I cough. "Uh, yeah, it’s Liam. Call me Liam."
The smile vanishes from her face, to be replaced by a look of such incredulity my lips twitch. "Y-y-yes… Mr.— "
"Now that we have that out of the way." I take a step forward, but Malory doesn’t give way.
"Uh, Mr. Kincaid, you should know that—"
"Whatever it is, it can wait."
"But—"
"Later, Malory."
She looks like she’s about to protest, but I’m already moving forward, so she steps aside. I stalk past her, heading for the stairs before I’m interrupted.
"There you are," a new voice says.
I turn and stare. "What are you doing here?"
48
Isla
"Couldn’t let the two of you hide yourselves away without first allowing us to congratulate the two of you on your milestone." Hunter leans his hip against the door frame to the study. "Also, the new look suits you." He jerks his chin in Liam’s direction.
"Thanks." Liam holds me closer. "What’s the milestone you’re talking about?"
"The milestone needs to be seen to be believed." Zara walks out of the study, her phone, as usual, attached to her hand. She bumps Hunter’s shoulder as she passes him, as if by mistake; or rather, a deliberate act designed to look like a mistake.
Hunter scowls at her, but he doesn’t tell her off. Instead, he grits his teeth as if he’s trying not to react to her provocation. He sweeps his gaze down her figure—taking his time about it, too—before he glances away. Meanwhile, Zara moves toward us, completely oblivious to just how closely she was perused by him.
"Did you see what I just saw?" Liam mutters from the side of his mouth.
"Oh yeah, this is going to be one hell of an interesting situation."
Zara looks between us, a trace of suspicion on her features. The only fact that she’s registered Liam’s new look is the nod of approval she threw him when she first saw him. Now, she scowls at me. "What are the two of you whispering about?"
"I was just telling Liam how wonderful it is to see the both of you." I smile sweetly at her.
"Don’t forget us," Karma’s voice rings out from inside the study.
"We’ve been waiting for you," Summer chimes in.
"You mean there are more people in there?" Liam scowls.
"It’s more accurate to ask who isn’t here." Hunter smirks.
"Did you plan this?" I scowl up at Zara.
She holds up her hands. "Don’t shoot the messenger. And for the record, this was unplanned. Summer messaged Amelie, Karma, and me, and before I knew it, we were heading down here. Hope you don’t mind that we barged in on your little lovefest. We figured it’d best we caught you now rather than becomingcoitus interruptuslater."
"There will be nocoitus interruptus,now or later," Liam assures her.
Heat flushes my cheeks. I smack Liam on the shoulder. "Seriously, you have no filter."
"Not when it comes to you." He waggles his eyebrows at me. "What say we ditch these losers and go up to my room so I can show you just how much I missed you?"
Zara screws up her face. "TMI, you guys. And I get it, you can’t keep your hands off of each other. But you need to see this." She thrusts her phone at us.