HDU #2: Dirt (5 page)

Chapter 2

Happy Birthday, love! I know the party was
my gift to you but this is to make up for last night.
 
Had a feeling I should have it messengered here instead of
your apartment. ;)

Sitting in
Liam’s California king-size bed, Amanda stared at Wendy’s embossed birthday
card.
 
Considering the text —
and what had happened last night — she could just about guess the gist of
what lie within the big white box on which the card had been attached.

“What’s that?”

Looking up, Amanda’s
cheeks flushed.
 
Taking up nearly
the entire doorframe of the bathroom was Liam, freshly showered with his wet
eyelashes spaced into perfect triangles, a white towel wrapped below the V of
his hip bones.
 
Amanda blinked at
him, doing her best to maintain a casual face.
 
Dork
, she
chastised herself.
 
What kind of girlfriend of two months hasn’t
seen her boyfriend fully naked even once?

Answer: the kind who got walked in on by Wendy
Krentz last night
.
 
Having
gotten cold feet, Ian had left the party early and asked Wendy to alert Amanda,
which of course required finding her.
 
And once again, she and Liam were interrupted.

And though she
had been ready for about anything last night, Amanda was grateful for the
intrusion by the following morning.
 
Something told her that drunk and public wasn’t the type of first time
sex she was meant to have with Liam.
 
Plus, she’d pushed it off for long enough at this point — whenever
it did happen, Amanda preferred that it happen somewhere private and halfway
romantic, with little to no alcohol involved in place of confidence.

“It’s a birthday
gift,” Amanda answered Liam, eyeing him as she pulled on the chocolate satin
ribbon.
 
He rolled his shoulders
and cracked his neck as he made his way over to the dresser beside his
bed.
 
Only he could make those
habits completely sexy, and only he could wear bruises the size of coasters
like fashionable badges of honor.
 
Amanda felt the ends of her lips curve up as she watched him reach for
the drawer.
 
“From Wendy.”

Liam paused in
the midst of opening the drawer.
 
A
big and surprisingly sheepish grin slid across his lips before he
continued.
 
“Oh God.”
 
He laughed and rubbed his jaw as he
picked out a pair of charcoal boxer briefs.
 
“Well, aren’t you going to open it?”

“Yep.”
 
Pushing the ribbon off the box, Amanda
lifted the top off.
 
And right
then, through her peripheral vision, she saw Liam’s towel fall to the ground.
 
Holy
shit
.
 
Instinctively, her head
spun to look at him but by the time she turned, a pair of charcoal boxer briefs
was already halfway on his ass.

But only
halfway.

Amanda blushed,
well aware that she’d been caught looking since Liam paused, leaving them only
partially on for a second.
 
Once
again, she could feel his upturned lips without even looking.
 
You’re
staring at his half-bare ass and he’s watching you do it, you know that, right?
She knew but she couldn’t help it.
 
She didn’t know she had a thing for asses until now.
 
Or lower back muscles, or those slanted
dimples below them.
 
Biting back
both lips, she finally tore her gaze away from him.
 
Eyes narrowed, she looked up at Liam.
 
As expected, he wore the king of all
smirks.

“What?” She
chucked a pillow at him, which he easily caught.

“We’re dating.
 
You’re allowed to stare at my ass.”

Amanda snorted,
rolling her eyes.
 
Still flushed,
she decided to distract herself by tearing the tissue paper out of the box in
her lap.
 
But when she finally
reached her gift, her red cheeks only grew redder.
 
Toweling water off of his head, Liam ambled over to her
bedside, staring too at the gift.
 
He lifted an eyebrow.

“That’s more of
a gift for me.”

Amanda
stared.
 
“I agree.”

Sitting on a bed
of caramel tissue paper was the skimpiest excuse for a bra that Amanda had ever
seen — three horizontal strips of black lace made up each cup, an inch of
nothing between each strip.
 
Which
meant flashes of boob and not a whole lot of support, not that support was ever
the point of its design.
 
Amanda
pinched the thin strips with her fingers to hold the thing up before her wide
eyes.

“I… wow.
 
I can’t see myself ever wearing
something like this,” she laughed quietly.
 
“Or pulling it off.”

“I can.”
 
Liam grinned at her confusion while
pulling on a pair of jeans.
 
“And I
have.”

“Really.
 
Where and when did you ever see me
wearing anything like this?”

“In my head.
 
While I was in Jordan.
 
Usually while showering.”

Amanda’s eyes
fluttered.
 
“Oh.”

Liam laughed,
ruffling her hair with one hand as he buttoned the top of his jeans with the
other.
 
“Don’t make that face.”

“What face?” she
asked, though she could feel the guilt weighing on her brows.
 
She was well aware of the fact that
Liam hadn’t had sex for nearly half a year at this point.
 
It was kind of insane.
 
Acting career aside, he was kind of
famous for having sex.
 
That was
his thing — or at least it had been.
 
Now, thanks to auditions and fake relationships and shooting
in Jordan, he’d become essentially celibate.

“That face you
make when you feel bad about something.”

Amanda looked at
the corset and then Liam.
 
“Well.”
 
She swallowed.
 
“I do feel weird about the fact that we
are
together now but we haven’t…”

“Seen each other
in months?”

She peered up at
him.
 
“It’s kind of you to phrase
it like that.”
 
Amanda watched Liam
smile quietly as he picked a white T-shirt from his drawer.
 
“Really though.
 
Is this… an issue yet?” she asked
slowly, anxiously crinkling the tissue paper in her fingers.

Liam glanced up
at her.
 
“Is what an issue?”

“The fact that
we haven’t slept together yet.
 
