Escaping Reality (The Secret Life of Amy Bensen #1)(39)

His eyes gleam with understanding. “Alex used tell me there were infinite possibilities in life and architecture. The tattoo represents that to me.”

Infinite possibilities in life. I am not sure I like that idea. How many people will I be before I die?

“Of course,” Liam adds, “as a kid I just wanted to draw buildings. Alex said that’s what you call an artist, not an architect. I fought the math, and ended up doing the whole wax on, wax off thing like in Karate Kid.”

I laugh. “Karate Kid? But that was to learn karate. What did that have to do with math?”

“It’s hard work. My punishment for not getting the math right and complaining about having to try.” He laughs, but it’s laced with a hollow sadness. “And he liked the movie.” He smiles, shifting out of the past to the present. “I don’t like the movie. I do, however, like math now. Funny how mastering something makes you change your tune about it. By the time I was in college I was a whiz.”

The waitress takes my plate and I am shocked to realize it is all but empty. A few minutes later, we are enjoying coffee and I sigh in contentment, more relaxed than I have been in a very long time. “What did your parents think about Alex?” I ask, not ready for this dinner to end.

“My mother adored him.”

“And your father?”

His expression turns somber. “He wasn’t around to have an opinion.”

“I want to ask. I’m not sure I should.”

He gives me a wry smile. “And that’s about as honest as it gets.”

He’s right. It is and it feels good, but what I sense in him does not.

“Do you want to tell me?”

“He ran out on us when I was eight,” he says easily. Almost too easily. “Told me he was going to the store and never came back.”

“You grew up poor.” There is so much more to this man than billionaire architect. “That’s why your mother worked two jobs.”

“Yes. Until Alex came along. He took care of my mother.”

“Did they date?”

He gives a quick shake of his head. “No. They were just close friends and when she came down with cancer, Alex paid for her treatment.”

I blink. “What? Cancer?”

“Cervical. She didn’t have the money for regular checkups so it was caught late, but she beat it twice.”

My throat thickens at the obvious. She didn’t beat it three times.

“How old were you?”

“Fifteen. Alex adopted me.”

“Alex lost his kids and you lost your parents.”

“Yes. Exactly.”

“And Alex? You said you lost him, too?”

“He had a heart attack while I was chasing pyramids a couple of years back.”

He cuts his gaze and reaches for his coffee, and I sense his internal emotional battle and do not know the right thing to say or do. I just sit there until his gaze lifts and collides with mine.

And I see the truth in his eyes. “You don’t talk about this.”

“No.”

“But you did to me.”

“Yes. Now ask me why.”

“Why?”

“Someone has to go first.”

It is what he said to me on the plane. It is his offering of trust, and I know I was right.

There is something happening between us, something I may never experience again, and ironically that means lying. Now, this moment, is my chance to tell him Amy Bensen’s story. To make sure he doesn’t dig around to find out on his own.

I open my mouth to relay my fake life per my Amy Bensen file, and snap it shut with a stunning realization. My story is Liam’s story. Her father ran out on her when she was a kid and her mother died of cancer. How can this be? It’s impossible. I am not telling this lie to Liam. I can’t. I won’t.

“I need to go to the ladies’ room,” I say, and I do not wait for his reply. I scoot out of the booth and take my purse with me, but Liam is out the other side and standing in front of me, and I see the worry in his eyes.

It’s like he senses my instinct to bolt. He thinks I’m running away, and I am—but not from him. From the me I don’t even recognize as me.

“Amy—”

I lean into him and press to my toes, brushing my lips over his. “I still want to lick your tattoo. Remember?”

But he doesn’t laugh. He leans back and gives me an intense look.

“Hurry back and let’s get out of here.”

“Yes. I’d like that.”

His hands slowly ease from my waist where they have settled, reluctantly it seems, and I like that he does not want to let me go. And I do not want him to either, but I have to find a way to make this work.

I rush away from Liam, and the waitress directs me to the bathroom, a fancy three-stall room with mirrors on the door, and I rush inside the farthest one and lock myself inside. All too soon, I am back where I was two nights ago, leaning on a bathroom stall and fretting. But this time Liam has found me and I do not want to lose him or put him in danger. I tell myself lies protect him and I should embrace them and him while he is in Denver.

But deep down I feel this man inside me and I do not want to limit our possibilities. He knows I’m running and if I really want to be with him, I have to ensure he does not dig into my background. If I don’t give him something, he might go look on his own.