“I didn’t realize you made enough money to afford a place like this,” Tom says.
“It’s nice, isn’t it? The instant we saw the house, we knew it had to be ours.”
Tom laughs snidely. “So it’s your boyfriend’s house? I momentarily thought it was yours.”
“Liam actually bought it for me,” I say with a smile. “Isn’t that sweet?”
“He… bought you a house?”
“He sure did. How sweet, right?” I ask before I quickly leave and hurry over to the kitchen island where I find Liam sitting behind it staring at Butter. “Hey,” I say as I approach. “You okay?”
“Of course. Margarine was being needy and annoying, so I kneeled down to whisper threats in his ear. I’ve already told him that he was unwanted, which I’m allowed to say since I also went into foster care.”
“Ah, okay… I’m not sure that’s called for at all, but we’ll pretend it is,” I say as I kneel next to him. “Is this too much for you? You’re always so… confident in crowds that I didn’t think anything of it.”
“I literally just came down here to threaten the cat. I told him that he better start pulling his own weight if he’s going to continue to get attention from you because every time you gaze at him is one less second that you gaze at me.”
I reach forward and slide my fingers through his hair before giving it a tug.
“What the fuck was the tug for?”
“For not being truthful. I shouldn’t have pushed you to do this. You’re kind of like the boy who cried wolf. You claim to never want to do anything, so I don’t know when you’re being serious. I’m sorry.”
Liam raises an eyebrow. “I’m not like that, and I’m totally fine doing all of this.” His timer goes off, so he stands up and heads over to the oven. “I promise.”
“Hmm… you’re telling me the truth?”
“Sure.”
“That was horribly unconvincing.”
“I’m not being scarred or something. I already told you, I don’t like hanging around people I can’t bully.”
“Well, you’re doing a good job at it,” I assure him before I glance out the window and see the grill smoking. “What’s on the grill?”
“Don’t worry about it,” he says with a smile.
“That smile makes me a bit worried about it,” I admit as I watch him hurry out to it. When he comes back in, he’s covered whatever he pulled off it and slides it off to the side. I creep toward it, but he smacks me with a spatula.
“Nope.” Then he smacks me again before getting a thoughtful expression on his face. “Remind me to take this to bed tonight.”
I laugh as I push him away from me. “You’re ridiculous.”
He gives it a test swing and then nods approvingly. “We won’t let your mom know what we’re going to do with the spatula… although looking at the submissive man your father is, she might have some tricks up her sleeve.”
I make sure my face conveys how horrified I am over that thought. “Don’t ever speak to me again.”
Liam laughs as he draws me in for a quick kiss on my cheek. “I won’t. Now tell everyone that lunch is ready and then point out which one is Tom.”
“Why?” I ask nervously. I really shouldn’t have mentioned Tom to this man. Who the hell knows what he has planned?
He gives me the sweet smile that makes me oddly untrusting of him. “For not at all nefarious reasonings.”
“Well, I’m not telling you.”
Liam scrutinizes the people who are inching closer to the kitchen now that the smells are luring them in. “I’ve deduced that man in the blue is Tom because of the way you reacted to him entering the home. You’d never be a good liar.”
“I can lie just fine. I lied when I pretended I wasn’t intrigued by the idea of you smacking me with a spatula.”