Only One (Ward Sisters Book 2)

by Lucy Gage

  He’d agreed to something beyond today. What did this girl do to him? He never made plans beyond getting mutual gratification out of the experience.

  Jenna turned in the other direction, got out of bed, and began putting on her clothes.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Girl’s got to eat and I need my caffeine in the morning. I’m going to head home.”

  “Stay. I’ll make you breakfast.” Again with the treating her like a girlfriend. But he wanted so badly for her to say yes.

  “That won’t be awkward?” she asked as she tied her itty bitty bikini. God, she was hot.

  “No. Rob was my roommate, remember. It’s not like it’s the first time he’s seen me with a girl.”

  Jenna laughed. “No, but I bet it’s the first time the girl worked for him.”

  Liam shrugged. It was true. He rarely spent the night with Reggie, and never here. No one had ever stayed here. “I don’t think that really matters. He likes you, doesn’t he?”

  She stood there in her little red swimsuit, hand on her hips. “That he does. I only eat organic, and I’m a vegetarian.”

  Liam sputtered, “Uh, okay.”

  Jenna laughed. “I’m kidding, Liam. Didn’t you pay attention to what I ate for dinner last night? Steak empanadas. I’m not a granola chick. Don’t worry.”

  He shook his head. “You’re mean.”

  She chuckled. “Sometimes. You can handle it.”

  When she bent to retrieve her shorts and tank top, the view of her perfect ass sent blood to his dick. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down to the bed. She squeaked.

  “We’re not done yet,” he said, tugging the strings on the suit. He sucked on her nipples and slid his fingers inside her. “You can’t bend over like that and expect me to keep your clothes on.”

  “Take them off,” she breathed. “Take me to bed again.”

  “With pleasure.”

  **********

  An hour later, they were downstairs in the outdoor dining room. Jenna sat at the table wearing Liam’s Bruins t-shirt. Liam wasn’t huge, but he was bigger than her, with broad shoulders for his smaller, athletic frame, so the tee fit like a dress. When he’d suggested she wear something under it, she’d teasingly laughed. Not wanting to invite questions as to why she’d parade in front of Rob half-naked, she’d pulled her board shorts over her hips.

  Knees up, feet in her chair, she sipped coffee and munched on her toast. Liam thought she was working, and she had been. Some. He’d probably be pissed or at least annoyed if he knew what else she was doing on the computer this morning.

  Rob and Brian jogged up the path. They had run, shirtless, on the beach and were both dripping with sweat. Jenna tried not to drool over Rob, since Liam was cooking nearby and she had no desire to make him jealous. She wasn’t interested in comparing him to Rob. But her boss was always more beautiful in person and with fewer clothes, so it was a challenge to act unaffected. Brian waved and went inside.

  “Morning,” Rob said as he caught his breath. “Any news?”

  “Nothing new. A few repeats from the last two days. Want to see it when I take Twitter live later?”

  “Can you stick around for a while?” Rob asked.

  “For a couple hours. Then I have to head to my apartment and shower before I meet my dad for lunch. I’ll be back later and we can live-Tweet then if you want.”

  Rob grinned. “Sure,” he said and he cast a quick glance at Liam. He shook his head and said he’d be down after he showered.

  Liam sat at the head of the table, next to Jenna. Without looking away from her screen, she slid her foot into his lap and rubbed his inner thigh with her toes.

  “Keep doing that and I’m going to drag you back to bed,” he muttered around bites of egg.

  She laughed. “Okay, Joseph.” She looked up and saw that her comment had the desired effect.

  “Why’d you call me that?” he asked, fork poised in mid-air.

  “Isn’t it your name?” she asked with a playful expression.

  “Yeah, but I didn’t tell you that. So how do you know? No one calls me Joseph, except my sister when she yells at me. Where did you hear it?”

  She blushed. “I didn’t. I saw it in your personnel file.”

  “And how did you see that?” he asked, sounding curious.

  “I hacked Deacon Security,” she admitted, eyes downcast as she sipped her coffee. She looked up at him from under her lashes, biting her lip, hoping the demure, sexy thing would work.

