by Paris Hansen
“Let me get that for you,” he said as he reached for her suitcase.
“Thank you,” she said waiting for him to finish up with her bag before climbing into the back of the cab.
Briefly, he went over her request to double check her destination and what airline she was flying with so he could make sure he was dropping her off at the correct terminal. Before putting the car in drive, he turned around to face her, a manila envelope in his hand.
“I almost forgot. A bike messenger handed this to me when I pulled up. Said to give it to you as soon as you were in the car.”
Finley’s heart stuttered in her chest as she took the envelope from the driver. He turned back around to start the car. Backing up, he pulled out of the parking spot, leaving Finley to contemplate what was in the envelope on her own. She didn’t want to open it, but there was a chance it was completely harmless, that maybe it was a note from Liam or something else completely innocuous. But she had a feeling it wasn’t.
It had been two weeks since she’d received any threats. Not a single note had been left at her business, on her car or at her home. She’d briefly mentioned the notes to Liam and he admitted that he’d received some since they started dating, but that was before he’d left town. He assured her they were probably harmless and that she shouldn’t worry too much about them. After that they’d stopped coming and she guessed he’d been right. She figured whoever’d been sending them had moved on with their life. But now she wasn’t so sure.
Pulling out her cell phone, she sent a quick text to Liam, letting him know she was on her way to the airport. With any luck, he’d text back and ask her if she received the letter he sent her. Then she could open the envelope and enjoy whatever was inside. Her phone vibrated in her hand. She took a deep breath before checking the text.
I can’t wait to see you babe. I’ll be waiting when you land.
There was still a chance that whatever was in the envelope was nothing to be concerned about. It could be anything. Taking another steadying breath, she opened the clasp on the envelope and pulled open the flap. Looking inside, she found one folded up piece of red construction paper. She pulled it out and set it down on her lap. With shaky hands she unfolded it, her breath catching in her throat as she took in the brutal pictures that had been glued to the sheet. Once again someone had digitally attached her head to a mangled body, but this time they’d done the same thing to Liam. Above them were words she could barely read through the tears that were forming in her eyes.
Liam and Finley went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water
Liam fell down and broke his crown
And Finley came tumbling after
Chapter 9
Liam
Never in his life had five weeks felt so long. Throughout his career he’d spent months in less than desirable locations; the desert where he worried non-stop about burning and dehydration, winter locales where he ended up in the rain and snow until his entire body resembled a prune. Never once during all that time had he wished so hard to be home than he had during the last five weeks he spent in the UK filming. He usually loved being away on location, especially the UK. Being close to London, made him almost feel at home since it was such a huge part of him even though he really no longer had much there to remind him of the time before his parents died.
All he could think about was getting back to Finley. He missed her like crazy, which was an entirely new feeling. Of course, he’d missed his parents and his sister, but not the way he missed Finley. Being without her felt like he was missing a piece of himself, which was crazy to say since they hadn’t known each other very long. But since the day they’d met, being around her felt right.
He couldn’t even stop thinking about her when he took a day to visit his parent’s gravesite. Normally he talked to them about Abby and the kids, told them about his latest movie or how his career was going. He never had the chance to tell them about a woman, not even before they died. But with Finley, he couldn’t stop talking about her. He wished they could meet her, that she could meet them. They would have been as enamored with her as he was, he had no doubt about that.
For five weeks Liam talked about Finley to anyone who would listen. From his co-stars to the catering staff, it didn’t matter, everyone on set knew how much he was into her. The women in the make-up truck thought it was sweet how much he liked her, his friends thought he was pussy-whipped. Now that he thought about how much he talked about her, it was a bit embarrassing, but hopefully it would all make sense to them when they finally got a chance to meet her during her visit.
He’d only been home a couple days, but even that had felt too long to be without her. If he’d had his way, Finley would have flown in the same day he did, but it would have been a waste of the short time they had together for her to watch him deal with jet lag. He was just glad he didn’t have to work the entire time she’d be in town. Lucky for them, filming for another movie on the sound stage they were scheduled to use had run long, which meant there was nowhere for them to film just yet. The delay in schedule would screw things up for a lot of people, but Liam wasn’t one of them. He was going to use the delay to his advantage and spend as much time as he could with the woman he had quickly fallen for.
She had been skittish about relationships and his career when they’d gotten started, now that they were a few months in, he could tell she was getting used to the idea of being with him. He just had to continue to show her that they were meant to be and that together they could weather whatever was thrown at them. Coming to L.A. was a big deal for her. He knew she was worried about being in the middle of the chaos. If the paparazzi in Seattle had been bad, the ones in Los Angeles were ten times worse. So far he didn’t think they knew she was coming to town, but it wouldn’t take long for them to figure it out and start camping outside his house for a photo opportunity.
Looking at the clock on his dashboard, he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. He’d been keeping a close eye on the status of her flight and was thankful that it had been on time. He sat in the cell phone lot for another twenty minutes, knowing it would take a while for her to get off the plane and make her way to baggage claim. She’d decided to check a bag this time instead of carrying one onto the plane. Despite the fact that her luggage was lost the last time she flew, she was hoping things would go smoother this time with a different airline.
