LITMIR.BIZ

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twenty-seven-year-old virgin. Liam, on the other hand, was the most confident, gorgeous man she’d ever imagined, let alone encountered. The idea of Liam and her engaging in any kind of sexual mating dance was just…ridiculous.

      “We’re going to get rain,” Liam said as he entered the kitchen ten minutes later, carrying two grilled steaks.

      Natalie nodded as she set the knife down on the cutting board. In fact the natural light in the kitchen had grown dimmer and the wind had started to howl across the dunes and the rocks, causing the window blinds to rattle. “We should go and shut your western windows.”

      “Yeah, I guess we should,” Liam said as he set down the steaks on the counter. “You get the downstairs ones and I’ll get upstairs?”

      They met back in the kitchen a few minutes later, the sound of the wind now a distant wail. Natalie was finishing setting the round oak table in a nook in the kitchen when he returned.

      “Is this okay? I know you planned to eat outside, but—”

      “No, this is great,” Liam enthused. He hadn’t seemed to notice the awkwardness that had settled on her when she realized how intimate the setting was—the approaching storm, the cozy kitchen, just the two of them sitting down to a meal. He was so comfortable in his skin he didn’t know how to recognize self-consciousness in others, Natalie thought.

      He placed the steaks on the table next to the salad and walked over to the refrigerator. “Is iced tea okay?”

      “I already poured us two glasses. They’re chilling off.”

      “Excellent,” Liam murmured with a satisfied grin as he brought the glasses over to the table.

      “It looks like it’s possible you weren’t bragging when you said you made a mean steak,” she said as they sat down together. Liam took her plate and began to serve her. Rain began to spatter on the windows.

      “I never brag. Only the absolute truth ever leaves these lips.” He’d said it so soberly, but his sudden grin was pure devilry.

      “We’ll see.”

      His eyebrows quirked in interest at her challenge, and Natalie thought she understood why. With another man, her reply would have sounded cool. For some reason with Liam, it had seemed like she was flirting.

      She rolled her eyes and picked up her knife and fork.

      The beef melted on her tongue. He’d cooked it to perfection. He was gentleman enough not to say anything out loud, but the look he gave her read loud and clear—I told you so.

      They both started to talk at once.

      “Why did you let your brother talk you out of buying this place?” he asked.

      “What else were you going to tell me about—”

      She broke off when his question penetrated her awareness. She smiled a little uncomfortably and took a bite of salad.

      “Personal before professional,” Liam said before he stabbed his fork into the meat.

      “I didn’t let Eric talk me out of moving here. I came to the conclusion this place was too much work for me.”

      “Uh-huh,” Liam said doubtfully.

      Thunder rumbled outside.

      She paused and sat back in her chair. “Why do you say it like that? Do I seem like that much of a pushover?”

      He took a swallow of his tea. “Not at all. I’ve just heard about your brother. He has a reputation for having…strong opinions,” Liam said with the air of someone who was choosing his words carefully.

      “And this reputation you speak of,” she said slowly. “Was it, perhaps, provided to you by your sister Colleen?”

      He studied her for a moment before he forked some salad. “Let me guess. Eric has given you the opinion Colleen is a bit of a steamroller herself.”

      She laughed when she saw the sparkle in his eyes.

      “Maybe they’re both a little right,” Natalie murmured, still grinning. “I wouldn’t call Eric a steamroller, necessarily, but he’s very decisive. And he worries about me a lot. Too much, really, but I understand. He was eighteen when we lost Mom and I was only eleven. We don’t have any other family here in the states. My father died in Puerto Rico soon after my mother discovered she was pregnant with me. She and Eric came here with practically nothing but the clothes on their back and my mother’s dreams of giving her kids a chance for something better than she’d ever had.”

      “What did your father die of?”

      “Cancer. I never knew him,” Natalie replied quietly. Wind-driven rain struck the panes in earnest now. She raised a bite of meat to her mouth and glanced at Liam. “Are you and Col-leen close?”

      “Yeah, we are,” he said unabashedly.

      “And what about your other sister, Deidre?”

      Liam nodded. “The three of us are all close in age—eighteen months between Deidre and Colleen, fifteen between Colleen and me. But Deidre hasn’t really lived in Harbor Town since she went to college. She was always working in other towns on her vacations. She was an army nurse for years, but recently she became a civilian. She’s still got wanderlust, though. She’s working in a hospital in Germany, at the moment. We talk as much as we can, but it’s hard while she’s overseas. Deidre is actually one of the reasons Marc and my mom pressured me to leave the Chicago P.D.”

      “What do you mean?”

      Liam grinned crookedly. “Okay, I was exaggerating a little. But before Deidre was in Germany, she spent two years in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was hard enough for my mom worrying about whether or not I was getting shot on the streets. Knowing Deidre had bombs exploding around her hardly made for peaceful nights for her.”

      “It doesn’t surprise me,” Natalie said before she reached for her glass.

      “What doesn’t surprise you?”

      “You becoming an organized crime detective…or Deidre ending up as a nurse serving in combat. You guys were always such daredevils. I remember how Deidre performed in that water show on Mackinac Island during the summers.”

      “Yeah. Deidre’s an excellent trick skier. My dad taught her. He taught us all.”

      “He did?” Natalie asked, unable to contain her curiosity over this tidbit of information about a man who had remained such a puzzle to her.

      Liam nodded. “He and his brothers were all naturals in the water—swimming, diving and skiing.”

      Natalie paused, digesting this novel information about Derry Kavanaugh. When Liam glanced at her, she thought she might have seemed too curious, so she kept the topic on a safer playing field.

      “Every little girl in Harbor Town thought Deidre was a goddess. I did. She was so cool I couldn’t even fathom her.” Natalie smiled in reminiscence.

      “Really? You knew who Deidre was?”

      “Of course. Everyone knew the Kavanaughs in Harbor Town.”

      “Did you know me?”

      “I knew who you were.” The “safe” topic had quickly veered into dangerous territory. “Now…I answered your question from before. You answer mine.”

      “I’d rather hear what you thought of me.”

      “I’m sure you would.”

      She stilled when he leaned toward her and spoke in a mock-serious, confidential manner. “I’d really rather hear about the girl doing the thinking.”

      After a stunned moment, she laughed. She couldn’t help it. No matter how much she knew she should keep a distance from him, Liam’s charm was impossible to ignore. He chuckled right along with her. She suddenly

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