by Kait Nolan
“That enough proof for you?”
“Mmm, I think I could go for some more convincing.”
“What about your coffee?”
“The sexy man was smart enough to put it in a travel mug to keep it warm. Because he’s a Boy Scout like that.”
When she tugged, he tumbled back into bed.
As it turned out, the coffee was cold by the time they got to it.
They stumbled into the kitchen, stomachs growling. She was wearing his shirt from Friday night. Damn if he didn’t like that.
“You gonna give me my shirt back?”
“Oh no, you have forfeited all rights to this shirt. I’m keeping it.” She leaned back, propping her elbow on the peninsula and striking a provocative pose. “If you want it back, you’ll have to peel me out of it again.”
Liam grinned. “That can be arranged.”
“There’s just one thing you should know first.”
“What’s that?”
She straightened and turned her back to him, looking over one shoulder and arching a suggestive brow. “Pharmacists do it over the counter.”
“Have I mentioned I like the way you think?” He trapped her against the cabinets and ran his hands up her legs to find nothing but her perfect, round ass. “Why Miss Gower, what do we have here?”
“Underwear is more like a suggestion than a rule during a weekend of debauchery.”
Yeah, okay, maybe breakfast could wait.
He tugged the shirt back to bare one of her shoulders.
“I thought you were hungry.”
“I’m starving.” He bent his head to nibble.
Someone knocked on the kitchen door. Riley shrieked and dropped down behind the counter.
Laughing, Liam looked down at her crouched on the floor. “What are you doing?”
“It’s your mother.”
His gaze shot to the door. His mom wiggled her fingers in a cheerful wave. “Oh my God.”
“I’m not wearing pants.”
Liam’s lips twitched. He must’ve made some sound because Riley looked up at him with narrowed eyes.
“Don’t you dare laugh at me.”
“You have to admit, it’s kinda funny.” Though, thank God he was wearing pants already.
“It isn’t funny at all, and so help me, if you laugh, you will never be welcome in my bed again. Don’t just stand there. Do something.”
“And what precisely am I supposed to do?”
“You’re a Marine, for God’s sake. Create a diversion.” She began to crawl toward the hall
Liam looked toward the door, where his mother was patiently waiting. He held up a finger in the universal just a minute signal, then scooped Riley up and sprinted for the hall as if a bomb was set to detonate behind them.
“That was a diversion?”
He set her on the stairs. “You’re out of sight, aren’t you?”
She covered her face with both hands. “Jesus, I haven’t even had coffee.”
“Get dressed. I’ll take care of it.”
Liam detoured back through the living room to snag his t-shirt from the floor—it’d been abandoned there sometime yesterday after a screening of From Here To Eternity inspired a little naked reenactment of the beach scene—and went to let his mother inside. He’d braced himself for a tongue lashing of epic proportions, so when she stepped inside, stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek and said, “Hey, baby,” he didn’t know what to think.
“Um, morning, Mom.”
“It’s after twelve.”
Did that mean they were going to Hell for staying in bed all morning instead of getting out to church?
“So I guess you don’t want coffee, then?”
“No, but you go ahead. I’m sure Riley will want some.”
Molly crossed to the kitchen table and sat, as if she dropped by all the time. And what did he know? Maybe she did. Valium wandered in from the living room, twining around her legs and meowing pitifully until she picked him up to snuggle. Other than cooing to the cat, she didn’t say a word.
Molly Montgomery was a master interrogator.
Not wanting to incriminate himself any further than being caught all but in flagrante, and knowing she’d get to her point in her own time, Liam made more coffee, pulling the creamer and prepping a mug with sugar exactly how Riley liked it. When she walked in a few minutes later, her hair tidied into a neat pony tail and dressed all the way down to her shoes, he handed her the coffee.
His mother beamed.
Riley held the mug like a shield, every line of her body tense. He reached out automatically and began to knead at her neck muscles. She flinched, her expression freezing like a deer in the headlights.
“Oh relax, honey. It’s just me,” Molly said. “You’re practically part of the family.”
It was Liam’s turn to freeze. Please, dear God, don’t let her start talking about weddings and babies.
“I’m sorry to just drop by like this, but I just couldn’t wait. It’s too good an opportunity.”
“What is?” Riley asked.
“Norah snagged me after church to tell me about the latest project Peyton Consolidated has planned, and it’s big. There’s going to be a ton of construction going on downtown for the next several months, and that means lots of workers. You need to go for the treatment and vaccine contracts. Exclusivity on a project that size would be a real boon to the business.”
“It would be. But don’t you think it might be more sensible to wait until the repairs are finished, in case the man in charge wants to come visit the pharmacy to check it out? We’re not exactly giving our best impression just now.”
“This is true. But I wouldn’t wait too long.”
Liam dragged out a kitchen chair and sat. “When is the project announcement going public?”
“In a couple of weeks. The details of what they’re building are being kept under wraps, but the general announcement will still go out. Nobody’s going to be giving Walgreens a heads up. You stand a good shot. From everything Norah’s said, Gerald Peyton believes in local business. This kind of agreement would be right up his alley.”
