BareBottomGirl (14 page)

Less than an hour later, his chief was on the phone with
him.

“She’s filed a complaint. Claims you called her into your
office and made inappropriate advances.”

Chas ran his fingers through his hair, gripping it in
frustration. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Not. At. All. I’ve got your email about what happened
earlier. You need to see if you can find out who’s been switching the schedules
to throw her on your rotation.”

“I really don’t fucking need this.”

“Only thing I’m going to tell you is she’s got pull
somewhere. Maybe you should explain you’re already in a relationship. That
would end this discussion.”

Well, not quite. Not if they knew about Greer.

“Look, Mike,” Chas lowered his voice. “You know how things
are with me. I’ve been up front about that, but I’d prefer to keep it between
the two of us for personal and professional reasons. Liam’s ex-wife looks for
any reason she can find to make life difficult for him. I’m afraid if our
relationship gets too public, she’ll use it as an excuse to cut off access to
Wyatt.”

“And what if it becomes public that the surgeon who lives
with him faces charges for sexual harassment? You don’t think that’s going to
be a problem?”

“Christ! What a mess.”

Mike expelled a breath. “Go home, Chas. You’ve only got an
hour left anyway. I’ll cover for you if something comes in. Take a couple of
days off while I try to talk to our girl. In the meantime, if you’ve got an
attorney, I’d go ahead and retain him.”

“Shit, Mike. Surely this will just go away?”

“Play hardball up front. It’ll be easier to scale it back
than ramp it up. You don’t want to be scrambling. I’ve already taken steps to
secure scheduling records, and security tapes.”

After disconnecting, Chas stared blindly at the wall where
his medical licenses and his degrees hung. He loved his job. Sure the hours
sucked a lot of the time, but when he was in the operating room, knowing he was
making a difference, making life better? That was cool. The thought some
vindictive bitch could take it away from him made him want to puke.

Mike was right. He needed to go home. He needed to see Liam,
Wyatt, and Greer. That was normal. That was good. Right now, he needed a big
dose of everything right in his life, followed by a good night’s sleep. Monday
morning, he’d get on the phone to his attorney.

* * * * *

“Here, Wyatt.” Liam plopped a generous dollop of clay in
front of his son. “You can sit across from Greer while you both work with the
clay.”

Greer stared at the lump of brown dirt in front of her, not
at all certain what she was going to do with it. From her high school days, she
recalled learning coil and slab techniques for building pots and other useful
things. But that wasn’t what she wanted to do. She needed to find a way to get
what was inside her head out through her hands. And ever since the accident, painting
and sketching hadn’t been enough.

Maybe Liam was right. Maybe she needed to try three
dimensions. She looked over at Wyatt. He was having no trouble at all pinching
off pieces of his clay and rolling it into little balls which he flattened into
blocks. Once he had several of those, he began building a lop-sided stack of
them.

Slowly, as she watched Wyatt, her fingers kneaded and pushed
the clay in front of her. As she shaped and cupped and cut with the tools
sitting next to her, Greer realized something was taking form. Even more, she
realized manipulating the clay was easing the tension in her shoulders and
helping her focus as she’d been unable to do in quite some time.

The back and forth rasps of Liam working on his Children’s
Museum sculpture faded. She was absorbed by what she saw inside her mind.
Periodically, she glanced at Wyatt to make sure he was all right. When he
caught her, he would grin at her, a dimple peeking out in his cheek, and go
back to making and building with his clay blocks before smashing and starting
again.

“Good Lord, Greer,” Liam said, having approached her without
her realizing it. “You’ve captured Wyatt sleeping to a T.”

“I wanna see!” Wyatt scrambled from his chair, coming around
to where Liam stood. After he scooped up his son, Liam held him so he could see
what Greer had made without being able to get curious fingers on it.

She sat back, giving what she’d completed a critical eye. “It
needs work.”

“It needs a different medium.”

She glanced at him. In addition to the warmth that had been
there since yesterday, she now saw artistic interest. “Like what?”

“With the lines you’ve created, it would lend itself to
stone either at its current size, or much larger if you wished to go there.”

“I’ve never worked in stone.”

Liam’s mouth lifted at one corner. “Fortunately for you, I
have. Would you like to try?”

