He cradled her jaw with one hand. “What I’d like to do is take you to bed. But I’m trying to restrain the caveman in me—for as long as possible, anyway.”
“Liam…I’m fine,” she whispered, both embarrassed and pleased by his words.
His hands found their way to her waist. Natalie moaned softly when he lowered to her hips and massaged the flesh there in a hungry gesture. His mouth slanted into a grim line.
“Come on, let’s go shower,” he said.
He swatted her bottom and she jumped. She glanced up at him and noticed the gleam in his narrowed eyes. She got off Liam’s warm, hard body as if it had just burned her. As she headed toward the back door, she glanced back over her shoulder cautiously. When she saw the devilish expression on Liam’s face, she gave a hoot of laughter and started running toward the screen door.
He caught her around the waist just as she reached it and lifted her off her feet. He flung open the door as he held her against him with one arm. His twiddling fingers on her waist and belly made her shriek in surprise. Liam burst into laughter at the comical sound. She couldn’t stop laughing as he carried her through the dim kitchen.
“You didn’t know cavemen knew so much about tickling, did you?” he teased as Natalie tried to catch her breath between eruptions of laughter.
“Oh…stop, stop it,” she pleaded bre
athlessly as he carried her through the living room.
“If you insist.”
She gave one last snort after he’d set her on her feet at the base of the stairs. Her cheeks were wet from laughing. Liam stood just inches away, grinning down at her. She tried to give him a repressive look for tickling her half to death, but he looked so appealing, her pretend irritation couldn’t survive.
She grinned back at him as if they were partners in a playful crime.
“I’ll get you back for that,” she murmured softly.
His eyebrows shot upward. “I can’t wait.”
“You’ll be very, very sorry. You’ll see,” Natalie told him before she started up the stairs. His deep laughter followed her.
“Natalie,” he called.
She paused on the stairs and turned.
“You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” he said, his tone completely at odds with their former playfulness.
Her giddy smile vanished. For a few taut seconds, they just stared at each other. The air separating them seemed to pulse with electric tension. Natalie swallowed with difficulty.
“I was thinking…” she began.
“Yes?”
“Maybe we can go to the Captain and Crew for dinner.”
His eyes flashed with surprise. What she’d said hadn’t been what he’d expected, obviously. She saw his widening smile.
Apparently…he’d liked it, though. He’d liked it a lot.
It was nowhere near as bad as she’d always worried it would be, eating in such a bustling, crowded restaurant in Harbor Town. Natalie knew it was because of Liam. He was a buffer, of sorts. It was hard to worry about judgmental appraisals when she was feeling so happy.
Liam was so well known in town that a few of the bolder Harbor Town citizens initially approached their table. He was never rude—from what Natalie could see, his manners were perfectly amiable. Still, people must have noticed some vibe he transmitted, some signal that he wanted privacy, because no one lingered. They were left to the privacy and wonder of their growing feelings.
“That was nice,” Natalie said later when they walked through the door of the cottage. She’d sounded a little breathless. Her sense of anticipation had been mounting ever since their charged encounter on the stairs earlier. It only seemed to build as they had dinner at the Captain and Crew and then took a walk along the harbor.
“You think so?” Liam asked as they walked into the kitchen.
Natalie nodded.
“You seemed relaxed,” Liam said. Despite his casual manner, she knew it wasn’t an off-the-cuff observation. He’d been watching her with keen attention tonight. Her days of believing Liam was a gorgeous, clueless beachboy were long gone.