The Real Thing Read online

“Yeah, a couple of days ago. Felicity didn’t mention it?”

  “I haven’t spoken to her much. Want to tell me why you let a visitor in without fully vetting her first?” Liam asked sharply. Christ, he sounded like an idiot, even to himself, but he couldn’t figure out how to put the brakes on. Matt’s expression didn’t do a lot to help the situation, either.

  “Come on, Liam, are you serious?” he asked incredulously.

  “Of course, I’m serious. This isn’t a joke. I thought you understood what we were doing here.”

  "I understand. The whole thing is totally unorthodox, but I get what you're trying to do."

  “Do you?” Liam asked, the blood rushing in his ears.

  “I do. Do you?” Matt shot back, looking good and pissed off now.

  “I think you better think about your place in this scenario. You’re hired to keep her safe.”

  “I am. That’s true.”

  “So?”

  "So, trust me to be able to tell the difference between a threat and something benign. Lena has been Felicity's friend since they were kids. That girl would probably be faster to take a bullet for Felicity than me or any of my boys. On top of which it was the only time Felicity looked even halfway happy this week. Have you noticed that? Have you noticed that she's been fucking miserable?"

  Liam wanted to punch his lights out. The worst part about it was that Matt was right. Felicity hadn't looked too thrilled, and that had to be at least in part due to him acting like such a jackass. Instead of punching Matt, he punched his fist into his palm, and when he looked up, Matt didn't look so much like he wanted to kill him.

  “Well?” he asked, pushing him further.

  “Sure, okay, fine. She hasn’t seemed thrilled. I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”

  “If you don’t see it, we’ve got a bigger problem than I thought,” Matt said, smiling wryly.

  “Feel like enlightening me?” Liam asked, working hard to keep his temper in check.

  “You bet. Why don’t you try this on for size? She’s not some kind of frail, helpless princess in a story. She doesn’t need to be locked away in an ivory tower, you know?”

  “Okay,” Liam said slowly, making himself shut up and listen for once.

  “You gotta think about it from her perspective, right? She had a life before she got involved in this shit.”

  “I know that. She wasn’t thrilled with the way things were going, but-”

  “Don’t do that,” Matt interrupted, fully up on his soapbox now, “it may be true but don’t do it. Chicks hate it when you act like you know their lives better than they do.”

  "Sure, I can see that," Liam allowed. It was crazy but made sense. Not only that but it was calming him down some. It was back to the control thing. Like it or not, Matt was giving some of that back to him.

  “All I’m saying is that her life got turned the fuck around and seeing a friend isn’t the worst thing in the world. She seemed like a cool chick, too, for what it’s worth.”

  “Did she now?” Liam asked, finally smiling. Matt turned bright red and coughed into his hand. “What’s the matter, Matty, did I touch a nerve?”

  “Not at all. Anything else?” Matt asked, clearing his throat compulsively.

  “Nothing. I think we’re going out tonight though,” Liam said spur of the moment.

  “Who’s we?”

  “Me and Felicity, if she’ll go. I think you’re right. I think I screwed up and she deserves an apology.”

  “Right on,” Matt grinned, nodding his head in satisfaction, “now you’re talking. But Boss, you’ve gotta be careful, right? You know she’s not safe.”

  “You think I forgot?” Liam asked, clearly irritated. It wasn’t Matt he was pissed at, either. It was those damn thieves. There hadn’t been so much as a whisper of them since that first night. What if they had caught wind of what Liam was trying to do? What if they had sussed out another, more interesting catch? The not knowing was driving him insane and Matt’s comments weren’t helping matters any.

