Chapter Eight
Jenna
“Don’t be a baby and come on!” I yelled, bouncing in the air.
“I am not a baby!” he yelled back at me from the doorway.
“You’re blocking the entrance. Come on and jump with me!”
“Jenna, you are nineteen and are in a bouncy room for little children,” Liam said, crossing his arms across his wide chest.
“So? Does it look like I care?” I kept jumping on the trampoline floor. Getting a few big jumps in, I brought my legs up in a split. “You are just jealous I can do that.” My blonde hair flew around my face as my body went up and down.
“I am not jealous.” Liam watched me, a ghost of a smile on his lips.
We were currently in the bouncy room at Fiesta Fun, where Lennon and I had taken Sky. It was pretty empty except for a few kids, but they were at the other end. I was trying to get Liam to come in and jump with me, but he was refusing, saying he was too old to be in here.
“Come on, old man!” I taunted him. I smirked as his eyes narrowed at me. “Or do you need my help to get over here, grandpa?” That seemed to do the trick, making him stalk toward me. I would have been scared if the trampoline underneath his feet didn’t make him walk weird. Plus, nothing about Liam scared me. I had seen his sweet side often enough to know he wasn’t scary. As he got closer, my bounces kept throwing him off balance. I couldn’t help but giggle.
“You think this is funny?”
“Well yeah. A six foot three, twenty-four year old bouncing around in a little kiddie place is funny.” I stopped bouncing at the look in his eyes. Their light blue color had gone darker, and a smirk was on his face.
“You think that is funny, huh?” He took a step toward me. He was less than a foot away from me now.
“Yes, old man,” I said before thinking about it.
“I am going to show you who’s an old man,” Liam said. I had a second to see his smirk widen before he came at me. With a squeal, I jumped to the side as he lunged for me. “Jenna, come here,” he said in a weird, creepy, high-pitched voice. It sounded like something off a horror film.
“No! You have to catch me, Grandpa.” I smiled at him. In a split second, he lunged at me again, making me turn and run away. Running toward the other side of the bouncy room, I peeked over my shoulder to see Liam right on my heels. Damn, he got his balance back!
“Jenna, I am coming for you!”
With him right behind me, I yelled and ran and jumped to get away from him. My yells got the attention of the few kids there, and their parents. When we ran past a group of parents talking to one another, they sent both Liam and me looks that said we needed to quiet down. As I kept running away from Liam, I couldn’t help but laugh loudly.
I was so busy laughing and trying to dodge around kids that I didn’t notice that Liam was right behind me until a large arm wrapped itself around my waist, pulling me back into a hard chest. With a squeal, I lost my footing and slammed back against Liam, knocking him back as well. I yelped as both of us fell back onto the trampoline floor. I heard Liam grunt in my ear as my full weight slammed down on top of him.
“Ouch,” I muttered. Realizing I was still on Liam, I tried to roll off, but his heavy arm kept me in place. Suddenly I was being moved and rolled over until my back hit the floor, and Liam hovered over me. I met his blue eyes and gulped as his body hovered over mine, his hands beside my face, holding his weight up.
“I got you,” he whispered, his voice husky. I bit down on my bottom lip, feeling a rush of heat go straight to my core and spread through out my entire body.
“You did, old man,” I whispered back to him. A grin graced his face at that. His smile was so breathtaking that I knew I wanted to see it more.
“Do I need to show you that I am not an old man? Everything about me is all young, missy.” He put emphasis on the word “young”. My breath hitched at that.
“I need proof,” I said, smiling up at him.
“Oh yeah?” His head lowered close to mine. Minty breath fanned across my face. I honestly had no idea how his breath still smelled good when it’d been three hours. His head dipped down lower, almost an inch away from my lips. I continued to stare at his pink lips, wanting to kiss him again. Liam’s breath came out in rasps as he stared down at me.
“Hmm-hmmm.” A cough came from above us. Groaning under his breath, Liam closed his eyes before reluctantly sliding off of me. When I looked past Liam, I saw a woman standing there with her hands on her hips, tapping her foot. She looked angrily down at us. Liam stood up, holding a hand out for me to take. Slipping mine in his, I also stood and straightened my sweater, my cheeks starting to turn pink.
“There are children here. It would be wonderful if you would not do that here. I think you better leave.” She glared at us.
“Whatever,” Liam said, surprising me by his response. I expected him to be polite and say sorry. With my hand in his, he tugged me along, leaning down to pick up our shoes by the door. “What a rude woman,” he muttered. I bit back a grin, totally agreeing.
“She’s just jealous that we were having fun,” I said, a smile appearing on my face.
“I think you are right.” He smiled down at me as we walked hand-in-hand out of Fiesta Fun and toward the car.