Love, Lust & Liam by Sandi Lynn
“And now it’s time for me to go.” I sighed as I got up.
“Please understand, Liam. This is just sex, nothing else. There can never be anything else.”
I sighed as I got dressed. “Just sex, Avery? Are you sure about that?"
“Yes. Very sure,” she replied.
I walked out of her bedroom.
“Liam, wait.” She grabbed my arm as she chased after me. “Don’t be mad. Please.”
“I’m not. Have a good night.”
I walked out of her apartment and headed home. As I walked down the brightly lit street, I stared at different couples as they walked along with me. Holding hands, hugging, laughing, being in love, and I will admit that I was jealous. They were everything I wanted. Unfortunately, the girl I wanted it with didn’t feel the same.
Chapter 18
Avery
After Liam left, I went into the kitchen and made a cup of tea, my body still reeling from the effects of him. Did I feel bad I kicked him out again? Of course. But I was a different person now. I was no longer that girl who relied on a man to love me. All my failed relationships led me to this point. Just sex, sex, and more sex. It wouldn’t be wise to let feelings get in the way of a casual fling. Had I become a so-called ice princess? I think so. Maybe not in the eyes of friends, but in the eyes of men, especially Liam Wyatt.
I took my tea, grabbed the Wyatt file from the table, and climbed into bed. I was going to have to take depositions tomorrow and then meet with John and Laurel on Monday to try and get this thrown out. With John Carrington as her lawyer, it wasn’t going to be as easy as I thought. I wanted this case over as quickly as possible. I grabbed my phone from the nightstand and sent Liam a text message.
“Hey. I’m going to need to meet with you and Oliver tomorrow to talk about the lawsuit. I know it’s Sunday, but if I meet with the two of you tomorrow, then I can get Laurel and her attorney in the office on Monday and hopefully knock this case out.”
“I’m fine with it, but I’ll have to ask Oliver if he’s available. I’ll let you know after I talk to him.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
A few moments later, a text message came through from Liam.
“Oliver said tomorrow is fine. We’ll meet at his house for breakfast at nine a.m. and discuss everything there. I’ll pick you up at eight thirty.”
“There’s no need to pick me up. Just text me the address.”
“I’m picking you up. End of discussion.”
I couldn’t help but smile.
“Fine. I’ll see you at eight thirty. Good night.”
“Good night, but it could be better.”
“Good night, Liam.”
“Good night, Avery.”
I glanced over at the clock and it was after midnight. I closed the file case, plugged in my phone, turned the light off, and tried to get some sleep, which was hard to do since I couldn’t stop thinking about my father and what was yet to come.
****
I called down to Davis and told him that Mr. Wyatt would be coming and to let him up. It was eight fifteen and I poured my second cup of coffee. As I was sitting at the table, my phone rang and it was my mom, Claudia.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Good morning, Avery. We haven’t heard from you in a while. How’s everything going?”
At that moment, not realizing how fragile I was, my eyes started to sting with tears when I heard her voice.
“Everything is going great. How are you and Lisa?”
“We’re fine.”
I couldn’t tell her about John, because if I did, I would break down and I didn’t want her to worry.
“Your birthday is in a couple of days and we were thinking about coming to visit you for the day and heading back on Wednesday. I know you have to work, but we thought we could take you to dinner and stay the night. We could have a slumber party. Just the three of us. What do you say?”
What kind of daughter would I be if I said no? I missed them terribly and if they were willing to come to New York to celebrate my birthday, then I didn’t object.
“That sounds good, Mom. I’d love for the two of you to come visit.”
There was a knock at the door. I got up and answered it, letting Liam in.
“Mom, I have to go. I’m meeting with some clients on a new case. I’ll see you in a couple of days.”
“But it’s Sunday, Avery.”
“Doesn’t matter, Mom. A lawyer always needs to be available. I have to go. I love you. Tell Lisa I love her and I’m looking forward to seeing both of you.”
“Alright. We’ll see you soon. Love you, precious.”
“Love you too, Mom.”
I hit the end button and looked at Liam. “You’re early.”
“Only by five minutes.”
I couldn’t help but notice how sexy he looked in his casual clothes. Almost as sexy as last night in his tux. I had to look away because that all-too-familiar ache crept its way back up.
“So are you going back to Danbury to see your parents?” he asked.
“No. Actually, they’re coming here for my birthday. Dinner, slumber party. You know, girl things.”
“Sounds like fun. Did you tell her about John?”
“No. I’ll tell them both on Tuesday. Let me grab my purse and we can go.”
“You’ll get to meet Sophie,” he yelled from the living room.
“Great. I can’t wait to meet her.”
I grabbed my purse and we headed out the door. As soon as we passed Davis, he winked at me and gave me a thumbs-up. I shook my head at him.
“Have a great day, Avery.” He smiled.
“You too, Davis.”
Liam hailed a cab and talked about Clara’s cooking on the way over to his brother’s house. When the cab pulled up, he climbed out and I followed. As soon as Liam opened the front door, a little girl, whom I presumed was Sophie, ran into his arms.
“Uncle Liam.” She smiled.
