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  “Thalia, you alive in there?” Callie banged on the door.

  “Yeah! Give me a minute.” I removed the dress and decided to take all five, even though I’d only tried on three of them. There was a mixture of colors: white, cream, pale lemon, pale green and pale lilac. Yeah, I liked pale colors.

  My jeans were in a heap on the floor so I picked them up, shook them out before I wiggled back into them. I gathered the dresses together and left the changing rooms in search of Callie. As it turned out I didn’t have far to look. She stood talking to Liam outside the door to the changing rooms.

  “Hey, Thalia.” He leaned forward, kissing me on the cheek. “Let me take those. You both finished here? I thought I’d take you and Callie to lunch.”

  Liam took the bundle of dresses from me so I took his arm and let him lead me to the check out. “Lunch would be great, now that my hangover has more or less disappeared.”

  “Hangover? I thought you said you were staying in last night,” Liam queried.

  “Girl’s wine night at our apartment,” I replied.

  “Okay. You buying all these?” Liam asked, placing them onto the cashier desk.

  “Yeah. I don’t have that many dresses, so I figured I’d add to my wardrobe as I’m going home with you.” I handed my charge card over to the sales assistant and turned to Callie. “What happened to the dress you had?”

  “I’ve changed my mind. I’m going to leave you two. I have some things to do before I head in to work in a couple of hours.” Callie started to back away from us.

  “You sure?”

  “Positive. I’d probably puke anyway.” She turned and headed out the store.

  Liam took hold of the bags with my dresses and ushered me out of the store to a new café that had opened across the road.

  I had slight misgivings about going home with Liam this summer. He…us…confused me. Was I his girlfriend or just a friend? He was gorgeous in so many ways. Tall, slim but still athletic and his blonde hair and blue eyes gave him the appearance of the All American Boy. All the girls on campus wanted his attention, but for some reason he was interested in me.

  As I admitted to Callie last night, we hadn’t gotten to the hot and sweaty part of dating yet, and I wasn’t too sure I wanted to. We got along fairly well, but I didn’t get all hot and bothered in his presence. No tingles or wet panties. Even walking beside him, all I felt was the warmth of friendship.

  Standing outside the Italian café in the sweltering heat we scanned the menu in the hopes that they had something worth eating. “Aha.” I slid my finger past the list of sandwiches and brought it to rest on the lasagna and garlic bread – just what I wanted.

  Liam glanced over my finger and grinned, “You are feeling better if you’re looking at that.”

  “I’m hungry now. What about you?” I grinned.

  “I think I’ll have the same. Come on, let’s go and order.”

  Liam opened the door for me and we stepped into the dim interior. A maître’d cleared his throat before he led us to the terrace out back, sitting us in the shade.

  We placed our order with the server and sat back to relax while I let the breeze cool my skin. The café hadn’t been open long, so everything still looked new and fresh. Our table was beside the garden, which had a manmade stream flowing through, with brightly colored flowers along both sides of the embankment. How they’d managed to create a beautiful garden oasis in the middle of the city was beyond me.

  I glanced at Liam. “Will you tell me more about your family? What to expect?”

  He laughed. “It might scare you off if I do.”

  “They can’t be as bad as my parents.”

  “Not really. I guess.” Liam knew all about my parents. He took a sip of his water and peered at me, his blue eyes sparkling in mirth. He was obviously enjoying this. “Okay. My father is a lawyer and has his own law practice, which he jointly owns with an old friend of his, Lewis. My older brother, Jack is engaged to marry Lewis’ daughter, Mia.”

  “I didn’t know you had a brother.” Surprise turned to confusion. Why hadn’t he told me before? We’d had the sibling conversation during one of our earlier dates; if that’s what you’d call them, and he never mentioned a brother.

  “Yeah. They’re getting married over the summer, Jack’s twenty-five, and studying to be a lawyer. He’s been groomed since we were kids to take our father’s place at the law firm. Dad wants him to settle into life as a family lawyer, whereas Jack has always held a fascination in criminal law. He’s the golden boy because he’s studying law,” he sneered.