“I’ll start putting together a pitch.”
“And I’ll dive into demolition tomorrow,” Liam said. “Have y’all decided on flooring?”
They discussed details of the renovation for a few more minutes before Molly put Valium down and rose. “I apologize again for barging in. I just wanted to let you know ASAP so you can move on it.”
“I appreciate it Really.” Riley’s smile was still a little stiff around the edges. “I’ll, um, see you at work.”
“Sure thing. And if you need to take some more personal time, please don’t hesitate to let me know.” She winked. “I really want grandchildren.”
Liam covered his face. “Oh my God.”
“Ta!”
The door shut behind her.
Riley’s face was frozen in a mask of mortification. “I can’t ever go back to work.”
“I’m sorry. I should’ve expected that.”
“It’s not that she knows we have a physical relationship. It’s that we know that she knows, and she knows that we know that she knows, so nobody can just politely look the other way and pretend this isn’t the twenty-first century.”
“Could be worse,” Liam suggested. “The Casserole Patrol could be stopping by with a covered dish and an already started baby blanket. I heard Miss Maudie Bell totally did that after Cam and Norah got engaged a couple months ago.”
“She wanted to give Norah her choice of the yarn color.”
“How do you even know that?”
“Autumn. She volunteers at the senior center twice a week. Speaking of, she texted while I was upstairs. She’s picking my mom up in an hour.”
Liam rocked back on his heels. “So that’s it, then.”
“We’ve got maybe two hours?”
“Well, since my mom effectively killed the mood, let’s go hit the gym. I’ve got some weapons disa
rms I want to teach you.”
Riley pouted.
“It’s practical and you promised. Besides,” Liam curved his hands around her hips, “up close and personal work like that can be…stimulating.”
“You make a compelling argument. I’ll go change.”
Chapter 13
Riley stared in disbelief at the empty storage unit. Well, empty but for the roach carcasses, spider webs, and other things best not to contemplate. Years of her family history had collected dust in there, and Liam and Judd had emptied all of it in half an hour.
Liam circled around the little U-haul to join her. “Did we miss something?”
“No. Y’all got everything.”
“You seem to be not entirely happy about that,” he observed.
“I’m fine. I just keep expecting to wake up and find out this was all a dream.” Because she just couldn’t quite wrap her mind around a reality in which her mom was about to be completely self-sufficient.
“No dream. A fact which I intend to prove to you beyond a shadow of a doubt later tonight.”
Judd stuck his head out from the cab of the U-haul. “Quit talkin’ sexy to your woman, man. It’s too damned hot to wait around for that.”
Liam cheerfully flipped him off. “If we’re good to roll, then Judd and I are gonna head on over to the apartment.”
“I’ll be right behind you. Autumn and I are going to sweep this thing out, then go close my account.”
“I’d kiss you, but I’m disgusting.”
“We’re both disgusting.” Riley ignored the sweat to take the kiss she wanted.
“We can get clean together later,” he murmured.
With the image of a naked, sweaty Liam and a bar of soap in her brain, Riley watched them pull away. “Too hot, indeed.”
“Come on, lover girl. This storage unit is a sauna. Let’s get this done.”
They set to work, falling into an easy rhythm.
“So has it been weird, having Molly know that you and Liam are together together?”
“More for us than her, I think. She actually said if I needed to take some personal time, to just let her know because she wants grandchildren.”
“Seriously?” Autumn laughed. “Man, I knew Molly dug the idea of you two together, but I had no idea she’d go that far. Make sure she doesn’t know where your condoms are kept.”
“Why?”
“I heard somewhere about a woman who wanted grandchildren so badly, she took a needle with her when she had dinner at all of her children’s homes and poked holes in all the condoms. She wound up with a whole brood.”
“Oh, Jesus. Thank God for pharmaceutical birth control.”
“Watch her. She could get around that, too. Who better to give you a placebo than a pharmacist who works in your pharmacy.”
“She wouldn’t.”
“I don’t know…” Autumn drawled.
“Hush your mouth. Don’t even suggest that.”
“You and Liam would make pretty babies.”
For just a moment, Riley softened at the thought. A little boy with her dark hair and his big gray eyes and impish smile. “Of course we would, but not the point and all kinds of ahead of where we are. Whose side are you on?”
“Yours. Always yours, girl. So your mom seems super pumped.”
“We’re both pumped. It’s just a little studio apartment, but it’s within walking distance of everything downtown, so the fact that she doesn’t have a car right now won’t be a big deal. She’s looking forward to having a proper bed to sleep on instead of the fold out sofa in my living room.” And Riley was looking forward to the ability to have a cup of morning coffee in silence.
“Has she ever had a place all on her own?”
“Nope. She married Daddy before she graduated college, and after I left for school, I was still managing the finances. This will be her first ever truly solo mission.” And that worried Riley as much as it relieved her.
Sharilyn had been trying so hard since she got back to Wishful. Riley desperately wanted her to succeed, not only for her own self-confidence but so that Riley herself would finally be free of that life-long burden. But what were the odds of that actually happening? Riley couldn’t generate a proper level of enthusiasm because she was waiting for the other shoe to drop and wondering what she’d have to do to pick up the pieces.
