“Where are you going?” Myrtle asked as she followed after me.
“To get him an outfit.” I needed clothes that didn’t define his muscles or allow for an appreciation of his backside. Stripping Liam of the armor he hid behind would force him to rely on his other qualities—which were worth exploring.
Myrtle grabbed my arm, halting my way to the door. Her concerned eyes studied me. “Are you sure this is wise?”
I steeled my gaze. “If you saw the way the other women looked at him, you’d agree with me.”
Myrtle shook her head, unconvinced. “But I thought the point was to get him a date for the gala. Is it a terrible thing if the women tonight know who he is?”
Feeling certain about my decision, I reached down and patted Myrtle’s hand. “It’s for the best. It really is. Plus, it’ll be fun to dress him up—er, down.”
Myrtle’s hand continued to linger, and when it seemed as if she wasn’t going to let me go, I peeled it off my arm. Then I gave her a reassuring smile and headed out the door. I had an hour to get the clothes and get back.
By the time I returned to the office, bags in hand, Liam was already sitting in a chair. He laughed with Myrtle as she made him up a mug of coffee. He looked so relaxed as he sat there, smiling. It made me angry. He should be as stressed as I was about keeping things professional between us and not stepping over boundaries and lines. But no, he yukked it up with my secretary, making her his number one fan just by being him.
Which made me feel stupid for being as mad as I was about the kiss. I decided to file it into my never to be discussed folder and act like it didn’t happen. The tactic worked well for Liam, and—even though my professional opinion was that locking memories away was like trying to stop dough from rising, as it would escape the container at some point—I just needed to get through the rest of the week with my pride intact.
He was my client. If he was happy, I should be happy as well. Even if I wasn’t pleased with unspoken feelings and no closure.
I was on the roller coaster that was Liam, and I doubted I could get off if I wanted to.
“Hey, you’re late,” Liam said as the door shut behind me. He moved to stand, and I didn’t realize how close I was to him until he towered over me. Just like it had the day before, my heart took off to the races. Dumb, stupid heart.
“Yeah, sorry about that.”
Liam eyed my bags. “Taking a break to shop?”
I gave him a har har look and then moved to hand them to him. He was caught off guard and scrambled to grab the handles as I let go. “These are for you.”
He glanced down and then back up at me. “Really?” He peeked into a bag and then studied me. “You bought me clothes? Why?”
I moved to push him toward my office. “It’s your uniform for the excursion we’re going on.” He was like trying to move a brick wall. No matter how hard I pushed, he didn’t budge. Right—football star. They did drills for this sort of thing.
“What kind of field trip requires a uniform?”
Realizing that I wasn’t going to be able to move him with sheer force, I gave up and took a step back. I mustered the strongest “you’re going to do this” face and squared off with him. “We are spending the evening with Myrtle and her friends.”
“Yay,” Myrtle cheered from behind me.
“Myrtle’s friends?” Liam asked as he glanced over my head in her direction. Then his smile widened as he nodded. “All right. I’m game.” He gave her a wink and then sidestepped me as he walked toward my office.
I threw Myrtle an exasperated eye roll, which she giggled at.
Once Liam was safely inside my office with the door shut so he could change, I blew out my breath and turned to face Myrtle, who was smiling a bit too big. “What?” I asked as I threw my hands up in the air.
She laughed. “I didn’t say anything.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You didn’t have to. I can see it in your eye. You’re thinking something.”
She fiddled with a stack of papers on her desk. “No, I’m not.”
I grabbed a mug and filled it with coffee. “Your face is telling a different story.”
My office door opened before we could continue our conversation, and Liam appeared with a thoroughly confused look. He pulled at the shirt cuffs as if the shirt didn’t fit quite right. “Where on earth are we going where I need to look like a professor?”