Now he sat outside of baggage claim breaking the no parking rule. He could have kept driving around, but he didn’t want her to have to wait for him to circle back. The longer she stood outside, the better the chances that someone might recognize her even though she’d taken precautions. Not for the first time, he wondered if he should have sent someone else to pick her up. He’d been so desperate to see her that he wanted to be the one, but now he wasn’t sure it was the best idea.
The minute he saw her, he was going to be out of the car and wrapping his arms around her. He wore his typical “please don’t recognize me” disguise of a hat and sunglasses, but that probably wasn’t going to be enough when he was making a spectacle of himself. While he didn’t get recognized much in other cities and countries, L.A. was one of the places he couldn’t go without someone realizing who he was. He just had to keep hoping this wasn’t one of those times.
Another minute passed before the sliding doors opened and a large group of people came pouring out. He scanned the crowd, hoping she’d be among them. Toward the back he found her, wearing a baseball hat and a pair of sunglasses. She’d also worn a long sleeve shirt to hide her tattoos, which she was probably regretting now that she was no longer in Seattle.
Jumping out of the car, he ran over to the passenger side, hoping she’d see him so he wouldn’t have to call her name. She slowly checked out the cars in front of her before she stopped on him. Although he couldn’t see them, he could feel her eyes on him and when her face lit up with a smile, he knew for sure she’d spotted him. With her suitcase bouncing behind her, she ran to h
im. Taking a few steps to meet her, he caught her as she leapt into his arms.
“Fuck I missed you,” she purred before her mouth met his, her arms wrapping around his neck.
He couldn’t be sure how long they stood there, her lips molded to his, but he knew it wasn’t long enough. Liam would have stayed in that spot forever, but was knocked out of his stupor by a few whistles. It was then he remembered where they were and that they were trying to avoid recognition. Making out at one of the busiest airports in the world wasn’t the way to do that. Reluctantly, he broke the kiss and set her down. She looked up at him, a smile brightening her face.
“I missed you too, babe. Let’s get out of here. I believe you promised something about locking me away in my house for a few days to make up for lost time,” he said before grabbing her suitcase.
With his free hand, he reached out for her. She laced her fingers with his and let him lead her to his car. Stopping at the passenger side door, he let go of the suitcase and opened the door for her. Giving her a quick kiss, he helped her into the SUV before depositing her bag in the back. He rounded the car, glancing around the busy pick up lanes to see if anyone was watching them. Nobody seemed to be giving them a second thought, which made him smile. Hopefully, that would be how the rest of her trip would go. Then they wouldn’t have to worry about anyone following them around.
Climbing in, he started the car putting it in drive, before reaching across the console and taking her hand. She looked over at him as she once again twined her fingers with his. Nothing had ever felt so right as to have her sitting next to him, holding his hand. This was the feeling he’d always dreamed of, but never knew where he’d find it. He always thought that acting would give him the feeling of contentment and happiness that he had with her, but it never did. Just being in Finley’s presence he felt a peacefulness that he knew he’d never find anywhere else.
He could feel her eyes on him as he pulled into traffic. The drive to his condo in Santa Monica wouldn’t take too long from LAX as long as traffic cooperated. When he’d first moved to L.A. he’d found an apartment in the heart of everything, knowing he’d need to be close to the action if he wanted to get a second chance at a big break.
Once he’d made a name for himself, he wanted to put a little distance between him and the craziness of the business. Santa Monica was about an hour away, give or take depending on traffic. It was perfect, but still not where he saw himself finally settling down, which was why he’d purchased a condo and not a house. For the moment, all he needed was a few bedrooms so he had a place to crash and a place for his sister and her family to stay when they wanted to visit for longer than a day.
Santa Barbara was only about two hours away, but driving in California could be a bitch and wasn’t worth the back and forth if you didn’t have to. Liam knew he had to make sure they didn’t have to. It was really the only way he could look out for his little sister now that she had a husband who took care of her every need. Not that the stubborn brat ever really needed anyone to take care of her, she did a good enough job of that on her own. It was one of the many things he envied about her. Despite the loss of their parents, she had flourished, while he had let life pass him by.
At least he had until Abby had kicked some sense into him. She’d read him the riot act when she was still just a kid. He’d hated that he couldn’t see through his grief enough to realize how much he’d let things go. It was exactly what he’d needed to hear and he would never know how to repay her for that.
“I can’t believe you’ve got the week off. I thought for sure we’d have to work around your schedule when I got here and that I wouldn’t get to see you that much since you’d be filming.”
Stopping at the red light in front of them, Liam turned to look at her. “We are going to make the most of this week. I’ve got our time planned out, I hope that’s okay. I just don’t want to waste a single minute of the time that you’re here. My place is stocked with everything we’ll need for the next few days, then I’m whisking you off to a trip to Napa, with a surprise stop on our way home.”
