Page 99 of Off The Ice

Liam’s arm tightened around me, pulling me to his side in a protective grip. I didn’t know if it was for show, but I knew, at least partially, that he wanted to protect me from all this. The part of the job he hated.

And while it overwhelmed me, I never felt safer than I did beside Liam. It wasn’t just that he was tall and big and had that resting expression daring anyone to see what happens if they get too close. It was that I felt some part of him truly cared about me, even if it wasn’t in the way I wanted. I knew that if he could help it, he wouldn’t let anything hurt me.

“Mr. Brynn.” A microphone was shoved into his face. “Who’s the lovely lady serving as your date tonight?”

“Private,” he said in a clipped tone, moving us along before anyone had a chance to argue.

Thankfully, there were plenty of Harbor Wolves players whodidn’tmind getting their photos taken or being interviewed, but it was clear Liam was the one everyone wanted.

Maybe it was because he denied them so often that all the reporters went after him. Everyone wanted to be the one he stopped for, the one he gave attention to at last. They wanted to be the one to earn the sought-after privilege of being the one Liam Brynn finally paused for.

But he didn’t stop. Not for any of them.

“I’m sorry about that,” he said when he led us inside the most extravagant lobby I’d ever set foot in.

Everything was shimmering and gold, the glow of the ornate chandelier filling the room with a warm light. It felt more like I was inside the palace of some aristocrat than a place people could pay money to stay at.

“It’s fine,” I said, honestly, taking everything in. “I know what I signed up for.”

He gave me a smile of gratitude, and I had to look away. Not just to take in the breathtaking hotel we were standing inside, but because Liam was so beautiful tonight that it hurt to look at him.

I waited for his hand to fall away now that the cameras were behind us, but it never did. I knew the longer I felt it, the worse it would be when he finally took it back.

Just like how tomorrow would feel after spending a night by his side, pretending to be the one he wanted.

I fought a sigh. Maybe I hadn’t thought this all the way through.

“We can still go home if you want.” His voice was low, closer than I expected.

I stared up at him, wondering how long he’d been studying me for him to be able to notice the slightest shifts in my demeanor.

“If that were an option, we wouldn’t be here in the first place,” I teased. Being here with him wasn’t the problem. It was being anywhere without him afterward that I was worried about.

“I don’t care,” Liam said intensely, eyes boring into mine in a way that left me dizzy. “I’ll deal with the fallback. If you want to go, we’ll go.”

“Liam,” I said, tilting my head with a smile. “I’m fine, really.”

“You always say that.” He rolled his eyes, but everything about his demeanor was soft… gentle, almost.

“This time, I mean it,” I said honestly. “I promise.”

He narrowed his eyes on me, scrutinizing as if he could detect if I was telling the truth or not with just a look.

“Come on,” I said, nodding my head in the direction where Maggie and Brody had wandered off. “Let’s go have some fun.”

“Fun,” he repeated with a huff. “You have a great way of spinning things, you know that?”

I laughed, and he led us to the ballroom, but the only thing I was aware of was the way his hand slipped down until it found mine.

Fooling everyone around us of the lie that I knew better than to believe: tonight, Liam Brynn was mine.

Liam

It was loud. There were too many people. And I was being asked a lot of fucking questions. Everything that made up the stuff of my worst nightmare of an evening.

But it wasn’t.

And that was solely because of the blonde sitting next to me, who hadn’t left my side for even a moment.

---