Chapter 28

Body shifts in the bed next to me. For a long moment I’m unsure if I’m, still dreaming or am I awake. The room is dark. Little light coming from the hall and the living room. I can feel his breath on my shoulder and his big arm resting on my stomach, cupping one of my breasts, his big body radiating heat. My own little nuclear generator. He smells like steal and leather mixed with an addictive essence of him. I could wear this smell as a bubble around me all day long and not get tired of it.

Liam refused to go home yesterday; said he can’t drive since we were drinking – which was the right call. He didn’t want to drag Adam to come and get him – I also deemed that as a right call due to the fact Adam helped me move here today. The hell before I made him come and get his insolent boss. I couldn’t drive him home because I drank with him. Aaaand Uber suggestion was scoffed away with uber disdain.

He obviously refused to sleep on the sofa and I sure as hell did not want to sleep there – since THIS should be MY home for the time being – so we shared a bed. Like two fucking roommates or something. I went to sleep frustrated and wet – wanting his body - which was right there in the bed with me. Wanting him to touch me – which he did the second he fell asleep, turning around, spooning to me. Wanting to have sex – which was out of the question because I said I don’t want to. When in the reality I do want to. I so much want to. Especially when his hard erection was pressing against my but and I know all I have to do is touch him. If I could only feel him a little bit, just the tip, not really having sex. Perhaps he wouldn’t even feel it… I can say it was an accident... Aaaaaaggghhh!

By the grace of God, I made my brain tone down with the sexy thoughts, finally, finally calming enough so that I fell asleep as well, thinking – He didn’t leave. He – didn’t – leave.

Few days ago, I was my own person, on the path of building my own business, on my own terms. This morning I find myself in the arms of a strong successful man who is determined he knows what is best for me. How did I let this happen?

My dad always told me – Stand on your own two feet. Don’t depend on any man for your success. Even if that means working multiple jobs.

I’ve listened to that advice all my life. Not that I had any other choice being alone most of the time. One more thing I inherited from my dad. No memory of any woman in his life, not even my mother. That thought stabs me right in the chest.

Not particularly gently, I remove Liam’s hand from my body and walk to the bathroom, turning on the shower. Steaming, hot water singes my skin but I stand under it just taking in the pain with the warmth. Hard reality of my position hits me. For the past few days, I’ve hidden in this fantasy with Liam, now it’s time to wake up and get working. Otherwise, I’ll lose only thing I own. I’m out of money and my house is under mortgage. I have to start making some money soon.

I know every advice you’ll find about investing says – don’t invest money you need for living. But I did just that. I decided, took out a loan on my house to keep us afloat. Dylan doesn’t know this. Nobody knows this. We worked so much to get to this point and… What’s done is done, no going back now…

Lost in my thoughts I didn’t even notice Liam entering the bathroom. He just appeared right behind me.

“Everything OK?” His voice echoing of the marble tiles.

I glance back at him, “Yes, just thinking about work”. He pulls me into an embrace kissing my neck under the pouring water. If anybody understands my anxiety it is Liam. He built not one but several businesses, some were successes right of the bat, some came close to the end. He pulled them through.

“We need to get ready.” I say grabbing the shampoo bottle. He takes it out of my hand, pours a generous amount on his palm and massages it into my hair. His movements are deliberate and soft while he takes his time to wash my hair. That takes off the edge. Can life be this simple? Just two people caring about each other. When I turn – I’m faced with two smoldering dark ambers. Water gliding down his perfectly sculptured body. Seeing this guy naked… my brain just switches off each time. Not one thing on his entire body is less than perfect. Only hard taught muscle wherever I look. His stomach, a well-defined six pack lowering into the V-shape of his lower stomach ending with the majestic thick cock. He is tall and slim, so when fully clothed; you can never tell how muscular he is.

“Keep looking at me like this and we’ll never leave this apartment,” He rasps.

Taking a bit of soap from my head I tentatively touch his beard.

“Making friends?”

“How do you wash it?” I ask fascinated. It never occurred to me but there must be some beauty routine to this thing.

