Of course, there was an oil for that. It was Riley.
“Definitely more appealing than Deep Woods Off.” Unable to resist, he pressed a kiss to her neck, pleased to feel her faint shiver. But she wasn’t entirely focused on him. “What’s going through that busy brain of yours?”
“I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that your mom has been shipping us since high school.”
Not what he’d expected. “She’s been what now?”
“Shipping. As in hoping two people will get together in a romantic relationship. Though usually the term is used in conjunction with fan fiction, books, and TV shows rather than real people. Like, I ship Oliver and Felicity on Arrow.”
“That sounds like an Autumn-ism.”
“Given her romantic leanings, it’s a favorite word of hers.”
“Huh.” Liam turned that over in his head and decided he kind of liked the idea. “Does it bother you that Mom hoped we’d get together?”
“Not…bother, exactly. I’m kind of embarrassed, I guess.”
“Why?”
“You have no idea how hard I worked not to moon over you back then. You never noticed, and Wynne never said anything, so I thought I pulled it off.”
“You mooned over me?” He smiled to himself, inordinately pleased by the idea.
“Having a crush on your best friend’s big brother is a special right of passage. And mine had a hefty dose of hero worship thrown in.”
“I’m no hero.”
“You were always my hero,” she said softly. Abruptly she stiffened
He didn’t have to ask why. “No, I never told her what happened. Whatever she saw between us, it was nothing to do with that.” He rubbed light circles on the back of her hand until she eased again.
“Don’t you find the whole thing a little…I don’t know. Weird?”
“Not weird. I guess I’m surprised. And a part of me feels like I shouldn’t be because she knows me—apparently better than I know myself, since she figured this out way before I did. She loves you like a daughter, and I guess I worried she wouldn’t be okay with this. It wouldn’t have stopped me if she did, but it’s nice to have her approval.” Of course, that came with a whole helluva lot of pressure not to screw it up.
“What about Wynne? I haven’t heard from her, and, frankly, I’m just as nervous about her reaction as Molly’s.”
That was a whole other kettle of fish.
“Oh, she called and read me the riot act last weekend. Said she’s glad I finally got my head out of my ass to notice you were awesome, and I’d better take care of you, or I’d be answering to her.”
Riley opened her mouth, then closed it again, shaking her head. “Maybe I wasn’t as good at hiding my crush back then as I thought. How did she even know about us?”
“Evidently quite a few pictures of us at the playground made their way to her on Facebook, and she saw the announcement that Ruby won the pool on who I’d pick.”
She twisted around. “Ruby? Seriously?”
“Apparently I wasn’t so good at not mooning over you.”
“Could’ve fooled me. I spent most of the last month wanting to die of embarrassment every time I saw you.”
“If your mama hadn’t shown up, we’d have been doing this a helluva lot sooner.” Liam rubbed his lips over hers, a lazy, teasing kiss.
“We’re gonna wind up on Facebook again,” she murmured.
“Don’t care.” He just kept right on with that slow taste, thinking she was the perfect dessert.
Until something thunked him against the side of the head.