Comfort Zone (Awkward Love 4)

What? He doesn’t even know Andrew. I step back and close my eyes. I’m not even listening as they talk, because I’m too busy wishing I were anywhere but here.

Jake shakes his head. “Actually, hold that thought. I need a drink before continuing this conversation. Don’t go anywhere.”

He winks at me and then walks off, leaving the two of us alone to endure the rest of this awkward moment alone. Well, at least it’s awkward for me, because I swear from the way Liam’s smirking at me, he’s enjoying this.

“So,” he says. He glances down at my hand and I realize I’m still holding that damn dildo. “Nice fist. Is it yours?”

“Oh shut up and stop pretending you’re surprised to see me here,” I growl.

He opens his mouth to argue, but then grins.

“You need to start thinking about what you say, Becca. You mentioned Jake and a bachelor party this morning. I knew it was unlikely to be a coincidence, especially when Jake told me his best friend is a woman.”

“You could’ve warned me,” I mutter. “How do you even know Jake, anyway?”

“He’s my cousin.” He grins. “And you’re right, I could have warned you, but it’s so much more fun watching you squirm. Besides, you like the idea of me watching you…right, Becca?”

I glower at him, but before I can respond, Jake is back. I’m impressed, and a little relieved—until he turns to Liam.

“So, first off. Explain to me why you were resuscitating Andrew and why I never heard about it?”

“Right, so this is your gran too?” I’m still trying to place exactly where the cousin thing fits in. “How could you never bring up that your gran has a cat named Andrew?”

“Because it’s not that big a deal,” Jake says, frowning at me. “It’s a common name for a cat.”

“Andrew?” I say with a laugh. “You consider that common? Next you’ll tell me she has a dog named Paul and a parrot named Sergio.”

“No, that’s uncle Phil. How do you know about Paul, anyway?” Liam replies. The twitch of his lips has me trying to work out if he’s being serious or not. “Really, you haven’t lived until you’ve seen a middle-aged, overweight, and balding man frantically scouring the local park, searching for Paul, his ninety-pound bull mastiff.”

“Jesus, whatever happened to Fluffy and Boris,” I mutter, shaking my head.

“Well, Fluffy ended up under the wheel of Aunt—”

“It was a rhetorical question,” I huff, still pissed that he blindsided me. “I’m sorry, I have to go over there for a moment.”

Before they can stop me, I stalk over to the bar, the sudden need for a stiff drink overwhelming me. Or maybe I just needed to get away from Liam for five minutes.

“A tequila, thanks,” I mutter to the barmaid, barely even noticing that she’s topless.

I turn back to where Liam and Jake are still deep in conversation, probably about me. Liam lifts his gaze to meet mine and he smirks, confirming my suspicions. I let out a growl and jerk my head back around, pissed off. Every time he looks at me, I just know he’s thinking about those stupid messages. God knows I’ve given him enough material to last a lifetime.

I sneak another glance at him again, my heart racing. Why does he have to be so fucking hot? Those tight, faded jeans and the way that leather jacket hugs his muscles…I groan and gulp down my drink, then push my empty glass back over to the waitress. She chuckles but fills it up again.

“Hard day?” she asks.

“Yep and it’s only going to get harder.”Chapter ThreeLiamWhat can I say about Becca Chambers?

When that message about Jake’s bachelor party popped up on my screen today, I couldn’t believe my luck. There couldn’t be two Jake’s getting married and hosting their bachelor parties at the same club, so I was pretty confident I’d be seeing her here tonight.

She’s is the type of girl who is impossible to ignore—especially when your name starts popping up in messages she’s sending her friend while she’s supposed to be listening to your lecture. Or that one time, while sitting for an exam. I should’ve called her out on it then, but I was too busy chuckling over her questioning whether the size of my hands correlated with the size of my cock.

The longer it went on, the harder it was to bring it to her attention. If I did, I’d also need to explain why it had taken me six months to say something. But not only that, I found myself looking forward to seeing what she was going say next—that makes me sound way creepier than I really am. The bottom line is, if she’d just been listening to me in that first class, then she would have known the messages are monitored.