I grinned at his explanation. Shelby had heard many stories of our younger years back in England. He had been a great role model, and as he stated, eventually a real friend.
“Hello, Douglas.”
He shook her hand. “Hello—it’s a pleasure.” He winked at me teasingly. “Your prettiest girl yet, Liam.”
Shelby rolled her eyes. “I’m not one of his girls. I’m his housekeeper.”
Douglas’s eyes widened.
“Shelby is my friend, and Everett’s sister. She did me a huge favor and attended with me this evening.” I was quick to step in and explain. I didn’t want Shelby to be thought of as my housekeeper. Of all the things she was to me, that was the least important.
“So, she’s not your housekeeper?” he asked confused.
“She is, but she’s my friend first,” I insisted.
“Sister second,” Everett piped in.
“And housekeeper third. Got it.” Douglas nodded, reclining in his chair and winking at Shelby. “A triple threat.”
Shelby dipped her head, her cheeks coloring slightly. I slipped my hand into hers. It felt better there.
Douglas picked up his drink. “Now tell me what you’ve been up to while I was slaving away in Europe.”Everett took pity on me and had the car pull around back, allowing Shelby and me to slip into it with little fuss. The front of the building was still mobbed, and I didn’t want to face that again. I was calm, but I didn’t want to push it. He and Mark took the other car, so it was only Shelby and me in the back seat.
I let my head fall back onto the headrest in relief. Peace. I lifted Shelby’s hand and kissed it gratefully. “Ta, Beaker.”
She fiddled with the cuff on her wrist, then held it out to me. “You need this back.”
I took it, slipping it into my pocket. She had been tense about it all night, her eyes drifting to her wrist, making sure it was there all evening. “Relax. I told you it’s insured. And I knew it was safe.”
“It’s safer now,” she insisted. “It’s your responsibility.”
“I think it was fine on your wrist,” I responded, letting my eyes drift shut.
She sighed. “I see why you hate these things, but it was worth it.”
I cracked my eye open. “Yeah?” I grinned. “You liked seeing me all dressed up and hot-looking? Working the room and oozing British charm?”
She snorted. “No.”
I sat up straight. “Bloody hell, Shelby. You don’t think I’m hot?”
She patted my leg. “Like an inferno, Liam.”
I sniffed. “Better.” I rested my head back into the cool leather. “Did you have a good time?”
“I enjoyed spending the evening with you, but otherwise, not really.”
“Why then was it worth it?”
She sighed and relaxed into the seat beside me. “I got the draft problem solved. Worth the sore feet and listening to the inane screams.”
Then she giggled. An unusual, endearing sound she rarely made. “Seriously, Oscar. All those women need to get a life. You’re not all that and a bag of chips you know. If they only knew the suave outside was covering up a git, things would change.”
I tried not to laugh. But it was a lost cause. I started to guffaw. Loudly.
I wasn’t all that and a bag of chips.
To Shelby, I was simply Liam. A slightly goofy, apparently leaning-toward-pudgy, strange-sounding Brit who had an abiding affection for baked goods and turkey sandwiches. And her.
She knew me. The real me.
And she still loved me.
I was good with that.
“Thanks for the reality check, Shelby.”
She groaned as she unstrapped her shiny sandals. “Anytime, Oscar. God, my feet hurt.”
Grinning, I lifted her feet into my lap, clucking at the pinched look to her toes. She loved it when I rubbed her feet while we were watching movies, and from the look of them right now, they needed my talented fingers. “You should have told Lily no to the shoes.” I shook my head as I started rubbing the sore-looking flesh.
She sighed contently. “These were the compromise. You should have seen the death traps she wanted me to wear.”
“Tell her lower heels next time.”
“Next time?”
I nodded hopefully. “You were brilliant tonight. I haven’t been that calm at an event—ever. I was hoping you’d be willing to accompany me again.”
“Add me to your roster, you mean?”
I huffed out a long breath. “My number one spot, Shelby. You made tonight so much easier for me. You have no idea what a difference having you with me made.”
She bit her lip. “What about the press? The questions? I’m your housekeeper, Liam.”
“You’re way more than that. We’re friends. We’ll talk to Ev and figure it out. I don’t care about that stuff. I just want you beside me.”
“Do I get a foot rub after the hell is over?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll think about it.”
I smirked as I worked on her feet.
“I’ll think about it” was Shelby’s code for yes.
She couldn’t say no to me any more than I could say it to her.