The challenge was there. She could accept it or simply go on
playing. Greer knew Liam wouldn’t judge.

“I want to try it.”

Now he smiled. “Fantastic. We’ll start looking for just the
right stone tomorrow.” He glanced at his watch. “Chas will be home shortly.”

Greer covered her work in a damp cloth and stood. “I’d
better get cleaned up and get inside. He’ll probably be starving when he gets
here.”

Liam stroked a finger down her cheek in a featherlight
caress. “For more than just food, I’m sure.”

She started to follow Wyatt outside, but Liam put a hand on
her arm. “Greer, are you happy here?”

Surprise stopped her. “Yes.”

Liam raked his fingers through his hair. If she didn’t know better,
she’d swear he was nervous. “We’ve already told you we’re attracted to you. Are
you still okay with that?”

She stepped in close to him and touched his cheek, slightly
rough with beard growth. Stomach fluttering, wondering where he was headed, she
nodded. “More than okay.”

Liam smiled. “I want you to stay, not just because you earn
a salary, not just because of Wyatt. We want you here.”

“Chas too?”

“Both of us. Say you will.”

She thought about what her parents’ reaction might be, but
dismissed it. They loved her. They’d support her even if her decision was out
of the norm. Good grief. What hadn’t been out of the norm since her accident?
She hadn’t felt this good about herself, about her life, since long before
then. There was only one answer.

“I’ll stay.”

* * * * *

The scene greeting Chas as he pulled his car around the back
of the house had two equal and opposite effects on him. Seeing Liam with Greer
walking next to him and Wyatt running slightly ahead was exactly what he
needed. It washed away some of the dirt Samantha Marlowe’s complaint had
spattered on him and his career. It also made him worry he was putting all
three of them in a precarious position.

Sure, he would talk to Liam and Greer about what was going
on, but he could almost predict their reaction. They’d stand by him, even if it
cost them both in the end. He just prayed things didn’t deteriorate to that
point.

The moment Wyatt spotted him, he changed the angle of his
running and headed straight for Chas, catching him just as he emerged from his
car.

“Chas! I made blocks.”

“Cool, dude. Out of clay?”

Wyatt nodded. “Greer made stuff too.”

Chas lifted his gaze and found her blushing. So Liam had
gotten her to work in the studio. He wondered if he’d discussed posing with
her, but could see he hadn’t when his gaze shifted to Liam and he got a slight
shake of the head. It would happen. He knew Liam too well, and he would never
give up now the idea had implanted in his brain.

“So? How was your venture into the three dimensional?” Chas
set Wyatt back down and tucked a strand of hair behind Greer’s ear.
Impulsively, he leaned in and gently brushed his lips across hers before
stepping back.

She smiled. “It was all right. Liam wants me to try stone.”

“Of course he does. He likes hard substances.”

Liam cleared his throat and rolled his eyes over to Wyatt.

“Oops, sorry.” He was trying too hard to be cheerful. It
might be fooling Greer and Wyatt, but he could see from the searching look Liam
was giving him it wasn’t washing with him.

“Greer,” Liam caught her attention. “Why don’t you take
Wyatt in and get him a snack. We’ll be there in a few minutes.”

To her credit, she didn’t ask awkward questions, though she
did glance back and forth between the two of them. “Not a problem. Hey, Wyatt?
You want a snack?”

“Snack! Snack! Gol’fish and juice?”

“Sure, but let’s add some cheese, okay?”

They moved away, out of earshot. Chas dug his hands in his
pockets.

“The bitch is causing problems, isn’t she?” Liam growled.

“Oh yeah. I called my chief after talking to you. Sent him
an email detailing what had gone down, but it gets worse.”

“How bad?”

“She’s filed an official complaint saying I tried to force
myself on her after demanding she come to my office.”

“Fuck!” Liam swiped his hand back through his hair, his
movements abrupt and irritated. Eyes narrowing, he asked, “You’re home early.
Your choice or theirs?”

“Theirs, but not for the reason you think. I’m not on leave.”

Liam simply stood there with his arms crossed over his
muscular chest and waited. Chas stared off beyond his shoulder before finally
meeting his sharp gaze again.

