The Real Thing Read online

  "Would you like to know what I think?" he asked conversationally.

  “Sure,” she answered weakly, “why not?”

  “I think bathing suits are stupid.” His deliverance of the opinion was so matter of fact that she burst out laughing. It helped to cure her of some of her nerves, especially when Liam put on an exaggerated show of taking offense.

  “You laugh, Felicity, but I’m not joking! It’s just one more unnecessary expense.”

  “Right, because money is clearly a huge concern for you,” she countered, still laughing breathlessly.

  “Maybe I don’t like being frivolous,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. His fingers played with that damned belt buckle, teasing her with what she knew she would see if he finished taking everything off.

  “So then, you suggest what? We all walk around naked?”

  “No,” he conceded, “that wouldn’t work. It depends on the circumstances. Take this, for example.”

  “Okay, let’s,” she smiled, stepping closer to him on knees that wobbled.

  "We're the only two here. Two consenting adults at a pool all by ourselves and no bathing suits anywhere near. Unless you want just to forget the whole thing."

  “No! No, I don’t want to do that.”

  “Then-?”

  She took a deep breath, then took the plunge. She pulled her dress up over her head and said a silent ‘thank you’ to the universe for the lacey bra and thong she wore underneath. She could feel his eyes burning into her while the fabric of her dress gave her the illusion of anonymity. She didn’t look at him again until the dress was tossed onto the tiles. She was almost too afraid to look at him at all.

  “Jesus. I’ve never seen anything like you.”

  "Come on," she laughed self-consciously. She was tempted to cover herself up, but instead, she unhooked the bra, then stepped out of the thong. Liam moved towards her, and she let him, holding her arms down by her side and her body perfectly still. She didn't move, didn't even flinch until he was close enough to touch her. Then she sidestepped him easily and walked quickly to the edge of the water. She dove in without testing the temperature and slid under the water like a fish. She had always loved the water. She had loved it when she was a child, and it hadn't abated any as she became an adult. She relished it now, this underwater world, and it was made even better by the anticipation of what waited for her above the surface. When she finally broke through the water's surface, she breathed in deeply, her lungs burning and all her muscles singing with life.

  “I thought you weren’t ever coming up!” Liam called from the pool’s ledge. He hadn’t made any move to undress further but stood watching her with his thumbs hooked through his belt loops and a devious smile on his face.

  "I like to be under the water," she answered. It felt like a silly answer, but she couldn't think of anything else to say.

  "I can tell," he answered with no more imagination than she. Still, he didn't move to take off the rest of his clothes and all at once she was completely, irrationally impatient for him to get on with things.

  “Are you going to stand there and watch me for the rest of the night or are you going to get in, too?” she asked, mildly shocked by her own directness.

  Chapter Ten

  Liam North

  Liam woke with the rising of the sun. That wasn't anything new for him, nothing spectacularly out of the ordinary. Insomnia had been a lifelong companion of his from the time of puberty. It had only gotten worse when his mother died, and it had never really gotten better again. In his early twenties, he adopted a ‘fuck it’ kind of an attitude, deciding that if he wasn't going to sleep, he might as well do some extra partying. He was out of his extreme playboy stage now, but his troubles with sleep were still going strong. He was used to waking with the dawn but what he wasn't used to waking up next to another person. It had been a long time since he'd been in a relationship and he made it a point of never staying the night with a woman he wanted to keep casual. It blurred the lines, and he liked to keep things uncomplicated. He sat up, stretched, and looked down at a still very much asleep Felicity.

  Shit.

  So much for keeping things uncomplicated. Sleeping with her that first time had been a mistake, but it had been easy to chalk it up to too much booze and the excitement of the situation. What about last night? What was he going to blame that on? There had been wine but not so much that it could be made the scapegoat. Instead of the buzzing excitement of the gala and their lie, there had been conversation more personal than he’d ever gotten. Not just with a chick but with anyone. That was the part that bothered him the most, even more than waking up next to a person after years of waking up alone. It was the closeness. Felicity being in his house was supposed to be a sham, so why the hell was he letting things get so personal?

  It took him a full five minutes to get himself partially dressed and out of her room, tiptoeing like a thief in his own house. It was his house, dammit. His house and he was the one who felt like he was breaking some kind of law. He should be able to turn on all the lights in this room or any other if the mood struck him. He should be able to do whatever he wanted in his own home without feeling anything about it at all. At the same time, he couldn't stomach the thought of Felicity waking up to find him gone and some article of clothing left behind. It would punctuate the point of him skulking off in the dead of night, and that was something he didn't feel like highlighting. It wasn't exactly his proudest moment.

  "Not like you haven't been here before," he muttered to himself, hurrying down the hallway towards the safety of his own room. He'd left chicks like this before. He didn't know a guy who hadn't. But he didn't make a habit of it, and he'd never done it in a situation like this one before. Never when said chick was living in his house. Never been stupid enough to pull a stunt like that.

  “Never done it to a woman you loved so well.”

  He didn’t mean to speak out loud. The sound of his voice startled him, made him stop in his tracks for a minute, actually looking around for the source of the sound like an idiot. Was it the noise of the words or the actual words themselves that had him spooked? Just what the hell was that supposed to mean, anyway?