“You sound so excited, I love it. When do I get to meet Abby?”
“We’re going to see them on Sunday. She’s excited to meet you. I don’t think she stopped talking about it the entire time I was on the phone with her yesterday. I’ve never introduced her to a woman I was dating before, well mostly cause I never really dated anyone before, but even back in London, she never met any of my girlfriends. Neither did my parents.”
“Wow. I feel honored, Liam. I just wish I could meet your parents too. They were obviously amazing people.”
“They would have loved you,” he told her, his hand tightening around hers.
A honk from somewhere behind them, reminded him that he was supposed to be doing something other than getting choked up at the thought of his parents. Smiling at her, he squeezed her hand again before continuing to drive the last few blocks to his place. He stopped at the security entrance and entered his code into the pin pad. Once the wrought iron gate swung open, he pulled into the underground parking garage.
His assigned spot was near the elevator that lead into the twelve-story building. Each floor held two condos that had once been four apartments before someone had purchased the building and repurposed it. His condo was on the tenth floor. He wasn’t particularly fond of having neighbors above and below him, but at least they were quiet, as far as he knew. He wasn’t home enough to really know anything about any of the other people who lived in the building, except his neighbor across the hall.
Priscilla Hale was an actress in her mid-50’s who’d spent most of her career on various television sitcoms. They’d worked together a couple of times and had become friends. Liam had been the one to tell her and her husband about the vacancy in his building when it had opened up. He was thankful that she had been able to purchase the condo. It was nice knowing he could trust the person he shared a floor with. They wouldn’t sell him out to the tabloids or bother him for autographs or tell the world when he brought a woman home with him.
He parked the car before quickly getting out so he could open her door for her. Finley wasn’t the type to wait for him to be a gentleman so he knew he had to rush if he was going to beat her to it. She smiled at him through the tinted window before holding her hands up for him to see she wasn’t touching the door. He pulled it open then held out his hand to help her out. Finley shook her head, but allowed him to help her anyway. Someday she would get used to it, at least he hoped she would cause he wasn’t going to stop any time soon.
She grabbed her backpack off of the floor then followed him to the back where he was grabbing her suitcase. He reached for her hand, before leading her to the elevator. As they waited for it to return to the bottom floor, he finally realized just how close he was to making his dream of getting Finley into his bed come true. He’d been picturing her naked and splayed out in his bed since he’d left her in Seattle. Their near miss at video sex had been a total bust and not something either of them had been willing to try again, but there had been a few hot and steamy phone calls that had nearly made him rub his dick raw.
But phone sex was nowhere near close to the real thing. He needed her naked and writhing underneath him. He needed her wrapped around him, her perfect breasts pressed against his chest, the metal of her piercings soaking up their body heat. He needed to sink into her silken sheath and hear the moans of pleasure that she couldn’t help but make when he was inside her.
The elevator dinged as the doors opened. A slow ascent to the tenth floor and a few steps were all that separated him from being able to strip her naked and have his way with her. His cock hardened, pushing uncomfortably against the zipper of his jeans. Stepping into the elevator, he leaned forward to hit the button for his floor and tried to adjust himself without her noticing. He’d been hoping to wine her and dine her before throwing her down on his bed, but it didn’t look like that was going to happen.
Liam had grossly under
estimated how badly he needed to be with Finley; how badly his body missed hers. He just hoped that when the time came, he didn’t embarrass himself. After five weeks apart, the last thing he wanted was for it to all be over too soon, even if they had two weeks before she had to head back to Seattle. Impatiently, he watched as the floors ticked by, never had he been so annoyed with the speed of the elevator in the years he’d lived there.
Finley looked over at him, her eyes no longer blocked by her dark sunglasses. They were lit up with laughter, a smile gracing her plump lips. She looked down at the floor and then back up at him. Looking down, he noticed his foot taping against the floor. He hadn’t even realized he was doing it.
“Thank fuck. I thought I was the only one wishing this elevator would hurry the hell up.”
Liam laughed at her honesty. It was one of the things he loved about her. She rarely hesitated to speak her mind. As soon as the elevator reached his floor, he grabbed her hand and her suitcase then pulled them both into the hallway. His body shook with anticipation. It had been far too long since he’d touched her, since he’d tasted her. With unsteady hands, he unlocked the door. It took more tries than he’d ever admit to put his key into the lock. The only saving grace was that Finley was just as eager to get inside as he was.
The minute they were through the door, he dropped her suitcase and grabbed her, using his foot to close the door behind them. Frantically they removed each other’s clothes while they restarted the kiss they’d had to end at the airport. They were a jumble of arms and legs, of tongues and teeth. The last five weeks had built a fire between them that didn’t seem like it could be put out. He palmed her breasts at the same time as she took hold of his rapidly hardening dick. They both moaned at the sensation of feeling someone else’s hands on them for the first time in too long. Liam backed her up until she was against the back of his couch.