“It’s been suggested I find an attorney.”

“Christ.” Liam opened his arms. “Come here, man.”

Oh yeah, feeling that embrace was what he needed. The only
thing that would make it better was having both Liam and Greer wrapped around
him. It would be easy to just sink into Liam’s strength. Way too easy because
he was tired and hungry and so fucking pissed.

Expelling his breath, he eased back. “Thanks. I needed that.
Look, can we talk about this later? I’m so tired right now I hardly know where
I am.”

“Busy night?”

“Wreck in Spaghetti Junction, plus the usual cuttings and
shootings.”

“No problem. Wyatt needs to go down for a nap anyway, then
we’ll take him out for an early dinner to one of those pizza places.”

“Thanks.”

As Chas stumbled through the kitchen, he stopped first to
wrap Greer in a hug.

“Do you know how special you are, sweetie?” he murmured and
simply inhaled the clean fragrance of her skin and hair. If he weren’t so
tired, he’d like nothing better than to sit with Liam and Greer, to feel both
of them and draw comfort from them, but he was exhausted. With a soft squeeze,
Chas let Greer go, stopped to ruffle Wyatt’s hair and give him a kiss on the
cheek then headed upstairs.

As soon as he entered the room, he smelled Greer and smiled.
She and Liam had slept together. Christ, he couldn’t wait to get between the
sheets. Stripping as he went, he pulled the covers back and fell in, burying
his nose in a pillow rich with her delicate floral scent and the spiciness of
Liam’s.

If he couldn’t have both of them actually there, this was so
exactly what he needed to ease him into sleep.

When he awoke, the sun was setting. These weekends made it
hard to readjust. As Chas lay there, he listened for other sounds in the house.
Down the hall, he heard the splash of someone in the tub followed by laughter.
Wyatt and Greer. So it must be close to the boy’s bedtime.

The creak of the stairs alerted him to Liam’s arrival just
moments before he entered the darkened bedroom. Chas shifted and turned on the
bedside lamp.

“Feeling better?” In one hand, Liam carried a plate with a
sandwich and in the other, a tall glass of iced tea. “Figured you might be
hungry.”

“Thanks.”

While Chas ate, Liam sat at the end of the bed. His dark
hair looked windblown and he smelled slightly of horse.

“Did you go riding?”

“Yeah. After we got back from pizza, Greer and Wyatt wanted
to swim, so I took the opportunity for a little gallop through the woods.” Liam
turned, meeting Chas’ gaze. “She’s putting Wyatt to bed right now, so I’m going
to get in the shower. When I’m through, we’d like to be with you, Chas.”

Warmth eased some of the tightness in his chest. “Your idea,
or Greer’s?”

“Both. We were together last night. I think you should know
that.”

Chas’ mouth quirked. “I could tell. I’m okay with that.”

Liam stood, stopping by Chas to lean down and kiss him. “Finish
your food and stay right there.”

He tracked Liam into the bathroom, enjoying the show as Liam
stripped off his shirt to reveal those broad, muscled shoulders and narrow
waist. If someone had told him he would fall for an artist, Chas would have
laughed. He would have picked some super macho career where he’d envision a guy
built like—hell, like Liam. Except Liam wasn’t a firefighter or a cop or any of
those careers that just screamed testosterone. He was an artist, and who would
have guessed he would be built like such a flipping Greek god.

As Liam shucked his pants, Chas set his plate to one side
and let his hand slip under the sheet to where his body was already letting him
know what he wanted. When Liam bent over to pick up something from the floor,
Chas groaned. He had a perfect view of his lover’s ass with his sac and his
dick dangling between his powerful thighs.

Damn, he knew Liam liked being top, but when Chas got a view
like that, all he could think about was slipping up behind him, running his
fingers between his butt cheeks and spreading him wide so he could…

“I could help.” Greer’s voice was a husky murmur.

Chas knew he must have a look that screamed busted, but when
he looked at Greer, it wasn’t his face she was eyeing. Instead, her hot
expression was all about the tent pole he had going beneath the sheets and what
his hand was actively engaged in.

“Wyatt asleep?” he managed to choke out.

She shut the door behind her. “Out like a light. Need some
help?”