I couldn’t stop the giggles that emerged. I’d picked out a blue button-up shirt to wear under a sweater vest that was two sizes too big to cover his muscles. The outfit was finished off with a brown corduroy suit coat complete with elbow patches. When the coat was on, the vest bunched in the front, giving him a potbelly.
I laughed so hard that I started crying. Even through the blur of tears, I could see how ridiculous Liam looked. Both Liam and Myrtle stared at me until I gained control of my laughter. I finally wiped my tears and straightened, realizing how unprofessional that was. “I’m sorry,” I wheezed.
Liam glanced at Myrtle. “Do you know what is going on?”
Myrtle shrugged. “I know where we are going, but I know nothing about that,” she said as she waved in the direction of Liam’s clothes.
I had finally composed myself, and I wandered over, circling him. He turned a few times with me before he stopped moving and then reached out to stop me. Both hands found their way to my upper arms, and Liam dipped down to stare into my eyes.
A rush of excitement washed over me as the memory of our kiss flooded into my mind. I blinked a few times as fear of what he was about to do flooded my nervous system. This was the real Liam, the one I’d talked to without saying a word. The man who seemed to know my soul.
I took in a deep breath. If I was going to survive the rest of the week, I needed to get used to being close to Liam. In an effort to break his hold on me both physically and emotionally, I reached out and began to mess up his gelled hair.
“Hey,” he said as he stepped back and swatted my hand away.
I wasn’t one to give in easily, so I bobbed with him, keeping my fingers tangled in his locks until it was parted and smoothed to the side. Liam scowled as he moved to shift it back.
I swatted his hand. “No. You need to change your hairstyle.”
Liam stopped moving but glared at me. “I’m feeling abused.” Then he glanced behind me at Myrtle. “Are you just going to let her have her way with me?”
My body flushed at his half-teasing tone. He was a master at flirting and saying things to get a reaction. My goal was not to have one.
Myrtle shrugged as she grabbed her shawl and slipped it over her shoulders. “Keep me out of it. I don’t know anything about your arrangement.”
“Stop trying to get Myrtle to switch sides.” I leaned in and narrowed my eyes. “She’s mine.”
Liam kept my gaze locked in his own as he leaned into meet me. “Where are we going?”
Realizing that if I said the words knitting and Liam in the same sentence, I just might lose my chance to get him this far out of his comfort zone, I shrugged. “You’ll have to trust me. It’s for your own good. I’ll keep you safe.”
He parted his lips to respond, but I didn’t wait for what he was going to say. Instead, I walked into my office, where I located the bags of things I’d bought and pulled out the pair of fake glasses. Then I headed back into the waiting room.
“Put these on,” I held them out to him.
Liam’s eyes widened as he stared down at the glasses and then back up to me. “Naw, I’m good. 20/20, baby.”
Right. There was the uncomfortable Liam who flirted to get out of doing something he didn’t want to. I sighed. “They are part of the disguise.”
“Are we robbing a bank?” He hesitated and then took the glasses from me and slipped them on.
With the outfit complete, I took a step back. The man could make a black plastic bag look good, which was so frustrating. But I figured I changed his appearance enough to help him fly under the radar.
“Nope, something even better.” I grinned.
His eyebrows went up, betraying his curiosity.
I smiled as I grabbed my purse. “Come on,” I said as I hurried after Myrtle, who was already outside and climbing into her car. We’d have to follow her to the knitting club.
“You’re seriously not going to tell me where we are going?”
I shook my head as I held the door open and waited for him to leave. “Nope. You’re just going to have to trust me.” I walked out the door, not knowing if he would follow. If he did, then he showed huge amounts of growth and trust—not only in himself and his ability to handle the unknown, but in me.
I didn’t know which part of me was more anxious: the therapist who wanted to see him take that leap in his personal development, or the woman who felt all tingly while running her hands through his hair.
The door whooshed open and Liam’s footfalls sounded on the sidewalk.
Well, I had my answer. Out of the woman and the therapist, the woman was much more excited. Dang it.
