The Billionaire's Secret: A BWWM Romance Mystery (9 page)

Chapter
Nineteen

This time, when I closed up the shop,
I wasn't surprised to see him standing there.

But everything else about him was
surprising.

The first thing I noticed was that he
was wearing jeans. My eyes trailed up his long legs to take in the unzipped
leather jacket and the white Henley underneath. Casual dress.

"Is this the real Liam?" I
asked him. If it was, I heartily approved.

"It might be," he replied
cryptically.

"Close your eyes," I
instructed.

"Why?" He dutifully closed
his eyes and I went to the refrigerator case.

"You keep buying me presents. I
wanted to get something for you." Shyly, I pulled the flowerpot out of the
case. It looked so much smaller now, so much more inadequate. Meager, even. The
tiny little blossoms were nothing compared to the dazzling bouquets he had
showered me with.

"Okay, open them," I told
him, setting the pot in his hands.

Several different emotions flicked
across his sculpted face. Confusion, amusement, and then deep, beautiful
gratitude. I felt my heart jump to see it.

"What do they mean?" he
asked immediately.

"Well, you got right to the
heart of it, didn't you?"

"I'm still trying to
learn," he smiled, showing that devastating dimple.

I had to tear my eyes away from his
face if I had a hope of making sense. "Well, the flower itself is
traditionally masculine." I began blushing immediately.
"Gallantry," I swallowed.

"That's good," he said, his
voice a little thicker.

"They are often given," I
continued, "just to brighten someone's day."

"It worked." He touched the
red and white petals. "What are they called?"

I giggled. "Sweet William."

His gray eyes darkened. "You
think I'm sweet?"

I recognized the dark danger in his
eyes, and momentarily flashed back to his face between my thighs. My voice
wavered a little as I said, "They are also given as a sign of perfection.
To tell the recipient that they are as good as it gets."

He kissed me roughly. "I haven't
even shown you how good it can be."

I pulled back, blinking. "We're
hanging out," I reminded him, even though my whole body was on fire.

"You are a very bossy
lady," he complained.

"And you're terrible at
following directions," I teased.

He gripped my upper arm, lightly, but
with enough force to let me know he had me. "That's because I'm used to giving
them," he murmured in my ear.

"Oh?" I exhaled. "So
if you were in charge right now, what would you do?"

"Spread your sweet thighs on
this counter and make you scream my name again."

"You're awfully cocky for
someone with one foot still in the doghouse."

He arched his eyebrow and said
nothing. But he didn't let go of my arm.

He held on to it all the way to
Jasmine's building, guiding me along the slippery streets with a firm,
protective hand. The sun had been warm today, and all the melted snow was now
refreezing as darkness fell. Twice I nearly slipped and was grateful for his tight
grip on me. Sometimes he held me so tightly, I wondered if his fingers would
leave marks on me.

I liked the idea.

I had no idea why I liked the idea.

Kiki was already over and the
apartment was already steamy and overly warm. I unwound my scarf, "Hi
honeys, we're home!" I called into the bustle. I shot a look over to Liam.
Some of that arrogance had slid from his face, replaced with nervousness about
meeting my best friends.

It was kind of charming.

Jasmine strode over, a chef's knife
casually gripped in her left hand. I saw Liam eye it before he shook her right
one. "You're Liam, huh?" she raised her eyebrows. "I'll have you
know my place smelled like rotted flowers for a week."

He laughed and shook her hand.
"You must be Jasmine. I'm sorry, I thought Shay would know how to take
better care of flowers."

"I'll have you know I spend all
day taking care of flowers. For work." I nudged him. "When I get
home, no more watering or trimming."

"Mmm," Jasmine rumbled noncommittally,
then casually glanced at her knife before heading back into the kitchen.

"Liam, it's so great to meet
you," Kiki gushed. I felt myself relax when she grabbed his hand and
pumped it enthusiastically up and down. "I'm Keysha. Kiki."

"It's wonderful to meet you as
well, Kiki." Liam seemed just as charmed as he should be.

Just then a buzzer sounded.
"Whoops, gotta go grab that before it starts smoking." Kiki whirled
on her heel, a slightly crazed look in her wide eyes.

I shot a look at Liam, who shrugged.
"How'd I do?" he mouthed.

"So far so good," I told
him. "Shall we head into the fray?" I took his reluctant hand and
pulled him into the hive of estrogen that was the kitchen.

He stood in the corner for a moment,
his hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans. "You didn't have to go to
the trouble of cooking," he grumbled. "I could have taken us all
out."

I opened my mouth to protest but
Jazzy beat me to it, of course.

"Nope." Jasmine grabbed an
apron off the hook in the corner and shoved it in his direction. "Put this
on so you don't mess up those nice jeans. How are you with chopping?"

Liam looked bemused as he obediently
tied the apron around his neck. "I'm...not sure."

