Wait, that wasn’t his brain.
Their audience was hooting, hollering, and clapping with great enthusiasm.
“You go, Riley!”
She broke free, hiding her face against his chest. Liam turned his head to glare at the grinning onlookers, staying where he was as a wholly ineffectual shield.
“I was right!” Norah gave a fist pump.
“I called it first,” Judd said. “Pay up.”
More money changed hands—didn’t they have anything better to do than bet?—and friendly ribbing ensued.
“Sorry. I didn’t plan on an audience. You okay?”
She lifted her head and smiled at him—really smiled for the first time in he couldn’t remember how long. Something buoyant and huge expanded in his chest, and all Liam could think was that he’d do just about anything to lighten her load and make her happy enough to do it again on a more regular basis.
“I feel like sending a message out to every teenage girl everywhere who ever had a crush on her best friend’s big brother—don’t give up.”
“You had a crush on me in high school?”
Riley laughed “Buy me that pizza you owe me, and I’ll think about telling you about it.”
Liam swung an arm around her. “Now that’s a bet I’m happy to pay up.”
Chapter 10
“This will be just lovely.” Sharilyn shut the car door. “I haven’t seen Molly in ages.”
Riley hadn’t seen her either since the news that she and Liam were a thing had swept through town like wildfire. Molly’s response to that was to invite Riley and her mother over for a family dinner. Nothing Liam could say changed the fact that Riley felt like she’d been summoned, and she was more than a little nervous about it.
Hey, I know you’re as much a mother to me as my own, but I really want to do the horizontal boogie with your eldest son. That copacetic with you?
Riley had no idea how she’d react to this. Sharilyn had been ecstatic and hadn’t been able to stop talking about what a fine, upstanding serviceman Liam was. Which was patently true, but had left Riley so on edge, she thought she might’ve ground down a layer of teeth.
Clutching the casserole dish in a death grip, Riley headed for the front door. The front door for company, not the side door she’d been using all her life. Happy-faced cosmos and zinnias lined the walk, and the beds were neatly mulched. Liam’s doing, she was sure, along with the freshly-painted siding and trim of the house, and the newly-built planter boxes lining the windows. Since her hands were full, Sharilyn rang the bell.
Moments later, Molly pulled open the door, beaming. “Welcome! Oh, what have you brought here?”
“Corn casserole,” Riley managed.
Molly leaned in to buss Riley’s cheek and tugged the dish out of her hands, leaving Riley wishing she had something else to hold on to. Her gaze flicked to Liam, standing barefoot in the hall behind his mother, looking completely at ease in a polo shirt and khaki shorts.
“Don’t just stand there like a bump on a log, Sergeant. Kiss your girl hello.”
He bent to give Riley a chaste peck that bore no resemblance to their playground interlude but left her thinking all kinds of sweaty thoughts anyway. “Hi.”
“Hi.” And the winner for best deer in the headlights impression goes to…
Molly leveled a Look in Liam’s direction.
He grinned. “Yes ma’am.”
They hadn’t been together long, but Riley recognized the expression in his eyes as he laced his hands behind her back and reeled her in.
“Liam!” Riley hissed. But he stopped her warning with another kiss that absolutely justified those sweaty thoughts.
She struggled to give him a stern glare when he pulled back but was sure she missed by a mile.