Page 74 of Wicked Little Thief

“Lucky for me you don’t get a say in the matter.”

In that moment, he wondered if she did have a choice, what would she choose?

Chapter Twenty-Six

Liam

“I have a question,” she said as they drove back to his place after brunch.

“What is it?”

“Since I’m not allowed to take any clients while I’m working at the hospital for free for the next four months… how am I supposed to buy anything? I don’t have very much money I can access without incurring penalties.”

“What do you want to buy, baby?”

“Well, groceries, to start.”

That wasn’t what he’d been expecting.

“I don’t want you to pay for groceries, honey. Besides, Janice does the grocery shopping.”

“I know, but I wanted to make dinner tonight and there are things I need to go to the store for.”

Another thing he wasn’t expecting.

“You want to make dinner tonight?”

“Well, yeah. Feeding you kinda ties in with whole, ‘my sole purpose is pleasing you’ thing.” She shrugged. “And I like the idea of cooking for you.”

He reached over and grabbed her hand. “That would be nice, baby. Thank you. I’ll give you my credit card, and then I’ll make sure to order one with your name on it, so you don’t have to rely on me.”

She gave his hand a small squeeze.

“No offense, but I’ll still be relying on you since you’ll be the one paying the bill.”

She wasn’t wrong, but there wasn’t much he could do about it.

“I guess so. Does that bother you?”

She burst out, “Yeah, it bothers me! Having to rely on you for money, like I’m a child!” then quickly added, “Sir.”

“I’m sorry, honey, but that was what you agreed to.” He tried to cheekily remind her what she was getting in return. “On the bright side, you wouldn’t have made much money in jail, either.”

Utah gave him a tight smile. “You’re right. And I only have to deal with it for a hundred and eighteen more days.”

Liam didn’t like that she was counting, but responded, “It’ll be over before you know it.”

That thought upset him more than it should.

****

Utah

“What are your plans for the rest of the day?” he asked when they walked back into the house.

“Other than go to the grocery store later, I don’t really have any. I can’t even organize my sock drawer because Amy did such a good job putting my things away.”

That reminded her, she needed to schedule lunch with her friend. She put her hand on her hip and asked, “Am I allowed to have visitors?”

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