“Hey, sunshine.” He kissed her head. “I would like you to meet a friend of mine, Avery Lewis. Avery, this is my niece, Sophie.”
I bent down and held out my hand to her. “Hello, Miss Sophie. It’s nice to meet you.”
“It’s nice to meet you too.” She giggled as she placed her small hand in mine.
“Hello, you two,” Delilah and Oliver spoke as they greeted us in the foyer. “Breakfast is ready.”
“Good, because I’m starving,” Liam spoke.
We followed them to the dining room and I couldn’t help but admire how beautiful Oliver and Delilah’s house was.
“Your house is beautiful.”
“Thank you.” Delilah smiled as she took her seat.
I sat down next to Liam and Sophie took her place on the other side of him.
“We’ll have a nice breakfast first and then discuss the other details,” Oliver spoke as he sipped his coffee.
“Sorry for the short notice.”
He put his hand up. “It’s fine. The sooner we can get this over with, the better.”
“Uncle Liam says you’re really smart. Smart like me,” Sophie spoke.
I looked at Liam and he smiled. Fuck him and his smiles. They sent shivers down my spine each and every time.
“I guess you could say I am smart, but I bet you’re smarter.”
“I paint and I’m really smart with numbers.”
“I don’t paint, but I’m really smart with numbers too.”
She giggled. “What do you do for a job?”
“I’m a lawyer.”
“How old are you?”
“Twenty-three. I’ll be twenty-four on Tuesday.”
“So that means you graduated high school when you were fifteen and then graduated college when you were eighteen and then graduated from law school when you were twenty-one.”
I couldn’t help but let out a small laugh. She was adorable. “That’s right.”
A woman walked into the room and set breakfast on the table.
“Nice to meet you, Clara.”
“Nice to meet you, Avery. Welcome to the Wyatt home.”
“Thank you.”
Chapter 19
Liam
Sitting around Oliver’s table with Avery was nice. It was something I could get used to doing. Oliver wasn’t too keen on meeting today because he had plans to play golf. I made him cancel because it was an easy excuse to spend a Sunday with Avery. If my plan went right, we’d be spending the entire day together. It would be up to Sophie to play her part.
After we finished breakfast, Clara took Sophie upstairs so we could conduct our meeting. Once the table was cleared, Avery pulled out the files and her notepad.
“Just to get this straight, Oliver, you were involved with Laurel at one point, correct?”
“Unfortunately,” he replied.
She looked at him and smiled. “Wyatt Enterprises purchased the Regency House about six months ago, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Were you aware of any leaks or roof problems?”
“No. The roof had been replaced right before we purchased it, according to the bank officer, the inspector and the inspector’s report.”
“Okay. I have people going out there today to inspect. They’ll have their report to me by tomorrow morning. Now, my plan is for us to meet with Laurel and her attorney some time tomorrow afternoon and try to settle this thing. Do you have any dirt on Laurel that we can use to weaken her character if need be?”
Oliver looked at me and hesitantly answered Avery’s question.
“She had an affair a couple years ago with a senator.”
“Oh?” Avery smiled as she wrote on her notepad.
“You may want to tell her about how she was going to press charges against Delilah?” I spoke.
“Huh?” Avery looked at Delilah.
“I may have punched her in the face at a fundraiser one night.”
“May I ask why?” Avery smirked.
“She called me a whore. It had been a long time coming. By that point, she had threatened me numerous times.”
“She sounds like a real winner. Thanks for telling me so I know exactly what kind of person I’m dealing with. We’ll pull out the senator affair if we have to. He was married, right?” She looked at Oliver.
“Yes, and he and his wife just had a baby about a month before the affair started.”
“Men.” I shook my head.
“Hey. We aren’t all like that,” I said.
“How long did the affair last?”
“About six months. It ended because his child became sick and he needed to make his family his number one priority.”
“Of course he did. I’m going to take a wild guess here and say that she didn’t walk away nicely.”
Oliver smirked. “No, she didn’t. She blackmailed him into giving her money to go away quietly.”
“Interesting. Okay. Well, that should be it. I will call the two of you tomorrow.”
Just as Avery was getting up from her seat, Sophie ran into the room.
“Uncle Liam, you promised me that you’d take me to Brooklyn Bridge Park and you haven’t yet. Can we go today? Please, Uncle Liam. P-l-e-a-s-e,” she whined.
“Oh, I don’t know, Soph.”
“P-l-e-a-s-e. You promised and today’s a perfect day.”
“Okay, buttercup, since I did promise, we can go.”
“Thank you.” She smiled as she wrapped her arms around my neck, giving me a big hug.
“You’re welcome. Miss Lewis was just leaving, so if you’re ready, we can head there now.”
Sophie turned and looked at Avery, who was smiling down at her.
“Can she come with us?”
“Sure. If she wants to.” Say yes. Say yes. For the love of God, say yes.
“Thanks for the invite, Sophie, but maybe another time.”
Come on, Soph. Beg. Get her to come.
“But you have to come. It’s the Brooklyn Bridge Park,” she squealed as she held out her arms. “It has amazing history! And there’s an ice cream factory! It’ll be so much fun and I know you’ll love it! Unless you’ve already been there.” She put on a sad face.
