Immediately, Naisha pounced. “Why’d you do that? You could have said no. Now you’ve opened up a whole can of worms.”
“I don’t care about the worms,” he retorted. “I’m not prepared to lie to my little girl,” and almost like an afterthought added, “when she asks a direct question. Not about information that would do her no harm. I’ve lived my life surrounded by lies, and I’m not about to allow Willa to do the same.”
“But what if she asks questions?” Naisha insisted. “What do I say?”
He gave her a cool look. “Tell her the truth. We had something once, but we were both very young and it ended. It’s over, and there is nothing left.”
All of a sudden, the pizza didn’t seem so appetizing. Naisha put her fork down, wanting desperately to head back to the château, back to the classroom where she would be safe. There was a buzz in her purse, and she frowned. She was in contact with few people, apart from her parents and her sister Toni, and they’d already chatted for the morning.
She could feel William’s eyes upon her, as one of his rules was no cell phone use during school hours. Bully for him, she thought. It was her lunch break. She made a big show of casually withdrawing her phone and checking the message.
Then she froze.
It was from a private number, and this was all it said: The little birdie flew from the nest, but big bird will soon get you and clip those wings.
She stared at her phone for a long time and then deleted the message and slipped her phone back into her bag. Private number notwithstanding, it could only have come from one man. She’d almost forgotten her stalker situation, but Abe had lost no time reminding her.
She was aware of Liam’s eyes on her. Alert, cautious.
“You okay?”
She nodded. “I’m great. Do you think I could get this pizza to go?”
William couldn’t understand it. Normally, he was the kind of guy who could sleep standing up. All he had to do was clamber into bed and close his eyes and he was gone.
But not tonight.
He was edgy, uneasy, but damned if he could put a finger on it.
He got up and wandered towards the kitchen, wearing only his sweatpants. A soft sound made him pull back. There was someone there.
He moved forward silently, like a cat’s footsteps, and stood in the doorway. Naisha was standing at the counter with her back to him, wearing a black silky shift that passed for a nightgown but which, in his estimation, revealed more than it covered. It reached just below her butt cheeks, and didn’t bother to hide their fullness, or the way they jiggled as she did whatever she was doing there. Spaghetti scraps held it up—or, rather, one strap did, as the other had slid off her shoulder, leaving it bare.
He had to fight the instinct to step forward and press his lips to the spot where the strap should have been. Then he wondered if, through the power of his mind only, he could nudge the other strap down. Would the nightie stay on her, or would it float to the ground around her ankles?
Where was the power of telekinesis when you needed it?
She must have felt the weight of his stare because she looked around, and then leaped back, startled. “Ohmigod! Why’d you sneak up on me like that?”
His brows lifted. “Isneaked up onyou?I was under the impression I was walking around my own home.”
She pouted a little, rather than admit he was right. “Yeah, well, you nearly gave me a heart attack.”
“I’m pretty sure that heart of yours is stronger than you give it credit for,” he said, trying not to make it clear that his gaze was arrested more by the sweet, round globes that protected her heart than by the organ itself. The front of the nightie was even more alluring, as the frivolous bits of lace caressed the tops of her breasts but did nothing to shield from view the dark circles of her nipples.
Immediately, he remembered how puffy those nipples were in their natural state, but how hard they used to become under his tongue.
Look away, Liam,he warned himself.
Naisha was looking at him uncertainly, a pot of tea in her hand. “I, uh, came out to get some tea. Do you want me to pour you a cup?”
He walked to the small breakfast nook and pulled out a chair for her and then sat opposite. “Not a tea guy, but I’ll keep you company if you like.”
She set about arranging the teapot, cup, sugar and milk with careful precision, like a geisha about to perform a tea ceremony, almost making him smile.
“If you aren’t having tea, what would you like?”
“I came in for a drink of water, actually.”