Escaping Reality (The Secret Life of Amy Bensen #1)

I smile. “So you can seduce me in a pyramid?”

He laughs. “That sounds worth the trip, don’t you think?”

My cell phone rings and I stiffen, my playful mood evaporating instantly.

Liam picks my phone up from the table between us where I’ve set it and slides it into my hand. “I’m right here, you know,” he says, reminding me that he remembers all too well how I’d freaked out over a phone call the night before.

And it‘s comforting. He’s right here. I am not alone. I glance at the number and feel my shoulders visibly relax. “Meg,” I say. “You met her at the restaurant.” Liam visibly relaxes as well, settling back in his chair and I answer the call. “Hi, Meg.”

“Hi, Amy. Did you get the executed lease Luke dropped by?”

My unease is instant. “Yes. I got it. Tell him thank you.”

“And you’re doing fine? He said Mr. Williams wanted to be sure.”

“Yes. I am, but I have some questions. Would you have a number for Mr. Williams?”

There is a moment of silence. “No. No number.” She lowers her voice. “Luke is weird with Dermit Williams. Apparently the guy is loaded and Luke doesn’t trust me enough with his info.”

“Can you ask Luke to call me?”

“Sure. He’s out of town again, though. I swear I am going to go nuts in this office alone. How about happy hour?”

I glance at Liam, and find his head buried in his drafting pad, his brows dipped in deep thought, and I want nothing more than to hang up the phone and get lost in watching him create his masterpiece. “Not tonight.” But I know she holds a key to my new boss. “Soon. Maybe tomorrow. I’ll call you then, if that works?”

“Sure. Call me.”

“And you’ll have Luke call me?”

“When he gets back into town.”

“Which will be when?”

“Next week.”

Next week? “If he calls in can you ask him for Mr. Williams’ number?”

“I’ll see what mood he’s in.”

I sigh. “Okay. Thanks.”

I hang up the call and set my phone down and Liam glances up at me. “Who are Luke and Mr. Williams?”

“And here I thought you were lost in your work.”

“I can multitask. I think you know that.”

I blush at his reference to the many naughty things he did to me the night before and this morning. “Luke is the realtor and Mr. Williams is my boss.”

“Who you can’t reach?”

“He’s out of the country.”

He narrows his gaze on me. “Everything okay, Amy?”

And I know it’s a prod for me to share more with him, but I care too much for Liam to be any more selfish than I already have. “Yes,” I say, and if my life wasn’t a big circus and I didn’t have this gnawing sensation that I’m about to turn his life into one too, it would be.

He takes my hand and pulls me to him. “Make a doctor’s appointment. I want to be as na**d inside you as you make me feel. As I want you to trust me enough to be with me.”

It is the most erotic, seductive thing anyone has ever said to me. “I do trust you.”

And I see in his face that he believes this is a lie when it is the truth. It’s not about trust.

It’s about danger.

***

The real world crashes down on me when I wake up Wednesday morning and the “a-hole” investor returns and Liam has to go to work. Having showered and dressed before Liam, at his urging and insistence—he would not make his meeting if I was still in bed where he wanted to be with me—I sit at the dining table of the hotel suite, coffee in hand, wishing the clawing sensation in my gut would go away. Having Liam to myself these past few days has been an escape, and other than checking my empty email yesterday, I didn’t let myself think of anything but him. He didn’t give me time. We’d gone to the movies and I’d had another acupuncture appointment and we’d even worked out together.

“I guess it’s time to get this over with,” Liam says, walking into the room, and he is dark good looks personified, absolutely stunning in a light gray suit, his shirt starched and white, perfect, like he is to me. My eyes gravitate to the matching gray silk tie and I feel my body heat.

He closes the distance between us and pulls me to my feet. “You want me to tie you up again.”

It’s not a question. Embarrassed, I look down. His finger slides under my chin, lifting my gaze to his. “Don’t be shy. It’s just you and me, baby. Nothing we do goes beyond us. Nothing you tell me goes beyond me.”

I wish that were true, but the more I know him, the more I know he will go after whoever is after me. And they will go after him. “Yesterday you were…different when we, ah…”

“Yesterday you didn’t need me to force you to let go. You were already relaxed. Today, you’re on edge. Why?”

I shut my eyes a moment. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t want to be alone.”

“I’m good at being alone, Liam.”

“I don’t want you to be good at being alone. You aren’t alone anymore.”

“It’s too early for you to make promises like that.”

“No. It’s not. This thing between us isn’t going away, but I’ve had more time in life to figure that out and you’re afraid to count on me and us. We’ll get by those things.”