Way to go, kid. Give her your full pout.
I looked over at Delilah and Oliver and they sat there giving me an evil look. Apparently, they figured out what Sophie and I were up to.
“No. I’m new to New York, so I’ve never been there. But you make it sound very exciting.” Avery smiled at her.
“Then you have to come. P-L-E-A-S-E, Avery.”
“Okay. You’ve convinced me. Sounds like it’ll be fun. Maybe your parents will want to go too.”
“No. They have plans. Right, Daddy?” She turned and looked at Oliver.
“Umm. Yes. We do have plans, so thank you, little brother, for spending the day with her.”
“No problem. You know Sophie and I love spending time together.” I smiled.
Sophie giggled. “I’m so excited you’re coming. Do you want to see my paintings?”
“I’d love to.”
Sophie took Avery’s hand and led her up to her room. I looked around the room and avoided eye contact with Oliver because I knew he was going to let me have it.
“How does it feel to use your niece as woman bait?” he asked.
Delilah laughed. “I think it’s cute.”
“Thank you, my dear sister in-law. And for your information, Oliver, I had a little talk with Sophie beforehand and she was more than happy to help her favorite uncle out. It’s a win-win situation. She gets to spend the day at Brooklyn Bridge Park and I get to spend the day with Avery. Her words, not mine.” I pointed at him.
He rolled his eyes and shook his head. “You really like her. I’ve never seen you like this before.”
“I do really like her. I like her a lot.”
Delilah got up from her chair and kissed me on the head. “I like her too and you can use Sophie anytime you need to.”
“Delilah!” Oliver exclaimed.
“Lighten up, Oliver. It’s for love.” She winked.
Chapter 20
Avery
Liam held on to Sophie’s hand as we stepped onto the ferry and took it to Pier 1. I wasn’t stupid and I knew Sophie and Liam were in on this together. For him to go through all that just to get me to spend the day with him was cute. No, it was sexy because he was just that and I couldn’t help but be a little bit turned on by it.
We took the ferry to the Dumbo section of Brooklyn Bridge Park. The minute Sophie saw the carousel, her eyes lit up and she started jumping up and down.
“I thought we’d stop here first.” Liam smiled.
I smiled as I stopped and stared at the beautiful glass pavilion that housed the stunning carousel. Sophie ran ahead and Liam called after her.
“Soph, wait up.”
He grabbed my hand, and I was caught off guard but I ran with him to catch up to Sophie. He looked at me and let go.
“Sorry.”
I gave him a small smile. The truth was it felt good to hold his hand and there was a part of me that didn’t want him to let go. Liam bought three tickets and we walked onto the platform. Sophie ran until she found the horse she wanted to ride.
“I love this one!” she exclaimed.
Liam helped her onto the horse and then turned to me. “Which one do want to ride?”
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll ride anything.”
He arched his brow as he flashed his sexy smile. I lightly punched his shoulder and laughed. Behind Sophie’s horse was two next to each other, so I chose the pretty white and intricately carved horse and Liam climbed on the brown one. This was really cool and I was happy that I decided to tag along.
“I know what you and Sophie did,” I whispered.
“What did we do?” he asked as he looked me, his eyes filled with confusion.
“You two planned this
“I would never do such a thing.”
“Really? I don’t believe you.”
“Do you have proof?”
“The staged conversation between the two of you was all the proof I needed.”
“Innocent until proven guilty.” He raised his hand.
I couldn’t help but let out a light laugh. I seemed to be doing that a lot when I was in Mr. Wyatt’s presence. The carousel began to move and Sophie looked back at us with a wide smile splayed across her face.
“Hold on, Soph. I don’t need you falling off and getting hurt. Your mom and dad will never let me take you out again.”
“Don’t worry, Uncle Liam. I will.” She giggled.
“You’re really good with her.”
“Thanks. She’s a great kid. I love kids and I love being around them.”
“What about her real mom? Does she ever see her?”
“She passed away and that’s when she came to live with Oliver. It wasn’t easy at first and Sophie had a lot of problems. Then Oliver met Delilah, hired her to take care of Sophie, and every day, she improved. All she needed was to feel loved and understood.”
The way he said that struck a chord inside my heart. “I can understand that. It’s not easy being really smart and being understood. It’s hard for people like Sophie and me to find our place in the world.”
“But you did, right?” he asked.
“I suppose.”
Before he could ask any more questions, the ride was slowing down. Once it came to a complete stop, Liam helped Sophie off her horse, and to my surprise, she turned around and grabbed hold of my hand.
“Let’s go get some ice cream!” She smiled.
“Nah, I don’t want ice cream, Soph,” Liam spoke.
“Yes, you do.” She poked him in the stomach.
“You think so?” He laughed as he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder.
Watching him with her was really sweet and it kind of tugged at my heartstrings. In fact, it tugged at more than just my heartstrings. Why was I always thinking about sex when I was around him? Shit. This was getting out of control.
We spent the rest of the day at the park, eating ice cream, hot dogs, and playing with Sophie at the playground. We had a wonderful conversation about Monet and Van Gogh. She was getting tired and the sun was starting to set.