He chuckled to himself. “I had a hot fast run of an affair with him about six months ago. It was short lived; just three weeks, and you’re right about his quirks, but he is hot.” Liam laughed and Maddie’s mouth fell open.
“Oh my god! You’re serious!” she gasped, splaying her hand on the table between them.
Liam nodded. “Oh yes, very serious. I didn’t realize that he was bi.”
Maddie blinked in utter shock and took a deep breath as she reached for her drink. “Neither did I!” she said in a low voice. Then she looked up at Liam. “This is weird.”
He shrugged casually and gave her hand a pat. “Not in my world it isn’t. It’s fine, as long as you use protection, I guess, and I know you and I always do, but it is a little weird, isn’t it? I mean… the two of us here and him in the back of our minds.”
She shook her head. “It’s weird. It’s almost like sleeping with you, just off by one degree.” She spoke low as she wrinkled her nose. “I love you, Liam, but that’s just…” she trailed off a moment, “…wrong.”
He agreed. “It is.” Then the two of them were quiet for a moment. Liam looked at her and raised one brow. “Isn’t it strange how he absolutely has to be the last one to do and say everything? I mean, it’s fine, and I think other people might not even notice it, but I noticed it, and I think it was a little weird. He has to be the last one to email or text or talk or kiss or walk through a door. He has to be the last one out of the house or into the car. It’s just a little weird.”
Maddie’s eyes widened as she looked at him. “Right? I noticed that too! It is weird! He waits if he has to, no matter how long it is, just so he can be last! What is that? Who keeps track of stuff like that? It’s bizarre. He’s cute and he’s fun in bed, and he’s really polite and sweet, but he is just a little bit on the strange side.”
Liam laughed. “Yes, he certainly is.” He reached over and squeezed Maddie’s hand. “Don’t worry too much about us both being with him; he’s careful too. Let’s just agree that he has good taste in lovers and leave it at that.”
She laughed and nodded, and they gave each other a wink.
The friends talked through another hour and another round of drinks before going home. Mia was tired and happy when she stepped through her front door that night, but there was a thought nagging at the back of her mind; the thought that Liam had picked up on her uncertainty about what was going on with Alexander and how she was feeling about him, and if Liam could pick it up, it was more obvious than she had cared to admit, even to herself, and that was not good. It meant that she was not in control of it, and that worried her a little.
She went to bed tired and happy, doing her best to keep Alexander from her mind because the task was done, the challenge was met, and she needed to look forward without him as a distraction. She laid her head down into her pillow and began thinking about the places in Italy that she wanted to go while she was there, but somehow when she fell asleep, Italy faded away from her mind, and the only thing she dreamed about was Alexander making love with her in his rooftop garden underneath the stars far above.
When she woke up the next morning, he was still in her thoughts, and as she sat alone in the mounds of pillows and thick blankets in her bed, she finally admitted to herself that she might very well want more with him than just winning the challenge.
Chapter7
Two days after her conquest had been won, Mia was sitting in her office working; her desk faced the windows that looked down from her second story space. Her office was one of several professional offices situated in an old brick building that had been updated and was nestled into a charming little neighborhood. The grandfather trees on the street below reached their budding leafy branches up past her windows, giving her shade and color while still affording her a view of the bustling city below when she paused in her work to look out of the windows at it.
Her office had a waiting area in the foyer, complete with a coffee and water station, two chairs and a sofa, and then the doorway to the wide open area where she worked. She had loved the view from her windows so much that she had turned her desk to it on the first day, and she kept her office door open so that she could hear anyone who happened to come in, as she had her back to the door. It was so rare that she saw anyone in her office that she was used to working in peace and quiet there with no interruptions.
As she was sitting there in the early morning afternoon working away at her computer, she heard a knock on the opened door to her office and she turned to look over her shoulder and smiled wide when she did. Maddie was standing in the doorway, her red hair pulled up on top of her head, her sunglasses in one hand, and her designer bag on her arm. She gave Mia a grin and stepped into the room.