He grins down on me. The emotion I felt for him at that moment, seeing him smile and feeling the warmth in his eyes… It almost hurt. He pushes us back under the water. “You are so beautiful,” I tell him with my eyes closes as he rinses out the soap from my hair.

“You just stole words from my mouth Gorgeous.”

Something tectonic like just shifted as we stood clinging to each other. Raw, naked, not knowing what to do with our emotions.

***

My life keeps making quantum leaps on a daily level. Measuring day against day is a mission impossible. Why? Because my sheltered little house in the country life from one week ago, now feels like a distant memory. No, a story that you hear from other people. The office Liam assigned me to is small but comfy. One huge upgrade from the desk I had while working here.

Never have I ever thought I’ll be returning to this building, yet alone work here again. When I say I wasn’t the best at keeping connections I mean I didn’t keep them. At all. That kinnda happens when you move to New York after your father dies and you find out that mother, for whom you thought had just left you. Is in fact dead as well. Loong dead. Died in a robbery.

All those years and he never told me that. All those years when we fought and I told him – I wish mom was here instead of you! All those years and he never said anything. It still haunts me; I’ll never forgive myself for that.

New York was an expensive experiment. I did publish some books and had some success, although the main thing that kept me afloat there is the money my father left me, which burnt out fast while I tried to build my career as an author. But it just didn’t feal right. Nothing ever felt right for my restless soul. First, I was the motherless kid, the recipient of pity looks on all school events. Later I found out the actual situation is way worse I was a person whose mother was a criminal. Thankfully nobody knew this. Not even me until my father passed away and I finally got information what I wanted. More than I ever expected. An everlasting threat bringing me reality check whenever any success came my way. What if people find out? What will they think about me?

One failed business attempt and one bad relationship later I found myself returning to Denver because it was all I knew. At least I got to meet Dylan, my current business partner, so some good came out of it.

Speaking of Dylan, I connect to my usual daily meeting. His happy face appears on my screen. “You’re not in your home office?”

“No, I told you. Liam insisted I work from his office. I can’t believe I’m back in this building.”

“At least that bitch Adele is not there anymore.” Dylan knows how she treated me when we worked together. How she had the magical gift of always making me look bad. More so in front of Liam, who was always very hands on involved into business. He must have thought I was the worst employee ever. Maybe this is why he wants to monitor my progress now.

“What’s wrong?” Dylan knows me too well to mis on my mossy mood.

“Things around me are happening so fast. Everything is spinning out of control.”

“The man obviously has a magic dick,” Dylan proclaims covering his mouth in mock modesty. “I meant stick.”

This makes me laugh. He shrugs his shoulders, “Is there any other way to explain this?”

I guess that he is right. We keep saying we needed to talk about the entire situation but each time we are alone there is very little talking. “You are right, because I’m suffering from a bad case of good sex.”

Admitting this to myself was not easy. Liam is God of sex and I just can’t get enough of him. It’s not even related with the fact that I didn’t have sex in quite some time. Or is it? And Liam - a very private person. Not much is known about his personal life. There are rumors that he is a player. A big one. But no evidence about his relationships apart from Adele who was his escort on many public events. They always said they are just friends. Yeah, right. Friends with benefits for at least three years. Again allegedly, according to rumors. If the past two days indicate his usual sexual appetite – he must have an army of women hidden somewhere.

That trauma, I’ll leave for later. This all still feels too good to be true so I’m still waiting for everything to fall apart the minute he gets bored with me.

I drop the pen I’m holding so that it falls on the table and pinch the root of my nose. “Let’s work.”

Dylan walks me through the customer experience study we ran, and the preliminary feedback is good. The look and feel of the app got high reviews. We will need one more round of insights after we better define exact targets and metrics we need. Just as I finish my meeting with Dylan, Liam appears in my office. I know we are near, but this is ridiculous, we have the internal chat.

He plops into the sofa in the corner of my office. “I have half an hour between meetings, did you get the CX study?”

I nod affirmatively, “Dylan just walked me through it and shared the entire study. I’ll send it to you.”

“What are the high points?” he asks in his cool demanding tone.

