His mother stroked a hand down Riley’s back in the same gesture she used on him. “You okay, honey?”
“Just tired. Been working on the presentation all day.” She sounded it. Maybe the work hadn’t been going well for her.
“Get it finished?” Molly asked.
“Nearly. I’d like to go over it with you when I do.”
“Sure.”
Riley worked up a dim smile. “I’m sure you’re tired of listening to all the noise. Why don’t you head on home. I’ll stay till Liam’s finished.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Molly gathered up her purse. “Don’t work too late, baby.”
“I’m nearly done for the night.”
&nb
sp; “See you later then.” She paused, grinned. “Or not. Whatever. Bye.”
Liam shook his head and took a long swallow of his cold brew. It wasn’t the beer he really wanted, but it was damned tasty. “You know, I appreciate that she’s supportive of us as an us, but I would really love if she’d stop making suggestive remarks. It’s totally weird.”
When Riley didn’t comment, his internal alarm started to sound. She was well and truly upset about something, and it wasn’t the chaos in her pharmacy.
Liam ran a hand down her arm, gave a little tug, but she didn’t turn into him and didn’t soften. Not good signs.
“What’s wrong, Riley Marie?”
“I ran into Babette Wofford at The Grind.”
She paused, and he fought not to tense. It could be nothing.
“Is there anything you want to tell me?” Her blue eyes were glacial as they fixed on him.
Shit. He’d hoped she’d never find out. Or that he’d be better prepared when it came to asking forgiveness when he knew she’d expected him to ask for permission. Considering the temperature in her general vicinity had plummeted a good ten degrees, that wasn’t happening.
“Your mom didn’t have enough for the deposit and both the first and last months’ rent on the apartment, so I helped out.”
“I see.” Her tone that indicated she was seeing a helluva lot more than he did. “Was it your idea or hers?”
“Mine. The apartment was perfect. She wanted out. You needed her out for your own sanity. She needed a hand to do it, so I gave it. It’s not a big deal, Riley.” He shrugged, feeling the pinch of strained muscles as he did so.
“I would have thought that a man who’s spent the last twelve years as a Marine would be more capable of following orders.”
Was she fucking kidding? “Oh, give me a break.”
“A break? A break. I’d like to break your head.” Riley unfolded her arms and jabbed a finger into his chest, her voice rising. “I explicitly told you not to get involved in the situation with my mother. Verbatim, point blank. In words you could not possibly misunderstand. And you did it anyway.”
“Yeah, I crossed that line. Deliberately.” Might as well own it.
“Worse, you did it behind my back. She’s my responsibility. Not yours.”
Exasperated and trying desperately to cling to reason, Liam gripped her shoulders, gave them a gentle squeeze. “She doesn’t have to be. You don’t have to deal with all this alone anymore.”
Riley jerked away. “I may have invited you into my bed, but that doesn’t give you the right to run my life. You don’t get to make decisions for me or my family.”
Liam absorbed the slap of that. Me. My family. Because, for her, those had nothing to do with him. Almost his whole life, he’d considered her a part of his family. His to protect. To take care of. It’d been nothing to extend that mantle to cover her mother, to try to ease the burden he saw Riley struggling under.
Pain jabbed at his temple, chiseling away at his hold on a rising anger. “I’m not trying to run your life, I’m trying to help you.”