“Stop waiting for her to fail, Riley.”
Riley sighed. “I can’t help it. Old habits die hard. But she’s doing really well. For once, she’s not doing this for some guy and there’s no guy doing it for her. That’s a huge step in the right direction.”
“Have some faith, hon. She might surprise you.”
“God, I hope so.”
Riley took care of business in the mini storage office, and they headed downtown to the apartment. The U-haul was already half-empty. She picked up the nearest box. Might as well contribute to the cause. As she turned toward the apartment, she almost plowed into someone.
With a yelp, she bobbled the box.
“Whoa there. I’ve got it.” Capable hands righted the load to reveal Matthew McSweeny, dressed for labor, sweat glistening at his silver-shot temples.
“Mr. McSweeney? I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there.” Which she hadn’t, but what she really wanted to say was What are you doing here?
As if she’d asked the question anyway, he said, “No problem. I came to help. It’s a full house up there.”
“It’s a tiny place. That doesn’t take much.” Because her arms were starting to burn and because she didn’t have a clue what she thought about him being here, Riley went on into the apartment.
He hadn’t exaggerated. Between Liam and Judd moving furniture at her mother’s direction, Molly unpacking kitchen stuff, and Autumn stacking boxes near the bathroom, there wasn’t a lot of room to move, let alone stack more boxes. Riley hadn’t realized she was looking for someone else from the market until she didn’t see anybody. Which meant Matthew McSweeney was here on his own, not as part of some Help-A-Coworker-Move gesture.
“We have an extra set of hands.” Molly nodded as Matthew came in with more boxes.
“So I see.”
“Shari, where do you want these?” he asked.
Shari?
“What are they labeled?”
“The ever so informative ‘Miscellaneous.’”
Her mother waved a hand. “Oh, just find a corner. I can’t remember what’s in most of these boxes.”
That was because Riley had been the one to pack the majority of them back when they’d sold the house.
“Randy always was the organized one,” Matthew remarked.
“Of course he was. Until he set foot in a kitchen. Then don’t you dare ask him the difference between a whisk and a colander.”
“How did you and Randy meet?” Autumn asked.
Riley watched Sharilyn’s face soften in that way it only ever did when she talked about her father.
“It was our own little fairy tale.”
Autumn perched on a barstool and propped her chin on her hands. “Ooo, tell. I love fairy tales.”
Sharilyn smiled over at Riley. “This used to be one of Riley’s favorites.”
Feeling a bit of a pang at the thought, Riley smiled back at her. “Still is."
“We met at a wedding. My college roommate got married on the beach down in Gulfport. Randy was already in the Air Force at that point, and he was on leave. Just wandered right on into the reception looking for a party.”
Riley laughed a little, as she thought of her rakish, reckless father crashing a strange couple’s wedding reception.
“I didn’t even realize he wasn’t a guest when he started talking to me. We talked and danced all night, saw the bride and groom off, and talked some more. And we were still talking and walking on the beach when the sun came up. He walked me back to my hotel and told me he had to be getting on back to base. Then he thanked me for an amazing night, and he kissed me. One of those knock-you
r-socks-off, toe-curling kisses.”
“Best kind,” Autumn agreed.
“Anyway, he told me to think of him and then left me standing there, completely senseless. It wasn’t until I’d showered and fallen into bed that I realized we’d never even exchanged last names. Of course, he was long gone by then, and I had no way of tracking him down on base, so I went home the next day just heartbroken.”
“Obviously that’s not how the story ends.”
“I thought it was. Didn’t hear a thing from him for six months. Then one day he was just waiting for me outside my English lit class, leaning against a tree in his dress uniform. There is nothing so breathtaking as a man in military dress uniform.”
Riley looked over at Liam. “True thing.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“And what did he say?” Autumn asked.
“That he was sorry he was late. He’d gotten called overseas and it took him a mite longer to track me down than he’d originally planned. I told him as far as excuses went, that one was pretty good. And he asked if I’d thought of him. Well, of course, I had. All the time, even though my girlfriends told me I ought to forget about him. His buddies all had pictures of their sweethearts tucked into the cockpits of their planes, so they’d always be with them when they flew. He said he had a picture of me. Here.” Sharilyn tapped her heart. “And he’d carried it with him wherever the road had taken him since we’d parted.”
“Damn, that’s romantic,” Autumn sighed.
“Right? I certainly thought so. And when he held out his hand in that ‘Do you trust me’ kind of way and said, ‘Are you up for an adventure?’ I took it. Forty-eight hours later, I was Mrs. Randall Gower.”
Autumn went brows up. “You eloped with a guy you’d known for like two days?”
Sharilyn shrugged. “When you know, you know.”
“Randy knew. Talked about you the whole time we were deployed,” Matthew said. “Kept saying how he was gonna track you down when we got back and marry you. We thought he was nuts. Then he came back with you in tow. Gotta say, we were pretty jealous of his good fortune.”
Her mother grinned. “I remember he used to say if you wanted something good out of life, you had to stop waiting around for it to fall in your lap and go after it with everything you had.”
