Page 25 of The Money Shot

The rest of the train ride was tense. Liam kept his mouth shut, staring out the window like he could will the tracks to move faster. When we reached our stop, he bolted out the doors, and I followed him, carrying one of his mystery bags. We made it back to our apartment building and stepped into the lobby, where Nessa was behind the front desk, typing away.

Then, as if in slow motion, the bag Liam was holding split at the bottom. A big, industrial-size bottle of lube hit the marble floor with a loud thud. Liam’s mouth dropped open, frozen, and I caught Nessa’s smirk as she glanced down at the bottle. She bent to pick it up, eyebrows raised.

“Good lord, hon. Planning on giving someone the weekend of their life?” she quipped, handing the bottle back to Liam, who was blushing furiously. I snickered, and when Nessa shot me a wink, I almost lost it. “Love the name of that stuff. The Happy Ending Helper.”

“Thanks, Nessa,” Liam muttered, tucking the bottle under his arm. We made a beeline for the elevator, and the minute we got inside, he turned his face away, like he could somehow hide from me.

When we got into the apartment, I dropped my bag on the coffee table and turned to him, grinning. “Okay, Liam. What’s with the lube? And what else is in those bags?”

His cheeks went pink, and he shook his head. “Don’t worry about it,” he mumbled, reaching to take the bags I was still holding.

As he grabbed one, though, it split open too, and a box slipped out. I bent down to pick it up, realizing immediately what I was holding: a fleshlight, right there in all its glory. I looked at him, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh my god,” Liam whispered, wide-eyed, and for a second, he looked like he was ready to melt into the floor. I burst out laughing, unable to hold it in any longer.

“Did you just get super horny on your lunch break or what?” I asked, still chuckling. Liam’s hand went up to his mouth, biting his lower lip. Then he looked away, but he didn’t deny it. Instead, he bolted for his room.

He was back in a moment, face still flushed, and took the fleshlight from me, along with the other bags. I crossed my arms, smirking. “So, what other sexy stuff did you buy?”

Liam’s face was so red I thought he might actually burst into flames, but then he straightened his shoulders and looked me right in the eye. “This is nothing to be ashamed of. I have a sex life, and I’m proud of it,” he said, sounding like he was trying to convince himself as much as me. “Mind your own business.”

Of course, I couldn’t help myself. I snatched a bag out of his hands and dumped it out right there on the coffee table. Massage oils, a dildo, a sleek-looking vibrator, and… several pairs of lacy, very not basic underwear tumbled out. I lost it, laughing so hard my sides hurt.

Liam slumped onto the couch and buried his face in his hands. “Dude, what’s gotten into you?” I managed between laughs. Then I picked up the dildo, holding it up like a trophy. “Actually… don’t answer that. I think I know what will be…”

Liam leapt off the couch, grabbed the rest of his… collection, and dashed to his room, slamming the door behind him so hardthe walls shook. My laughter faded, and guilt settled in. Maybe I’d taken it too far. The guy looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him whole, and I just kept pushing him.

I walked over to his door, lifted my hand to knock… and then dropped it. Liam was probably dying from embarrassment, and me hanging around would only make it worse. So, I headed to my room instead.

I slipped out of my work clothes and pulled on some gray sweats and a T-shirt. But then, as I laid back on the bed, an image popped into my head—Liam, alone in his room, maybe trying out that vibrator. It caught me off guard. My eyes drifted shut, and suddenly I was picturing him stretched out on his bed, naked, flushed, his hand moving lower…

I swallowed, feeling a wave of heat roll through me. I’d always known Liam was attractive—more than attractive, really—but he’d been in the friend zone for so long it just never crossed my mind to think of him that way.

Until now.

I placed my hands behind my head, lying there, letting the image of him play out in my mind. And for the first time… I didn’t push it away.

Chapter Fifteen

Liam

Immediately after getting off the subway in Manhattan with Jack this morning, I walked around the block, then went back to the station and got on the first train back to the apartment.

As soon as I stepped into the building lobby, I loosened my tie, taking a long breath. Faking a full day at work was exhausting, and I was ready to just… well, do what I’d planned. Whatever that was going to look like.

Then I heard the rapid click of high heels against the marble floors and barely had time to brace myself before Nessa appeared out of nowhere, her phone already in my face.

“Is this your Instagram account?” she asked, her eyes bright with curiosity as she held her phone right up to me. “I like to follow all my tenants online.”

Dimitri, the security guard, chuckled from behind his desk. “Sure, sure. She’s adding him to the hot tenants’ account. Poor kid doesn’t even know.”

“Shut it, Dimitri,” she shot back, barely glancing his way. “Liam here is prime feed material. You don’t mind if I show you off on my account every once in a while, do you, sweetie?”

I glanced down, hoping she hadn’t found anything else. My shoulders relaxed when I saw it was my normal account—plain old Liam Murphy. Just the usual snapshots of me at parties or hanging out at the park. No sign of the other account I’d set up last night for Lucien Steel.

“Yeah, that’s me. You can follow me, Nessa.”

“Already did, sweetie.” She winked, tapping her screen.

---