Accidental Proposal (A Year Agreement Book 1) (14 page)

“Jenna,” Liam growled, stalking toward me. I giggled, not taking his expression seriously. He looked like he was in the Blue Man Group when they play the drums, causing the paint to fly across their faces.

“Yes?” I asked innocently, taking steps backwards as he got closer to me.

“Get over here.”

“How about no?” As soon as he got close enough for me to reach, I laid both of my hands firmly on his chest. He stopped and looked down at my hands, then to me. Grinning, I took my hands away and was rewarded seeing both of my handprints clearly on his shirt. The prints covered his boobs, like I was grabbing them. “I think you have a little something on your shirt,” I said. I wiggled my fingers in front of me, giggling.

“My turn,” was all he said before taking one big step toward me and wrapping his arms around me. I was pushed against his chest and looked up. His cobalt eyes stared down at me, shining with amusement, red paint splattered by his eyebrows. Since he was so much taller than I was, I had to crane my neck to look up at him. “Now, that’s better,” he whispered, leaning his head lower to mine. I was confused, but seeing his gaze planted firmly on mine, I couldn’t open my mouth. Something about his expression lured me in, and I couldn’t stop looking at him. Even covered in paint, he was the hottest guy I had ever seen. I watched as his grin widened, and a firm squeeze of my ass jerked my mind out of its naughty thoughts. Liam stepped back from me, rubbing his hands together. Twisting my body, I looked and saw two big handprints right on my ass. It looked just like marks I’d left on his chest.

“You grabbed my ass!” I said, turning to him.

“So? You grabbed my chest!” he shot back, looking smug. I rolled my eyes but still smiled. In that free moment, I looked around the room. My eyes widened as I took in the walls. Every single purple wall was splattered with red paint. It looked like someone had just walked in, grabbed a paint can, and just flicked it all over them. Not one wall was empty; not even the desk, which had red all over it too.
Well, that was not what I had in mind.
I was about to turn around to show Liam when I felt something drip onto of my head. Looking up, I saw the entire paint can being tilted down on top of my head
.
I let out a scream and turned around, knocking into Liam’s chest just as he dumped the rest of the can of paint. I timed it just right so I hit his chest hard and he lost his footing, tipping backwards as the paint spilled all over both of us.

We toppled over, with me on top of him. My head hit his chin, and he let out a groan. A few pieces of what used to be my blonde hair fell in front of my face, completely filled with red paint and dripping onto Liam’s face. Looking down at him, I noticed the paint got on him as well, but not as much as me. We were completely covered. I looked up and stared him in the eyes. I grinned at him, and he grinned back as we started laughing. Since I was on his stomach, his laughter rumbled against me. It was the first time I had heard his laugh, and I wanted to hear more of it. His eyes crinkled, and he threw his head back.

Our
laughing
was interrupted by a loud clearing of someone’s throat. Pausing, we both turned our heads to the doorway. There stood a grinning Lennon, and next to her was a very hot guy. He was tall, maybe six foot two, with short blonde hair, and he was very muscular. The blue shirt he had on stretched across his well-defined chest, looking like it would rip any second. He was staring down at us with a raised eyebrow and an amused look on his face.

“What
do we have here?”

Chapter Fourteen

“What do we have here?” the new guy’s deep voice asked, laced with amusement.

I turned back to Liam, our lips almost touching. Realizing he was staring at me, waiting for me to get off of him, I scrambled up. In one smooth motion, Liam got up, standing next to me. Lennon and the new guy continued to stare at us and grin, and Lennon had her phone in her hand, pointed at us.

“What are you doing here?” Liam asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Well, I heard you were engaged. Which is quite the shock since I’d never even met the girl.” the guy said, looking over at me. I felt him looking me over from head to toe.

“Blake, come on, don’t be mad,” Lennon said next to him, putting her small hand on his bicep. Blake? As in Lennon’s crush and Liam’s best friend? He looked down at her, and I saw him nod slightly.

“Guess we don’t have to ask what you guys have been doing. You know the paint goes on the wall, right?” Lennon said, gesturing between us. I looked over at Liam and bit back a grin. We looked ridiculous, honestly.

“Jenna started it,” Liam said suddenly. I turned to him with my jaw hanging open.

“Hey! I didn’t mean to! You technically started it by going after me,” I said defensively, turning to point my finger at him.

“You put handprints on my chest!”

“Well, you put handprints on my ass!” I yelled back, turning and showing Lennon and Blake. I heard both of them bust out laughing, which made me look at them with narrowed eyes.

“Don’t make me come over there, guy I don’t know,” I warned, taking a step closer to him. All he did was raise an eyebrow at me before turning back to Liam.

“Well, if you guys are done with your paint war, we came over to see if you wanted to get something to eat for dinner,” Lennon said. “But if you want to continue flirting, then by all means, go ahead.” I blushed, looking anywhere but at Liam. The only reason I was blushing was because earlier I had bad thoughts when I shouldn’t have.

