Page 52 of A Vine Mess
Liam shook his head. “He was actually a lawman, and he fought and spied for the Union during the Civil War.”
My eyes widened. “So he was actually…a good guy?”
“Seems that way.”
Damn. Incredible, the way time could twist the truth until it became something unrecognizable.
Isn’t that exactly what had happened to me by the end of my relationship with Alfie? He’d stripped away everything I’d been, the woman I was growing into, until I was the girlhewanted. And even then, it hadn’t been enough to make him stay.
“Calamity Jane was apparently a mostly upstanding citizen too,” he continued, unaware of the negative turn my thoughts had taken. “Although, she was an alleged prostitute, so maybe notthatupstanding.”
His comment was wild enough to pull me out of the funk that threatened me, and a laugh bubbled out. “Where did you learn all this shit?”
He shrugged. “Google.”
That only made me laugh harder, and I clapped a hand over my mouth to quell it. We were in a cemetery, for fuck’s sake. I needed to show some respect.
Eventually, after taking a few turns along the paths, studying the old monuments and headstones, seeing who could find the oldest one with a legible date, we meandered back down into town in search of some food.
“Bet you feel a kinship with these wild westerns,” Liam said, jostling me with his elbow as we walked down the sidewalk. Twenty or so feet ahead of us, the fake robber from earlier held up another couple.
With a chuckle, I slapped him playfully in response to his comment. “Ahh yes, criminals. My kinda folk.”
“Your entire family enterprisewasbuilt on illegal activity,” he reminded me.
“Be careful how loud you say that!” I hissed jokingly, pulling him into an alcove and furtively glancing up and down the street, pretending like the lawmen were after me. “People could get the wrong idea!”
Liam boomed out a laugh, and I pinched him to shut him up. “You’re ridiculous. Maybe I should shorten your nickname to ‘Wild.’”
“Shhhh,” I whispered. “There are eyes everywhere.”
But there weren’t. Definitely not here in this small, shaded space.
I moved my hand to his cheek, loving the rough stubble against my delicate palm.
Liam’s eyes fluttered closed briefly as he sighed, then opened again. That ocean blue stare fucking leveled me.
“There aren’t any eyes on us, Wildflower,” he said quietly. “Just mine on you.”
I inhaled sharply, the movement sending the tips of my breasts brushing against Liam’s upper abdomen. Fuck, he was tall. And so broad he could turn us sideways and entirely block my body from view. He could cocoon us in here so no one would ever see what was happening between us.
That was enough to get my heart rate pumping, but it was only when his palms settled on my hips, his fingers flexing into the sides of my ass, reminding me of our night in the tent, that I realized what a truly grave error I had made.
Slowly, I dropped my hand from his face, only to lower it to his chest, copping a feel of a single ridiculously firm and meaty pec, and Liam licked his lips.
“W-what’re you doing?” I asked.
“Touching you. Is that okay?”
“Depends what you’re going to do next.”
“I’m not sure,” he answered honestly, his voice a low rumble that sent goosebumps skittering across my skin. “Every nerve ending in my body is demanding I pull you closer, but my mindis screaming at me that that’s a bad idea. So we’re going to let you decide.”
I lifted my other hand so both were on his chest. Like this, I could push him away—or curl my fingers into the soft material of his tee and pull him closer. Fuse our mouths together and give into this attraction sparking to life between us.
But…I wasn’t ready for that, and he must’ve been watching me closely enough to understand the second I made the decision, must’ve seen it in my eyes because he only nodded, yielded a step but took my hand, and pulled me from the alcove.
“Are we okay?” I dared ask as he dropped my hand once we were back out in the open and set a brisk pace up the street in the direction of the old timey saloon we’d passed earlier.
