Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
When I leave the bedroom, I can hear Rebecca in the kitchen talking to Bax but can’t hear Liam’s voice, so I don’t expect to see him sitting at the bar with a cup of coffee in his hand when I walk around the corner.
“Morning,” I greet, and Rebecca turns to look at me with a bright smile.
“Hey, sunshine. Sorry for waking you guys up.” She stops to kiss my cheek as she walks past me with a mug of coffee.
“How was last night?” I ask her, and she looks at Liam, and I swear if this was a cartoon, I would see bubble hearts floating around her head.
“So fun. Liam showed me around Nashville, and this morning, he took me to this cute little café for breakfast.”
I look at my brother, then her. I can’t tell if the two of them did anything more than hang out, and I can’t exactly ask her any questions with him sitting right here. Also, I don’t really want to know because that’s just gross.
“That’s fun.” I look up at Bax when he holds out a mug of coffee for me.
Bending down toward me, he touches his lips to my cheek, whispering, “Nice sweatshirt.” I start to smile but jump when the thud of a coffee mug hits the counter hard.
I look over at Liam and find him glaring at the two of us.
“That’s the shit I can’t deal with.” He points between Bax and me.
“You can leave,” Bax tells him before looking at me. “Still want pancakes?”
“Not if it’s going to be too much work.”
“So that’s a yes.” He gives me a soft smile and walks to the pantry.
“What time is your flight this evening?” I ask Rebecca, lifting my mug to my lips, and she pops out her bottom lip while I swear I notice Liam stiffen.
“Ten, so I need to be there around eight. I can’t believe it’s already time to go home.”
“Me neither. This weekend went by way too quickly.”
“Maybe I’ll plan another trip in a few months.”
“A few months?” Liam turns to her, and she shrugs.
“Yeah, if I can get time off work.”
“A few months?” he repeats, and she tips her head to the side.
“That’s what I just said.”
“What the fuck was last night?” he asks, and her cheeks darken ever so slightly.
“It was fun.”
“Fun?” He shakes his head in disbelief.
“I’m confused.” She frowns at him. “You’re the one who”—she looks my way out the corner of her eye before dropping her voice—“told me you only like to have fun.”
Opening his mouth, he then closes it and glares at her.
Oh my God, he likes her. Like actually likes her, and it’s obvious he thought last night was more than fun and is shocked that she is just gonna go back to Chicago without thinking twice about him. My brother has probably never been in a situation like this in his life. Or he has, but the shoe has always been on the other foot. And although part of me wants to say, “Ha! That’s your karma,” another part of me feels bad for him.
“We’ll talk about it when I take you to the airport tonight,” he says after a moment.
“What?” she asks, her brows dragging together as she looks over at me. “I think Olivia is dropping me off.”
“She was. Now, I’m going to.” He turns away from her and picks up his coffee.
I look at Rebecca—who now looks confused and maybe a little freaked out—and then Liam, who’s still looking pissed but also determined. Having seen that look from him throughout my life when he hasn’t gotten his way, I rub my lips together.
Well, this should be interesting… and either really bad or really good.
When there is a tapping at the back door, I look that way and see both Lucy and Gemma are waiting, with both their noses pressed to the glass. When Liam gets up to let them in, I look at my best friend, and she gives me an awkward smile, which I return with an awkward one of my own.
CHAPTER 20
Olivia
“Is that everything?” I look around my bedroom, then at Rebecca’s suitcase still open on my bed with more stuff in it than she came with since we decided to go shopping this afternoon after Liam took off and Bax went to go help his mom with something.
“I think so.” She glances around. “And if it’s not, you can just mail me what I forgot.”
“Or maybe if Liam gets his way, you’ll be back sooner than you planned.” I give her a look, and she shakes her head.
“Probably not.” She closes her bag, and I push down on it to help her zip it up. “Don’t get me wrong; I really like your brother, and we had a great time last night. But…” She looks at me and rolls her eyes when she sees the disgusted look on my face. “I don’t mean like that. I mean, we had fun. He’s easy to talk to, and we have a lot in common, but we are not in the same place. Even before last night, he made it pretty clear that he doesn’t do relationships, and that is something I want. I want to get married and have babies sooner rather than later. And I’m done with men who avoid that kind of commitment.”