“We weren’t flirting,” Liam bit out next to me. Peeking over at him, I noticed he wasn’t as relaxed as he had been a minute ago. His hands were curling into fists, and his jaw was clenched. My heart sunk.
It
was
nice
while
it
lasted
. Should have known Liam being nice was too good to be true. “I’m going to go shower.” With that, he headed for the door, Lennon and Blake moving far away for him to get by. I stared after him, an unknown feeling entering my chest. The sight of him walking away from me actually hurt.

Jenna, stop! You cannot be getting feelings for Liam. He is never nice to you, and when he does talk to you, it’s to berate you. Stop whatever it is you are thinking.
There was no way I had feelings for Liam, and if I did, it was only anger. This had just been a moment of weirdness. Liam being nice to me just threw me off. That’s all. I just needed to shower and wash off this paint. Then I’d be fine. Looking up, I saw both Lennon and Blake looking at me with odd expressions. Shifting awkwardly from foot to foot, I glanced around.

“I’m just going to…” I trailed off and headed out the door. I quickly made my way to my room so I wouldn’t drip paint on the tile. When I shut the door, I went to the bathroom and started the shower. I glanced in the mirror and looked away but ended up doing a double take. My green eyes widened at my reflection. My blonde hair was absolutely covered with red paint, my face was splattered with it, and there was even some running down the side of my jaw. Almost every inch of my bare shoulders, arms, and tank top was covered. I could see why Lennon and Blake were staring at me, as well as Liam.

“This paint better not stain my hair,” I said. I turned around and starting pulling off my soiled tank. From the corner of my eye, I could see the reflection of my ass in the mirror. Liam’s handprints were the only thing on the back of my blue jeans, and you could clearly see that he’d grabbed it. A ghost of a smile appeared on my lips as I finished stripping. Putting everything on a separate towel I had laid on the ground, I hopped in the shower.

It took me almost five times longer than normal to shower. I had to wash my body and hair three times before the water started to run clear. The red water going down the drain would have scared anyone. People would think I had just come back from killing someone. I couldn’t see my hair, but I hoped it wasn’t stained. After standing in the shower for a while, I was able to get out. Wrapping a towel around myself, I went to the fogged mirror and wiped it clean. I let out a sigh of relief upon seeing my blonde hair was back to its normal color. My skin was tinged a little pink from me scrubbing at it with soap.

Everything but my underwear was ruined, and I knew I had to throw everything away, maybe even my bra that had some paint on the straps and a little on the cups. I went out to my closet and threw on a clean set of underwear, a bra, black skinny jeans, and a grey shirt with an anchor on it that hung off my shoulder. Going back to the bathroom, I grabbed my bad clothes, holding them away from my body. I glanced down at my jeans and bit my bottom lip, pulling them out from my hands. Something inside of me wanted to keep them for some reason. Setting them on the edge of my bathtub to dry, I left my bathroom and my room.

I padded barefoot to the kitchen in search of a bag to put my clothes in. I stood at the entrance, seeing everyone already in there whispering intensely with one another. I knew they were probably talking about me. As much as I wanted to eavesdrop and hear what they are saying, I cleared my throat. Sometimes it was better to not hear what people say about you; plus, it wasn’t like I hadn’t heard any of it before. I’d heard enough bad things said about me that could make me cry for days on end.

Once I cleared my throat, they all snapped their heads toward me. Rolling my eyes, I walked into the kitchen, going to the cabinet under the sink for a garbage bag. Awkwardly, I opened the bag with one hand and shoved my clothes in with the other.

“Jenna, this is Blake Williams,” Lennon said, gesturing to him. “He’s who I was talking about a week ago.” Up close, I could now see he had a pair of pretty light blue eyes.

“Hi, nice to meet you,” I said, sending him an awkward wave. I hated meeting new people. I didn’t know if I should shake their hands, hug them, or just stand there like an idiot. I usually opted for standing there like an idiot.

“Blake, this is Jenna Howard, as you already know.”

He gave me a nod in greeting.

“So you’re the one who is engaged to my annoying friend. What made you do it?” Blake asked.

“Definitely not his personality,” I said before thinking. Lennon’s laugh echoed through the kitchen while Liam just glared at me. I held back a smirk before opening my mouth.

“So, dinner? I’m starving.”

“Where do you want to go?” Lennon asked, looking at each of us.

“Probably nowhere expensive, since Jenna can’t afford it,” Liam shot at me, his blue eyes back to being expressionless and cold. The comment hurt more than I let on. I didn’t know what had happened to Liam when Blake and Lennon had made themselves known. We were fine playing around and laughing at each other. It seemed like whenever someone else was around, he acted differently—colder and more rude. It seemed Liam just had to say something rude to me at every possible moment. Schooling my face so it was calm, I tried not to let my emotions show. I’d gotten pretty good at doing so over the years. I was starting to think it would literally kill Liam if he was nice to me.

