Page 23 of Worth the Risk

“I told her this morning.” I pat his forearm, looking down at where I’ve just planted my hand. Why are men’s forearms so attractive? I pull my hand away quickly, folding it in my lap and clearing my throat. “What other one should I start tonight Ro?”

“Going on a date.” She looks over towards the bar and dance floor area. “Maybe you’ll find a cute eligible bachelor here to ask, or maybe he’ll ask you.” I notice her look in Liams direction, like she’s trying to clue him in to something.

“I don’t know.” I say at the same time Liam says, “That’s a great idea.” I look over at him and his face says the opposite of the words that just came out of his mouth, there’s no smile, just darkened eyes that dart away from mine and back to the spot on his arm that I had my hand on earlier.

“Okay.” I nod and take a deep breath, “I’ll go grab us drinks and scope out the scene.” As I’m standing and start to head away from the table, Liam grabs my hand lightly, shoving his credit card into it. “Liam.”

“Please let me pay.”

“I’ll never say no, closing the wage gap one drink at a time.” Rosie laughs, “I’ll have a margarita please.”

I laugh with her because of course that’s how she’d react to him wanting to pay. “Liam?”

“Just a water.”

“You sure?”

“Yes.” I nod and head off towards the busy bar. The stools around the bar are full but there are also areas with people standing waiting for their drinks or waiting to order. I find an opening and slide in, taking deep breaths to try and not get overwhelmed. I never considered myself that short at five foot three, though I know its below average, I’m also very aware I’m not the tallest in the room and this room seems to be full of tall guys. I’m standing at the bar for a good five minutes before someone comes over to take my order, two margaritas and one water. As I’m giving my order to the bartender, someone slides into the stool next to where I’m standing.

“Emilia, hey.” I turn to my left, excited to see James as the man occupying the barstool.

“Hi.” I lean into his side for a quick hug. “I’m glad I actually saw you here.” I’ve never seen James outside of wearing our all-black getup at Nico’s and while he looks good in that he looks even better in the nice black pants with a blue tee on that makes his eyes pop. The bartender serves him his beer, letting me know he’s making my drinks next. James and I start chatting about our classes and work, laughing about different difficult customers we’ve had to deal with.

A few minutes pass by and the bartender comes back with the three drinks I ordered, I eye them wondering how I thought I’d be able to carry these back to the table without spilling on myself. I’m about to ask James if I can leave one with him, I’d come back for it once I successfully delivered two drinks to the table but before I can ask a tall and muscular figure appears behind me. I can see Liam from my peripheral vision, he puts his right hand on my waist and stretches his right arm past me to grab the water sitting on the counter.

“Hey Liam.”

“James.” Liam nods at him.

“You two know each other?” I ask, turning myself around so I can look between the two of them. James is smiling, while Liam has more of a grimace on his face. Clearly if they have any bad blood it seems to be one-sided.

“Yeah,” James starts, looking at me, “We play together.”

My jaw pops open and I look over at James, “You play baseball?” It’s at this moment that I realize I don’t know that much about James outside of work and what he majors in. Though him being athletic doesn’t come as a total shock, he’s not quite as tall as Liam, a few inches shorter I’d guess but he has an incredibly toned figure and the shaggy blonde hair really rounds out the baseball look.

“Sure do.” James has his happy smile still plastered on his face. “Not as good as this guy here though, captain and all.” Liam gives James a tight smile and I wonder why Liam seems to dislike him so much. Maybe there’s some drama on the team. Boys always have some weird rivalry when it comes to sports.

“We should get these back to the table.” Liam nods towards the drinks, I pick up the margaritas and Liam grabs the water. I turn around and see the crowd around the bar has thickened and I gulp thinking about making it through that crowd without spilling something on myself. Liam, perceptive as he is, notices my hesitation and leans down to whisper in my ear. “Don’t worry I got you.” Goosebumps break out over my skin as his breath hits just behind my ear.

“See ya later, Em.” James holds up his beer in place of a wave.

Liam plants one hand firmly around my waist as we shuffle through the small opening in the crowd. As we pass through the crowd he says excuse me in a firm voice, one that makes you want to do exactly as he says. People seem to agree with me as they magically float out of the way in his presence. All the way to the table he keeps a strong arm on my waist, one I secretly hope he doesn’t remove. Speaking of our table there’s another person sitting there now next to Rosie, I can’t tell who it is from here but when we get to the booth, I see it’s Ryan sitting next to her. Before I can even say hi Rosie is reaching across the table to grab one of the margaritas I’m holding.

“Oh thank gosh.” She immediately takes a sip, giving a little moan after the liquid courses down her throat. “Oh, these are good.” Rosie shimmies in her seat. Ryan watches her, his blue eyes lighting up at her happiness, before he turns back to us spotting Liam’s hand still around my waist. Raising his eyebrows with a look I can’t decipher, Liam lets his hand fall to his side and I instantly miss his warm and protective touch.

I slide into the booth across from Rosie and Liam slides in after me, I take a sip of my drink and she’s right, these are really good, the perfect mixture of salt with the right amount of lime juice to balance out the strong tequila.

“Was that James up there?” Rosie asks me as we sip on our drinks.

“It was.”

“He’s cute.” Ryan stiffens besides her before taking a swig of his beer.

“Yeah, he is. He’s nice too.” I smile down at my drink, maybe James would be perfect to ask on a date. I already know him so I don’t think it’d be awkward, unless he said no. The boys are quiet beside us for what feels like forever but is probably just a minute, before Liam starts asking Ryan about hockey practices.

“Let’s finish these and go dance.” Rosie states, taking a final sip of her drink before gesturing for Ryan to get out of her way. He obliges and Liam does the same for me, grabbing my hand as I’m walking away and spinning me slightly. “Just let me know when you're ready to leave, okay?” I nod at him, giving him a soft smile before Rosie grabs my other hand dragging me away to the dance floor.

Chapter 14

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