Only a Millionaire (The Sinclairs #6.5)(20)

If I have to deal with the fallout of getting close to Liam, I’ll worry about it later.

The last thing I wanted to do was spend the next week waiting for a bomb to drop.

I grabbed the bag of Chinese food I’d picked up on my way to Liam’s, smiling as I got out of the car.

He’d bragged about his fishing skills, so we were supposed to be eating freshly caught fish for dinner. Xander and Liam had gone out on Liam’s boat to fish this morning.

They’d come back empty handed.

I wondered if he was still mad because I’d laughed and offered to pick up Chinese.

Liam was mostly good natured, but I might have slightly wounded his male ego.

“Liam,” I called as I walked in the door. “I come bearing food.”

“Smartass,” he grumbled as he came out of the kitchen to greet me.

What did he expect? I had four brothers. I’d had to have some kind of protection mechanism from that childhood trauma. My best weapon had always been sarcasm.

I went to walk past him to get some plates, but he snagged my waist before I could get by him. “But I forgive you,” he said huskily, getting a kiss before he let me go.

I shivered as he released me. I loved the way he never let me get past him without touching me.

“I didn’t mean to injure your manly ego,” I said with a laugh.

“You didn’t,” he said gruffly. “I’m pretty secure in my masculinity.”

“I know you are,” I mumbled as I made my way to the kitchen. Liam’s maleness was never in question. He produced way more testosterone than he should.

He whacked me on the ass playfully as I set the bags down on the kitchen counter.

I squealed. “What was that for? I brought the food,” I said with feigned outrage.

He folded his arms in front of him and grinned. “Your ass is way too beautiful to resist.”

I rubbed my butt cheek as I smiled back at him. “Remind me that you get crabby when you don’t catch any fish.”

He shrugged. “It happens, but it was a wasted morning. I would have rather spent the time with you.”

Since Xander and Liam had already made plans to go fishing this week, I’d encouraged him to go. I’d spent a pleasant morning hanging out with Samantha. “I like Chinese,” I said. “And I’m here now.”

It was pathetic, but I’d missed him as much as he’d missed me.

“Thank God,” he grumbled. “If I had to listen to Xander bitch one more time about not getting any fish, I would have thrown him overboard. Next time you’re coming with me. I’ll teach you to fish.”

I gaped at him. “You’ll teach me to fish?” Did he think I had encouraged him to go with Xander because I didn’t want to go? Or because I was useless in a boat? “I’ve been fishing since I was old enough to walk,” I said huffily.

“You fish?”

“Of course. My brother Aiden taught me when I was little, and I go as much as I can. He’s a commercial fisherman, and he’s a little bit competitive sometimes, but I blow his arrogance off for the chance to get out on the water.”

“Then I guess I’m not going to be able to bullshit you with my fish stories.”

I smiled. “Nope. My brothers tried it all the time. I stop listening when they get to the part where the fish got away.”

When a woman has four brothers like I do, she learns to be tolerant. But Jade and I had to draw the line somewhere.

I got some plates from the cupboard and started loading them with food. Liam grabbed the silverware and drinks so we could sit down at the table.

After we were seated with plates of Chinese food, Liam asked, “So you’re all pretty close?”

“As close as a female can be to brothers who know it all. Honestly, it wasn’t easy growing up with all that testosterone, but Jade and I managed to survive,” I joked.

“What is it like?” he asked. “Growing up with that many siblings?”

“For us, it was scary sometimes, and I can only imagine what it was like for Noah. When my mom died, he was all we had. And he really wasn’t old enough to take on five kids under the age of eighteen. He grew up way too early. But we were used to pitching in to help. My mom worked a lot. We lived on a pretty tight income, so we had all tried to bring in some money to help her. It was the same once she died.”

Liam frowned. “You didn’t have any family who could help?”

“None of us really knew our father. He died when we were all pretty young. My mom was an only child. Her parents died when she was nineteen. She talked about a few people, but they never came to see us in California.”

“That’s rough,” Liam said hoarsely.

“It wasn’t all bad,” I explained. “All of us learned to be independent, and we took care of each other.”

Liam was inhaling his food. I was guessing he hadn’t eaten much that day.

When he paused for water, he asked, “Are you ever going to tell me about your life there, and why you left?”

I nearly choked on my lo mein. It wasn’t like I hadn’t expected that question, but not in the middle of rice and kung pao. I took a drink of water before I answered. “I’m actually surprised you haven’t brought that up before.”