Page 63 of Search for the Truth
Not on the outfit that looked so good on her, not on the way her small smile made the room feel brighter, and not on the way her lips shone with whatever makeup she had put on for their outing.
Liam had already messed up the day before. One second he had been listening to her excitedly rattle off ways to help him solve their current complicated questions, and the next he’d wanted something so simple all other thoughts had left his mind.
He wanted to kiss her.
That was it.
Liam wanted to kiss Blake in the middle of their chaos. Not out of worry or pity or attraction only.
He had wanted to be closer to her, simple as could be.
It had been such a strong yet singular desire that he had thought about it for a long while later that night when alone on the couch.
No matter what he was feeling, no matter why, he wasn’t about to make Blake uncomfortable. Something he had clearly already done by the move. So he had made a resolution to keep things professional as could be.
As normal as could be.
Definitely no thinking about how beautiful she was.
Definitely no staring at her lips.
So he cleared his throat again and returned her small smile.
“Ready to go?” he asked.
Blake nodded.
“Are you ready to keep your cool around a man we both have already agreed we dislike?”
Liam grumbled as he grabbed his keys. He waited until they were inside his truck and pulling out to answer with words.
“You get this no-good guy talking and I’ll keep him going,” he said. “But I’m here to let you know that if you had asked me last week if I was going to tag along on a coffee date with Kyle Langdon, I never would have had meeting Missy’s ex for a coffee date on my Bingo card.”
Blake let out a chuckle.
“If it means we might figure out where that laptop of hers is, you’ll just have to learn to endure there, Sheriff.”
Liam grumbled again.
“I just don’t get a man like that,” he said after they made their way back to the main road. He didn’t say it, but Liam had been focused on making sure no one was around or following them. He had no doubt Blake was doing the same.
“What do you mean? A man who cheats, or a man who immediately gets with his girlfriend’s best friend after they break up?”
“Both,” Liam said. “But what I meant was how he’s taken Missy’s death. No matter how it happened or why it happened, he doesn’t seem...like I think he should. I mean, they broke up, and a week later this happened to her. I’ve been divorced from my ex for years, and I think I’d still be upset if she died.”
The thought was true, but Liam felt the need to correct it just a little.
“I mean not because I still have feelings for her like that but just because she’s a human I used to spend all my time with.” He shook his head. “Unless he’s really just a despicable piece of scum, I would have thought he would be more...affected. Even with his new girlfriend.”
“Maybe he’s hiding it,” Blake offered.
Liam shrugged.
“He did, and is doing, a good job of it then. Might have to tell him to try his hand at acting.”
She let that thread of thought sit. A small silence stretched between them.
Blake broke it a few blocks before they made it the Twenty-Two Coffee Shop.
