Page 25 of Waiting For A Girl Like You
Taylor popped through the door fully, waving two neatly folded paper bags with a logo that promised something sugary and delicious. “I know how you get in the mornings when you don’t have a little caffeine and sugar in your system, and with that awful phone call happening at the crack of dawn, I figured you would need a pick-me-up before the afternoon.”
“Thanks,” her father mumbled, trying to look anywhere but at Taylor’s prominently exposed décolletage. One wrong move on her part, and they would get an eyeful. “I probably do need to eat.”
Jamison felt sorry for him. While she and Simone had made a vow to be forever kind to Taylor, it was her father who had to endure the brunt of the woman’sattention. In the beginning, he made excuses for the behavior, but over the last week, Taylor had entered a kind of hyper-fixation mode, where she constantly chased after him with something he supposedlyneeded.
And always while wearing the shortest skirts imaginable.
Forever the hero, Liam snatched one of the bags out of Taylor’s hand. “Who wants donuts?”
His shout was like a siren’s call. Two sets of pounding footsteps hurried in their direction from the parlor. Harper and Theo appeared seconds later, still dressed in their footie pajamas.
“Unc, yous gots donuts?” Theo danced in place, her hair a mess and big eyes sparkling with hope. “Gonna gives to me?”
Liam held the bag high in the air while the girls tried to jump and grab it. “Ms. Taylor brought donuts for Papa, and I think he’ll share them if you’re good and hang out here for a little bit longer. Can you do that?”
The girls screamed, each latching on to one of their grandfather’s hands so they could tug him down the hall toward the kitchen. “Come on, Papa!” Harper groaned as she pulled. “Before Daddy catches us!”
Evie’s pregnancy had been fraught with complications, and somewhere during the second trimester, the doctors had warned her to adjust her diet. Samuel took that to mean everyone in the house had to eat healthier, including the girls who had been insisting their father was trying to kill them with a broccoli-based assassination plot.
“I’ll pour the milk,” Taylor chimed in, taking the bag back and sauntering ahead like she was on a catwalk. “Then maybe we’ll watch cartoons. Papa needs a break after his busy morning.”
The girls cheered. Her father groaned. The whole circus trooped away in a cyclone of noise, leaving Jamison alone with Liam.
Which was a rare thing these days.
Liam’s midnight eyes slid over to her. “Blue.”
“What?”
“Taylor’s bra. She flashed it twice in under two minutes.”
“Stop.” She poked his chest. “That show wasn’t for you.”
“Oh, I know. And I know we’re supposed to be eternally nice to her.”
“Forever and ever, William.”
His upper lip curled in disgust. “But this thing with your dad is getting old.”
“I’m used to it.”
“Liar.”
“Okay, fine. I am a liar, and my pants are, in fact, on fire.” She sighed. “You should totally take them off me.”
Before she could register what was happening, he looped an arm around her waist and spun them into the library. A whoosh of air escaped her when he pinned her against the door as it closed.
Hands braced on his shoulders, she shivered when he buried his face in her neck.
“We’re being watched,” she whispered. Starved for privacy, she’d actually fantasized about dragging Liam into the woods to have her dirty way with him, but then Rowan ruined the idea with more securitycameras out on the trails. “Like, right now. They’re all probably in the media room, placing bets on how far we get before someone interrupts.”
Liam’s hips pressed into hers, and she groaned. “Ask me about my plan.”
“Is it a dirty plan? Please say it’s a dirty plan.” Threading her fingers through his hair, she pulled him up to see his face. “Because the last time you said you had a plan, I was assigned to help Izzy stay organized while she did background checks. Not that I mind, but I would much rather be involved in a different kind of plan—a dirty plan—that involves you doing dirty things to me. Or me to you. Whatever.”
“A dirty plan like the one you concocted the other night?” he teased. “You lost nine pairs of shoes, Jamison.”
Simone wasn’t the only one not sleeping. Rowan and Liam were up around the clock with Will, trying to sift through the wreckage of information coming in. But a few nights ago, Liam had snuck upstairs torest,and when he slipped into bed with her, she'd suggested sneaking off to the walk-in closet to try to have some private time together.