  Liam shook his head hard. It was a violent movement, meant to dislodge any and all bullshit sentimental thoughts. He was tired, that was all. Tired and amped up from everything going on with the ring of jewel thieves. He didn't need Felicity. He needed sleep. He needed to keep his head, too. Now was not the time to lose his shit. Not when he was so close to nailing those thieves.

  It was a network he’d been after for five years. Five years of criminals stealing from Liam and his contemporaries. Five years of almost catching them and having them slip through his fingers at the last minute. The FBI’s current interest in the network was all well and good, but he’d been trying to get their attention for years now and nobody had been willing to give him the time of day. These guys were almost like ghosts, and how in the hell were you supposed to catch one of those?

  "Keep your head together," he hissed at himself and sucked in a breath of air. He shook his head again and then kept walking into his room and shutting the door behind him decisively. He didn't feel so decisive, but for the time being, he was firmly in the ‘fake it ‘til you make it’ camp. He pulled off his hastily thrown on clothes and lowered himself onto his bed, sighing with relief. He would get some sleep and when he woke up, things would be clearer. Last night was good, or awesome if he was being honest, but that was all it was. That was all it could be. Because he had shit to take care of and it didn't include having time for messy personal situations. After he got some sleep, he would put things straight again, and he would feel more like himself.

  "BOSS! HEY, BOSS! BOY, am I glad you're here. Your phone's been ringing off the hook. Where the hell have you been, anyway?" Percy asked, half running to keep up with Liam's long strides as he headed towards the office. Liam had forced himself to stay in bed until almost ten, doggedly sure that if he lay there
for long enough, he would finally drift off. It hadn't happened that way, and by the time he had gotten out of bed, he had been good and pissed off. He'd stayed pissed off in the shower and on the drive to the office. It wasn't Percy's fault, of this Liam was dimly aware, but that didn't stop him from feeling an almost overwhelming urge to use him as a human-sized punching bag.

  “I’ve been at home, Percy. I pretty much live at the office. I assumed you guys could keep things under control for a morning. Was I wrong?”

  "No, sir," Percy stammered, his expression one of naked hurt. Liam winced and made a mental note to try not to be such a dick. He fell back into his chair with a sigh of gratitude and rested his head in his hands for a second. The gesture was only a brief one, but when he looked up at Percy again, the poor guy looked like he'd just witnessed someone having a stroke.

  “What’s the matter, Mr. North?” he asked, the concern in his voice too thick to be anything but genuine, “Is it something I can help with?”

  "No, I'm fine. Just tired. I didn't get enough sleep last night," Liam answered tiredly. He grimaced in disgust at the sound of his voice. It had a whiney quality he'd never heard come out of himself before. As developments went, he didn't consider this a positive one. Percy, on the other hand, perked right up when he heard it.

  “Insomnia,” he said knowingly, almost gleefully, Liam thought. “Believe me, Mr. North, I know all about that. It runs in my family. I could probably tick off about a hundred solutions for you to try but I won’t say with any confidence that they actually work. At least not with any consistency.”

  “I appreciate it,” Liam said wearily, “but it’s not an insomnia thing. I just had one of those nights.”

  "Sure, of course. I get it," Percy self-corrected quickly. His face was pinched, and Liam could imagine the poor bastard heading into the next room and torturing himself over his perceived mistake. Sometimes having a truly dedicated assistant was a good thing. Sometimes it felt more like a burden than anything else. On days like today, when he was so tired, and felt like throwing up and then passing out, all he wanted was to be on his own. When you found yourself wishing for the comfort of an isolation chamber you knew you were having a rough time of it.

  "What's the problem, Perc?" Liam asked, more than happy to change the subject. He'd never been one to shy away from the spotlight, but just lately he hadn't been such a fan.

  “Problem, sir?” Percy asked quickly, all at once so alert he looked like one of those meerkat soldiers out in the savanna. He looked relieved to have something to do, and that was fine by Liam. He was relieved for the change of conversation topic.

  “You made it sound like something needed my attention just now, right? So, then I assumed there was some kind of issue that needed my attention,” Liam said patiently.

  “Oh! Oh crap!” Percy exclaimed in a rare burst of profanity, “That’s right! I completely forgot.”

  “It’s fine. I distracted you. But you better tell me what’s going on. If I need to do anything-”

  "No," Percy broke in without even realizing he was interrupting the boss, "it's nothing like that. I mean you do need to do something, but it's not any kind of emergency. Or at least I don't think it is."

  “Percy.”

  "It's your sister. Rebecca is on the phone. I told her you weren't in, but she said that wasn't going to cut it."

  "Rebecca said that?" Liam asked with a smirk. Percy looked around the office uncomfortably, and against all the odds, Liam actually smiled. Percy was good at his job, but he tended to be a mild-mannered guy. Rebecca, on the other hand, was anything but. Liam had seen men way more alpha male than Percy shrink under the force of his sister's will.

  "No, actually. Not in so many words. What she said, and I quote, was that if she had to wait on the line all day for your sorry ass, she would be more than happy to do so."

