Can't Take My Eyes Off of You (Summer Lake #2)(9)

Her feet bare, she left her living room and walked out into the private hallway. Well, not so private anymore, since Wesley insisted on keeping a small suite here for Liam’s visits to town—which had never happened until today. Hurrying past his door and down the stairs, she was soon pushing through the inn’s kitchen door.

Where Liam was sitting on one of the stools, tucking into a piece of wedding cake.

“Hi,” Christie said, wishing her voice didn’t sound so breathy. “I didn’t realize you were still up.”

Liam’s eyes quickly took in both her slightly wrinkled dress and her bare feet. For some reason, not wearing her shoes around him made the moment feel almost intimate.

Far more intimate than she had ever planned to be with Wesley’s brother.

“I got hungry and thought I’d come down to get a snack,” she told him when he didn’t say anything, “but I didn’t think anyone would be here. I don’t know where you flew in from today, but since Wesley says you’re always traveling overseas, I figured if it was a long-haul flight, you might be really jet-lagged.”

Oh God, she was babbling. Stop talking, Christie. Just stop. She clamped her lips shut and tried to lift her feet to back out of the room, but they were stuck as though she’d stepped into quick-drying cement.

Liam gestured to the cake. “There’s plenty.”

It wasn’t exactly an embossed invitation to sit down with him, but it didn’t take a social genius—which she was not, by any stretch of the imagination—to see that if she ran now, she’d look guilty of something.

Like, maybe, breaking his brother’s heart.

And, probably, single-handedly driving Wesley out of town.

As if she needed any help from her stomach, it growled so loudly that Liam’s eyes actually widened. “When was the last time you ate?”

She looked down at her wrist, but she’d already taken off her watch in preparation for the thwarted bath. “A long time ago.”

She couldn’t have been more surprised when he stood up, got a clean plate off the rack, and put a large piece of cake on it. For her. “Sit down and eat. You were on your feet all day.”

He’d noticed? She tried not to flush. It was so embarrassing, but with her light coloring, if she blushed it didn’t just cover her cheeks, it also covered her chest. A chest that was on much better display in the green dress than usual.

Realizing she was still standing there in the most awkward way, she tried to put a smile on her face and move toward the cake. Toward Liam. Thankfully, her limbs obeyed her this time—unlike her heart, which was racing out of control again.

What was wrong with her? Why did he make her so nervous? Well, not nervous exactly, but like she was buzzing on the inside. And even worse than the fact that she clearly had no control over her stupid feelings, was that she was certain he could see her attraction to him written all over her face.

Her unfortunate reverse-poker face.

Taking the stool to the far side of the one that he had been using, she was pleasantly surprised again that he didn’t sit down until she was seated. He was obviously a gentleman, like his brother and father. It should have made her more comfortable. Instead, her nerves ratcheted up another notch.

There was nothing quite like a bad boy who acted the part of a gentleman. It tended to do all sorts of ooey-gooey things to her insides.

She’d eat as fast as she could, and then she’d flee.

She was reaching for the fork when a pang landed in the pit of her empty stomach at the thought of running again. Her instinct had always been to run. From bad jobs and bad boyfriends.

But when she’d gone to break things off with Wesley, she’d vowed that she was going to change her life for the better. She’d started by throwing herself not only into Sarah and Calvin’s wedding, but also into focusing on something that was all hers: the Tapping of the Maples Festival. In two weeks, she was going to put on her first big event in the Adirondacks. Even before Wesley left, she’d watched the details line up one after the other and knew in her heart just how great the event was going to be for the entire town.

Yes, she was uncomfortable sitting in the inn’s kitchen with Liam. But that didn’t mean she was going to let herself fold under the pressure, darn it. Not only was she going to make herself sit here and enjoy every single bite of what was supposed to have been her wedding cake, but she was also going to force herself to relax. After all, for years she’d listened to Wesley’s stories about his beloved older brother and she’d wanted to meet him. At last, she was getting her chance.

“So,” she said to Liam, “you said earlier that you’ve been on the road for a few weeks?”

“I was.”

While she waited for him to say more, she finally took a bite of the cake. Mmmmm, it was good—half a dozen layers of chocolate cake surrounded by coconut and chocolate frosting. So delicious that she couldn’t hold back a small moan as she closed her eyes to fully appreciate it. When she finally swallowed it down and opened her eyes, she was surprised to find a glass of milk in front of her. Provided by Liam.

After drinking half the glass in one gulp, she smiled and said, “Thank you. That was the perfect touch.”

“You’re welcome.”

She swore one half of his mouth had almost quirked up as he said it, but she couldn’t have proved it for a jury. It was just a sense that he might be loosening up the slightest bit.