Just a Taste (15 page)

Her jaw dropped. He did
not
just do that. Did he think he was in a porno or something? Guys didn't really do those things.

“I like the way you taste. There isn't a damn thing to be embarrassed about.”

He read her every thought. That was why she crumpled under his watchful gaze. He kissed her then and she tasted a hint of herself on his lips mixed with his sweat in his beard. It was then that she realized how turned on he was. He'd carefully kept his hips and groin away from her, but when she nudged her thigh over, there was no mistaking the bulge in his underwear.

“We could finish, you know.”

“You did finish, and I said no sex. I meant it. If I jump on you right now, it would be like that was just a prelude to what I could get out of the situation. That's not what this was.”

But her body yearned to have him inside her again. How could he not know? Even without an orgasm, the way he had stretched and filled her felt good. She opened her mouth, but had no words.

“Will you spend the night?”

“I didn't bring anything.”

“You don't need anything.”

She wanted to, but she didn't know if she could. She'd never slept away from home. Not ever. What if she rolled over him or stole all the covers?

“You're thinking too much. Do you want to sleep here?”

“Yeah, but—”

“No buts. Stay. We can curl up here and watch TV. Finish our cheesecake.” He held a finger to her lips and she smelled her sex on it. “Before you argue, you just expelled enough calories to afford dessert.”

He made everything seem so simple. Life was never this simple. But for now, maybe she could pretend.

Liam woke in the morning and slipped out of bed without waking Carmen. It was early and while he never liked mornings, he'd gone to bed much earlier than his usual routine. Not to mention the dirty kitchen had been nagging at him all night. He cleaned up the mess from dinner and started breakfast. He knew Carmen would balk at eating a real meal because he'd watched her swill nothing but coffee every morning this week.

He wanted her to enjoy food the way he did instead of seeing it as the enemy. He wished he could make something special, like French toast, but settled for omelets. He chopped up some peppers and ham and shredded some cheese. While the pan heated, he whisked the eggs and sipped coffee that was still too hot.

She came from the bedroom just as he poured the eggs into the waiting pan. “Wait.”

Carmen stopped. She had her hair piled messily on top of her head and she wore the clothes she'd arrived in yesterday.

“I didn't finish cleaning up the broken glass. I didn't want the vacuum to wake you. Don't move.”

Instead of standing still, she moved around the opposite side of the table. He flipped the eggs and then started the vacuum where he'd left it waiting. She moved around the counter and poured herself a cup of coffee. He caught her eyeing the pan of eggs.

“I made breakfast. I have a family thing today, but maybe we could get together later?”

She nodded. He'd thought about inviting her to dinner, but with the O'Learys, you only brought someone to dinner when you were serious. He didn't know what to think of his relationship with Carmen. He liked her and cared about her, but he wasn't sure yet how serious they were. She still had a lot in her life to figure out. Besides, he needed to tell his family about quitting his job to run the food truck.

“I'm not really hungry.”

“Too bad. I cooked. You can eat a little.” He slid the omelet onto a plate and split it in half. He tilted his head toward the table to get her to follow. She glanced around the kitchen and then joined him.

“I would've helped you clean up. You should've woken me.”

“It was fine.” He began eating, but she didn't, so he handed her the fork. “How are you feeling?”

Her cheeks grew pink with her smile. “Good, thanks. How did you sleep?”

“Excellent.” And he had. He enjoyed having her in his bed to wrap his body around all night. The only thing that would've improved the experience was if she'd been naked. “What are your plans for today?”

“Prepping for the truck. Making a fresh batch of mole so you'll be ready for tomorrow. Updating the web site. Trying to get word out on social media. Exciting stuff.” She shrugged and put a bite of egg into her mouth. She sighed as she chewed.

“If you wait, I'll do the prep with you. Write down the social media stuff. My sister, Moira, is always doing something online. When Colin opened his new bar, her big mouth spread the word, and they filled the place. I'll have her work her magic for us.” He paused in eating, hoping she would eat more. She did, which made him inordinately happy.

They finished breakfast together, and Carmen started to look twitchy. “Something wrong?” he asked.

“No.”

He reached out and grabbed her hips to pull her close. “So, about tonight. I was thinking if we're prepping the truck and I have to head out early, it might be a good idea if I spend the night at your house.”

“Liam, are you angling for an invitation to my bed?”

“Of course, but I didn't want to be presumptuous. We have a lot of work to do.” He nuzzled her neck, loving the smell of her and the uptick in her pulse.

“Work?”

“The truck. I need to be ready to hit the ground running.” After a second, her question hit him. He pulled away. “Did you think I was talking about us being work?”

She tilted her head a little to the side to let him know that's exactly what she'd thought.

“Babe, being in bed with you is all pleasure.” To help her understand, he captured her mouth and kissed her. When his blood was pumping, he pulled away before he dragged her back to bed. “Any questions?”

She shook her head with a lusty look.

“I'll see you after I'm done with my family.”

“Okay.” She was still breathless, so he winked at her.

She grabbed her coat and left.

Liam took a shower and thought about how to tell his family about his life changes.

Later that afternoon, Liam sat at the dining room table with most of his family. He still didn't know what to say. He cleared his throat and said, “I have news.”

Everyone at the table quieted, which was quite a feat for this group.