Chapter Ten
Liam
I think the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. So as I sat in the passenger seat of Heather’s car as she drove down the street, I decided to label myself as insane. Because that was what I was. After all, who gets into the car with a clearly crazed woman twice? Who volunteers to go with said woman on a field trip to disaster twice?
To top it all off, the clothing was a clear warning sign that things were not going to go my way. Liam McKnight did not wear baggy sweater vests and grandpa jackets.
If the romance convention required me to remove my shirt, what did that say about the place we were currently headed if I had to wear not one shirt, but three? Plus glasses?
Heather had changed everything about my appearance. My own mother would have a hard time picking me out in a crowd.
Was Heather ashamed of me? Were we going to a college lecture hall or a subtitled movie or something with a bunch of smart people and she didn’t want to be seen with the dumb jock? She’d said she wanted me out of my comfort zone. I could name a dozen places that would make me break out in a cold sweat.
I peeked over at Heather to see her staring forward. We were idling at a red light, so I took this moment to run my gaze over her. The way her hand gripped the steering wheel told me something was wrong.
And I couldn’t help but worry that I was the cause of her frustration.
“Everything okay?” I asked.
Heather startled and glanced over at me. Then she chewed her lip as she returned her gaze forward. “I’m great. Peachy, in fact.” She winced.
Not wanting to spend the evening with her when she was so obviously upset about something, I shifted so that I was facing her. I was going to get a straight answer out of her if it killed me. “You’re gripping the wheel like you are strangling a snake.” I nodded toward her hands.
She released her grip so fast it might as well have been a snake. “No, I’m not.”
I snorted. “Sure.” I knew Heather. I knew that she wasn’t impressed with my flirtatious side. She’d made it abundantly clear on numerous occasions that this was a part of me that she had no interest in seeing. And as much as I fought her assessment, I knew that if I was going to survive this weekend, we needed to hash it out, so I got serious. “You can tell me.” I paused. “Think of me as your big brother.” I leaned closer to her. “Reveal your secrets to me.”
Heather moved closer to her door.
I studied her, trying to figure out what I had done wrong. I wasn’t flirting. I was trying to lighten the mood, but she behaved as if it didn’t matter. Man, she was a tough nut to crack.
“Tough crowd,” I mumbled under my breath.
Heather didn’t respond. Instead, the light turned green and she pressed on the gas. A minute later, she took a right and pulled into the community center, where she turned off the car and pulled out her keys.
“We’re here,” she said as she nodded toward the building.
“Um …” I dipped down so I could take it all in. “Now I’m completely confused.”
She shook her head. “No backing out now. You paid me for seven days, and I am determined to fix you within those seven days.” She pointed toward the building. “This is step number one.”
She was out of the car before I could stop her. So I hurried to unbuckle and followed after her. “I thought the class at the con was step one,” I asked. My body heated at the mention of the con. I could remember the feeling of her lips against mine like it had happened a moment ago. My mind became cloudy, and all I wanted to do was pull her into my arms once more.
This time, I wanted to kiss her right. Kiss her for real. Kiss her without an audience.
Would she be mad if I tried?
I peeked over at her, and from the way her jaw was set and her gaze focused, I came to the conclusion that yes, she would be angry. So I shoved my hand into the front pockets of my jeans and pushed that thought to the deep corners of my mind. I walked behind her as she led me through the large metal doors and into the community center. Myrtle waited for us a ways down the hall.
It wasn’t until I was standing in front of two open doors and staring in at a group of women milling around a room that I realized that I had made a mistake. Even if I put aside the fact that I’d let Heather dress me, from the looks of the room, she was going to get me to join a cult. “I’m outta here,” I said as I turned, only to be stopped by a woman holding a set of really long needles that were shoved into a ball of yarn. Her dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail at the nape of her neck, and she looked around my age.
“A man,” she whispered.
