Chasing Shadows (First Wives #3)(20)

“I wanted to meet you,” Liam said.

“Yeah, well, you’ve met her.” Lori wasn’t happy.

Nikki showed up with Avery’s and Liam’s drinks.

“My usual, Nikki,” Lori told her.

“Hon, our reservations are in thirty minutes. Maybe we should go.”

Lori looked at Reed like he was crazy. “We aren’t leaving him with her. He could be a sociopath.”

Liam smiled, his eyes crinkling with amusement. “I’m not.”

“That’s what they all say.”

Avery put a free hand in the air. “Chill, Lori.”

Avery realized that her other hand had somehow ended up back in Liam’s. His thumb stroked the underside of her wrist in a strangely calming way.

“Do you want a drink, Reed?” Nikki was still standing there, watching the four of them.

“No, thank you. We’re leaving.”

Lori pushed back her chair. “We’re going to talk about this later,” she warned Avery. “And you . . . just so you know, I’m an attorney, and my big, burly husband here is in private security. He has even bigger friends.”

Liam reached into his back pocket and removed his wallet. From it, he pulled out what looked like a business card. “I have nothing to hide.”

Lori glanced at it briefly before Reed snatched it from her fingertips. “C’mon. Let’s leave them to their date.”

Liam stood again and shook Reed’s hand before he ushered Lori out of the bar.

“That was intense.”

“My friends are protective.”

“Understatement.”

“You really went through all that just to meet me?”

Liam picked up his drink for the first time. “Worked, didn’t it?”

Avery let loose his hand and lifted her glass to his. “Yes, it did.”



Avery had moved a little farther away after her friends left. But her rapt attention told him she was interested.

“So you don’t introduce your dates to your friends?” Liam picked a few things out of their conversation with Lori and Reed.

“My dates, as you call them, aren’t usually around long enough to meet the important people in my life.”

He’d ordered a steak and she’d ordered fish. He cut into his dinner while he spoke. “Should I be flattered?”

She paused, her fork halfway to her mouth. “We were ambushed tonight. It isn’t like I brought you to a plus-one event.”

“A plus-one what?”

“You know, an invitation that leaves it open for you to add a person . . . plus-one.”

“Do you ever take someone to a plus-one?”

She considered him for a second. “If you want to know about my dating life, just ask.”

He started to do just that before she cut him off.

“And don’t judge when I deliver answers you might not want to hear.”

He set his knife down. “Now I’m really curious.”

She chewed her food and didn’t add anything.

“Okay, Avery . . . tell me about your dating life.”

She sipped her drink and said, “I don’t.”

“Date?”

“Yeah, I don’t date.”

“You don’t seem like the hermit type.”

She placed a hand on the table. “Dating is holding hands and long walks on the beach, fancy dinners and midnight phone calls that may or may not include dirty pictures. Dating is attempting to go somewhere.” She lifted her fork and dug back in. “I don’t do that. I meet guys, flirt, have a good time, and move on.”

He wasn’t expecting that. “Sounds like a man.”

She shook her head. “No. Men don’t admit that they are players to the women they hook up with. Me? I’m honest about it. Makes it a whole lot easier to avoid that plus-one thing.”

“And if the guy wants more?”

Avery smirked. “I haven’t met him.”

Liam was silent until she looked up.

“Yes, you have.”





Chapter Nine



Her skin itched, like it was a suit she wasn’t used to wearing or it was made of wool and she was poolside in Palm Springs.

Liam had taken the power away with one sentence and one look. And when she couldn’t come up with anything to force the ball back into her court, he started a conversation about his work. He was a contractor. Legit, with a crew of twenty guys he kept employed most of the time. While he spelled out a day at work, Avery gave up eating her dinner and proceeded to order a third cocktail. She was more than a little tipsy, which became evident when it was time to leave the bar. “I’ll pay.” She reached for the bill.

Liam managed to grab it before she could. “Not in this lifetime.”

“Oh, please. You’re not one of those guys.”

“What kind of guy is that?”

“The kind that think a woman isn’t capable of paying a bill.”

“If you live in this neighborhood, I’m pretty sure you can pay the bill. But you’re not buying my meals.”

She reached for it again. “Then we split.”

“Avery, stop. I got it. Let me be the guy my mother raised.”