  “Holy shit! Are you kidding? You have to tell Rick. If you did it, that means someone else could.”

  Apparently, Liam didn’t know she’d written the code that protected Deacon from hackers or that she hacked it monthly to make sure it still worked. CyTech no longer employed her, but when she left, she’d promised Rick that she’d personally continue to support his company.

  “You’re not mad?”

  “If you’d wanted to know something about me, you could have just asked.”

  She shrugged. What she didn’t say was that she’d needed questions answered. Despite yesterday’s effortless offering of bits of himself, she had a feeling Liam wouldn’t divulge his history this soon, even if asked. Her regular hack of Deacon provided a simpler route than expecting him to offer some very personal details.

  Instead, she said, “I know. But it’s fun to hack sites and look for their vulnerabilities.”

  “You do that for fun?” he asked, brows raised.

  She grinned. “Why do you think Rob hired me?”

  “I have no idea. I thought you ran his social media stuff.”

  She laughed. “Among other things. Do you think a Masters in Computer Science is required for running a website?” Jenna had coded HTML in high school.

  “Again, no idea. It’s not my area of expertise.”

  The fact that he would admit to his lack of knowledge melted her heart, further endearing him to her. Who cared if he wasn’t as smart as her? At least he didn’t try to pretend otherwise.

  She smirked. “I’m an expert in cybersecurity. I met Pat in Boston at a conference. I’ve been doing this since high school.”

  “For fun?”

  “Yes. Now, I do it for a living and get paid well for it.”

  He laughed. “Jesus. What can you possibly see in me?”

  She leaned in, her lips close to his. What she wanted to say was, My future. That was too much, even if Liam wasn’t skittish. They’d known each other only a few hours.

  “Besides the fact that you had me all hot and bothered the moment you opened the door yesterday? I like you. You make me laugh and you make me smile, even before you made me come numerous times last night and this morning.”

  She kissed him, sat back to the computer and grinned at him.

  He swallowed hard, shook his head at her and smiled. If he knew what she knew or how she’d learned it, he might not smile. She’d stopped her search as soon as it revealed the first sliver of truth she sought – that Liam was Catie Neely Donati’s elusive twin brother – knowing he’d tell her the rest in time.

  Jenna knew a lot about Liam and his family that he obviously wanted to keep to himself for now. She knew of nothing that was shameful in this day and age, but he wasn’t talking about it.

  And the question was, why?

  Regardless, every fantasy she’d had about Catie’s specter of a brother had been blown to bits by the reality. Liam was everything she’d never thought to want. He might be the one guy who could push from her mind the vague ideas about her and Rob.

  She’d been right the day before, that it would take very little to go from ‘He’s hot’ to ‘I’m in love with him’ if Liam was only a portion of what she’d imagined. The fact that he’d fulfilled her dreams – and then some – meant her heart never had a chance.

  Now, how the hell would she endure whatever it might take to convince him that they could be great together?

  **********

  Lia
m had attempted to entice Jenna to shower with him, but she’d refused, citing that she didn’t have anything clean to wear, but he wondered if he was coming on too strong. He couldn’t help it – he’d never felt so connected to someone before. The desire to touch her every second, be near her all the time, talk to her every chance he had, was scary as hell, and yet, he couldn’t control it.

  Jenna said she’d return later and would spend the night again. Liam hoped that meant she planned to stay for breakfast and shower with him the next day, but he’d have to wait and see.

  That afternoon, Liam rode up the Pacific Coast Highway to L.A., where Rob had a meeting. Behind the wheel of the Lexus, Rob was noticeably quiet.

  “Something on your mind?” Liam asked.

  “Just wondering what’s going on with you and Jenna.”

  “All you had to do was ask.” Rob glanced at him, eyebrows poised in expectation. Liam laughed. “I have no fucking clue.”

  “You like her.” Rob almost sounded…sad.

  “Too much. She’s like no one I’ve ever met before. That girl is smart. And funny. And sweet. And God, does she turn me on. It blew my mind just kissing her.”

