Page 25 of Just Between Us

I’ll provide the beer.

My Favorite Person

I’ll provide the fun.

I bet he will.

My Favorite Person

Hey, come hungry.

Another text comes through with a pinned location. It’s not right in town, but not too far away. I guess tonight I’ll be driving Austin’s stupid G-wagon.

Checking the clock, I see I have just enough time for a quick shower before I have to head out. Not having any beer on hand, I’ll need to stop by the store on my way.

“Turn right in eighty feet.”

The main word people have used to describe my driving is aggressive. Living in the city will do that to you. You’ll get run over otherwise. And my lead foot is fully activated today as the turn off to Liam’s place zips right past, forcing me to go farther down until I find a place to turn around.

This time, I take it slow, and turn onto a long gravel drive. The first house I come to is a two-story white farmhouse with a sprawling garden off to the side. Liam told me he lives on the same land as his parents, so this must be their house. That’s confirmed when I spot his mom in the garden, picking vegetables, a golden retriever trotting along behind her.

She straightens as I approach, shielding her eyes from the sun to get a better look. When she sees it’s me, her face lights up and she waves with her whole arm. Slowing to a crawl, I lower my window.

“Had a sandwich this week with the best tomato ever!” I shout.

She cups a hand around her ear.

“Tomatoes!” I shout, louder this time. “Best I’ve had!”

She presses a hand to her heart, and I proceed on my way.

Farther up, I come to a sleek black barndominium that can only be described as sexy. Of course, Liam’s house is sexy. Everything about him is. But then I spot the rows of wildflowers, a riot of colors against the black exterior of his house. This right here is Liam in a nutshell. Sleek and sexy, yet vibrant and soft.

At the door, I peek through the large front window and immediately burst out laughing at the sight. A Roomba vacuum zig zags across the floor with Mutt in hot pursuit, barking and snapping at it while loud music plays from farther within the house.

I unlock my phone to shoot a text letting him know I’m here, but one already waits for me on my screen.

My Favorite Person

Door’s unlocked.

Cracking open the door, Mutt pauses his attack, scampering over to greet me, but I’m having an awfully hard time focusing on the dog right now. From Liam’s open-concept home, I have an unobstructed view of him standing with a hip against the kitchen counter, shirtless. “Brass Monkey” by the Beastie Boys blasts from a speaker, and Liam is bobbing his head along while he seasons a platter of steaks.

He’s freshly showered, hair wet and curling around the shell of his ear, and those silver chains bounce against the hollow of his throat in time to the song.

The day at the river I was too caught up with nerves to notice much other than the twenty-foot leap. Now, on the other hand…I’m finding it impossible to tear my gaze away. Having been around plenty of men who worked out, thanks to Alan and his gym, I thought I’d seen every type of male body there was to see. But Liam is something else altogether. His muscles aren’t huge bulging things, but what he has going on is doing it for me.

There’s a smattering of freckles sprinkled along the mounds of each shoulder, leading to a dusting of dark hair across his chest. While he’s not looking, I let my gaze roam down to his abs, squares of muscle stacked in three perfect rows.

Hot damn, this man is a masterpiece.

My eyes snag on a tattoo down the right side of his ribcage. Written in some kind of fancy script are the wordsLove you more.

Huh. Wonder what that’s all about?

He glances up absentmindedly, but when he spots me watching him, his lips curl up and the most devastating smile crinkles his eyes. With a quick tap on his phone screen, the music stops abruptly, and for half a beat neither of us speaks.

Mutt tries again for my attention, breaking my trance. I kneelto give him pets and love while he plants his single front paw on my knee to stretch and swipe his doggy tongue across my face. He gets in one good lick before Liam moves in and scoops him up. I’m hit with the clean scent of Liam’s body wash, or maybe his aftershave. It’s a mix of woodsy and citrus, and I want to inhale it into my lungs and hold it there.