I tell him the overview and go through next steps. He agrees with me, adding few well aimed suggestions. As he gets up to leave, I’m relaxed, feeling more confident in this business dynamic and more than grateful for all the good advice he just unloaded on me. When he declared he will mentor me, it was without any reservation.

“Liam,” I call out to him before he leaves the room. “Thank you. This is gold.” And I mean it. There is no money in the world which could pay for such mentorship.

“I know my young Padawan. There is lots more to come.”

“Lunch?” I ask.

“As much as I would love to, I already have a previous appointment.” He winks at me and leaves.

***

Steady stream of e-mails keeps me busy for next few hours. When my stomach protests, I realize that lunch time passed. There is an employee cafeteria on the ground floor where I can find some food, but I don’t feel like going there. There used to be a small crafty caffe just few minutes away, offering ready to go lunches, salads, and pastry alongside the best freshly squeezed juices.

Finding out it is still there makes me happy. Lunch time is over so the left-over selection is not big. I take a quinoa chicken salad with strange looking dark green veggies, tomatoes, peas, and pomegranate. Their juices always had crafty names. One more tradition that they obviously kept as I find juices named – Summer dream, Green power and Forever young in the fridge. I take the Forever young. Any additional energy is welcome due to the newly increased physical exertion caused by Liam. Late lunch is not so bad, lots of room to sit. Ok, not a great variety to choose from but as I’m not ready to deal with old colleagues yet – this is a win-win.

The tables are shaded and it is not too hot outside to enjoy my lunch out in the open. From the position I’m sitting at I can see the building entrance and Liam’s black Lambo SUV as it parks curbside. Liam gets out of the car and swiftly enters the building. I glance at my phone. It’s almost 2 pm – that’s a long lunch having in mind he left at noon.

The car rejoins the traffic, continuing in my direction. Just as it comes close the traffic stalls slowing down enough for me to see that there is one more passenger in the back seat. Realization of who the passenger is, hits me like an iron fist to the gut. Adele. Holding a mirror in front of her face, fixing her lipstick.

My appetite disappears instantly. I throw everything in the trash. All I want is to storm into Liam’s office and ask him about the two-hour lunch he just had. No not ask him. Scream at him. Adele!? Fucking Adele!? What is the deal with that woman? I’m not into sharing game. If he wants to continue his relationship with her, I’m out of the picture.

My legs work on their own carrying me back to the building, the elevator and right into his office. Liam’s assistant remains stunned as I whiz next to her and right into his office. I make sure I’m composed and calm opening the door. We both stop dead in out tracks.

Him exiting his private bathroom, me holding the door of his office. Him buttoning up a fresh shirt he obviously just put on.

Yesterday flashes in my head. He said he will come after he finishes work but it was already night when he came. Freshly showered, in different clothes.

“Madison?!” He frowns at me.

“Your lunch was with?” I keep my voice low and calm.

He raises his eyebrows, still buttoning the shirt, walking towards me. Grabbing my upper arm he pulls me into the office, closing the door behind us.

I see his jaw twitch, “Since when am I reporting to you regarding my lunch dates?” The cool, authoritative tone demanding an explanation.

I pull my hand out of his grip and put some space between us. His closeness and his smell played tricks on my mind.

With every passing second, I feel him pulling away from me. What am I doing here in his office making a fool out of myself? “You are right. You don’t.” My voice came out small and weak despite my best effort not to sound like that. Not to sound needy. Passing by me on the way back to his desk he didn’t even notice it, or more likely he just didn’t care. Confused and hurt I left his office, closing the door behind me.

I’m standing in my office and I don’t even remember getting there. We are not in a relationship but I’m not going to be a part of his collection. If this is something the other women settle for – I’m not going to. Of course, I don’t expect him to explain himself but we both know that is Adele in question. I don’t need his happily ever after but hell if I’m going to play the second fiddle to Adele ever again. My stomach clenches while the throat feels like I swallowed the Sahara Desert. Dislodged from my comfort zone lured by his attention, his words, his strong will.

