Page 62 of Falling for my Brother's Best Friend

Nineteen

Savannah

Liam stares at me as though I’m naked. His tongue skates over his full bottom lip as his gaze slides down my body. He takes in the patterned, clingy wrap dress I’m wearing and his hands clench on the table. Forgetting the fight I just got into with the union leader would be divine right now. Liam’s hands could make me forget that the workers’ demands are more than we can give them.

“I’m going to help Phoenix. She probably forgot she was getting us drinks.” Grandma Dori stands. I’m vaguely aware of what she said until she touches my shoulder. “What would you like to drink?”

I blink and peel my gaze off Liam. “I’ll just grab my water from my desk.”

“I can get it. You two eat. I’ll be right back.” Grandma Dori leaves.

Liam clears his throat. “I love your dress.” He leans back, not shy about his appraisal.

“Thanks for mentally stripping me just now.” I head to the buffet table because I’m starving.

“You’re welcome. Thanks for enjoying it so much.”

I whip my head around, and that smirk I love is on his face. “Is this the way it’s going to be now? We openly say what we’re thinking?”

I take my plate and sit across from him. His eyes dip to my chest as my wrap dress falls open a little bit. I tighten and tuck it, my cheeks heating.

“Are you okay with that?” he asks. “I never said my attraction to you had waned.”

“You said you weren’t going to openly flirt with me.” I fork a piece of chicken.

“For that dinner. But if you expect me to go through the next five weeks without noticing all your… assets when you’re wearing a dress that could be pulled open with one tug on a piece of fabric, you’re fooling yourself.” He scoops up his fried rice.

“It’s a tug and button,” I clarify with a wink.

He laughs. “I could still undress you in under two seconds.”

“Are you hoping I take the bait and make you prove it?”

His face reddens. Liam Kelly embarrassed? That’s not something you see every day.

“I wouldn’t be opposed to it, but I always find the harder I work for something, the sweeter the reward.”

My lady parts go into a flurry of activity—clenching while nerve endings fire to life. I shove the biggest piece of chicken into my mouth in order to shut myself up from provoking flirtatious comments from him. Liam smiles over his fork, and I bury my head in my dish.

The door opens, and Dori and Phoenix rejoin us, arguing about time spent on the computer. Dori’s telling her that the IT department checks all activity. They don’t actually, but they could if we asked. This Phoenix-in-the-office experiment needs to come to an end.

Grandma Dori looks in horror at the bulge in my cheek. “Savannah dear, a lady should never eat that much food at one time.”

For being a feminist and pro-woman, Grandma Dori still holds on to some of those stupid beliefs about how a woman should act. Funny how she shacked me up with Liam in the first place but is flabbergasted that I have too much food in my mouth.

Ignoring her, Phoenix sits at the opposite end of the table.

We chat about all the siblings as we eat. Austin and Holly are topic number one since Phoenix is the only one who sees them now that they’re actively trying to have a baby.

“I worry it’s taking too long,” Grandma Dori admits.

Compared to Rome and Harley, it does feel that way. But Harley gets pregnant if Rome just looks at her.

“It’s only really been, like, a month. She could already be pregnant for all we know,” I say.

“True. Why did they tell us anyway? Now I feel like I’m waiting for Christmas to come,” Grandma Dori says.

Phoenix raises her hand. “I told everyone.”

---