“I quit my job at Porter's.” He let that sink in and then continued. “I quit because I inherited part ownership in a food truck. Starting tomorrow, I'll be running Gus's Taco Taxi.”

“Oh, my God.” Moira shoved away from the table and rushed at him. With her arms wrapped around his neck from behind his seat, she added, “Congratulations!”

Colin said, “So what helped you make up your mind?”

Moira's eyes narrowed at Colin as she made her way back to her seat. “You knew?” She smacked Colin's arm and then turned to Liam. “Why did he know, but I didn't?”

Before Liam could answer, she sat back at her seat next to Jimmy and asked, “Did you know about this?”

She was getting mad at being left out of a secret, and Liam laughed. “No, Jimmy didn't know. I talked to Colin when I found out about it. It's not like running a food truck is my dream job, but I talked with Carmen—that's Gus's daughter and my new partner. We can't sell for at least a year and it's a good business. It'll be something new for me.”

“Congrats, man,” Jimmy said from across the table.

“Thanks.” He returned his focus to the bland roast his mom had made for dinner. He felt her looking at him, but she said nothing. Eileen O'Leary was like that. She often kept her mouth shut, at least until she couldn't.

“As long as I have your attention,” he said to Moira, “I was hoping you could use your social skills to spread word about the truck. Gus did a strong business, but since his death, it's been off the street. Carmen has the web site updated and she has Facebook and Twitter accounts, but if you could give us a shout-out, it might help.”

“No problem. Get me the info.”

He shifted his weight and pulled the sheet of paper Carmen had given him from his pocket and handed it to her.

“Tell us about Carmen.”

Liam shrugged. Leave it to Moira to start asking questions. The damn reporter brain. “What do you want to know?”

“Really, Liam? You're going to try to dodge?” She sighed heavily as if being totally put out. “How cute is she?”

He choked on a piece of meat and washed it down with water.

“Heh. I knew it. You guys are all the same. So it's just the two of you working in that small truck
all
day long, huh?”

“No, actually. I'll be out on the truck myself. She runs the office part of the business. She doesn't cook.” The lie almost died on his lips. She did cook, and she was damn good at it; she just resented it.

“You still didn't tell me how cute she is.”

Liam stood with his plate to take it to the kitchen. “Pretty damn.”

“Liam.” His mom's sharp tone whipped out.

He was a grown man still getting scolded for cursing. It wasn't like he'd said she was fucking smokin' hot. “Sorry.” But he couldn't help but wink at Moira, whose mouth hung open. He rarely talked about his personal life and Moira was always bugging him about it. She hadn't expected him to answer at all, so he enjoyed stunning her.

Of course, that gave her fuel and she propelled into the kitchen right behind him. “Pretty damn cute. Does that mean you like her?”

“Of course I like her. I wouldn't be able to work with someone I don't like.” That wasn't entirely true; he'd managed to work with Jonathan for a long time without really liking him.

Moira nudged him with her elbow as she scraped her plate. “You know what I mean. Are you dating?”

“Yes. And that's all I'm going to say. It's new. I don't know where it's going. She's got a lot going on in her life and I don't need you freaking her out.”

She set her plate on the counter and put her palm over her heart. “I'm hurt. What makes you think I would freak her out?”

“Because you're scary,” Jimmy said from the doorway.

She glared at him.

Liam watched as she stood on tiptoe to kiss his friend. He was glad he didn't fight their relationship more than he had at the very beginning, when the shock of Jimmy being with his sister caught him off guard. They were good together. They balanced each other out. It was something each of his brothers had found as well.

As he filled the sink to start the dishes, he thought about Carmen. Did she balance him? They weren't really opposites, not like the other couples sitting around the dinner table in the other room.

Jimmy joined him at the sink with a towel to start drying.

“You're not on dish duty.”

Jimmy shrugged.

“Moira conned you into doing dishes for her.”

Jimmy smiled. “No, actually, I volunteered. I figured you'd rather have me in here than her. Want to talk about it?”

“What?”

“Anything. Last time we talked about your job, you weren't happy, but you weren't doing anything to change it. You never mentioned wanting a food truck. It's not really what I pictured you doing.” He picked up the first plate and dried it.

“This fell into my lap, but it'll be a good challenge.”

“And your partner's hot.”

“Hell, yeah, she is.”

Ryan came into the room with an armful of plates. “Heads-up. Quinn is on her way with the rest of the glasses.”

Liam was grateful for his brother's warning about his sister-in-law. She could be almost as bad as Moira at digging up information. He rinsed the silverware in his hand as Quinn quietly placed glasses on the counter. She studied him a moment, but said nothing.

When she left the room, Liam lowered his voice. “I knew Carmen when I worked at her dad's restaurant. She was cute but she was still a teenager and I was in culinary school, so I couldn't think about her like that. But then I saw her at the wake and every time since.” He inhaled deeply. “She's hot, but she doesn't know it. She lacks confidence and even though I don't have her whole sexual history, I know she's had crappy lovers.”

“Makes it easier for you then. You come across like a god.”

He certainly hoped so.

“Is it serious?”

“Like I told Moira, I don't know yet. We just started dating a week ago. I don't know how much of the relationship is because we really like each other or if it's simply proximity.” He said the words to stay rational, but they didn't feel right. He believed he would still date Carmen even if they each had different jobs. He could imagine cooking for her when she came home from work or in the morning before she headed out.