  “I take it you don’t get along too well with him?”

  “We get along well enough or at least we used to do. He seems angry all the time.”

  God, did I want to head to Alabama? Yeah, I did – one word – cowboys. Besides, I liked weddings, I’d had the pleasure of being a bridesmaid at twelve weddings in my twenty-one years, so it would be fun to go to one in Alabama.

  “Thalia, let’s eat and talk about something else. My stomach can’t take anymore talk about my family.”

  Chapter 3

  Thalia

  In the process of trying to pull my skinny jeans up my legs, Callie came barging into my room with a brush stuck in her hair. The ‘stuck brush’ happened nearly every time we were getting ready to go out, often because she was trying to multi task. Multi tasking wasn’t exactly something Callie was capable of, probably why she was a bit hit-and-miss with cooking.

  With my jeans finally up around my hips, I left them unbuttoned to try and untangle the brush. “How do you always manage to get this thing tangled?”

  “Ouch!”

  “Sorry,” I said grinning; my fingers working the mess of hair through the brush.

  “I keep thinking about having it all cut off, but it wouldn’t be me, you know?”

  “Yeah, I know. Just try and remember to concentrate when you’re doing your hair in the future, because one of these days you’re going to end up having to have the brush cut out.”

  Slapping the now free brush into Callie’s hand, I laughed as she jumped up from my bed and ran back into her room.

  Tonight was our last night together until the end of the summer when we came back to our apartment to finish our final year of college. Oh, we’d be on the phone to each other, and maybe try to meet up at some point, but it wasn’t the same. I would miss Callie.

  While I’d been packing my clothes and accessories during the afternoon, I had second thoughts about going home with Liam. I liked him well enough, but after hearing about his family and his brother, I couldn’t shake the lump of worry that had settled in the pit of my stomach.

  “Thalia, you ready.” Callie shouted as she poked her head into my room. “What’s wrong?”

  I inhaled. “Nothing. Come on lets go.” I ushered her through our small apartment, grabbing our jackets and purses on the way out, before she could question me further.

  Once outside, I had to dash to keep up with her. Deciding that the night would go smoother with a few rules, I said, “I’m not drinking too much tonight. I have a long car journey tomorrow, so I don’t want to be puking all the way there. I also wouldn’t put it past Liam to leave me if I get sick in his car.”

  She stopped and turned. A worry line traced its way across her forehead as her gaze bored into me. “I think you’re making a mistake,” her tone was clipped as though she was holding back, “but it’s your decision.” She frowned as I tugged her arm to get her moving again instead of replying right away.

  I loved her like a sister, but I had to make my own decisions. If I didn’t, Callie would end up treating me like a little girl, just like my parents did. “I’m a big girl now.” I smiled to take the challenge out of my tone. “If I’m not happy there then I’ll head home, or to Texas.”

  “You promise.”

  “Yes Mom,” I laughed, pushing my way through the door of Luke’s as Callie followed me inside.

  Luke’s was a five-minute
walk from where we lived, and every Friday night they had a live band. More often than not it was ‘The Leopards’, not sure where that name came from, but they were good. Luke’s always had a full house when they played.

  We pushed our way through the crush of bodies to the bar; the eyes of some college guys tracking us like prey, which I guess single college girls were. I ignored the interested looks. Other college girls might not mind being prey, but Callie and I did. The guys in here knew to leave us alone, but a few couldn’t take no for an answer.

  Callie and I weren’t opposed to being hit on, I mean what girl doesn’t like a hot guy flirting with her, but after putting up with it for nearly three years, it kind of sucked.

  Standing at the bar, I spotted some friends on the dance floor so, after Callie passed me a beer, we headed towards them. We loved to dance and during the past six months had only allowed ourselves to let go once a month, due to the papers we had to get written before the end of the semester, plus, of course, there were our jobs. Our jobs being another reason why I hadn’t been too bothered about Liam’s lack of passion. It had been so long since I’d felt like a normal twenty-one year old.

