Page 121 of He Loves Me Knot

It was fun. Exciting. Sexy as hell.

Andterrifying.

Callum peeled his T-shirt away at that moment, revealing his muscular frame, and Liddy felt her mouth go dry. Would she ever be able to look at him at work again without remembering his taste?

And he looks so fucking good in a suit, too.

“You look like you could eat him,” Elle said with a quirk of her brow. “Man, Lid. I mean, I didn’t know you were so into him.” She ducked her chin. “Now are you going to tell me what that was all about?”

“Sophia is Callum’s ex-fiancée, that’s all,” Liddy whispered. The game started, and Callum sprinted forward onto the sand, his muscular frame quickly overtaking Quinn, who was doing his best to hold onto the ball.

He dodged forward, getting one bare foot on the ball, then swiped it away from Quinn in a blink with fast, fancy footwork.

God, he’s beautiful.

And clearly good at this.

Which doesn’t surprise me, his past career aspirations aside.Isla was right. Callum was good at everything he did.

“That’s all?” Elle gripped Liddy’s elbow. “That’s huge. Quinn never told me that.”

“They broke up five years ago. I mean—” She steadied her breath as Callum kicked the ball and it went sailing through the goal.I never knew I could get so turned on by soccer.“Quinn probably knows about it. But he doesn’t know that it didn’t end well between Sophia and Callum—she cheated on him—and Callum never told Quinn.”

“Oh, wow. That’s awful. I wish I had known.” Elle’s gaze was fixed on Quinn. “I can’t believe he didn’t?—”

“Is this seat taken?” Sophia’s voice came softly.

Liddy glanced up at her, the rising sun making it hard to see her shadowed face.

Seriously?

“Um, no.” She scooted closer to Elle, who’d tensed.

Sophia settled down beside Liddy but sat on the sand rather than on the sarong. She smiled at the game. “It’s good to see Cal playing again. When I last saw him, he swore he’d never touch a ball again.”

“He’s amazing,” Liddy said, surprised at how genuine she sounded. Partially because it was true—Callum was amazing at the sport. Quinn and his teammates were struggling to keep up.

“I just wanted to apologize.” Sophia sifted some sand between her fingertips. “I wasn’t trying to pressure you to do anything you didn’t want to do. My apologies.”

Elle grazed Liddy’s elbow ever so slightly, as though to offer the reassurance of her presence, and Liddy smiled to herself, grateful for her sister. Whether or not Callum was hung up on Sophia, he’d spent the night in bed with Liddy. The past few days with her, in fact. And that wasn’tnothingeither.

And you have no right to be jealous anyway.She wasn’t in a cat fight for Callum’s feelings, after all. That would only end badly for her.

“You don’t need to apologize,” Liddy said with a breezy smile. “All you did was ask a question.”

Sophia stopped fidgeting with the sand, then nodded. She looked over Liddy’s profile toward Elle. “Speaking of questions, your planner told me you are all leaving today? I just wanted to confirm since you paid in advance. If no one is here, I can refund you the money and try to rebook some rooms.”

Elle cleared her throat. “No, that’s unnecessary. I mean, of course, feel free to rebook the rooms once we leave, but you don’t have to refund us. Quinn and I don’t want to do that to you all.”

Liddy shielded her eyes from the glare of the sun against the sea. Her guilt at Elle’s words ebbed closer now. Her sister and Quinn had paid for everyone’s stay atLa Hacienda. Even if it wasn’t as expensive as whatever Quinn’s mother had planned, they would still lose money over it.

Because I should have stayed when Elle asked for my help.

“What time do you think you will check out?” Sophia asked, smoothing her hands over her bare, tanned legs.

“I’m not sure.” Elle pursed her lips. “I can check with the planner. Do you need us gone by a certain time?”

Hopefully, Sophia doesn’t hear the hostility in Elle’s tone like I do.

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