Liam's Perfect Woman (Home to Harbor Town 2) - Page 23

He leaned closer, so that when he spoke she felt his breath brush against her temple.

“It makes a difference to me,” he said. “It should to you. Natalie?”

“Yes,” she mouthed.

“I wish it made a difference to you.”

She looked up at him slowly. Sure enough, his mouth hovered just inches away from her own. He’d moved closer. Her left arm lay flush against his torso. The tingling tip of her left breast pressed against his ribs.

His mouth lowered, and Natalie realized distantly she’d entered that fog of sensuality that had encapsulated her several days ago in Liam’s driveway. Despite her heart pumping out a warning, she couldn’t seem to gather sufficient will to do much of anything but anticipate Liam’s mouth closing on her own.

A man spoke and a woman laughed shrilly. Natalie started and saw two men and a blonde woman walking toward the booth in front of them. She recognized Betsy Darnel. Betsy had taken off her jacket. Her top looked more like a draped silk handkerchief tied around her neck than a blouse. It covered her chest, but left her shoulders, back and a strip of belly almost completely bare. The two men who had accompanied her to the table were shamelessly checking out Betsy’s rear-view as she came toward their booth, but Betsy only had eyes for Liam.

“Hi, Liam,” Betsy said.

“Hey, Betsy.”

“Let me out. Please,” Natalie hissed quietly.

“When I saw you at the Shop and Save yesterday you said you were too busy to come to Jake’s tonight,” Betsy reminded Liam, unaware of Natalie’s mutterings. Natalie put her glasses back on and grabbed her bag. Her need to get out of the crowded bar had just grown exponentially. “I guess you changed your mind about coming,” Betsy continued, sounding a little sulky. “How come you’re sitting way back here, where you can’t even hear the music very well?”

“We were talking. We needed some quiet. And some privacy,” Liam replied. Natalie shoved her bag into his ribs, making him grunt.

“Talking, huh?” Betsy mused. Liam gave Natalie a surprised, annoyed glance and scooted out of the seat, probably because he didn’t want to be jabbed again. Once Natalie’s way was clear she shot out of the booth as if she’d been stored under pressure. “I hope I’m not interrupting a personal moment or anything,” Betsy said as she gave Natalie the once-over.

Natalie hitched her bag onto her shoulder, highly aware of Liam’s tall form hovering over her the whole time.

“No, nothing personal,” she told Betsy coolly. “It was just a business meeting. Good night.”

She ignored Betsy’s sarcastic laugh of disbelief.

“Natalie, wait.”

She heard Liam call out, but she ignored him as she rushed away.

Brigit Kavanaugh waved distractedly at Liam from her kneeling position in her garden.

“Something is eating my lettuce and tomatoes, Chief. I demand answers!” she said with mock imperiousness as she stood.

“If you’re implying my soon-to-be job is going to involve hot pursuits of salad-eating rabbits, you’re not doing much to bolster my confidence about taking it.”

Liam felt a little guilty, given his reason for being there, when his mother laughed in a carefree manner. She didn’t laugh enough, nowadays.

“That sun is fierce. Come on, let’s go in the air-conditioning. I want to talk to you about something,” Liam said.

Brigit led him into the cool, shaded front room. The Kavanaughs hardly ever used the living room. They were a kitchen, front porch or beach sort of family. There had been a formal dining room and an elegant parlor in Liam’s childhood home in Chicago; he didn’t miss them a bit. Even before the lawsuits, even before they’d moved to the Harbor Town vacation home permanently, the Kavanaughs hadn’t spent much time in stuffy surroundings. His brother and sisters had always begged to eat in the kitchen or on their large, shaded terrace; most nights they’d been indulged. Derry Kavanaugh had made the kind of salary that allowed him to support his wife’s tastes in luxury, but Derry himself

would rather eat in the cozy, slightly messy kitchen with his children than in the formal dining room.

“So what’s this all about?” Brigit asked briskly as she sat next to him on the tufted couch.

Liam didn’t know how to start. It was more difficult than he’d anticipated, broaching the topic of his father. In the end, he just took the plunge. “Mom, was Dad upset when you saw him? On the night of the accident?”

Brigit’s smile shrunk.

“What?” she croaked, her expression leading Liam to believe she wasn’t quite sure she’d heard him correctly.

“On the night of the accident. Was Dad upset? You saw him before he went out, isn’t that right?”

Tags: Beth Kery Home to Harbor Town Billionaire Romance
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