You are mine – he said. Yeah… I am, and who knows how many more. I trusted a guy who clearly stated he was not good for me right of the bat.

Soft knock on the door gives me just enough warning to pull myself together before he appears in the office. Amber of his eyes so dark, piercing my skull. Long seconds pass in silence. Is this it? Do we have anything more to say to each other? Will he tell me to get lost?

I speak first. “Don’t get me wrong, I fully participated in this insanity between us, but I won’t be an object which you use occasionally.”

His eyebrows raise and lip’s part slightly, but I raise one finger to him. “I’m not finished,” I tell him as I get up from my chair and walk around the desk.

He closes the door fully and remains standing there, stuffing his hands in pant pockets.

Leaning my but against the desk I take a deep breath, lower my head, and close my eyes for a second. “I’m not asking anything from you. We’re not in a relationship and if you still want to work with me – great! We will keep things professional between us.” I deliver all this mostly looking at the floor rather than him to try and hide the pang of defeat. As those words leave my mouth anger, rather than defeat, starts welling in me. Hell, I’m not alone in this.

I look up, accepting the full force of his piercing look and expressionless mask I know he wears when distancing from a situation. I have to be open. “You can’t tell me I’m yours and then expect I wouldn’t feel the same possessive feelings for you. Especially not after I see you taking a long lunch with your ex-girlfriend and find you changing your clothes after it.”

Still holding hands in his pockets, he steps one big stride towards me. “Are you finished?”

I slowly nod yes.

He continues his slow, deliberate approach to me. Moving gracefully like an apex predator in his black suit pants and matching west. Sleeves of his light blue shirt rolled up exposing sculptured forearms, two top buttons left unbuttoned, showing just a hint of his collarbone. The suit is gorgeous, but the tall, overwhelmingly attracting slender body that filled it, makes it sensational.

Next thing I know he is standing in front of me, all man in his glorious force.

As we continue to look at each other something changes in him, a veil is lifted exposing a burning desire nocking the air out of my lungs. Magnetic force puling us together seemed so thick in this moment – you could almost swim in it. Straightening my posture, I look up and explore chiseled lines of his face.

“First of all, let’s clear one thing. Adele was never my girlfriend. Yes, we had sex, yes, we were seen together at events, but we were not together.” His manly, calm, authoritative tone making me want things. Things not consisting of words and conversation. How easy I lose myself in him.

“Second, I never treated you as an object and everything I did was to make sure you are successful and taken care of.” He reaches for me, lifting my chin even higher, closer to his face. Piercing brown eyes pulling me to lose myself in their depths.

“And third. You are mine. Don’t you doubt it for a second!”

Words barely left his lips before they were crushing over mine. With last remnant of will I try to push him away, not giving him the satisfaction. What I discovered is I had very little will power as I immediately submitted to the soft intrusion of his tongue.

Mewling sound escapes my throat, resonating with the manly growl coming out of his. Hand holding my chin a moment ago is now clutching the back of my head. Grasping the belt, I pull him even closer. Letting go of my head both of his hands grip my hips in a tight hug, compressing me flush against his body where I could feel the full length of his hardness press against my stomach.

“Can you feel that?” He breathes out aligning his forehead with mine. “That is just for you. I wake up like this, I battle my work hours trying not to have a raging hard on all throughout the day, and I go to sleep like this from the day you appeared in my life again.”

His gentle lips brush against my forehead as he lets me go. Stuffing his hands back in pockets he takes a small step back. “But we won’t discuss our private stuff at our place of work, also don’t expect I’m going to elaborate on every minute of my day.” Saying that he winks at me, adjusts his hard on and turns to leave my office. But after he opens the door, he pauses.

“Sara, can you please let everybody know I will be 15 minutes late to the Board meeting and that they should start without me.” He barks out an instruction to the assistant, closes the doors to my office and locks it. Turning back to me his mouth skewed up, head cocking too one side and he leans a little toward me sizing me up.

