Page 9 of Crushing On Dad's Best Friend
5
Katherine
The lights are slowly coming backon and I’m waking up without even realizing I’d been asleep. I shake my head and tighten my ponytail, looking around half-confused but wrapped in that blissful state of waking up in a strange place and being reminded you’re onvacation.
My lips melt into a smile as I yawn and stretch, then glance at the seat next tome.
Where’d he go, and how long was I sleeping? How long was I leaning against him? Oh God, I hope I didn’t drool on him…orworse.
The last time I fell asleep in a room full of people was back at my dorm room two months ago. I was dead tired from staying up all night writing a paper and had collapsed into my bed and didn’t wake up when my roommate brought home a few of her friends. They poked me awake when I started talking in mysleep.
If I’d talked in my sleep next to Liam, I hope he would have done me the courtesy of at least waking me up if I’d started saying anythingembarrassing.
I close my eyes, rubbing my shoulders and rolling my neck as everyone starts talking about the movie and rising to their feet around me. I’m still in the thrall of my post-nap glow by the time we’re all upstairs and making our way into the livingroom.
Everyone gets the same exact idea at the exact same time when we all see that the storm clouds have cleared away and the sun isout.
“Awesome!”
“Yesss!”
“Where the hell is Anna’s dad’s hotfriend?”
Messages of all sorts are bouncing around the grand stairwell as we all go to our rooms, and a little possessive streak slices through me when I hear the bridesmaids talk about Liam as hot. They can’t even name him — they just think of him as my and Anna’s dad’s hot friend! The man has a name, and he deserves better than being thought of as some random hotdude.
But I don’t have time to think about my annoyance, or even to really register it as annoyance. It’s just a momentary, passing feeling, and I slip into my room quietly while the rest of the bridal party continues talking, weaving threads of conversation that I don’t evenhear.
When I get inside my room, I march straight for the cute little armoire in the corner and pull out my bathing suit. It’s just a simple black two-piece, nothing too daring. I don’t know if I would be able to pull off something more daring around Liam, though there is a little rattle of adventure tickling my belly rightnow.
I pull the door of my room open, hoping that fate’s smiling down on me, and bounce down the stairs with springs under myfeet.
I stop dead in my tracks when I get half way down the winding, grandstaircase.
“Hey, Katherine,” Liam says, standing at the bottom of thestaircase.
“Hi,” I say, taking the next tentativestep.
Liam’s deep, flashing green eyes are locked on me as though I’m the only woman in the entire world. He’s wearing dark green swim trunks and a black t-shirt that’s stretched across his broad chest, showing off his firm, muscular arms. He’s going to look good getting all wet in the pool,sogood with droplets of water dripping down every sinewy inch ofhim.
He looks me up and down, a dark veil passing over his eyes as he tips his chin down slightly. He’s looking at me with naked attraction in his eyes. Even if he’s totally off-limits, there’s no reason for me to not let myself imagine myself in a nice littlefantasy.
I’m glad I brought my back-up bathing suit withme.
When I get to the bottom of the stairs and feel the heat coming from him, my mouth curls up into a smile that’s both comfortable and nervous, the corners of my lips threaded with both trepidation and relief. It’s a gloriousfeeling.
“Come on,” he says, waving me toward him as though I’m not walking fast enough for his liking. He guides me through the foyer and toward the back of the house, where everyone is already hanging out around the pool. The sun is setting over the edge of a line of trees, silhouetted in black and casting long shadows over the expansivelawn.
“Wow,” I say, taking everything in. I dare a peek up at Liam, who is striding confidently aside me. “This place is soamazing.”
“Your parents really went above and beyond,” hesays.
“I know,” I reply dreamily, “you only get marriedonce.”
I smack myself softly on the forehead and chuckle, and he laughs in a way that says he’s laughingwithme, not at me. I’m so wrapped up in this warm and fuzzy feeling that I forgot that getting divorced is most definitely a thing, and that you can get married a second time. Liam is divorced. I hope I haven’t offended him or suggested that I judge him in any way for his marital status. I feel myself grow a little reticent and slightlyembarrassed.
When we get to the edge of the pool, where some of the bridesmaids are sipping on beers or margaritas and kicking their legs against the surface of the water, Liam peels his shirt off and drops it on my head like I’m a spectator in the first row at a hockey game. There’s glass between us and I can’t reach out and touch him, but his power over me is intoxicating and undeniable. When I pull it off my head, clutching it against my chest and looking up at him, he smiles at me. He did it on purpose. I bite my lip and as I feel heat blossom between mylegs.
He’s about to jump into the pool, but I grab him by the arm before hecan.
