Page 121 of Awestruck at Dusk
“Perfect,” he said, leaving the empty tumbler on the table. He grabbed my hands and pulled me against him.
“Liam, what the hell are you doing?” I asked as he placed my hand over his shoulder and grabbed my waist. He started swaying me to the rhythm of the Bossa Nova beats.Dancing.
“Fact number one.” He leaned in and whispered in my ear, “I’m not hitting on you, I promise.” I lifted a brow as in,explain yourself then. “I’ve nothing against redheads, believe me. But I’m more of a brunette kind of guy.Abrunette if I’m being specific. But she’s away right now, and I’m not sure yet if we’re an item or not. I know she fancies me, but she’s always training, and she’s got a major attitude problem if you ask me.”
“Why?”
“Well, she’s somewhat mercurial and a tiny bit hot-tempered. But I’m willing to do the work if you know what I mean.” He winked.
“Mercurial?” I asked with a raised brow and a teasing laugh.
“What?” He laughed back. “I don’t know. A reporter at the Australian Open said that about her and I knew I had to google it. I’ve been teasing her about it ever since. Let’s say she’s … volatile.”
Liam was keeping me entertained, for sure. “So, who’s the lucky girl?”
“I’m not supposed to tell you because it might be an issue if it gets out. But since I’ma snitchand you don’t look like one, I’ll share the little secret with you.”
I snorted because, come on, he couldn’t even keep his own secrets to himself. Hewasa snitch. “And something tells me everyone you know already knows about this, right?”
“Oh, yeah, definitely.” He laughed. “Her name’s Belén Freeman.” He lifted his brows as if waiting to get a reaction out of me.
“Ilooovethat name. Where’s she from? Spain? Should I know her?”
“You’re messing with me, right?” he asked. “She’s BelénFreeman.”
“You’re barking up the wrong tree, mate,” I said with a terrible English accent. Liam rolled his eyes at me. “You know I didn’t know who William was when I met him, right? I’m the worst for this sort of thing.”
“Ah, yes! I’ve heard the stories. But unfortunately, I still don’t buy it.” Liam twirled me as I gaped at him with a laugh.
“It’s the truth! Why would I lie about it?” I replied with indignation as he pulled me back in.
“Because… with a lad like William, you’d be poking at his ego. It would make you seem more appealing, somehow,” he said, looking in William’s direction. “You’re a smart girl, eh? But your secret’s safe with me, Red. Don’t worry.” He winked.
He was so infuriating, and I wasn’t going to beg him to believe me. So I let him think whatever he wanted to think. “Tell me who Belén is. Is she an actress?”
“She’s Belén freakingFreeman! The tennis pro. Jesus.” He shook his head with disappointment. “I promise to invite you to the US Open in a couple of months. It’ll do you good to get out and such. I’ve got a few tickets, of course. And I know she’s going to win it this time, so I’ll take you to the women’s final so that you can get a taste of the glory. That Kruschenko girl has a bad knee, and she’s Belén’s only real opponent right now.”
“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about,” I said with a laugh. “I’m guessing Kruschenko is a Russian tennis player?”
“She is. Zoya,” he said with an exaggerated annoyed look on his face. “And we don’t like her. Wehateher. She’s the bad guy—the villain. You get the gist.”
“Okay,” I chirped. “I’ll make sure to remember that.” I officially liked Liam now. “Okay so, you mentioned fact number one. And something tells me you’re going to start rolling out more facts on me, so carry on.”
“Right. Fact number two: Iama snitch, a busybody, and all that rubbish,” he said, flapping a hand in a carefree motion. He placed it back on my waist and continued. “But not by choice. It just happens that Tobias is all the above, as you very well mentioned before. And he tells meeverythingbecause we love each other dearly and have nothing better to do at times in between jobs. And it’s a tough competitive industry, so we do find ourselves with quite a lot of spare time in our hands.” Liam looked up and laughed at his own joke. I couldn’t help but laugh a little bit too, either. “We can’t all be William Sjöberg. Heavily booked all the time—acclaimed.”
I tensed up when he mentioned William.
“Ah!” he exclaimed. “There it is. On to fact number three. My favorite one of all.” He looked over my shoulder and met my gaze again with a laugh.
“Please, just tell me what you’re doing.”
“Just fact-checking.”
“Liam.”
“I swear that’s what I was doing,” he said, still easing out of a chuckle. “Fact number three consists of how I know all about you and William. And my fact-checker went nuts right now. That gnarly look on his face only confirms to me that he’s got his knickers in a twist because of—this.” He gestured with his hand back and forth between us.
“No, he doesn’t. That’s his—resting William face.”He doesn’t care who I talk or dance with anymore. “And I’m going to kill Tobias for this.”