“Fuck this, I need you!” he growls walking back to me, pinning me against the table and kissing me wildly. The electricity between us is palpable, charging the air around us. I lean forward and run soft kisses along his cheek in an effort to calm him down. But I accomplish nothing as his frustration spills over to me. My palms, lying flat on his chest clench as I kiss him, digging into smooth material of his shirt. Liam groans and I pull him down to cover his mouth with mine.

His tongue is tentative, probing, seeking my response. I should pull away. I should stop at only this one kiss. After all I’m the one demanding space and no sexy fuckery in the office. Instead, I open my mouth wider, distracted by the delicious warm pleasure coursing through my body, sparked by his tongue, that rough feeling of his mouth powerfully taking mine.

Liam slowly moves his hand over my shoulders and down my arms, fingertips grazing my skin, initiating wave after wave of goose bumps pulsing through me. I wrap my arms around his neck and latch onto him even more, starving for his touch. The whole hard length of him pushes me up on the desk behind me. I spread my legs welcoming the contact with the hard ridge of his erection poking out of his pants as he moves his mouth from my lips down to my throat.

I moan again, this time louder, eliciting his mouth clamping down on mine again, absorbing the moan.

“Sush… She’ll hear you. I’m supposed to be helping you with something urgent.”

“I’d say this is fucking urgent,” I give him my throaty answer, barely capable of forming words. Proceeding to wrap my legs around him, lost in the pleasure of a simple kiss. He slips his hand under my dress, his fingers skimming my bare flesh, aiming up… getting so close.

“This is so unprofessional…” I whimper touching his thick cock through the rough material of his pants, sliding down cupping his balls, loving how they feel in my hand. Which is appreciated by him and I’m rewarded with a moan.

“Sush… She’ll hear you…” I tease repeating his words from a moment ago.

He does this little thing making a sound somewhere between chuckling and growling. A benevolent threat announcing pleasure punishment I’m about to receive.

“I want you so much right now, that I don’t care what she hears. You fucking cock tease.”

He thrusts his tongue deep as his skillful fingers slip below the material of my panties, swallowing the moan I could not contain as my whole lower body jerks, begging for his touch. His finger slides between my wet folds, collecting the slick fluid so that it could rub it gently against my swollen clit.

And, oh – it’s just the right amount of pressure. Or so I thought unaware of the next pleasure he had in mind when he slid one finger inside me, curling it, hitting the sensitive spot inside without any warning. I want his cock inside me, no I need it inside me or I will fall apart. His finger keeps plunging in and out of me and pleasure surges, bringing me close to point of no return. At the same time, it is not enough because I know how good his cock feels. I need him.

He smiles against my lips. “You like this, don’t you?”

He adds one more finger and oh, God! I reach for his belt but he stops me. Still finger fucking me, he moves my hand from his stomach, holding it firmly behind my back.

“This is my last line of defense. My cock is so hard that I would come the minute I’d feel you around me. Which is something I’m dying to do, but I don’t have a condom on me. I guess you don’t either.”

I wave my head no.

“Then this is all you get and it servs you right when you said no last night. And I know you wanted it just as much as I did.”

I clamp my thighs tighter, moving against the hand working my throbbing pussy as he repositions his free hand to my breast. Squeezing it, finding the hardened nipple only to tug on it through all my clothes, sending a sharp throb of pleasure through me.

“I’d die to fuck you right now.” He emphasizes the statement with an even deeper thrust of his fingers inside my vet folds and his tongue fucking my mouth in the same rhythm.

I come, shuddering as my orgasm grips me. Just like that, undone on an office desk in the middle of the working day. He catches all my moans with his mouth, holding me firmly while I stop shaking. We both pant, trying to catch out breaths for a moment or two.

After gently removing his hand, he licks the fingers that were in me a moment ago. “Mmmm the best lunch I could ever have…” he tries to sound light but his face is still a dark mask of desire.

“I have to go.” He tells me clenching his teeth, straightening my dress, moving away.

“The hell you are…” I grip him before he gets out of my reach, hop down from the desk, and swirl us around, switching our places. Give him a little push to make him lean against the desk. “The only time I’ll let you out looking like this is when I need somebody murdered.”

He smiles for a moment, quickly understanding what I’m about to do. Me getting down on my knees giving him all the clue he could ask for.