  “That sounds more like it,” Liam laughed out loud, “that’s my lovely sister.”

  “Honestly, sir? She scared me a little,” Percy said conspiratorially. Liam nodded. He didn’t need an open admission to know that much. Rebecca scared everyone, including her own husband.

  “So, are you telling me she’s on the phone right now? Is that it?”

  "She is Mr. North. For at least twenty minutes now," Percy agreed, looking slightly sheepish again. He probably expected Liam to be pissed off. Instead, it started him off laughing this time. By the time he had himself under control he was feeling better than he had all morning.

  “Thanks. Sorry about the attitude.”

  “No! Not at all,” Percy said gratefully, already backing out the door, “Good luck with your sister. I don’t mean any disrespect, of course, just-”

  “That she’s a ballbuster. Believe me, I know. Thanks again.”

  Liam waited until Percy left the room, backing all the way out of the room in a position that most closely resembled a bow. When he was gone and the door was shut, Liam sighed, leaning back in his impossibly expensive leather office chair, and picked up his phone's receiver.

  "Liam North speaking," he barked, using his most official sounding voice. He was already grinning before he got a response. He was well known and well respected in the global community of high-end jewelers, and there were plenty of people who found him impressive. Baby sister was most definitely not one of them.

  "Oh, Jesus, cut the bullshit. Where the hell have you been, Liam? I've been waiting for fucking forever," Rebecca answered his overly proper greeting with one of her patented responses, and Liam smiled. God, it was good to hear from her. With everything going on, both now and before he'd gotten entangled with Felicity, he wasn't talking to Rebecca enough. It was one of those things he didn't really notice until he was around her but once he did, he couldn't understand why he'd let it go so long. He needed to make more efforts, as he wasn't in a position to lose more people. He had so few of them close to him to begin with.

  “I don’t see that as my fault, Becs,” he laughed, falling into their old sibling rhythm without trying. “I don’t remember asking you to sit there on hold like a lunatic.”

  “Lunatic?” she cried loudly enough that he needed to pull the phone away for a second, “Lunatic? You really don’t know anything about women, do you?”

  “I think there are some people who would disagree,” he answered amiably.

  “I bet you do,” she laughed, “but you just broke female rule 101.”

  “Did I now? And what rule might that be?”

  "Don't ever tell a woman she's crazy," Rebecca answered promptly like she'd been waiting to be asked that question for all of her life, "that's a really great way to guarantee that she'll go mental on your ass. We hate that more than almost anything."

  “Good tip. I’ll make a note. Now, want to tell me what was so important you were willing to sit on hold for twenty minutes? You hate to wait, Becs. Is it something to do with Dad?”

  "God no," Rebecca groaned, "that guy's going to outlive every last one of us. No sir, this has to do with you."

  "With me?" Liam parroted back, suddenly cautious. He loved his sister more than almost anything, but this was new territory for the two of them. After their mom had died, they grew dependent on each other but with a certain amount of lightness, of not talking about anything too deep or important. Now it was sounding a hell of a lot like Becs was trying to change the rules and he wasn't at all sure he was ready for it.

  “Don’t sound so freaked out,” she goaded, doing that weird, pseudo mind-reading thing she had always been able to do with him. “It’s not a threat or anything. You don’t need to use your stalling techniques with me. I’m only curious.”

  "Curious about what?" he asked noncommittally. He was only stalling again, and both of them knew it. For maybe one of the few times in her life, though, Rebecca chose not to point the obvious out.

  “Did you think I wasn’t going to see it, brother? It’s splashed all over those stupid entertainment TV shows. The magazines, too,” she replied softly
, almost like she was embarrassed for him. Liam cleared his throat gruffly and shifted uncomfortably in his chair. With the direction the conversation as taking, there was no need for her to be embarrassed on his behalf. He was doing just fine being embarrassed for the both of them.

  "You want to talk about Felicity," he finally said, resigned to talking about it for at least a little while. Becs was like a dog with a damn bone. When it was this juicy, there wasn't a chance in hell that she would just give up and let it go.

  "Felicity?" Rebecca said in a sing-songy, either unaware of his thought process or too much in her element to be bothered. "Her name is Felicity?"

  “That’s right.”

  “Excellent. Now we’re getting somewhere. So, tell me about Felicity.”

  "I'm not sure what there is to tell. We're seeing each other," he said, his voice too still and flat. Now it was more than uncomfortable. Now he was doing more than giving off an impression of something; he was out and out lying. To his sister. To the one person, he had sworn a long while back that he would always be straight with. It was harder than he'd expected it to be and most of the fun of the conversation evaporated. He wanted it to be over, and he wanted to go back home.

  “Seeing each other. Like, what does that mean? For how long?”

  “I don’t know, Becs, a while,” he answered with growing exasperation.

  “Like a week? A month?” she pressed harder, pressed past a point no other person alive would have dared.

  “I moved her into my place, okay? I guess a couple of weeks ago. I don’t remember the exact date, although I could probably get Percy to tell me. I could probably get him to give me an itemized list over everything I’ve done since day one of him working here.”