Page 26 of Liam
He pulled out a bottle of wine.
“Oh, you definitely get points for this.” She took the wine from his hand, inspecting the label. “How is any otherfriendsupposed to match tonight, Liam?”
“They’re not.”
Her gaze flicked up, eyes darkening. She sighed, shaking her head as she pulled out the Key lime pie and groaned. “Oh my God, you might just need to carry me home after this.”
One side of his mouth lifted. Hold this woman in his arms? Hell yes.
When all the food was out, they each loaded a plate.
While they ate, he was reminded once again of how he could listen to Nylah talk all night. Her voice was soft and soothing, and when she laughed, every part of her face lit up.
They were just finishing their food when she gasped.
He straightened and scanned the area, looking for a threat. When there was nothing, he turned back to find Nylah staring at the sky.
“The first star of the night,” she whispered.
He looked up, and sure enough, there it was.
“Aren’t they magical?” she whispered.
He faced her, fixated on the softness in her eyes. The awe. “Yeah, I can definitely see some magic.”
But he wasn’t talking about the stars.
* * *
“Tell me about your family.”
The fork paused midway to Nylah’s mouth at Liam’s statement. He’d stopped eating about ten minutes ago and was leaning back against his hands. She’d been shoving pie into her mouth to take her mind off how sexy he looked, lying like that with his thick arm muscles on display.
She swallowed. “I have five brothers. One of them is a twin, and we’re the third born in the family, so I have two older and two younger brothers. One of them has a daughter but is separated from the mother.”
“Five brothers. Wow. You and your mom were a bit outnumbered.”
She prodded the pie with her fork. “My mom died when I was eight. Breast cancer.”
His brows slashed together. “I’m sorry.”
“Thank you. It was a hard time, and after that, my dad and brothers became a whole new level of overprotective, I guess because I was the only girl in the family. Getting away to study at college was like a breath of fresh air, even if it was just for a semester.”
“Is this your new breath of fresh air?”
“Yep. My time for me.”
He nodded, looking at her like he really did understand. “Are you gonna go back to college?”
It was definitely something that had been playing over in her mind. “Maybe.”
“You should.”
The certainty in his expression and tone—like it was all that sheshouldbe doing—made her belly clench.
At this point, she’d probably agree if the man told her to get on a spaceship to the moon.
She looked back at the sky. She hadn’t been lying when she’d said the stars were magical. Sometimes when she looked at them, the rest of the world melted away.