  LIAM HAD BEEN NERVOUS about asking Felicity to go to dinner with him. She lived in his house, he had seen her naked, and yet he had been nervous as hell. When she had opened the door to her bedroom, she had looked skeptical at best, at worst downright pissed off. The truth of it was probably somewhere in between, but it had taken some convincing to get her to come out with him. Once she'd said yes, he'd spent the rest of the afternoon trying not to think about it and changing his shirt three different times. He had picked her up at her door, knocking like he would have done if he was picking her up from her house. They didn't speak in the car, nor did they speak as he ushered her into the restaurant, placing one hand on the small of her back and trying to pretend that it wasn't shaking. Funny enough, it was the hostess that broke the tension for them. Liam could see Felicity smiling out of the corner of his eye as the girl led them to their seats, and by the time Liam pulled her chair out, she was struggling not to laugh.

  “Alright, guys, here you are. I put you at my favorite table,” the hostess gushed, her eyes roaming unabashedly up and down the length of Liam’s body, “so you know, you’re welcome.”

  “Is that so?” Felicity asked, her face a mask of total innocence even when the hostess favored her with an unconcealed look of contempt. “Why is this one your favorite?”

  "Um, because you can see all of the action from here. It's the best place in the place to see and be seen. Maybe I'll be seeing you around." She winked at Liam, shot Felicity another dirty look, and then flounced back to her station. Liam watched her go disbelievingly and then looked at Felicity again. He was almost afraid to do that last part. In his experience, women weren't too keen on the sort of display they'd just witnessed, and he was already on shaky ground.

  “Sorry about that,” he said, genuinely embarrassed by the display, “I don’t know what that was about.”

  “Are you kidding?” Felicity laughed, a rich, pretty sound that made Liam’s skin prickle with goosebumps. “That was the highlight of my day. It might even be the highlight of my week.”

  “Is that so? Well, I’m glad I could be of service, although I don’t really understand the reaction,” Liam said with a smile.

  “You get that kind of reaction a lot, don’t you?” she said by way of answer, watching him intently as she sipped her water. Liam squirmed in his seat and signaled for the waiter instead of replying. It was a server Liam had had plenty of times before and he came armed with their nicest bottle of red wine. It was a great vintage and Liam was more than a little grateful to have something to take the edge off, maybe lubricate the conversation a little, for both of their sakes. When the waiter went to pour Felicity a taste, however, her brow furrowed, and she waved the bottle away.

  “Come on, you can’t pass this one up. This is an excellent bottle of wine.”

  “I’m okay, actually,” she said evasively, picking up a wayward cocktail napkin and starting to rip it systematically to shreds.

  "I'm not joking, this is better than anything I've got in my cellar, and that's saying a lot. Are you sure you don't want to try some?"

  “I’m really okay,” she answered without looking at him.

  "I'm not trying to pressurize you; I hope you know that. Just think of it as a kind of peace offering, why don't you?"

  “I said I don’t want any, Liam,” she answered sharply, sharp enough that he felt a little stung. “I really don’t, okay?”

  "Okay," Liam said. “Maybe some seltzer water or something, then."

  “Sure, that would be good,” she answered, both her tone and her shoulders relaxing slightly, “and I don’t want you to feel like you need to give me any kind of peace offering. I’m sorry if I made you feel that way. If I’ve been acting badly, I mean.”

  “No way. I’m the one who owes an apology here. I don’t know what got into me. It’s been a lot, I guess, at work and with this whole heist thing.”

  “I can only imagine,” she said sympathet
ically, surprising them both by reaching out and taking one of his hands in her own.

  "I shouldn't have acted the way I did, though. I don't know why I've been such a dick lately."

  “You said it,” she smiled, “not me.”

  "We've got ourselves into a pretty bizarre situation now, haven’t we?" he asked, taking a sip of the wine she still refused to taste. She didn't answer that one, but the expression on her face looked far away and, he thought, a little bit sad. Something was going on with her, and he'd been too wrapped up in his own shit to notice. Now that he was paying attention, he wasn't sure he could get her to talk to him. He'd proved himself unreliable at the very best and at the worst, maybe untrustworthy. Looking at her now, so beautiful and seemingly unaware of that beauty, his conversation with Matt kept playing through his head over and over again. She'd had a life before meeting him. It was a struggle, but it had been hers, and he had been presumptuous enough to walk in and change it all without considering that it might be difficult for her. When he thought about things like that, it was no wonder she was acting weird. She didn't owe him anything more than she was already giving and probably a hell of a lot less. Now that he really thought about it, he was lucky she'd agreed to come out to dinner with him at all.