  “Hey,” Jeff whispered into my ear, his arms wrapping around my waist as he snuggled in against my back. Jeff was harmless and totally not into me. As in, he much preferred someone with a dick! Callie and I were the only ones who knew that because we’d once seen him kissing a guy. We’d basically been in the wrong place at the wrong time. After a bit of a showdown we’d become friends, and now and again I would go out with him and let everyone think we were dating to help him keep his secret. He was a good sounding board and had let me rant about my family and guys, more often than I’d care to admit.

  Jeff pushed me further onto the dance floor with him. Keeping his hands on my hips he started swaying to a slow song that had come on. He was only a couple of inches taller than my five-foot-six frame so he was pretty easy to dance with.

  The Leopards usually played the slow song before they took a break, so any minute I expected the speaker system to kick in with ‘Panic! At the Disco’, which was pretty good, or something else as Mick was the bar tender tonight and he loved the kind of music that had a bite to it. I was one hundred percent into Three Doors Down, which drove Callie mad, as she was more Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood. I’d yet to admit to liking them as well.

  On my second bottle of beer, thanks to Callie, I continued to dance and grind against Jeff who wasn’t affected one bit with my ass rubbing against his dick.

  I placed my empty bottle onto a table at the side of the dance floor, before I practically threw myself into Jeff’s arms as we started jumping and singing along to ‘The Leopards’.

  After about an hour on the dance floor with Jeff, I turned to him and shook my head, to let him know I needed a break. Leaving him alone, I walked towards the table where Callie was sitting with Chase, David, Liam, Nadine and Kristy – some friends we occasionally hooked up with.

  Liam made room for me, so I slid into the seat. “You looked good out there,” he shouted, kissing me smack on the lips.

  My eyes flew wide open. Callie looked about as stunned as I felt. That was new. Liam had never shown me any affection in public before. Narrowing my eyes, I took his challenge. I turned in his embrace and straddled him, wrapping my arms around his neck and plunged in. I needed to see if there was anything between us once and for all. I put my all into it and maybe we had potential, because my blood started to tingle and Liam started to grow between my legs. I pressed against him. Liam broke the kiss and just looked at me.

  “God, you’re hot tonight,” Liam commented.

  Our breathing was labored while we continued to stare at each other in shock, in truth I felt confused. Liam was great to hang out with and we had been dating, kind of, for the past six months, but we hadn’t kissed like that before.

  “Wow, you two looked ready to get down and dirty,” Kristy said as Liam moved me from his lap with unsteady hands.

  “Thalia, do you want to leave?”

  I hesitated at Liam’s question.

  “I don’t mean to follow up with more than a kiss. I just meant because we have an early start tomorrow.” Liam practically had to shout in my ear to be heard.

  “Okay.” We stood to leave, the others giving us knowing looks, but Callie knew me better than anyone else and knew Liam wouldn’t be spending time in my bed.

  I leaned over to shout in Callie’s ear, “Are you coming or staying?”

  “Staying. I’ll get Jeff to walk me back.”

  We hugged, and then I let Liam pull me through the crowd to the outside. It was good to breathe fresh air after being squished in the sweaty bar.

  Liam grasped my hand, his grip sending tendrils of warmth up my arm while we walked back to my apartment in silence. He appeared to be as lost in thought as I was. He was probably replaying the kiss. The kiss, which had come out of the blue. Could I blame it on the alcohol? Probably not. He knew I’d only had two beers. The kiss had been hot; he certainly knew how to kiss.

  “Are you okay? You’ve been quiet since we left the bar.” His tone seemed unsure, but I couldn’t tell what he was unsure about.

  I reached up and touched along my tender lips with my fingers. His eyes narrowed as he watched me. “I was thinking,” I met his eyes, “can we try that again?”

  He shook his head, about to say something, but I didn’t give him time. I stepped into his space, took hold of his head, pulled him down to me, and sealed our lips together. I wanted to know if the kiss and reaction at the bar was a one off.

