My irritation flared. “Reading is hardly strenuous.”
“Listening even less so,” Liam added with a snicker.
Caroline’s eyes burned into mine. “Regardless…” She turned to Liam. “We were hoping to have dinner with you this evening, so you’ll need to have a nap.”
“Well, in that case…” He turned to me with a grin. “Cassidy can have the afternoon off.”
My gaze panned between Caroline’s sneer and Liam’s cheeky smile. “Thank you, Liam.” I rose to my feet. “But I’ll check in with you later regardless.”
After Liam thanked me, I strode to the door, only to slow when Caroline blocked my path. “Remember your place here,” she said, keeping her voice hushed.
“Oh, I remember. Enjoy your dinner.” As my fingers curled into tiny balls at my sides, I stormed out and straight into a solid chest in the middle of the hallway.
“Whoa.” Large hands grasped my forearms to steady me. “Who pissed you off?”
I gazed up at the handsome mirage and blinked twice. “What are you doing here? It’s not Friday.”
Adam dropped his hands and shoved them into his pockets. “I’m well aware, but I heard my parents were visiting, so I thought I’d come a few days earlier to spend time with them.” He nodded toward Liam’s bedroom. “I’m assuming my mother’s in there.”
“She sure is,” I said with mock enthusiasm.
The line between his eyes deepened. “Did she upset you?”
Frustration simmered beneath my skin. “No, it’s fine. Enjoy spending time with your family.” I brushed past, eager to disappear, but his hand caught mine. Tingles shot up my arm as I looked up at him in question, but he said nothing. His jaw twitched, his Adam’s apple bobbed, and his pupils dilated, but no words came out of his mouth.
My heart quickened. “Adam…”
With a sharp intake of air, he released my hand and disappeared into his grandfather’s bedroom without another glimpse my way.
Once I was back in my room, faced with an afternoon of twiddling my thumbs, I decided to call my sister-in-law back in LA. She had a knack for cheering me up, and I needed something to take my mind off that bizarre encounter with Adam—and his evil mother.
“Is he dead yet?”
My eyes bulged. “Tash!”
“I’m sorry! But you get paid for the three months regardless, right?”
“Don’t be awful. He’s a really sweet man.”
“You know I’m joking. I just want you back here.”
“I know…I do, too. I want to see that belly of yours.”
“Oh, it’s ridiculous. I’m huge already. I was never this big with Tristan.”
“Well, the Ryans produce big babies.”
“We sure do. I still don’t know how you pushed Finn out of that tiny body of yours.”
“Oh, there were stitches. Dominic passed out, remember?”
“My brother was never great with blood.”
Our laughter faded with the happy memory. Everything was different now.
“How’s Finn coping without you?”
“He tells me he’s okay, but I think he’s holding back. I’m not there to pick up those subtle clues, and I have to rely on him telling me, and well…he’s a boy.”