  “What is it?” Felicity asked, breaking into his rather self-deprecating thoughts. “What’s troubling you?”

  “I don’t know. Nothing. I just feel like-”

  He wasn’t sure what he was going to say. He wasn’t sure what he felt like, which was a large part of the problem. In the end, it didn’t matter. Before he could finish his sentence, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He should probably have ignored it but answering a call meant he didn't have to try and sort through why he had wanted to take Felicity out in the first place.

  "Boss, we've got a situation," Matt barked into the phone, none of the usual friendliness in his voice now. He could feel Felicity looking at him, but it was a look he couldn't return. He couldn't afford the distraction.

  “What is it, Matt? What’s going on?”

  "We think your safety has been compromised. There's been some suspicious activity around the restaurant, and we think you need to go."

  “Are you serious? I can take care of myself.”

  “Look, do you want to keep Felicity safe or not?” Matt barked into the phone, the lines of boss and employee temporarily forgotten.

  “Of course I do,” Liam growled.

  “Then stop it with the macho man bullshit and get her out of there. We’ll decide if the whole thing was overblown later on, once the two of you are safely back at home.”

  Matt hung up the phone without waiting for Liam to answer. He shoved his own phone back into his pocket and finally looked at Felicity. Her face was frozen into a look of intense concentration like she already knew what he was going to say.

  “We need to get out of here,” he said firmly, taking a last sip of wine as he stood.

  “How come? What’s happened?” she asked, following Liam’s lead and slipping her hand unconsciously into his.

  "I don't know yet. My guess is nothing but that was Matt on the phone, and he wants us to get back to the house."

  "Well then, we should go, of course," she said decisively. Still holding his hand, she walked towards the door, past the flirtatious hostess, and out the front door. Liam followed her like a puppy dog, fighting to keep his grip on her hand normal and his face from betraying his feelings. Because in all honesty, he was terrified. The idea that somebody could get to Felicity and hurt her, was terrifying. The scariest thing of all, was how much he was bothered by the idea that he might lose her.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Felicity Reynolds

  "SO TELL ME, LADY!" Lena shrieked gleefully into the phone. Her voice had that tone Felicity had come to recognize as a sign of trouble to come. Lena was in one of her mischievous moods and God help the person who decided to get in her way. Felicity sighed and fell back on her bed. She was getting more exhausted by the day, and she didn't see any end in sight. She'd done some snooping around online, and from everything she'd read, it was normal for a woman to be super tired in her first trimester. The fatigue would pass, and that was a good thing. But when it did, she would start to show and what would she do then? It only made her exhaustion more acute, thinking about that, and Lena was making it very difficult to pretend that everything could keep going on normally.

  “Tell you what? There’s nothing to tell.”

  “Bullshit! Um, did you contract amnesia or something?”

  “No,” Felicity laughed, “not that I’m aware of. Although that’s an interesting idea. Do you think people with amnesia always know they’ve got it?”

  "I have no idea, and I don't really care. Forget about the amnesia. I want to talk about your little situation."

  “I don’t know if I would call it little,” Felicity sighed, running a hand across her belly absentmindedly.

  “Have you told him yet?” Lena asked, as doggedly persistent as ever, “Have you told the lucky father to be?”

  "No, Lena, I haven't told him."

  "Do you think that's a good idea? I mean, I get it. I know men are dense as shit, but I'm guessing you can't hide a baby. They kind of make a lot of noise."

  “Ha, ha, very funny. Remind me why you called again?”

  “Okay, I’m being an asshole. I know it,” Lena said, sounding a little more serious than she usually did, “but I’m trying to be sort of serious right now. Is that alright?”

  “I don’t know,” Felicity answered truthfully, “I think so. I’m not really sure.”