“You don’t remember, sweetie?” I asked in a fake sweet tone, with an intentionally confused face. “You gave me money on a credit card…so I think I can afford it.” I plastered on a fake smile. “Let me grab some shoes.” With that, I headed back to my room. Muttering under my breath, I grabbed a new pair of black Converse I’d gotten at the mall the other day. With my bag swung across my shoulder and my phone in my pocket, I went back to the kitchen. Liam really did know how to push my buttons.

“Let’s all ride in one car,” was the first thing Lennon said the moment I walked through the door. Before I could even ask what we were doing, she had her arm hooked through mine, dragging me down the hall toward the garage; the two boys followed behind us quietly. Lennon didn’t even wait for them as she dragged both of us toward the Jeep Rubicon at the far side of the garage.

“I just love this car,” she said, jumping into the back seat.

“I haven’t been in it yet, but I love Jeeps,” I said, sliding in next to her.

“Let me guess, you’re always in the Audi,” she said. I nodded just as the guys opened the doors and got in.

“Lenn, why did you pick the Jeep out of all the cars?” Blake practically whined, looking over his shoulder at her.

“I wanted to ride in something different, so sue me.” She stuck her tongue out at him immaturely. “Let’s go to Rick’s Pizzeria.” I watched Liam roll his eyes in the rearview mirror, but he did what she asked and backed out of the driveway. I could tell she was the one who told everyone else what to do.

The whole ride to Rick’s Pizzeria, Lennon made conversation between everyone, trying to lighten the atmosphere. Her and Blake talked about random topics such as which phone device was better, the iPhone or Samsung Galaxy, to what pizza topping was better. I studied Blake the whole ride, and from the way he interacted with Lennon I was starting to like him. He was a big guy, probably worked out every day of the week, but when it came to his friends he seemed like a big softie. At first I thought he didn’t like me, but it seemed like he got over the fact no one told him about Liam and me.

About fifteen minutes later, Liam pulled the car into a parking lot of a cute little place. It was an old brick building that was set between two bigger buildings that were probably businesses. We all jumped out of the car and headed inside. The moment I stepped through the door, the smell of homemade pizza hit me straight in the face. I hadn’t had anything to eat in hours, and the smell of it and garlic bread was making my stomach grumble. I could tell it was a family-owned place. Black and white pictures covered the walls, as well as colored ones. The red walls were inviting, as was the atmosphere. The place seemed pretty busy as we waited to be seated. A few minutes later, a plump woman came up and grinned at Liam, Blake, and Lennon.

“Liam, Blake, Lennon, I haven’t seen you in a while,” the woman said in a pretty thick Brooklyn accent. She hugged them all and kissed them on their cheeks before coming to a stop in front of me. “And who is this lovely lady?” She suddenly grabbed and hugged me tightly to her. I looked over her shoulder at Liam, but he just ignored me.

“I’m Jenna, just a friend,” I said once she let me go and stared at me.

“Mmhmmm.” She looked at me one more time before turning around and grabbing menus. “Right this way.” I trailed behind everyone as we were led toward the back of the restaurant to a booth. With Lennon next to Blake, I had no choice but to sit next to Liam.

“How about a large three-topping pizza?” Blake asked, not even glancing at his menu. Looking around, I noticed none of them were. “And wings.” Next to Blake, Lennon rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. Before I could even answer, the same woman came over to the table to take our order. In less than a second, Blake rattled off the order and the lady left. It was pretty clear they had been here a lot. “So, Jenna, tell me about yourself. Liam has told me nothing about you,” Blake said, putting his hands on the table and leaning toward me.
No surprise there.

“There’s really nothing to tell. I’m not an interesting person,” I said, shrugging. “How about you? I don’t know anything about you, either.” I tried to switch the topic. I was not in the mood to talk about myself tonight.

“Blake works with his father; they own a big construction company,” Lennon butted in before Blake could answer.

“Wow, that’s impressive.”

“Soon I will own the company here in New York.”

“Sounds like you guys have a good business.” I shot him a smile. Blake opened his mouth to answer but was cut off when a pitcher of beer was put in front of us. Before the lady could leave, I asked for a glass of water before turning back to three sets of eyes staring at me.

“You don’t drink?” Blake asked, pouring beer into three glasses.

“No, not really. Plus, I’m too young.” He sent me a weird look, but I let it go. Was it weird that a nineteen year old didn’t like alcohol or something?

Conversation for the next little bit was light with Liam, Lennon, and Blake talking to one another. I added in a couple of times but mostly sat back and listened to them talk about work and reminisce about their childhoods together. I felt out of place among the three of them and couldn’t help but feel I shouldn’t be here. I should have just stayed home and made myself something to eat instead. Liam wouldn’t look in my direction, and when he did it was a frown or a glare when I added to the conversation. I watched as Lennon was hanging onto Blake’s every word, clearly smitten with him. Blake was laughing and smiling over at her with a wide white grin, completely ignorant of the looks Lennon was giving him. When I looked at both of them, I knew they would make a cute couple and that I would have to be Cupid for them soon. The three of them had a bond that I knew no one could break, and I was impeding on it.