"Here, try it," she handed
him a pink handled paring knife.

He eyed the chef's knife she wielded
with aplomb. "You could have at least given me the big one."

"You said you weren't sure about
your chopping," she said in her professor-voice.

"Right, okay, valid point."
He bent to his tomato, more mashing it than slicing. The knife looked
ridiculous in his huge hands, and I smiled.

"Hot hot hot," chanted
Kiki, bustling through the kitchen with a brownie pan. "Where can this
cool out of the way?"

I brushed some mail to the floor and
grabbed a hot pad. "I got it," I told her, spinning in place to put
the pan down by the toaster.

"Liam, can you slice a little
thinner, I only grabbed two tomatoes," Jazzy asked.

"Sure."

"Hey Jazz, where are your
forks?"

"I got them, want me to set the
table?"

"Hey, what are we having,
anyway?" Liam wanted to know.

"Steak, mashed potatoes and
salad," Jasmine barked, attacking the mound of potatoes like they had
insulted her mother. "Kiki also made brownies for some reason."

"Dessert! You always need
something sweet to finish," Kiki called from the sink, shaking out the
head of iceberg.

"Need me to mix the salad
dressing?" I asked, after I'd finished setting the table.

"Just grab the bottles off the
door," Jazzy called over her shoulder.

Liam looked down at his mutilated
tomatoes in triumph. "I did it!"

"You did your best and that's
what's important," Jasmine teased, sliding them into the salad bowl and
tossing them with the lettuce.

"You wouldn't let me use the big
boy knife," Liam complained. "My skills were hampered."

"The only one of us who had
medical training is Kiki, and hers is limited to patching skinned knees and
kissing snotty noses," Jasmine replied archly. "I made the right
decision in keeping sharp knives away from you."

"You'll get it next time,"
Kiki patted Liam encouragingly.

Liam shot me a helpless look and I
bent double with laughter. I laughed even harder as the two of them herded him
into the cramped dining room, bickering over who should sit where.

In the five minutes Liam had been
here, they had already put him to work, teasing and bantering like he belonged
here. I felt more comfortable with Liam meeting my friends than I had in four
years with Tre.

"I supposed you can sit next to
Shay," Jazzy conceded to Liam's pleas. "But no funny business under
the table."

"What about on top of the
table?" Liam asked, perfectly innocent. I slid next to him and he squeezed
my thigh.

"You're so bad!" Kiki
shrieked.

"Are you going to send Kiki a
zillion flowers for hurting her virgin ears?" Jazzy huffed, winging a
steak onto his plate.

"Just give me your address,
Keysha," Liam nodded.

"I like daisies," Kiki said
primly as she smoothed her skirt and sat down.

"What do those mean?" Liam
asked me.

I smiled. "Innocence."

"Which you just robbed her ears
of," Jasmine sat down at the head of the table.

Kiki sighed. "I actually just
like the way they look. So cheerful. I could use some after today."

"What happened, babe?" I
asked, a bite of steak poised on my fork.

She heaved another sigh.
"Remember I told you about Trevor?"

"He sat in your lap," I
nodded. Jasmine leaned forward, nodding too.

Her eyes glittered as she blinked
rapidly. "His parents pulled him from the program!" She viciously
stabbed a forkful of steak and jammed it into her mouth.

"Oh shit," Jazzy muttered.

Liam looked quietly at me.
"Trevor's one of her preschool kids. Special needs. She made a
breakthrough with him recently...."

"And now it's for nothing."
She coughed into her napkin. I could tell she was trying to keep from crying.

"Did they give a reason?"
Liam asked.

Kiki looked at him, seemingly
startled that he would be interested. "They did. They said the therapy
worked and was no longer necessary."

"Well that's good, right?"
Liam asked. His gray eyes blazed with hope.

Kiki set down her fork. "No.
It's deluded. Their child needs the full complement of therapies; OT, PT,
speech... We had him with three different therapists three days a week, plus
small group time. The only reason they saw this progress is because we were
working our collective asses off with him." I had never seen Kiki so
furious.

"Can you get them to
reconsider?" I wanted to know.

Her shoulders slumped. "I can
try. But they're bound and determined to force him to be 'normal.' Whatever
that means." She looked around wildly. "I mean, who here can claim to
be normal?"

Three heads swiveled to stare at
Liam. He looked alarmed and set down his fork. "Me? Why ladies, I don't
know whether to be flattered or insulted."

"A bit of both." I patted
his shoulder. "Sorry, killer."

He wiped his mouth with his napkin
and leaned in. "Do you work for the school system or a private
practice."

"Schools," Kiki replied,
wrinkling her eyebrows in confusion.

"Then you'll be able to follow
him, so long as he stays in the district, right?"

"I can, theoretically."

Liam nodded forcefully. "Keep on
him. Check in, show interest...just keep being present for him. I can tell you
from experience how important it is for a scared kid to have an adult who
cares."