  “I’m just...I’m worried, Felicity. What are you going to do now? I mean, you have to tell him, you know that, right? You have to tell the bigshot that you’re going to have his baby.”

  "Don't you think I know that?" Felicity shot back defensively. It wasn't Lena's fault, none of it was, but Felicity didn't want to talk about it. She didn't want to talk about any of it because she had no idea what her next step was. What a cliché it was, sleeping with the boss, and then to wind up pregnant on top of it? What did she think was going to happen? He would realize he was madly in love with her, and the two of them would go riding off into the sunset? It was a lovely thought, but it simply wasn't the way the world worked. If life had taught her anything, it had taught her that.

  And that wasn’t the worst of it, either, not even close. Her failure of a dinner with Liam had shown her that the threat of the criminals after Liam’s jewelry was real. The threat to her was real and the inactivity of the criminals had made her complacent. Now, she had not only herself to worry about but the life of her unborn child. The money she was earning for taking Liam’s unconventional job would go a long way towards helping her care for the child, whether he decided to be in the picture or not, but at what risk? She felt utterly trapped. It felt unsafe to stay and just as unsafe to go. Every time she shut her eyes, she saw nameless blank faces coming for her, willing to do whatever it took to get the jewelry they were after. She had felt sheltered enough that she had believed nobody could touch her, living in Liam’s mansion. Now that the danger felt real, she realized that she had never one hundred percent believed in the validity of the thieves in the first place. It had seemed too much like something out of an action movie, not real life. Now she understood the gravity of that mistake. She could only hope it wasn’t a case of too little, too late.

  "Sure," Lena said soothingly, "sure, of course, you do. I'm not trying to piss you off, believe me; I'm not. I just want to make sure you're okay."

  “I know that. I’m sorry,” Felicity sighed.

  "Hey, if you want I can tell him. I'll get it out of the way quickly, and he'll be so relieved to talk to you instead of me. Once it's done that he'll be thrilled about the baby. What do you say?"

  “I say no, but thank you,” Felicity laughed, “you really are a true friend. But hey, I’ve got to go, if you don’t mind.”

  "Oh yeah? Hot date?" Lena laughed. F
elicity winced a little at that. Liam's attempt at a hot date had been almost four days ago, and it hadn't gone nearly according to plan. What with her acting like a basket case and Liam having to whisk them both away for safety's sake, the evening had been an unmitigated disaster. To top it all off, he had been acting half-crazy ever since, checking on her to see if she was still safely tucked away in her room five, sometimes six times a day. It was like living in a fishbowl, or maybe being an exhibit in a zoo. It was a very fancy, very large enclosure, but at the end of the day, an enclosure was all it was. She couldn't figure it out, either; why he would react so strangely. The two of them living together was a business arrangement, the sole point of which was her acting as bait. So then why was he acting like a crazy person when the thieves he was after, made a move like they were going to take the bait?

  "Um, Felicity? Earth to Felicity! Is this that pregnancy brain thing people talk about? I thought that came later."

  “No, thank you very much, I was just thinking.”

  “About your lover boy?”

  “Not exactly. More about what I have to do this afternoon.”

  “Which is?” Lena asked pointedly.

  “You’re going to love this,” Felicity sighed, “and I doubt you’re going to let me forget about it anytime soon. I have to go to a family luncheon. At his father’s estate. And I have no idea what I’m going to be doing there.”

  “HAVE I SAID THANK YOU for this? Because if I haven’t, let me say it now, thank you Felicity. I know there’s got to be about a thousand things you would rather be doing right now than this.”

  "You've said thank you, Liam. No need to thank me again," Felicity said softly as she glanced up at the biggest house she had ever seen. Roughly an hour ago, she would have said that Liam's place was the biggest house she had ever seen hands down, but apparently, there were larger places out there. She wasn't sure you could even call what she was looking at now a house; it was more of a castle or an American approximation of one. It was big enough that looking up at it gave her a feeling of vertigo and she had to look down at her feet to remind herself that she was still on solid ground.