Page 25 of Ward Willing
He looks both highly curious and awestruck. “Fiction?” he asks, his voice a low purr.
“Yeah. It’s fantasy.”
Drop it,I urge him silently.
“I didn’t…” He stops and rubs his mouth with his hand, and the motion causes the muscle of his bare bicep to roll. “I didn’t know you liked writing.”
“I don’t,” I say automatically.
I’m not sure why I’m lying. I suppose because my book ismineonly.It’s the one thing I have that’s only for my pleasure. I want to keep it protected and hidden. I know it’ll never see the light of day, and it’s something that brings me joy. Something that motivates me to get through my pile of homework. If Liam knew I liked to write, he might ask more questions about it. Even worse, he might want to read it.
It’s already bad enough that he knows.
He was never supposed to know.
He looks like he wants to say something else, but instead, he puts his hands in the pockets of his pajama pants.
I have to actively keep my eyes on the floor so that I don’t let them peruse his bare abdomen again.
“I was making a sandwich,” he says casually. “Care to join me?”
I arch a brow. “It’s the middle of the night.”
“You didn’t eat much of the chicken earlier,” he counters.
“Are you keeping tabs on my food intake?”
He steps closer. “I have to, considering you used my food money to get your nails done.” His eyes turn flinty and argumentative. “Are you hungry?”
My stomach choosesthis exact momentto grumble loudly. With a satisfied smirk, he turns and walks out of my bedroom.
“Dammit,” I whisper, following him a second later.
Because Iknowhe’s not going to put a shirt on, and I’ll have to pretend not to ogle him for at least ten more minutes.
As I take a seat at the island, Captain Sushi nuzzles my calves and jumps up, large paws on my thighs. Kissing his forehead, I hear Liam laugh.
“He only purrs like that with you. I think it’s because he imprinted on you.”
My brows furrow. “How is that possible? You’d had him for years before I met him.”
Liam stops slicing the tomato in his hand and looks up at me, a piece of hair flopping over his forehead.
Damn.My stomach flips as his lips twitch with amusement, and I try my hardest to ignore the rampant butterflies swarming inside of me.
“You don’t remember the day I brought him home?”
I tilt my head. “I was there?”
His lips curve to the side as he looks down and resumes slicing. “Yeah. You were nine. It was the week my dad…” he shrugs. “Anyway, my brothers and I spent a good chunk of that week rehoming the animals in his menagerie, and we each decided to take one with us. To my father’s credit, he cared for them and hired the best help he could get, but of course, his trial meant that it was safer to rehome them before animal control came to take them away. Chase took one of the roosters, Miles took the pygmy goat, and of course I took Captain Sushi. He was young and already domesticated.”
I want to ask which animals Orion and Malakai took with them, but he continues before I can.
“Captain didn’t have a name when I brought him home. Your parents came over for dinner and brought you with them. Do you know what you said to me when I asked you what I should name him?”
I smile. “What?”
“You said,he’s a Captain Sushi if I ever saw one.” Liam chuckles as he lays cheese and turkey on the bread.
