Page 51 of The Reno
“Brew?” He interrupted my thoughts. “I don’t have any alcohol in the house. I don’t drink.”
“You don’t drink?” I hadn’t noticed at the club.
“I quit a few years ago. I—I hadn’t loved my relationship with it, I suppose.” He said it lightly, like he didn’t want to lower the mood.
“Tea would be lovely. Thank you.”
He poured boiling water into two mugs. I watched his hands grip the handle of the kettle. They were nice hands. I wondered what they felt like, running across skin. A strange shiver ranthrough me.
Liam’s eyebrows furrowed. “Are you sure you aren’t cold?”
I went pink, cringing at where my brain had taken me. I was standing in this man’s house, objectifying him. I should be ashamed of myself.
I smiled tightly. “I’m fine, thank you.”
“I can get some towels—”
“Honestly, I’m fine. You’ve done enough. I—I really appreciate it,” I said, hoping my face was earnest.
“Did that hurt to say out loud?” Liam asked sardonically.
I rolled my eyes. “I’m just saying I’ve forgiven you for the car park debacle if that makes you feel better. You don’t have to keep trying to repent.”
Liam’s eyes widened comically. “Are you saying I don’t have to keep going to midnight mass? Because it was really messing with my sleep.”
I held up my hands. “I mean, I don’t know about the rest of your sins.”
Liam nodded solemnly. “I should probably keep going. Father Nichols would be disappointed.”
“The older ladies need some eye candy. Keeps them from falling asleep.”
“Eye candy.” Liam raised his eyebrows.
Fuck. I could feel heat travelling up my neck.
“Well, you know,” I sputtered, “their husbands are probably long dead. And they haven’t had their eyes tested in a while. So anything will do.”
Was that funny enough to play off my blunder?
“I have been called a last resort before,” Liam said dryly, with an arched eyebrow.
It took me a while to realise he’d quoted what I’d said at the social club.
I winced. “Not my finest moment.”
“Come on, you can’t go back on it now.” Liam laughed. “You’ve made up for it with ‘eye candy’. I think I could probably use that to fuel my ego for the next five to seven years.”
I rolled my eyes. “Typical man.”
Liam laughed as he busied himself in the kitchen, adding milk to the tea. I looked out the bifold doors into a spacious garden, and at the end of the garden was a mini house made of bricks and wooden beams. It looked like something out of a fairy tale, slightly out of place for a residential area, but the garden was big enough that it worked.
“Is that the annexe?” I asked, mouth agape.
Liam joined me at the doors and handed me a mug of tea.
“Yeah.”
“You have to be kidding me.”
