Page 34 of The CEO I Hate

We got the couch into the apartment, which took some more wiggling since the doorway was narrow. But once the couch was in the living room, I hung back to help Mrs. Franklin adjust it while Liam disappeared. I thought maybe he’d left, annoyed at having to help in the first place, but I could hear him talking in the hall.

“All good?” I asked Mrs. Franklin.

“Yes, thank you so much.”

“No problem.” I took the bag with the yearbooks, then headed for the door.

“I don’t think you understand what ‘back off’ means.” Liam’s voice was low, sharp, and dangerous.

Was he talking to Earl? He had to be.

“She’s not interested,” Liam continued. “And she damn well doesn’t need you pestering her. Understand?”

Earl rushed past me as I stepped out into the hall. He barely glanced at me. Clearly, Liam had put the fear of God in him. The corner of my mouth twitched. Once the Franklins were both back in the apartment with the door closed, I turned to Liam, giving him a look.

“What?” He scowled.

We headed for the stairwell, making our way up the last three flights. “You know, I don’t need you protecting me from overconfident twenty-year-olds,” I told him.

“You clearly do since this one seemed to be trying to attach himself to you like a leech.”

“Hardly.”

Liam’s eyes narrowed. “You’re more vulnerable than you realize.”

“Vulnerable? Ha!” I couldn’t keep the amusement out of my voice. “You make it sound like I need a bodyguard.”

He snorted. “You do have a habit of attracting the wrong kind of attention.”

What the hell was that supposed to mean? “I’m not some damsel in distress you need to save.”

“You were practically being crushed by a sofa when I arrived,” he grumbled. “So, damsel, meet distress.”

We’d finally reached the eighth floor. I came to a stop outside Jake’s door, and I crossed my arms, my temper flaring.

Liam closed in on me, his eyes bright. “Guys like that are insufferable. They need to be put in their place.”

“And I suppose you’re gonna do that for me?”

“If I have to,” he growled. His eyes flicked over me. “And I’d enjoy every second of it.”

“Because you like bullying poor little twenty-year-olds?”

“Because I like reminding them to keep away from what doesn’t belong to them.”

The moment grew charged, the hairs on my arms standing up straight as I swallowed my gasp. I didn’t belong to Liam either, so what was he saying? A wave of delicious heat washed through me, settling in my lower stomach. It was so different from the reaction I’d had to Peter PorterorEarl Franklin.

“Well, maybe I don’t want you to put them in their place,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. “I don’t need you to.”

Liam took another step closer, his presence suddenly overwhelming. “You sure about that?” he murmured, his breath warm as it washedover my face. “Because something tells me you weren’t all that bothered watching Earl scramble back into his apartment.”

His words hung in the air between us, and my pulse quickened.

“I think you don’t really know what you want,” Liam said, his voice a low rumble.

Maybe that was true, because right now, with him bearing down on me, I sort of wanted to surge forward and kiss him. But that would be insanity.

The door swung open behind us, and I whirled around, spotting Jake.

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