Page 6 of Trouble

“I’m sorry, hesavedyou?” Eileen lit up like a damn Christmas tree and rolled her office chair out from behind her desk in classicgossip pose.“Do tell memore.”

I rolled my eyes, but nevertheless told her the story of my disastrous morning. Only when I was done, her face was still stuck in a widegrin.

“Sounds like you gave it as quite the damsel in distress,” she mused, flicking a pen between her well-manicuredfingernails.

“I didnot!”

“Tell me, was he handsome, thissaviorofyours?”

I paused, the image of Liam’s silver eyes and fiery hair—and the way all his rows of muscle had been so clearly visible through his clothes—flickering before my mind’s eye. “That’s neither here nor there. He can’t be more than early twenties, and I’m not exactly a cougar here. Nothing’s going to happen—it’s just a thank-youbeer.”

“Mmhm,” Eileen hummed. She swiveled around on her chair to rummage through her purse, but before I could get back to work, she pulled out a string of foil packs and turned back around to me with a smirk, handoutstretched.

“You should probably take these, though. You know, just in case you slip on your way to the bar and land on his dick. It can be tricky for old maids like yourself to navigate around a hot young stud withoutstumbling.”

“Eileen, put those away!” I hissed, glancing out the open door of our shared office out of fear of one of our superiors seeing her lewd offering. “It’s not a date, and I’m certainly not going to needcondoms!Are youcrazy?”

“Just looking out for you and your cobweb-infested vagina,” she said, shaking the row of condoms at me. “Come on, Audrey. When did you even get laid last? You’ll let that young man take you home—and then you’ll ride him like apony.”

“I most certainly will not.” I turned my attention back to my screen. “And I’m not taking those from you, either. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have work todo.”

* * *

When I walkedinto the same pub I’d run into Liam at earlier, it was with an obscene amount of condoms stashed away in the depths of my purse and a nagging fear that every other patron in the place had suddenly developed X-ray vision. Despite Eileen’s commentary throughout the afternoon, I wasn’t exactly a blushing virgin, but there was just something about walking into a pub to meet a guy with a purse full of condoms that made me feel like a pervertedpredator.

I had zero interest in the kind of things a guy like Liam had to offer, and besides—Eileen was just full of it. There was nothing sexual in an after-work beer with the guy who’d saved you from getting chewed out by your boss. It was just a friendly thank-you. Theend.

My train of thought halted when I spotted Liam’s red hair up by the bar. He was lounging on a bar stool, a pint of beer next tohim.

He lit up in a smile the moment our eyes met, and my breath got stuck in my chest by the sheer force of his expression. I’d never met anyone who could do that—who could light up the entire room, pushing every hint of dark thoughts aside in an easy sweep as if they never existed, just with asmile.

“Miss Waits,” he rumbled, quirking a teasing eyebrow at me when I walked up next tohim.

I flushed at the reminder of my blunder earlier and gave him a stern look.“Mr. Steel.I’m glad my panic was amusing toyou.”

“Oh, it was, love,” he said. “I take it you thought I was some fancy client ready to throw atantrum?”

“Yeah,” I said with a small sigh at the reminder of my current high-maintenance client, Perkinson. “We get some pretty highly strung managers on the line. The one I was on my way to meeting this morning is one of the worst, so I really can’t thank you enough for therescue.”

Liam glanced down at my shoes. “It’s still holdingup?”

“Yeah.” I wiggled my foot for emphasis. “Which is more than can be said for myfeet.”

The smile that was never far away from his handsome face returned, bathing me in its warmth. “I never understood why women put themselves through suchtorture.”

“After this morning, neither do I,” I grumbled, earning me a lowlaugh.

“We should probably find a seat then, love, so you can give your feet a break, eh?” He winked. “Listen, would you mind if we grabbed dinner before we get down to the business-end of that beer you owe me? I’m absolutelystarving.”

“Oh. Yeah, sure, I guess that would be nice,” I said, checking the time on my phone. It was close to dinner time, of course, and the idea of a nice pub meal made my stomach rumble in agreement. It would be a welcome change from all my takeaway,anyway.

Liam slid off the bar stool with an easy movement that displayed perfect control of his body and held out his arm to guide me toward one of the empty tables by thewindow.

“So what do you do, Liam?” I asked as we sat down, grabbing the menus. “I presume something business-related, since you were in the area this morning and aroundlunch?”

“Nah, I live close by,” he said distractedly as he looked at first page. “You in the mood for a starter? Nachos soundgood?”

“Uh, sure.” I blinked at him, taking in his casual shirt-and-jeans outfit.“The area”was mainly big corporation HQs and a few high-class pubs like the one we were at. The residential buildings I knew of lay right down by the river, and… the kind of people who lived there generally pulled home seven-figure salaries and weren’t seen without their Louis Moinet watches and Roberto Cavalli ties. What the hell did a twenty-something guy do for a living that had him shacked up with a view over theThames?

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