That either I stop it or you’re away or Wendy walks in on us and then
we’re exhausted from the party by the time we get home and then it’s back to
square one.
 
I know you need it,
Liam.
 
You’re a guy and you’re…
you
.
 
So, is it an issue yet?”

His smile was
crooked.
 
The lack of an immediate
answer made Amanda’s stomach twist and the laughter in his eye certainly didn’t
help.
 
“Nope,” he finally replied
as he shut his drawer.
 
She stared
dubiously, crossing her arms.

“Liam.
 
Since when were you the type to give
one-word answers? That are completely devoid of sarcasm? Or some sort of
asshole quality?”

He laughed.
 
“Jesus Christ, easy, tiger.”

“Please tell me
if you’re bothered by it.”

Pausing beside
the dresser, Liam tossed his T-shirt over his shoulder.
 
He studied her pleading eyes as he made
his way to her.
 
“I’m not bothered
by it, Amanda.”
 
Bending over, he
kissed her lips gently.
 
But when
he pulled away, she could see his mouth curved in a smirk.
 
“That doesn’t mean I don’t want to fuck
you every second I look at you, but it means I don’t care how long I have to
wait.”

“You’ve never
had to wait with other girls.”

“There was no
point in waiting for the only thing either of us was interested in.”

Amanda pushed
her lip out as she considered it.
 
“Fine.”

“Fine.”
 
Liam grinned, whipping the T-shirt off
of his shoulder and pulling it on.
 
He crouched down to pull out a brown leather duffel from beneath the
bed.
 
“Any other issues you need to
take up with me right now?”

Amanda watched
him from the edge of the mattress, eyeing the way his thin T-shirt dipped into
the crevices of his muscles with every move he made.
 
Her mouth twisted into a wry smile when he looked up at her.
 
“You didn’t wish me a happy birthday
yet.”

“Yes I did.”

“Lies.”

“Before I got in
the shower.”

“I wasn’t awake
when you got up to shower!” Amanda snorted.
 
Liam laughed, his eyes crinkling.

“You were awake
enough to kiss me back and say ‘thank you.’
 
And then pull me back into bed for an hour, which is why
we’re running late.”

Amanda stared at
him.
 
“For what? And why would you
let me pull you back into bed if we had to be somewhere?”

“You’re not easy
to say no to when you’re all sleepy and cute and not conscious enough to be a
pain in my ass.”

Amanda narrowed
her eyes at him.
 
“Charming.
 
Care to tell me what we’re late for?”

“Our flight.”

“Our… flight?”

Liam answered
with an upward nod as he returned to his feet, lifting the giant duffel onto
his shoulder with a curl of the arm.
 
Amanda patted the bottom of the bag to feel its weight.
 
Her eyes fluttered wide.
 
“Whoa, what the heck’s in there? And
where are we going? I thought we were just going to have a relaxed day for my
birthday.
 
That’s all I asked for.”

“I remember what
you asked for,” Liam said, reaching for his aviators on the dresser top and
tucking them into the V-neck of his shirt.
 
With his other hand, he whipped the sheets off of Amanda’s
body, biting back a grin when she yelped.
 
“Come on.”
 
He held his hand
out to her till she took it and slid out of bed, frowning at him in one of his
buttery grey T-shirts and a pair of her own cotton shorts
 
“You asked for the opposite of
yesterday.
 
I remember, Amanda,” he
said as he pulled one of his perfectly worn-in hoodies out from the drawer,
wrapping Amanda in its soft fabric.
 
She continued to blink at him with confusion.

“A normal,
low-key weekend with you where I could just wear a T-shirt and leggings and we
could catch up on lost time and finally just…” She shrugged, feeling
silly.
 
“Just
talk
.
 
And… actually
get to know each other.”
 
Amanda
stomped her foot at the way Liam bit his smirk back.
 
“Stop laughing.
 
I know it sounds corny but that’s all I wanted.”
 
She narrowed her eyes at his smug
face.
 
“Dick.”

“Nice,” he
laughed, raising his eyebrows.
 
“Keep it up with the name calling and you don’t get your gift.”

“I don’t want a
gift.
 
I want my weekend with you.”

She’d requested
it while he was still in Jordan.
 
She had mere days before work started and her birthday weekend had been
her one hope of getting some good personal time with Liam before both their
schedules got crazy again.
 
While
it felt ridiculous to lament the prospect of a surprise trip to perhaps some
tropical island, Amanda had honestly just hoped for some relaxing on the couch
followed by a home cooked dinner and a glass of wine over some good
conversation — one through which she’d actually learn something new about
him.
 
That was truly all she wished
for.
 
No cake or candles necessary.

“So why are we
being all mysterious and rushing to catch a plane?” Amanda asked, crossing her
arms as she watched Liam ignore her to bend down and pull on his black
sneakers.
 
“
Liam
— ”

Still on his
knee, Liam interrupted Amanda with a strong arm around her waist, drawing a
sharp yelp from her as he easily threw her over his right shoulder.
 
Standing straight again, he started out
of the room, carrying Amanda with one arm and the duffel bag with the other.

“No more
questions,” he said.
 
She could
hear him grinning.
 
“Let’s just
go.”

~

With her legs
resting across Liam’s lap on the jet, Amanda peered over his shoulder and out
the window.
 
It was hard to make
out from forty thousand feet, but below them was their destination: North
Carolina — the state in which Logan and his family were stationed.
 
Unfortunately, the trip wasn’t for the purposes
of meeting him since he was still in the midst of a four month deployment.

“So… why North
Carolina if Logan’s not there?” Amanda asked with a curious grin.