Page 49 of The Reno
Excitement bubbled. “I’ll do more than that. I’ll design a complete rebrand. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure it’s sufficiently manly.”
Liam laughed. “It’s your choice. I’ll take whatever you give me. Have you got everything you need?” He nodded to the mess of my collapsed tent.
I groaned. “My stuff’s in the tent. It’s probably soaking now.”
“Wait here, I’ll go and get it.”
Liam jumped out of the van and returned to the tent with most of my belongings. Liam was clearly an “acts of service” kind of man. I’d always wondered what it would be like to meet one of those. I’d always dated guys who could say lovely, honeyed words but then would inform the barman that we were paying for our drinks separately. Liam seemed the type to pay the whole bill and help you move a sofa into your apartment on a Saturday afternoon. He wouldn’t spiral when you asked if he would come to your cousin’s wedding. He was anall-inkind of guy.
He didn’t do casual, which was a shame because casual was all I could offer.
I shook my head, berating myself. I wasn’t offering anything.Like Liam said, it wasn’t going to happen.
Climbing back into the van, Liam had rain glistening on his cheeks.
“I couldn’t rescue the blankets and towels, but I’ve got some you can use.”
Liam started the van and pulled off the drive, his words giving me a zip of excitement. I was going to see where Liam lived. He was still a bit of a mystery to me. I imagined the last bachelor pad I’d visited—a loser guy on Tinder. I’d taken a chance on him and had been bitterly disappointed when morning rolled around. I left his eerily bare apartment in the same clothes from the night before and a green shoot of regret in my stomach, adding a new branch to my deep-rooted self-hatred.
“Do you have navy sheets?” My thought-to-mouth speed was incredibly fast.
Liam arched an eyebrow. “You want to know what colour sheets I have?”
“No! Not like that. It’s a thing. Men have navy sheets. I saw it as a joke online, and then it was confirmed by pretty much all the guys I’ve met on Tinder.” My eyes widened. “Not that I’ve hooked up with a load of men on Tinder. I don’t go home with them until I know they won’t murder me in my sleep. I’ve listened to too many true crime podcasts.” I stopped myself, taking a deep breath. “Sorry, that was a lot.”
Liam chuckled as we stopped at the red lights. “No, I don’t have any navy sheets. I have white ones.”
“Shocking. I had you pegged for a navy sheet man.”
Liam glanced over at me. “Disappointed?”
“Not at all; it gives me hope. One guy used empty booze bottles as decor and Fairy Liquid as a body wash.”
Liam shook his head. “A serial killer.”
“I know, right!”
“I’ve got proper shower gel.”
“Phew.”
“It’s five-in-one.”
I groaned. “Take me back to the tent. Please!”
He smiled, shaking his head. “Let’s not joke about the tent.”
“Too soon?”
“Too soon.”
THIRTEEN
Liam drove us through a modern estate of houses that all had the same kind of look but different configurations—some detached, semi-detached or terrace style. It was clearly an area that had been regenerated recently because it had that new design to the roads that made it feel like a toy town. We pulled up in front of a detached house with large floor-to-ceiling windows and a huge grey front door. It had to be one of the biggest of the designs.
It was gorgeous, even if it wasn’t to my personal taste. I also hadn’t pegged Liam as modern and sleek. I could see him wearing plaid shirts and chopping trees in a remote cabin in the woods, not wearing a suit, making coffee with an overpriced appliance as this house suggested.
I whistled. “Very nice.”