“We don’t have time… If you start this… I have to go.” He tries to stop me, a weak effort I have to say since this time I open his pants setting free the majestic throbbing cock.

“So be quick. This is not for pleasure; this is for release.” I say and flick my tongue around the tip, making it jump and him groan. No time for play, so I just take him into my mouth, as much of him as I can. I love the hot velvet sensation of his flesh sliding in and out of my mouth. Initially slowly, but quickly increasing the speed. His hands grip my head as he pushes of the table and starts moving, setting his own frantic pace. I love how he fucks my mouth in a raw, unrestrained way. There is so much more of Liam that I haven’t seen yet. I cup his balls, this time nothing restraining him and massage them gently. His movement becomes even more erratic and I can feel the pulse of his peak even before I feel it on my tongue.

***

We, again, solved nothing.

All this business with Liam is making me lose my focus. I find my earbuds, find a nice concentration play list and dig into and endless stream of emails and tasks begging to be finished. Again, I lose track of time and the next thing I know somebody is knocking. My heart flutters expecting Liam to enter, but an IT guy is here alongside a bunch of equipment. Totally unnecessary. Albeit it would be nice to work from a monitor before I lose my eyes. Since it is well passed 5PM, I pack giving the guy some space to work. This is why I liked my home office. I work when I want to, how long I want to.

Passing a cart loaded with IT equipment I head towards the elevators. No word from Liam since the after-lunch conversation. With all that happened today I’m feeling hesitant to ask him what he is doing. Not to check up, just to see if he wants to get together later. Seeing the doors to his office open, I assume he left. Yet just as I’m about to go to the elevator he appears, crosses his arms, and leans on the doorway. “Leaving without saying goodbye?”

The general air of relaxation and warmth reduces the intensity of my angst, still leaving me not knowing how to act. Are we colleagues, should I say by and go on with my day, or are we more. People who are more share their plans… This undefined thing between us is driving me crazy almost as much as the darkness in the molten chocolate of his eyes.

“I thought you left for the day…,” I respond.

“I have a call with a team from Tokyo in two minutes – so I’ll be here for some time…”

I give him a small nod and a smile. “Later?”

His features drop in sad and gloomy expression. Pushing away from the doorway he comes to me. “No not tonight,” he tells me cautiously, moving a strand of hair from my face. I make a sad face, missing him already. Is he punishing me for yesterday or maybe today’s incident?

“Some of my friends are in town. You saw them yesterday,” he explains like he just read my mind. “We have a tradition of hanging out together whenever we are able to.”

“Poker?”

“Sometimes. Usually we talk about business, exchange ideas and advice,” he clarifies as I remain stunned. So much information and he gave it up on his own. Glancing around the office to make sure we are alone I stand on the tips of my toes. “A kiss to keep me warm through the night?”

Liam gives me a small smile, “You know that there are security cameras everywhere? And its summer, you literally can’t get cold.”

He’s right, last few days we had a real summer heat stroke and even the nights came with little to no relief. Thank God for the AC.

Both of his hands cup my face, pulling me closer to him. Expecting a usual passionate kiss, I find myself surprised when he kisses me gently like he is touching most fragile glass. Fearing it will shatter from a simple touch. He sprinkles featherlight kisses all over my face as I stand paralyzed. “See you tomorrow morning.”

I give him a radiant smile, not capable of speech right now. Just a nod. He winks at me and goes back to his office while I, walking on clouds, continue my route to the elevator.

This man bewitched me, there is no other explanation.

***

“Piper?” I answer the phone holding it with my shoulder.

“Hi darling, what are you doing?” she muses.

“Trying to find the apartment keys in my bag.”

She snickers, “Damned things always getting lost in there.”

“Ha – ha!” I exclaim triumphantly as I sense them on the bottom.

“Do you have any plans for tonight?” Piper asks.

Finally in the apartment I dump all my things on the desk, kicking off my shoes. “Actually no. Liam has plans with his friends.”

“Want to come to us for dinner?”

