sperm because they were besties.

Unfortunately, she died last summer, and since Parker is Joy’s biological father, she naturally came to him.

And because Parker was going through a streak of shit luck, his apartment burned down two weeks after his best friend died. ”

“Fuck. My bad.”

I shrugged. “Not your fault. I didn’t give you all the details. Parker’s a great guy. Very protective of his daughter and Declan. It’s adorable.”

“It’s cool you’ve got this group of close-knit friends you can hang out with,” Liam murmured. “But you were always outgoing. You could talk to anyone. Hell, I think I can remember you talking to the wall when you were bored.”

A groan left me. “Yeah. I think I drive them crazy because I talk so much. But I’m sure you’re going to make a lot of friends once you’ve been here a while. You’re still settling in. Are you in contact with friends you made in college?”

Liam frowned. “I wasn’t close with many people in college. I remained focused on my studies most of the time. It was where I met Fiona.”

My brow furrowed, and I leaned toward him. “The hippo?”

“What? Oh God, no.” His moan turned into a soft snicker. “If that keeps her out of Cincinnati, though, I’ll take it.”

“Huh?” I wasn’t following him at all.

“Fiona is my ex-wife. We met while I was in undergraduate school,” Liam clarified.

“Oh, fuck! My bad! My bad!” I held up my hands in front of me to ward off his vengeance.

However, he didn’t seem all that offended by the mistake.

“I think it’s a Cincinnati thing. We all watched as that preemie hippo grew up.

It was Fiona this and Fiona that. As soon as I hear the name, it’s all I think about. ”

“It’s fine. I don’t really care. But I would rather not have you think I was married to an animal in the Cincinnati Zoo.”

A tiny snort might have escaped me. “No. Of course not. But you met in college? That where you started dating?”

Liam nodded. “Yeah. We dated for about five years, all while I was in college. We married after I got my PhD, but we were together for less than four years. I’ve been single for about four years now.”

My lips parted to ask why they separated, but I caught those prying words before they could trip off my tongue.

I was a nosy motherfucker, just like my friends, and I was dying for the dirt.

However, I knew it was probably a sore subject even now.

If Liam wanted to volunteer that information, fine.

But he didn’t need me probing sore spots.

“But I’m okay with single,” Liam announced, his voice strengthening.

“I completely missed out on single life in my twenties. Going out with you—I-I mean, hanging out with you has forced me to see more of the city. I’m looking forward to exploring more on my own.

And doing more things. Stuff I never got to do while married. ”

Again, the wrong words were waiting to leap from my tongue.

This time, I wanted to offer to hang out with him.

Show him all the cool places around the city.

But that was stupid. We were only hanging out now because he wanted that donation for the museum.

He was going to be so glad when this was over and he never had to see me.

I had no doubt that the first thing he would do after this arrangement would be to block my number on his phone.

A fierce wind whipped through the park during the brief lull in our conversation, forcing us to pull our heads down and our shoulders up to shield against the biting cold.

“Maybe we should head to the car,” I suggested.

“Good idea.”

I turned toward the stairs and descended first, with Liam behind me. “So, is your ex also a scientist like you?”

“No.” Liam said that single syllable so firmly that I thought that might be the end of it. “She went to college and got a degree in art. Later, she became an interior designer.”

As I moved off the stairs, I turned to face him because I couldn’t imagine him with an interior designer. The fit wasn’t there in my brain. “How—” But I didn’t get any further. The heel of Liam’s shoe caught on the edge of the stair, and he suddenly tumbled forward.

I didn’t think. I jumped forward and caught him.

Or rather, I tried to. Liam attempted to stop his fall by grabbing the railing, but I think maybe his hand slipped, so he was falling sideways when he crashed into my chest. My arms wrapped around him, and I staggered a few steps to stop myself from dropping under his sudden weight.

The second we stopped moving, nearly all of Liam’s weight was on me, and his arms were draped loosely across my shoulders while I held him about the waist. I blinked, and somehow, his lips were mere inches from mine.

Most of his face was lost in the shadows, but I could see his wide eyes in the nearby lamplight.

He exhaled, and a puff of white danced over my face as if he were trying to wrap me in a spell.

All the jitters and anxious energy I’d experienced in Music Hall came roaring back times a thousand.

Then I’d felt the simple urge to take his hand, to thread our fingers together while we watched the performance.

But now, wrapped up in all his intoxicating heat, smelling the soft, woodsy scent of his cologne, I wanted to kiss him.

I ached to kiss him. To taste him. To hear the catch in his breathing as my lips touched his. To feel him soften and return the kiss.

I needed to kiss him and drown in this stolen moment.

Fuck, I was losing my mind. Pierce was right. I should have stayed far away from him. There was nothing worse in this world than falling for a straight man who could never return your feelings.

Clearing my throat, I snapped from my horrible thoughts and roughly shoved Liam to his feet.

“Shit. Um…sorry about that,” Liam said awkwardly. Every word he uttered sounded so damned pained.

“No-no problem. We’ve been standing out here too long. Muscles got stiff. Let’s get to the car and warm up.”

Not that I wanted to be in a closed space with Liam. However, it was a short drive to his town house and another relatively quick drive to my penthouse. Then I could drink in the privacy of my home until I forgot about whatever the fuck had just happened.