  Our lips met. Our bodies touched, chest to chest and… nothing. It was nice, but… nothing. I slowly pulled back and looked into Liam’s eyes. He looked flushed.

  “Thalia.” He reached up and brushed the hair away from my face. “I’m not ready to become intimate with you. I like you a lot and I can talk to you. I guess I’m afraid of losing that if we hit the sack. You know what I mean?”

  “I’d like that – a lot.” I nearly laughed out loud when I saw the look on his face. He looked as relieved as me.

  “When I take you home tomorrow, would it be okay for me to tell everyone that you’re my girlfriend? I mean we may end up together anyway. It would just stop my mom from constantly parading girls through the house,” he asked, looking hesitant.

  “Okay, I guess.” I glanced up to the dark window of my apartment, “I better head upstairs.” I turned away and started to open the front door.

  “Thanks Thalia, you’re great.” He came up behind me, kissing me on the cheek before stepping back. I watched him turn back towards Luke’s for his car.

  “Goodnight Liam, I’ll see you bright and early.”

  “That you will. Goodnight Thalia.”

  Chapter 4

  Jack

  Saturday night and I was knocking back a beer before it was Deception’s turn on stage. I lived for these nights. Deception being the group I’d started back in high school with a couple of friends. Reece was on the drums, while Donovan worked his electric guitar, which left me to sing solo, occasionally bringing my guitar out.

  Deception was also one of my big secrets. As far as my parents were concerned the ‘band phase’ had come to an end when we all left high school. Little did they know!

  I had another year of hard studying to do before I could get out from under them. It was going to be a hard year, not just because of the studying. I was going to piss good old dad off when he found out my program at college would be all geared to me practicing criminal law. All I had to do was get through summer before I headed back to school. A married man – Fuck!

  Kix had been open a couple of months and for the past couple of weeks, since we’d arrived home from college, Reece, Donovan and me had played on stage about three times. After our first appearance, people had been asking when we were coming back. Deciding it was a great way to spend the summer, we’d struck a deal with Ryder, and now we wanted to extend the deal to maybe a
Wednesday night as well as the Saturday spot we already had. Ryder wanted to think about it.

  “You seen the chick over there?” Reece asked, pointing his bottle of beer in the direction of the blonde girl who looked to have melons for breasts.

  “Not interested.” The thing was I hadn’t been interested in close to twelve months, ever since I had Mia thrust on me. Mia my fiancée, the woman I was being faithful to. The woman I didn’t want, but was trapped with.

  “You need a distraction my friend, and that over there, is a distraction.”

  “Fuck. Reece, I am so not going there. If you’re that interested, you go for it.”

  After a minute of silence from me, he grabbed another beer and walked towards the ‘chick’. What my friends couldn’t understand was why I stayed faithful to someone I didn’t love and didn’t like spending time with. I may have allowed my family to push me into marriage, which would happen in about six weeks, but I wouldn’t cheat on the girl. I’d tried to tell my folks I wanted to wait until after college before I committed myself to her. I hoped she’d have changed her mind by then so I’d be off the hook. For some reason everyone, including my so-called fiancée, wanted the wedding this summer.

  I’d returned home from college to find the wedding arranged and to be told, all I had to do was show up. To say I’d gotten totally and utterly drunk that night would be an understatement.

  Why did I let my parents push me into a wedding I didn’t want? Well, I was so close to finishing college and my father had put my financial future on the line. I’d studied damn hard so the last thing I wanted to do was pull from the program.

  I tried not to think about it too much, and just hoped everything, including my feelings, fell into place.

  Looking at other women was out of the question, because I was frightened that if I did, I might find the woman I’d been looking for before my life got ‘arranged’. The one that I’d dreamed about. Regardless of what my friends thought, before my life had taken a turn, I would have loved nothing more than to find the woman meant for me. Instead of the constant stream of women gracing my sheets, I’d just have the one woman.