Page 22 of Liam

“Sure thing. Give us a call later, and we can make a plan.” Liam nodded and then turned back to her. “Ready to go in?”

Taamira waved at Alex as he drove away and nodded at Liam. Just then she heard the strangest noise. Her head whipped in the direction of the braying sound and she saw a grey donkey pop his head over a fenced-off field that bordered the drive.

“Hello, gorgeous. What is your name?” Taamira moved closer, her hand stretched out to rub his big floppy ears.

“This is Digby,” Liam answered, scratching the animal under the chin.

Taamira couldn’t fight the smile, her heart light with joy at the interaction with this adorable beast. “Well, aren’t you just perfect.”

Liam laughed. “Digby is a rescue of sorts. Aren’t you, boy?”

Taamira looked sideways at Liam and saw the affection for the animal on his face. It was a side of him she hadn’t expected, and she wondered how many layers this man had that nobody or at least very few got to see.

“How do you know so much about him?”

“Because Digby is mine. He’d been abandoned by the previous owners when I bought this place. It used to be a livery yard, and when the company went into administration, they walked away and left Digby to fend for himself.”

Taamira looked at the vast fields surrounding the property with wonder anew, knowing they belonged to the man in front of her. “So, this is your home?”

He nodded and reached out to take her hand in his. “Come on, let’s go in and I can give you the tour.”

Taamira loved how small her hand was in his much larger, rougher one and the ease with which he had taken it. It was a natural reaction as if they held hands all the time, and she couldn’t help the pang in her chest that this was not her reality.

Instead, she allowed him to lead her inside. The inside was as beautiful as the outside with wooden beams, open spaces, and real oak floors. At the back of the large entryway, a floor to ceiling window gave a view over the meadows at the rear of the property. Her favourite by far though was the sunroom that led out onto a large patio area surrounded by grass. It lacked flowers, but it did allow Digby to lean his head over and join them.

“He gets lonely. I should really get him a girlfriend,” Liam said by way of an explanation for why the donkey lived so close to the house.

“It’s beautiful, Liam. Truly, this is a beautiful home. How long have you lived here?”

“About four years.” He led her back inside and filled the kettle with water as she took a seat at the large kitchen table. “I did most of the restoration work myself.”

Taamira could see the pride in his face as he picked up a book and pushed it across the table to her.

Opening it, she saw a picture of what the house had looked like before the renovation. As she turned the pages, she could see the transformation take place before her eyes. She stopped at a photo close to the beginning of the project from the look of the site and looked closer.

A man had his arm around a grinning Liam who held a pickaxe in his hand. Both men were grinning widely at Digby to the side of them who seemed to be photobombing the picture. The man she assumed was Ambrose was good looking with black skin, broad shoulders, and eyes that seemed to smile as much as his lips did. The affection between the two men was evident, and she could see just from the image how a loss like that would leave a deep wound.

“He thought I was crazy buying this place at first but when he realised that the field out back was a direct walk to his house, and Natai would be able to use all this land, he was all for it.”

“Did he work with you on any of it?” Her voice was soft as he came to sit beside her, placing a cup with tea in it in front of her.

He turned the book to him before he answered and eyed the photo. “Not really, he was killed a week after this photo was taken.”

“I am so sorry, Liam.”

“Me too. Ambrose would’ve loved this place. He saw the plans though, and I didn’t make a single change. I wanted it to be what he saw, you know. Ambrose was my brother more than my friend, as much as I love the guys at Eidolon, it’s different. Ambrose knew me back when I was nothing but a trappy asshole with holes in my shoes. We helped each other out of so many scrapes, I can’t even remember half of them.”

“That history is hard to replace,” she said sadly.

“You had that?” he asked carefully.

Taamira nodded. “I did with Abdul before life changed and he moved on to become the heir apparent to my father.”

She saw the regret cross his features and didn’t want that mood to take hold of either of them.

“Do you cook?” she asked, standing from the table, and moving to the cupboards.

Liam leaned back in his chair and watched her intently as she walked around his space. “I have four dishes I cook to perfection, and everything else is a bust.”