Light the Lamp (22 page)

Liam was still asleep, so I took a moment to watch him. His lips curled up in a smile that made me wonder what he was dreaming about. All too soon, I heard the telltale banging of cabinets in the kitchen. Babs was up and trying to make coffee.

Liam’s eyes popped open, but he was still smiling when his gaze fell on me. He tightened his arms around me, pulling me closer. “Did you sleep well?” he asked, his voice all groggy and scratchy like the stubble on his jaw.

“
Yes. Did you?”
 

“
Better than I have in so long I can’t remember.” He brushed my hair away from my face, tucking some of it behind my ear. “I dreamed of you.”
 

“
Good dreams?” I asked, the memory of his slumberous smile still burned into my retinas.
 

“
Perfect dreams,
älskling
.”
 

The way he called me that sent a shiver through me. It felt like more than just a term of endearment on his tongue. There was a part of me that didn’t want for it to be more because that would only complicate things when it was time for me to leave. I didn’t want to hurt him, but I couldn’t stay without some bigger reason. Sometimes caring for a person simply isn’t enough.

“
I have to get up,” he said. “We have to go in for morning skate soon, and Babs might attempt something more complicated than coffee if we don’t get out there to help him.”
 

I nodded, and he slid out from beneath the covers. His erection was prominent, and I couldn’t stop myself from looking.

“
Sorry,” he said, bending over to grab some of his clothes from the floor. “It’s been a long time since I got to wake up with a naked woman in my arms.”
 

“
You don’t need to apologize.” I should have probably apologized for staring like I had, but it wasn’t every day that I saw a naked man. Actually, it wasn’t
ever
.
 

He pulled on his shorts and met my eyes. “You’re smiling again. I love your smile.”

My chest filled with flutters, and my tongue felt thick from the needy sound of his voice. He was working his way into my heart a lot more thoroughly than I’d thought he would. At least not this soon. At this rate we might both end up hurt. It would be so easy to let myself fall in love with him. And then where would I be? In love with a man who was so determined to do everything for me and give everything to me that he wouldn’t let me give back.

I wouldn’t last very long like that.
We
wouldn’t last very long like that.

He pulled on his pants and slipped his undershirt over his head, then picked up his socks and shoes and dress shirt. “I’ll see you in a few minutes,” he said, smiling like he had when he’d first awoken this morning. Then he left.

I went through my morning stretches before getting out of bed. My muscles ached more than normal, but it was a good ache. The stretching would definitely help, though. Once I finished that, I went into the bathroom and washed my face. I rummaged through the dresser drawers for a clean set of pajamas and pulled them on. I could put real clothes on later, after I’d had breakfast and showered.

Once I was covered up enough that I could go out into the main living areas without making Babs blush like crazy, I opened the door.

The raised voices stopped me cold before I even stepped foot out of my room.

“
I swear to God, you’d better not fucking hurt her, Kally.” It was Babs’s voice. I’d never heard him angry before. “Ellie’s not the kind of girl you can fuck and forget. She deserves better than that.”
 

Who was Ellie?

“
What makes you think I have any intention of forgetting her or giving her anything less than what she deserves?”
 

“
I didn’t think you were going to fuck her, because why else did you need to have a separate bedroom from her, but clearly I was wrong about that.” A cabinet door slammed hard enough the walls rattled.
 

I supposed
I
was Ellie, then.

“
I didn’t
fuck
Noelle. It wasn’t like that.”
 

“
No? What was it, then?”
 

Liam let out a ragged sigh. “I don’t— I don’t have to answer to you.”

“
On this, you do because she doesn’t have anyone else here looking out for her.”
 

“
I’m looking out for her.”
 

“
Well, so am I.”
 

I’d heard all of that I could stand. I cleared my throat so they’d know I was there and then walked out into the living room. Both of them turned to look at me. Babs’s eyes sparked like he still had more to say. Liam just looked relieved for the interruption.

“
Is there coffee ready?” I asked. I went into the kitchen and put myself between them, reaching for a mug from the cabinet overhead.
 

“
Yeah,” Babs said. “It’s too strong again. I’m sorry.”
 

I smiled at him, hoping it would help him to calm down. I didn’t want him to be angry over something involving me. “Don’t be sorry. I’m just glad that it’s ready. Thank you.”

He grunted and went to the pantry for a box of cereal while I fixed my cup.

Liam kissed me on the temple. “I’ve got to get a shower.”

I nodded and took my coffee to the table, where Babs was pouring his cereal into a huge serving bowl. I sat down across from him. “So since when am I Ellie?” I asked.

His head shot up, and he blushed. “Since now? Do you mind?”

I shook my head. “I don’t mind.”