  “Oh yeah? The sex is good then?”

  Liam forced a breath through his lips. “Fan-fucking-tastic. Six times between when we got back last night and breakfast. I’ve never had that much sex at one time in my life. And I want more.”

  “She want more?” Disbelief tinged his voice.

  “She’s spending the night again and she asked me to stay at her place on my next night off.”

  “And you agreed? Damn, you have it bad. That’s more like me than you.”

  “No shit. She’s amazing. It was so great hanging out with her yesterday. I don’t remember liking a girl this much so soon.”

  “Are you falling in love with her?” It was said with concern.

  Liam tried not to be offended. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

  “Jesus, Liam. Don’t mess with her, okay? I need her.”

  “Yeah, what the fuck? I had no idea you hired a hacker.”

  Rob chuckled, a little tension gone. “You thought I’d hire some two-bit web designer with half a brain? I can do that crap in my sleep. I needed someone who knew what they were doing. She makes sure no one gets into my online life and she can get into anywhere she wants. Langley would have begged her to work for them, but she had no interest in government work. She was top in her class at BU and at Minnesota. Why do you think my dad set us up? He was never impressed with Rachel or Lola, and figured I needed to date a girl with brains.”

  “I always knew your dad was smart, but now I think he’s a genius. Jenna said you told her that you weren’t interested in her.”

  With a laugh, Rob said, “She’s being nice. I did say that, but she was the one who said it first. Told me despite the fact that I was more than the pretty face, I wasn’t her type. I countered that she was exactly the girl I should want to date, but there was no spark. We had a good laugh about it, and talked for a long time about her thesis. I knew when I was ready to have a web presence that I’d want her on my team. She’s brilliant.”

  “I got that. I asked her what she possibly saw in me.”

  “I’m wondering the same thing.” Liam punched him lightly in the arm. “Hey! Not while I’m driving. I’m kidding. She liked you from the word go. I don’t know what you said to her, but whatever it was, she was more impressed with you than me. I asked her what she’d do if you couldn’t solve her math problem.”

  “Oh? What did she say?”

  “Cry.” He laughed. “I said your math skills weren’t the best and she admitted she’d lie so you’d go out with her anyway. I’m surprised you guessed her age right. Based on her clues, I’d have probably been off by a year. She left out the part where she went to a magnet school and graduated the same year as us.”

  “Didn’t matter. She said if I was within a year, she’d go out with me anyway. I trusted my gut and it said she was younger than me, so I went with it.”

  “You’ve always had good instincts. What did you say to her?”

  “Nothing special. She asked where I was from, I said Boston, she asked if I liked the Bruins and I said yes.”

  “That did it. She’s a huge hockey fan. You let her wear your shirt. You’ve never let a girl wear that shirt. In fact, after Rachel stole the old one, you even refused to let Christy Hamlin wear it and you really liked her.”

  “Yeah, well, Jenna likes Cam Neely and Ray Bourque as much as I do, so unlike Rachel, she couldn’t disgrace a Bruins shirt by wearing it. And I didn’t like Christy nearly as much as I like Jenna.” Rob’s eyes grew wide. “Don’t look so surprised. Christy was great in bed, but she was kind of dumb.”

  “Plus, she worshiped you.”

  Liam laughed. “Yeah, there was that. I think I’d rather be with a girl who’s smarter than me.”

  “No offense. You know I love you, man. But if we’re going by brains, Jenna’s not in your league. She’s not even in my league, and I’m a much bigger brain than you are.”

  “Yeah, and you’re also a bigger ass.”

  “Nah. We’re equals there. I’m glad you’ve found someone you like this much, but don’t screw with her. She’s a great girl and she doesn’t deserve that.”

  More than friendly concern tinged his voice, and now Liam was offended.

  “It’s not like I’m seeing anyone else right now, Rob. Reggie’s got a boyfriend and I have no plans to go screw Dana anytime soon. Ally isn’t even in Minneapolis half the time when I’m there and she’s more casual about me than I am her. There hasn’t been anyone else for a long time. I like Jenna. A lot. Like I said, too much. I can’t imagine sleeping with anyone else at the moment.”

