Crown Jewels (Off-Limits Romance #1)(51)

When my gaze reaches his face again, I find him smirking.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t say sorry, Luce. I like it when you check me out. It gives me time to check you out.” He reaches out and touches one of my pigtails. “I like these.” He smiles, cheeks rounding as it turns into a grin. “You look hot in pigtails.”

“Are you trying to charm me?”

“Is it working?” He lets go of my hair. “I mean it, though. It’s a good look.”

I fold my arms. “Thank you.”

Liam tugs gently on the shoulder of my plain white cover-up. “Have you gone shy, Lucille?”

I shrug. “Maybe.”

He gives me an apologetic smile. “I’ll leave you alone. C’mon, I’ll show you where we’re going.”

I’m quite as I follow him into a square nook off the hall and up another, narrower, wooden flight of stairs that leads first to a short-ceilinged, attic-like work-out space with glass walls, then up to a thick steel door Liam pushes through. He holds it for me, and I feel the wind whip as I step onto the deck.

“Whoa…” The place is gorgeous. Grassy, with a variety of small and medium-sized trees, and framed by a thick, gray-green stone wall that’s maybe four feet fall.

I slide my loaner sunglasses from my head onto my nose and follow Liam onto the plush, green grass. “This is crazy.”

“More yard than garden I guess.”

“God…” I throw my towel down and stretch out on it, looking at the pale blue sky through the lenses of my sunglasses. “Well, I’ll just be here.” I grin at him. “You have fun with that work out.”

He smiles. “Will do.” And then he’s gone—too soon. A few minutes later, a tall man with short black hair comes out the door, and I sit up. He’s carrying a tray with a lemon drop martini, a water bottle, and a bowl of grapes.

I stand so I can get it. “Thank you.” I take the drink out of habit, and the guy nods at something over my shoulder.

“You know there’s some chairs over there, with tables.”

“No.” I grab my stuff and follow him over, and a few minutes later I’m set up at a reclining chair, sipping my water and munching grapes in relative silence. Cool wind washes over my body, prickling goosebumps on my skin. It feels amazing in contrast to the warm glow of the sun.

I’m feeling slightly nauseated, so I snarf down nearly all the grapes and most of the water. In not too long, I need a restroom—but before I go in search of one, I pretend to take a sip of the martini, then walk over to the wall and pour most of it over the side. This way if there are cameras up here and someone watching, they’ll just think I didn’t like the drink.

Better than Liam asking why I didn’t try it.

I leave my bag and set off down the stairs in search of a restroom. As I’m passing the small landing for Liam’s attic floor, I hear his voice and stop.

“You know I’ll never do that, Dru.” His tone is firm, his voice is low and harsh.

“Everything,” he says.

I wait to hear a woman’s voice, and when I don’t, I realize Liam is on the phone.

“No one said you were. Not on the outside.” He sounds pissed off. Kind of tired, too.

“You really think there’s someone else? I wouldn’t put a fucking dog through this bullshit.” His voice lowers a volume. “I’m not sure how long I’ll go on putting me through it.”

I swallow as I hear his footfall on the gym’s hardwood floor. “Maybe I don’t care, Drucilla.”

Then another pause before he says, “Maybe that’s for the best.”

When I hear him breathing hard, I think the worst—and I can’t keep myself from checking. The door from stairwell to gym is propped open. I creep closer and peek inside. I can’t see Liam from my angle, but I can see him in the mirror. To my shock, he doesn’t have his dick in hand.

He’s kneeling with his back against a wall of mirrors and his forehead on his knees. His hands are folded over his head. I can see his shoulders pumping with the depth of his harsh breaths.

Shit. It’s not easy to stay where I’m standing. I just want to go to him. To talk to him. I want to touch him, stroke the warm lines of his face and pull him up against me.

Suddenly, he stands up, and I watch him walk to a small strip of counter. He pulls out a canister of whey protein, and then a glass. And then…a glass of liquor? I watch as he pours gold liquid into the glass. His shoulders draw up as he stares at it for a long moment. Then he downs the entire thing.

He shakes his head once. Reaches for a turn-switch on a row of light switches. Music fills the room: the Rolling Stones. I hurry down a level, feeling strangely raw as I head to my room.





TWENTY-ONE Lucy





I stay up on the roof for almost two more hours after my bathroom break, waiting for Liam to show up and tell me what we’re doing next and when. When he doesn’t come, I gather my things and walk slowly down the narrow, glossy wooden stairs.

I find the workout room empty.

A quick peek around the second story reveals Liam’s bedroom door is shut. I can’t hear anything inside his rooms, and rather than look around for him, I spend some time with Grey, then take a steaming shower, washing sunscreen off myself and lathering my body with bath scrub.