I gracefully accept the invitation because the fridge is empty and I desperately need some food being my lunch was interrupted. Hour later, John picks me in front of my building and takes me to the Holden residence. As Liam announced it was a warm summer night, bunch of people out and about.

Seeing me she opens her arms to me and glances up and down approvingly. “Now that is what I’m talking about,” she tells me impressed by my outfit.

I know that my Willow Creek styling revolves around short jeans and T-shirts during summer, but I’m at Denver now and dressed accordingly. Nothing to fancy, just dark blue slim linen pants paired with a white short sleeved satin blouse. The only feature on it is the low neckline showing generous amount of cleavage. My strawberry blond hair is tied in a low ponytail. “When in Rome dress like Roman’s do.”

“Tell me everything!” Piper exclaims in her usual dramatical an grand way. Fighting a laugh, I pause to remember the last thing I told her was.

“We are preparing to release the App; final round of internal testing is done and we are doing a silent launch. Just to our customer base.”

“Work stuff. Booring.” Piper scoffs.

I pause for a minute, confused on how much information I should share. “What do I say. Yes, we spent one more night together. But today I saw him with Adele after a looong lunch.” I make sure to emphasize the long part. I also don’t mention our messed up last night’s arrangement.

“That doesn’t mean anything.”

“I’m not sure. I came to his office just after him and found him putting on a fresh shirt.”

She squinted her eyes. “Did you see anything…intimate?”

“No!”

“That sequence of events…. I also don’t like them. But taking into consideration that Liam is usually very binary…” She tells me as she prepares our usual Gin Tonics.

“What do you mean?” We take our drinks and go sit on the terrace.

I wanted to hear what Piper had to say. From her response I get my confirmation that I’m not that crazy and perhaps I should not let this slide by so casually. Oh, God, I have turned into one of those women who are constantly checking up on their men because of the feat that they will cheat. And what do they do. They cheat.

Liam was not lying when he said she had been his companion on some events. I’ve attended them also. At that time, he introduced her as nothing more than a colleague. We all knew they were fucking, not because he announced it to the world. She did. Never did I see he ever declared that publicly. It always said alleged girlfriend.

Piper leads me further in the garden, close to the spot Liam and I made out the other night. We kick off our shoes and sprawl on the deckchairs next to the small pool.

“Do you ever swim here?” The pool caught my attention. It was rather small if looking things from a pool size perspective. Closer to hot tube size.

She gives me an incredulous look, “That is random…”

I laugh, yeah that is my brain, attention span of a Goldfish. “I always wanted to ask but always forgot.”

“No, I never dipped in the water. It’s more than a water feature… decoration.”

I nod. The weirdest pool in the world.

“How did it end with Liam?” she asks.

“He told me he will not explain every minute of his day to me, kissed me and I lost my mind again.”

Piper chuckles. “It looks like that is his superhero ability.” Sound of our laughter spreads through the garden.

“What now?” she asks once we stop laughing.

“I don’t know. We keep concluding that we need to talk, but once we are alone talking is the last thing on our agenda.”

“Give him some space, I’m not sure he has ever been in a real relationship. But darling take care of yourself as well.”

That would have been the first thing my father would have told me – Trust only in yourself. Easier said than done. I keep losing my mind when I'm around him. Drake waves to us standing in the double French doors of the terrace.

“Is anybody hungry?” he calls.

“Two to candidates here,” Piper yells back.

We simultaneously get up and walk back to the house. I am hungry as hell. First Adele interrupted my lunch, after which I had lost my appetite and later, I just forgot.

The dinner was pure heaven for me. Broccoli soup, and pasta made as frittata with loads of Parmesan cheese, peas, and pancetta. Piper and Drake were amazingly simple. All this reminded me that I needed to do some shopping. The apartment is more like a hotel room rather than a home. I can't expect that somebody will feed me each day. I’ll do it tomorrow. One more thing on the to do list for tomorrow.

Traffic is bad coming back downtown, which is surprising for this time of day. I’m grateful that John is driving me. Nothing from Liam. No text, no call... anything. I know he's busy tonight. Which does nothing for the knot forming in my stomach. Has he had enough?