  “Good. Just…be careful. Okay?”

  “Yeah. You gonna tell her the same thing? Because she could probably crush me just as easily.”

  “You’re a big boy. I think you’ll survive,” Rob teased as they pulled into the studio lot.

  He shook his head as Rob spoke to the gate attendant. Liam wasn’t so sure Rob was right. If she walked away from him immediately, chances were good he’d get over it. But later, after he’d fallen completely in love with her?

  Probably not.

  For better or worse, he was definitely headed that way.

  **********

  When Jenna arrived at the Malibu house after she’d had lunch with her father, she asked Rob if he wanted to sit on the beach while they live-Tweeted. He seemed to get the hint. As they settled into the Adirondack chairs, Rob asked, “Everything okay?”

  “Yeah. It’s great. I’m glad I listened to you. He’s…amazing.”

  “He said the sex was fantastic.”

  “It’s not only that. It was fantastic. No offense. You know I think you’re phenomenal. But this was…on some other level. I don’t know why, but we had this instant emotional connection.”

  Okay, that was a lie. More than likely, it related to the fact that Liam was the twin brother of her best girlfriend, but she didn’t want to tip her hand to Rob, in case he was more loyal to Liam.

  “I couldn’t get enough of talking to him. Then he kissed me and…I’ve never felt an electrical current humming like that. It was intoxicating. So much that I’m worried.”

  “Why? Do you think he isn’t on the same page?”

  “I don’t know. I feel like he is. He did and said things that went way beyond what I expected based on what you told me. Asked me to stay, made plans to be together again, held me half the night when he said he didn’t cuddle. He practically begged me to shower with him earlier and I had to make an excuse to leave.”

  “Is he coming on too strong?” Rob sounded concerned.

  She furrowed her brow. “No! Not at all. It’s not that. I’m afraid he’s going to crush me like a bug when he walks.”

  “Why do you think he’ll walk away?”

  “Didn’t you say he doesn’t do this sort of thing? He’ll balk. Soon
er or later, he’s going to get scared and run.”

  Rob sighed. “Give him a chance. He really likes you and he’s as worried as you are. That’s a good thing.”

  “You don’t think he’ll run back to his other consorts?” God, she’d hate that.

  “I think you give them too much credit if you think he sees them that way. He told me that he hardly sees Ally and that it’s been a while since he was with Dana. Reggie had a boyfriend last I knew. He said the same thing.”

  “Tell me which one is which.”

  Might as well know the competition.

  Because that’s what they were now.

  “Ally is the girl in Minneapolis. As far as I know, it has never been more than sex. They’ve had this thing for a while, but it’s really sporadic because she’s in pharmaceutical sales and travels almost as much as he does. Dana is his high school girlfriend. I don’t think they’ve gotten together more than a handful of times. She often has a boyfriend and he’s rarely in Boston. Reggie is my makeup artist. She works for me on Christopher’s team. I don’t think Liam sees her unless we’re at a premiere and she’s around. For the last six months, she’s been dating other people.”

  Funny, Chris didn’t talk about Reggie. Jenna could only assume they weren’t friendly outside of work.

  “So, he’s not sleeping with anyone else at the moment.”

  “No. He’s not. He said he can’t imagine wanting to sleep with anyone but you right now. I’ve never seen him like this, not with anyone in over a decade. I’d say he has it pretty bad.”

  He seemed disappointed.

  It’s a little late now for jealousy, Rob.

  “That doesn’t mean he won’t hurt me. I don’t know if I could handle it if I became more invested than I am right now, and he up and ran off without a glance back.”

  She had a feeling that she’d suddenly see him everywhere, despite years of near misses and failed plans for them to meet.

  “I don’t see that happening. He’s just as concerned you’ll do that to him.”

  Jenna shook her head lightly. “I really hope you’re right.” She sighed. “Back to work. Let’s take Twitter live.”

  **********

  Malibu, California, one month later…