“
Good.” He added some milk to his bowl.
 

“
Babs?”
 

He was still blushing when he looked at me again.

“
Thank you for looking out for me. But Liam was right. It wasn’t like that.”
 

He stared at me for a long time. But then he grunted and dug into his breakfast.

 

I’d hoped that
Noelle would be home when Babs and I got back from morning skate, so that when it was time for my afternoon nap she would be there for me to pull into my arms, but she was gone again. The note she’d left said she’d taken the Max to Helping Hands and she would be back in time to leave with us for the game.

When I woke from my nap, it was raining out. I watched it through the window for a few minutes. It was coming down hard enough I could only see about half as far as I usually could.

My phone rang, and I answered it before I even looked to see who it was. “Noelle?”

“
Sorry,” a feminine voice said on the other end of the line. “Mr. Kallen, it’s Jessica Lynch.”
 

Damn
. Not Noelle. I tried to force any disappointment from my voice. “What can I do for you, Jessica?”

“
We’ve had a bit of a problem with the caterer for the auction,” she said, and proceeded to fill me in on the first caterer backing out and what other options we had.
 

In the end, the replacement I decided to go with was a more expensive option, but Jessica promised me they would be worth the added money. I told her I would cover the difference in cost from the original amount we’d agreed upon. I didn’t want to take any more money from the Light the Lamp Foundation than was necessary. This was all about raising money, not spending it.

By the time we hung up, the rain was coming down in sheets. That only made me wish I’d tried harder to convince Noelle to let me buy her a car. She was out on her own, walking around from train stations to bus stops to who knows where else, getting drenched. I hoped she’d at least taken an umbrella and maybe put on some rubber boots. Most likely she hadn’t, though. I fully expected her to come through the front door looking like a drowned rat.

I was in the kitchen fixing a pre-game snack when she came in, and I wasn’t too far off with that assumption. She was a whole lot prettier than a drowned rat, but just as wet. Even her purse was dripping, adding to the puddle forming on the hardwood beneath her.

I’d come to realize in the time we’d known each other that subtle—and not-so-subtle—reminders that she should look after herself were at least a little bit pointless. Getting to the dog rescue to volunteer had been the only thing on her mind. I was just thankful that she’d come home when she’d said she would so I didn’t have to worry any more than I already was.

“
I’m a little wet,” she said, which was quite the understatement.
 

“
So I’d noticed.” I set the bagel I’d just pulled from the toaster oven down on the counter and turned so I could get a good look at her. “Why don’t you go shower and warm up? I’ll fix you something you can eat in the car.”
 

“
Okay.” She pulled the purse strap over her head and scrunched up her nose, digging around inside the bag for something. I wondered briefly if I’d finally learn what was so important in that
purse, but it was the phone she pulled out “Will the phone be okay? I didn’t think about it being in here and getting wet like everything else.”
 

There wasn’t much chance it would survive, but I walked over to take it from her. “I’ll check it out. Go get warm.”

“
All right.” She stretched up on her tiptoes and kissed my cheek before scurrying away. Had anything else in her purse been damaged by the rain? I supposed I might never know.
 

I grabbed a towel and dried the water from her phone. The screen was completely blank. I tried pressing the power button, but nothing happened. Not a good sign. I pulled the back off and took the battery out. Supposedly putting it in a baggie of rice and letting it sit for twenty-four hours was a good way to get a phone to dry out enough that it could maybe be salvaged, so I set that up to see if it would work.

The shower in Noelle’s bedroom was still running, so I cleaned up the trail of water she’d left behind before fixing her a sandwich. Babs came out from his room before she returned. He made himself a sandwich with the bread and peanut butter I’d left out.

“
Sorry I was an ass this morning,” he said.
 

I hadn’t been expecting an apology from him, but maybe I should have been. He was a good kid. Always polite. It had shocked me when I’d come out of Noelle’s bedroom and he’d tossed my tie from the night before in my face before ripping into me. If it had been Soupy or Zee or almost any of the other guys on the team, I would have been expecting it. But not from Babs.

“
Don’t be,” I said. “I’m not. You did it for a good reason.”
 

“
There’s never a good reason to lay into someone like I laid into you.” He scowled, which only made his dimples pop up. Everything the kid did seemed to bring his dimples out. “Well, that’s what my mom would say.”
 

“
Most of the time, your mom would be right. Sometimes there are things you should fight for, though.”
 

“
Yeah?” He screwed the lid back on the peanut butter jar and twisted the open end of the bread bag, tucking it underneath. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I still shouldn’t have freaked out on you, though. I know you wouldn’t hurt her.”
 

But I didn’t know how to give her what she needed, and that was hurting her.