What was with the women in Heather’s life? It was like they’d never seen a guy before. I gave her a smile and tried to sidestep her, only to have her move with me.
“Are you new? Are you here to knit? It’s so refreshing to find a guy interested in knitting.” She held up the yarn. “Do you want to use my needles?”
“Sandra, this is Li—Linoel.” Myrtle hurried to change my name when Heather cleared her throat.
“Linoel,” Sandra said. Then she smiled at me. “Hi. Welcome to the Secret Society of People Who Carry Yarn.” She extended her hand. “We’re excited to have you.”
I shook her hand and glanced at Heather, who looked entirely too pleased with herself. “It’s great to be here. I’m Linoel,” I said through gritted teeth as I glared at Heather.
“Will you sit by me?” Sandra asked.
I forced myself to relax and nod. “Sure. I’d love to.” Sandra smiled, but when it looked like she was waiting for me, I nodded toward Heather. “I’m going to talk to my sister first, and then I’ll be there.”
Sandra glanced between us and then nodded before she hurried off.
Now alone, I glared down at Heather once more. “What is this place? And Linoel? Seriously?”
Myrtle gave me an apologetic look before someone called her name and she hurried off. I kept my focus on the real culprit, the woman who looked completely at ease despite what had just happened.
“You need to go undercover if we are going to fix your issue with women,” Heather said over her shoulder as she headed toward the snack table.
“But my looks are my secret sauce.”
Heather snorted. “Well, get prepared to eat your wings without sauce. You needed to attract a woman with your personality. Looks only get you so far.” She eyed me. “You need to learn how to woo someone with what’s on the inside.” She accented her words with the poke of her finger right on my left pec. Right where my heart was.
Out of instinct, I reached up and gripped her hand. I pulled it close to my chest and held it there. “That is a part of me that no woman wants to get to know,” I said, my voice coming out deeper than I’d expected. The truth was hard to say, but for some reason, it came out easily around Heather.
Her eyes widened, and for a moment, the know-it
-all Heather was gone and a flash of vulnerability passed across her features. Finally, something we had in common.
I lingered close to her, basking in the fact that I’d broken down one of her walls. For a moment, it was if the two of us stood there without any protection, without any flirting or games, and certainly without trying to one-up the other. We just were.
I could count on one hand the number of people I’d been able to relax into myself around. When I was alone, it wasn’t an issue. There wasn’t anyone to impress, no one expected me to perform—on the field or socially. Rarely did I have that feeling with another person. Jaxson sometimes—Lottie more often, because my little sister was so accepting.
Not ever in front of anyone who wasn’t family. Heather was a first.
So I didn’t take it lightly that she was as bare in front of me as I was in front of her. Her realness was attractive, and it drew me in unlike any other part of her. She tucked a curl behind her ear and smiled softly, knowingly.
The moment was so powerful that it was hard to stay in it without being overwhelmed.
I dropped her hand and headed over toward Sandra. I didn’t look toward Heather until I was situated with two knitting needles and a ball of yarn. Then I peeked in her direction to find that she’d left the room.
Pushing worry from my mind, I turned to Sandra, who gave me step-by-step directions. Five minutes later, I growled as I dropped the needles in my lap. “This is hopeless. I secretly think the person who created knitting did so just to traumatize those who try it.”
Sandra laughed as she moved to grab the needles and yarn from my lap. “Here, let me help you.” She inspected my attempt and then, a moment later, pulled the stitches out.
“Irredeemable,” I growled.
Sandra shook her head. “You dropped a stitch. Don’t worry, my husband used to do that. He learned eventually.”
“Does he still knit?” I leaned back in my chair. I liked Sandra. She was soft and sweet. And younger than the other women here. She intrigued me. When she didn’t answer right away, I paused, taking in her flushed cheeks and teary eyes and realized what I’d just done. “Oh, I’m so sorry.”
His Romance Coach (A McKnight Family Romance Book 5) Page 8
