Page 31 of Accidental Proposal

“So, this Benefit thingy. It happens every year?” I asked.

“Yes. It is usually held at one of our hotels, and basically everyone is invited.”

“What is it for?”

“The children’s hospital. We auction off a few things, make some speeches, everyone talks and hopefully donates,” Liam said. He made it seem like it wasn’t a big deal, but it was, or at least it was to me. Having a benefit to raise money for the children’s hospital was really sweet and caring. I thought it would be some benefit where all the rich people just stood around and donated to some fake fund.

“That is…that is great,” I finally said. And to hold the event at their own hotel to save costs. I’d never been to any of the Stanford Hotels, but I knew they were huge and nice.

“I’m not heartless like you think I am, Jenna.”

“I never said that you were.”Oratleastnotout loud. I heard him scoff next to me. “But it wouldn’t hurt to be a little nicer.”

“Nice? What is that? I’ve never heard of it.” Looking to my right, I watched him grin at me. He’d never smiled like that at me before, and I felt my heart swell and my knees weaken. He had a gorgeous smile that I knew he never showed anyone but his family. That was his real smile. The other one I’d seen in magazines and on the internet looked more forced. He would only smile with his lips, not showing his teeth, and his blue eyes didn’t seem to shine the way they did now. I grinned back at him, feeling happy I had finally made him really smile at me, instead of just frowning.

“And here I thought you went to college. Looks like you really are just a pretty face,” I commented, shaking my head at him.

“Who needs smarts when you have a face like mine?” He gestured to his face. A laugh escaped my lips as I grinned at him.

“All you need is a sugar mama now. One who will pay for your plastic surgery later on.” I pointed my paintbrush at him, forgetting I had just re-dipped it. It was like everything went into slow motion. Red paint flew off my brush and hit Liam straight in the face. I stared at the mess, trying to hold back my widening grin. I hadn’t meant to get paint on him, but I was one of those people who talked with their hands a lot.

“I am so sorry,” I said but giggled. His blue eyes narrowed.Uhoh. “Liam, whatever is going on in your head, it needs to stop.” I took a step back. I was smart enough to know that Liam was going to retaliate. “It was an accident.”

“I don’t think so.” He bent over and put more than half of his brush in the paint. As he pulled it out, I watched as paint dripped off of it onto the tarp-covered floor.I’m in trouble now.

“Liam,” I warned, putting my hand out. Without any warning, he flicked his wrist and sent red paint flying at me. I didn’t have time to move or to cover up as paint hit my tank top and my face. I felt it on my cheeks, nose, and forehead. Looking down, I saw my black tank top had drops of splattered paint all over it. I turned back to look at Liam, and I found he had a triumphant grin across his face. He’d just started a war.

Acting like I was inspecting my tank top, I stepped closer to him. As I tried to act casual, I looked up at him before shooting my arm out and wiping my brush up his shirt and to his neck. Standing back, I looked him up and down and nodded.

“Red is really your color.” He growled and lunged at me. I didn’t dodge in time, and he swiped his brush along my bare arm, up into my hair. I gasped, looking at him while he smirked at me. I felt my hair and pulled it away to see it covered in red paint. No one messed with my hair. Not caring anymore, I jumped toward the paint can and instead of dipping my brush into it, I dipped my fingers. I whirled around and flicked my fingers at Liam, sending paint toward him. It hit his arms, jeans, and t-shirt.

What happened next came like a tornado. Liam charged toward me, swiping at me with his brush. He then put his hand in the paint, like I had. I turned to run, but a strong arm wrapped itself around my waist, stopping me. I squirmed in his grasp, but it did nothing. A red paint-covered hand came into view, and before I knew it, he was smearing it across my face.

“Now red is your color,” Liam whispered huskily into my ear. I tried not to shiver, but my body failed me. He let me go a second later, taking a step away from me. I could feel the paint all over my face and even on my eyelids. Payback time! Running to the paint tin, I dipped myentirehand into it. I chuckled and ran to Liam and aimed the paint at his hair and face. Satisfied that his brown hair was covered, I started flicking the extra at his shirt.

“Payback’s a bitch!” I grinned evilly.

The next few minutes, Liam and I ran away from each other while we threw paint. Most of the time Liam caught up to me, since his legs were longer than mine. I was covered in red paint, but I couldn’t care less. Only a few patches of Liam’s grey shirt could be seen, but the rest were covered as well. Both of our arms were lined with red from each other’s fingerprints, and from our wrists down we were completely covered from sticking our hands into the paint bucket.

“Jenna,” Liam growled, stalking toward me. I giggled, not taking his expression seriously. He looked like he was in the Blue Man Group when they play the drums, causing the paint to fly across their faces.

“Yes?” I asked innocently, taking steps backwards as he got closer to me.

“Get over here.”

“How about no?” As soon as he got close enough for me to reach, I laid both of my hands firmly on his chest. He stopped and looked down at my hands, then to me. Grinning, I took my hands away and was rewarded seeing both of my handprints clearly on his shirt. The prints covered his boobs, like I was grabbing them. “I think you have a little something on your shirt,” I said. I wiggled my fingers in front of me, giggling.

“My turn,” was all he said before taking one big step toward me and wrapping his arms around me. I was pushed against his chest and looked up. His cobalt eyes stared down at me, shining with amusement, red paint splattered by his eyebrows. Since he was so much taller than I was, I had to crane my neck to look up at him. “Now, that’s better,” he whispered, leaning his head lower to mine. I was confused, but seeing his gaze planted firmly on mine, I couldn’t open my mouth. Something about his expression lured me in, and I couldn’t stop looking at him. Even covered in paint, he was the hottest guy I had ever seen. I watched as his grin widened, and a firm squeeze of my ass jerked my mind out of its naughty thoughts. Liam stepped back from me, rubbing his hands together. Twisting my body, I looked and saw two big handprints right on my ass. It looked just like marks I’d left on his chest.

“You grabbed my ass!” I said, turning to him.

“So? You grabbed my chest!” he shot back, looking smug. I rolled my eyes but still smiled. In that free moment, I looked around the room. My eyes widened as I took in the walls. Every single purple wall was splattered with red paint. It looked like someone had just walked in, grabbed a paint can, and just flicked it all over them. Not one wall was empty; not even the desk, which had red all over it too.Well, that was not what I had in mind.I was about to turn around to show Liam when I felt something drip onto of my head. Looking up, I saw the entire paint can being tilted down on top of my head.I let out a scream and turned around, knocking into Liam’s chest just as he dumped the rest of the can of paint. I timed it just right so I hit his chest hard and he lost his footing, tipping backwards as the paint spilled all over both of us.

We toppled over, with me on top of him. My head hit his chin, and he let out a groan. A few pieces of what used to be my blonde hair fell in front of my face, completely filled with red paint and dripping onto Liam’s face. Looking down at him, I noticed the paint got on him as well, but not as much as me. We were completely covered. I looked up and stared him in the eyes. I grinned at him, and he grinned back as we started laughing. Since I was on his stomach, his laughter rumbled against me. It was the first time I had heard his laugh, and I wanted to hear more of it. His eyes crinkled, and he threw his head back.

Ourlaughingwas interrupted by a loud clearing of someone’s throat. Pausing, we both turned our heads to the doorway. There stood a grinning Lennon, and next to her was a very hot guy. He was tall, maybe six foot two, with short blonde hair, and he was very muscular. The blue shirt he had on stretched across his well-defined chest, looking like it would rip any second. He was staring down at us with a raised eyebrow and an amused look on his face.

“Whatdo we have here?”

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