The Dating Plan(62)
“And I probably should meet him since you are my fake fiancée and he’s very important in your life,” he continued, his mouth serious but his tone light. “What if he has unusual markings or a strange bark and I get asked questions about him and get them wrong?”
Heat radiated through her chest at the return of his good humor. “It would be terrible. People would know our relationship was a sham, and all this time we’ve put into setting it up would have gone to waste.”
Liam nodded, his eyes sparkling. “I suppose I should meet him if you think it’s important for our fake relationship.”
“I do.”
He reached behind his seat and pulled out a plastic bag with the name of a popular pet store on the front. “Good thing I came prepared.”
Daisy didn’t know whether to be amused or indignant as he showed her all the dog toys he’d bought for Max. “How did you know I would invite you in?”
“I didn’t know.” He flashed her a lopsided grin. “I hoped.”
Daisy unlocked the front door for him before going to collect Max. Her elderly neighbor stayed up late and was always happy to have a little company.
Max was back to his old self, wriggling happily in her arms and covering her with licks and kisses as she walked back to the house.
Liam was seated on the living room floor when she walked in, the new toys spread around him. “I washed them all.” He held out his hand when she put a curious Max on the floor. “I wanted to be sure he was safely bribed.”
Max walked over and sniffed Liam’s hand, his tail wagging. He gave a happy bark and let Liam give him a rub before turning his attention to his new toys.
“You spoiled him.” Daisy crouched down beside Liam when Max brought her a KONG to inspect. “Now he’s going to expect toys from every stranger who comes into the house.”
“I’m not a stranger.” Liam pulled her onto his lap. “You’ve known me for a very long time.”
“I’m beginning to realize that I knew you and didn’t know you at the same time.” She cupped his jaw, rough with a five-o’clock shadow. “You had a whole life outside of this house that I didn’t know much about, except for the year we were in school together when you were either in the principal’s office or making out with one of the senior girls in the hallways.”
“That’s because I couldn’t make out with you.” He nuzzled her neck, his breath warm on her skin. Max dropped his KONG and jumped on her lap to see what was going on. Daisy gave him a reassuring pat and he went back to inspecting his new toys.
“I would have been thrilled if you had made out with me,” she said. “That’s all I thought about.”
“You were Sanjay’s little sister. There was a bro code I couldn’t break, and I couldn’t get my head around the fact that you were suddenly not a little girl. I had to ask him if I could take you to the prom, and even then he threatened me with all sorts of violence if I did anything more than hold your hand.”
“That doesn’t sound like Sanjay.” She nuzzled his neck, breathing in the scent of him. “He barely knew I existed.”
“He had his own issues, but don’t think he didn’t care about you.”
She sat up so she could study his face. “What happened on prom night, Liam? You said you would tell me.”
He leaned back against the wall, and pulled her against him, her back to his chest, his arms around her waist, his breath warm on her hair. “My mother gave me the money to buy a tux,” he said softly. “I had every intention of taking you. I was looking forward to it.”
“Me, too.” She watched Max carry his new toys to his basket, one by one, as if he were afraid someone was going to take them away if he didn’t have them near.
“I didn’t have a car, and I couldn’t carry the tux on my motorcycle, so a friend offered to take me to pick it up,” Liam continued, his voice growing fainter. “He showed up in a car that I knew wasn’t his, but he told me had permission to drive it. We got the tux, and on the way home, he decided to see how fast it could go. He lost control of the car and it hit a lamppost.”
Daisy gasped, looked up, but his gaze was far away. “Were you hurt?”
“The airbags saved us, although our faces were pretty banged up. By the time the police got there, we were already out of the car to check the damage. I didn’t realize that my friend was high when he picked me up. He told me right after the crash, but before that nothing about his behavior made me think he’d been using. Even the police didn’t suspect anything, but then they ran the plate and discovered the car was stolen.” His hands tightened around her and she covered them with her own. “He was a good guy, a great friend.” His voice thickened. “He didn’t deserve to lose everything because of one mistake. He’d done so much for me over the years, I couldn’t let him throw his life away.”
“Oh, Liam . . .” Knowing what he was going to say, she looked up again, saw his pulse throb in the hollow at the base of his neck.
“Drugs, plus a stolen car . . . it would have been the end of the career that he’d been dreaming about all his life.” He let out a ragged breath. “So I told the police I’d been driving. They took me to the station and threw me in jail. I needed my one phone call for a lawyer, or I would have called you.”