“Liam!” Riley dropped to her knees beside him. “Don’t move. Are you hurt?” Her hands were racing over him faster than he could answer, and as he rather enjoyed the process, he wasn’t in any hurry to stop her.
“Nothin’s broken.” Except possibly his pride. And maybe his ass
Miranda rolled her eyes at him. “Your head’s too thick for any serious damage.”
“Dude, I really hope you’re more coordinated in the field,” Mitch ribbed.
He didn’t have the distraction of Riley in the middle of war.
Apparently satisfied he was in one piece, the distraction herself sat back on her heels. “You jumped too high.”
“Huh?”
“You missed the optimal exit point of the arc. Instead of using your momentum to fling you forward, you wasted the energy by going up. That’s how I always beat Wynne.”
“The champion remains supreme,” Mitch said. “Pay up, y’all.”
Riley helped Liam into a sitting position. “You owe me pizza.”
“It’s not like pizza is a hardship under any circumstances.”
“Okay, I can’t take it anymore,” Norah declared. “When are you two going to publicly announce that you’re dating?”
Riley’s mouth dropped open. “Don’t be ridiculous. We’re not dating.”
“We’re not,” Liam confirmed, hating the embarrassed flush that crawled up her neck.
Riley threw her arm out in a “See?” sort of gesture, as if that reinforced her point.
“But we should be.” Liam was acutely aware of the awkward silence that descended in the wake of that declaration.
Riley laughed, not quite meeting his eyes as she got to her feet. “Clearly you hit your head harder than we thought.”
Norah pouted. “Well damn. I guess I lost that bet.”
“Can’t win ’em all, sugar,” Cam told her.
Everybody suddenly got busy with the clean up of the job site. Riley was already striding away from him. Liam followed her around the back side of the tower, where she was gathering up tools.
She started to duck around him, still not looking him in the eye, but he grabbed her arm. “Hold it.”
“I need to—”
“You need to stop running away from me and listen.” Liam kept his voice low.
“To what?” she hissed back. “To you trying to humor me? Make me feel less like an idiot? That’s nice of you, Liam, but it’s not necessary.” Her tone indicated it wasn’t even possible, and that just pissed him off.
He caged her in against the wall of the tower. “I have been trying to tell you for weeks, but every time I get close we have some kind of disaster or you bolt like a damned rabbit. So let’s clarify something before there’s another flood, fire, or parental invasion. You are not in this alone.”
And then his hands were in her hair, his mouth on hers in a blistering, possessive kiss that poured out every ounce of the dark, desperate wanting that had haunted him for months.
Riley didn’t move.
Heart pounding, Liam eased back. Her pupils were blown wide with shock. He was already cursing his rashness but he had to ask. “What do you think?”
Those eyes narrowed and her hands fisted in his shirt. “Oo rah.”
She yanked his mouth back to hers, fingers clutching at his shoulders, sliding around to his nape to pull him closer a she proceeded to kiss him like she meant it. Like she’d stumbled out of the desert and he was the oasis designed for the sole purpose of quenching her thirst. His tongue traced the seam of her lips, and she opened for him. She tasted rich and sinfully sweet. Every cell of his body screamed, Oh, hell yes, and his brain supplied applause and cheers as accompaniment.