“So there you go,” I say, my voice falsely chirpy in an attempt to end this once and for all. “We’re one and done. Thank you and goodbye. I’m going to go get dressed in the bathroom. Please leave before I come back out. Your clothes are…” Where are his clothes? “Wherever you left them.”
“Sophe…”
The way he says it makes my heart twist. Not Sophie. Just Sophe. “Please Liam, just go.”
He looks almost relieved at that, and my chest contracts a little more. He wants an out. To extract himself without looking like a bad guy. And to be fair, I’ve given it to him.
We both went into this last night knowing the rules, even if some of them were broken.
“Okay.” He nods. “Yeah, you go get dressed.” He stands, the sheet falling away from his body and he looks completely unembarrassed at his nakedness.
I turn away so I’m not looking straight at him. “Can you do me a big favor?” I ask.
“Depends what it is.”
“Well, I wasn’t going to ask you for a second round.” I lift a brow.
He huffs. I’m not sure if it’s a laugh or an act of scorn. I can’t see his face and actually I’m not sure I need to know.
“So what is it?” he asks.
“Can we keep this between us?” I ask him. “As in, let’s not tell anybody at all.”
“Sure.” He sounds relieved. “Who would I tell anyway?”
“I don’t want Ava and Myles to find out. I don’t want things to get awkward.”
“I won’t tell them if you don’t,” he says.
“I definitely won’t.” There’s a shuffling noise. “You can look now,” he tells me. “I’m decent.”
I turn my head and he’s definitely not decent. Yes, heiscovered up, his black boxers clinging to his muscled thighs, covering the part of him I remember the most.
But he could be fully dressed and still be indecent. That’s Liam Salinger for you.
“We’re going to have to see each other again,” he says. “When Ava has the baby. At the christening…” He scratches his stomach lazily, and I’m reminded of that animal quality again. He’s completely at ease, completely unashamed.
Completely the opposite of me.
“I know that.” I wince at the thought.
“So let’s not make this awkward, okay?” he asks, dipping his head until our gazes meet.
“Okay,” I agree. “No awkwardness.”
He takes a final look at me before he grabs his jeans from the floor near my bedroom door, then walks out into the hallway, his bare feet padding against the tile.
“See you later, Sophie,” he calls.
“Bye, Liam.”
A minute later I hear the slam of the front door and I lean my head against the wall, mortification hitting me like a tsunami. Why did I do this? Why did I say what I said? Why didn’t I go home last night when Ava and Myles did rather than drinking with the one man guaranteed to drive me insane?
I take a deep breath and peel myself off the wall, before walking to my dresser and grabbing my underwear. What’s done is done. I have to accept it. At least he said it wouldn’t be awkward. That’s good, isn’t it?
Spoiler alert. It gets awkward.
CHAPTERTWO