Page 108 of Best Kind of Trouble
Karma bounds outside, and I nearly scream, worried he’ll be lost in the cold.
But he starts weaving around Liam’s legs like he belongs to him. Liam crouches to pat the cat’s head, and the sight of his big hand nuzzling Karma’s fur makes my heart melt. Even though it’s freezing outside, Liam isn’t wearing a hat or gloves. I want to wrap him up in a hug and give him my warmth.
He put someone in the hospital, I remind myself.
He slept with you and left without a backward glance.
He hasn’t dated a woman seriously for years.
But I know he’s not dangerous to me. His energy has always felt protective.
“Come inside,” I say.
He walks in, Karma trailing after him like a lovesick cat. Oh, of course he’s crazy about him too.
I shut the door after him, biting my lip as I watch him sit on the sectional and bury his head in his hands, his reddish hair tufting between his strong, scarred fingers.
It’s only when I sit down next to him and get a whiff of alcohol that I realize he’s been drinking.
Disappointment seeps into me. He’s here, but he spent this day the way he always does—thinking about another woman.
“How’d you get here?” I ask, my voice choked. “I hope you didn’t drive.”
“I walked.”
“From where?”
“Montford.”
Several miles in the dark. In the freezing cold.
“Oh, Liam.”
He glances up at me, his eyes bloodshot. “I let you think the other night didn’t mean anything to me, but it did.”
I set my hand on his leg, needing to touch him. “It meant something to me too. We were both confused.”
“No. I wasn’t confused. I don’t want you thinking that. I knew I wanted you. It would be impossible not to want you.”
“But we both know it’s more complicated than that.”
“Not just because of Hannah or the brewery.” The sadness in his gaze floors me. “I…Julia told me there was something missing in me, and I think maybe she was right. I don’t want to hurt you.”
I lift my fingers to his face, feeling the cold he carried in on his skin and his beard. Maybe I can seep warmth and light into him. He needs it, and my heart aches to do for him what he’s done for me over these past weeks—to be strong so he can be vulnerable.
“What, exactly, do you think you’re missing?” My voice comes out as a whisper as my cat leaps onto the couch and curls up next to him.
“If I knew that, Princess, I’d be halfway toward finding it,” he says with a gruff laugh, then shakes his head, his short beard brushing against my hand.
“Tell me about Julia.”
“I’d rather not.”
“You know everything about Jonah. The rule about not oversharing came after I’d already told you about him.”
“I don’t want to talk about that prick either.”
I tip my head up and brush a quick kiss across his lips. “Tell me, Liam. You need to get it off your chest. I can tell. You spent hours walking here because of it.”
