Shifting uncomfortably, she strained to keep from looking up and meeting Liam's eyes, hot as his gaze felt on her skin. Could things be anymore fucked up than this? And what if she had decided to listen to the good angel and give him a shot? They'd have been forced to part, any way. Thanks to this odd, skin-crawling “engagement” her mother had wandered into while no one was looking.

She'd known her mom was going through a mid-life crisis, but she'd never imagined it would end in a union with a man who would undoubtedly drop her when she wasn't shiny to him, anymore.

Gary Cross didn't look the sort of man to commit to any one thing for long. Hell, his business acquisitions alone made it clear he was a man of action who regularly needed “something new” to train his attentions on.

“The eggplant and everything else on the menu is top notch,” came his response.

He was butt hurt, and his tone made that clear. Should she feel ashamed that she drew a slight bit of satisfaction from that? After all, their little union was already creating complications in her life that she'd set her mind to avoiding. One in particular with a name that gave her a physical reaction.

Stealing a glance, her eyes locked with his.

Fuck.

“Honey, you're being rude. Introduce yourself. Liam's going to be your brother, after all.”

A pit fell in her stomach.

Damn it, Mom.

“We've met.”

Oh dear God, no. Please, no.

Was he going to out them? He seemed the type, especially if he was feeling jilted.

“Oh. Well, what a small world.”

Her mother smiled nervously and quickly turned her attention to the chardonnay she'd ordered.

“It certainly is,” Liam responded gruffly.

Sniffing, Jackie broke gaze with him, unable to handle the intensity in his eyes for longer than a half-second. It was like looking into the sun. And she knew full well the passion he contained in that model perfect body of his. It was part of the reason she'd held to the decision to run away; she had no intention of being burned.

“Yeah, I'll have the eggplant.”

The click of her soon to be step-creep's fingertips struck the air, and the server who'd made a fixture of herself came off of her stand by the wall to make her way over to them. Jackie rambled out her order, and Liam followed her lead with his own. Following that, an uncomfortable silence descended the table.

“So, um, we're very excited. We've decided to fast track the wedding to next month. The official announcement to the media will take place next week. We'd love it if you all could be there to celebrate with us,” her mother eeked out meekly. She'd addressed Liam's half-brother, too, but he quickly averted his eyes to something else.

The reason for the tension at the table might not be clear, but it was palpable enough to put everyone on their guard. Maybe she thought moving onto the business at hand would lighten things up, but it only served to dash Jackie's spirits further. Their wedding announcement would eclipse all of the hard work they'd done for VitaGourmet, and make it his thing. He had the bigger name, and dear old mom would become another one of his properties. Jackie wasn't at all keen on being perceived as one of his belongings, by proxy.

To celebrate publicly.

What a joke.

There was nothing to celebrate. The circus they were engaging in was going to fuck up everything they'd worked for, and it was already creating more of a situation than necessary with her stepbrother-in-the-making. She'd known her mom's invitation was going to lead to a breakfast that made a visit to the dentist seem more pleasant, but she hadn't expected it would turn her world upside down.

Yet, here they were.

Liam

Oh, no she wasn't. Jackie might think excusing herself from the sham of an engagement breakfast they'd just been subjected to would get her off easy, but she wasn't leaving that building before he had a chance to let her know his stance on things.

He could care less what his father was planning; he'd already fallen for the girl, and he wasn't going down without a fight. It was one thing when he didn't think he'd have access to her, but she was right here. In his reach. He'd be damned if he didn't get a face-to-face confrontation before they parted ways.

“Sir!”

Totally ignoring the bathroom attendant, Liam pushed through the doors into the lobby of the ladies' “powder room,” catching Jackie's arm before she managed to slip away from him.

“Let go me go, Liam.”

“That what you really want?”

His heart was pounding in his chest, and his gut knotted when she turned around and set those big, dark eyes on him. She looked frustrated, like she'd had every intention of avoiding this conversation. And it hurt more than he expected. He barely knew the girl. They'd shared intimacy that had probably caused an earthquake somewhere, but whatever was fueling him right now had a base in far more than that.

Averting her eyes, she pulled her arm from his grip.

“Don't make this difficult.”

“Don't know another way to make it.”

Setting her mouth, her nostrils took a slight flare.

“Maybe try making it easy.”

He loosed a dry laugh.

“There's nothing easy about this.”

“Exactly! A lot of things have changed in the past few hours...”

“Things that had nothing to do with you leaving the hotel without so much as a word.”

He actually thought he saw a flicker of remorse in her eyes, but she quickly retracted it, settling on a more steely gaze, potent enough to give him chills. He hadn't noticed it before, but he saw it now. She was scared. It was the kind of revelation that made it easier to keep fighting for the unnamed thing that kept her firmly at the center of his thoughts.

He hadn't been able to concentrate on a damn thing since they'd spent the night, and that just wouldn't do with all of the obligations coming up in the next few weeks. He needed to know where they really stood, if she could really just walk away from what they'd shared like she wasn't having trouble shaking him from her thoughts, too.

“Look, I just... I thought we should frame what we shared positively. Leave it in a good place, you know?”

“I'm not understanding you.”

“Just... before it all dissolves and becomes something ugly, you know? How often do relationships actually work? I don't think either of us entered that hotel intending things to turn into something more than they were at face value.”

A combination of angst and desire rushed to the forefront of his thoughts, and Liam couldn't help but answer it. Imposing himself into her space, he pressed her to the wall. Her body felt amazing pressed against his, and memories of the night they shared tumbled into his mind's eye, flooding him with arousal.

She felt it, too; he could see that.

“If you can look me in the eye, and tell me to walk away, I'll leave you alone.”

“Listen-”

“Tell me to walk away, Jackie,” he husked, following it up with a kiss pressed gently to her neck.

A kiss that soon evolved into a nip of skin which he stretched slightly out towards him before loosing it and claiming more of her neck, licking, and sucking.

“This is all wrong, Liam.”

“Is it?”

His hands found their way to the hem of her skirt, tugging it upward as his fingers reached beneath. She hissed with pleasure, and his hands slid over her thighs, encouraged. Fingertips flirting the surface of her skin, he reveled in her heat beneath them. Sure that he'd find her panty line wet if he checked it. And he would.